JUDGES BIOS

Bruce A. Barteldt, Jr., AIA
National Studio Principal, Retail
Little

Bruce Barteldt leads all retail activity nationwide for Little, one of the nation’s top commercial architecture and design firms. His areas of responsibility include Store Design, Branded Graphics, Corporate Rollout, Mixed-Use/Marketplaces, Banks and Supermarkets. Bruce’s expertise emphasizes design excellence that improves retailers’ business in three key areas: ‘Branded Environments that Sell,’ ‘Technologies & Processes that Assure Speed to Market’, and ‘Signature Marketplaces that Maximize Return’. His leadership of Little’s retail management team results in lasting relationships with clients such as The Home Depot, CVS/Pharmacy, Von’s (a Safeway Company), Liz Claiborne Cos., Guess?, Publix, JC Penny, Wachovia, Comerica, and Bank of America. Recent speaking experience includes NASFM’s GlobalShop, the EPA’s national Smart Growth conference, TREX Total Retail Experience, ICSC Centerbuild, the National Retail Federation Conference and the 2007 Retail Construction Expo. He has also presented for the American Institute of Architects on facilities management strategies and served as a judge for Retail Traffic’s SADI awards. Bruce has authored numerous expert articles for Retail Traffic, Expanded Retail Solutions, ABA Banking Journal and Shopping Center World.

Bevan Bloemendaal
Senior Director, Global Creative Services
The Timberland Co.

Bevan Bloemendaal has been with The Timberland Co. since 1999 and has received numerous awards for store, fixture, P–O–S and P–O–P design. He is accountable for the brand’s visual integrity worldwide through department stores, specialty retail, franchisees, distributors and Timberland’s US specialty retail/outlet stores. Bloemendaal’s Creative Services team is a group of experts from various agencies, brands, disciplines and backgrounds all obsessed with creating unique design solutions Their passion comes from an intimate understanding of each category, a historical knowledge of the brand and a comprehensive range of services including: Art & Copy Group, Account Services Group and the Environments Group. He serves on the VM+SD Editorial Advisory Board and NASFM Retail Council Member.

Giorgio Borruso
Principal
Giorgio Borruso Design

Italian architect Giorgio Borruso is principal and founder of multidisciplinary design firm, Giorgio Borruso Design, whose work ranges from architecture and interiors to industrial design. His innovative projects for such clients as Fila, Snaidero, Fornarina Miss Sixty and Paul Frank, have been seen in over eight hundred publications and have received over eighty international awards for architectural design and brand development. Several projects are featured as part of permanent collections of the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, and the Red Dot Museum in Germany.

Borruso lived and worked in Italy, Spain, and Germany before moving to Los Angeles in 1998. He taught and researched at University in Italy and the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) and is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences globally. He was DDI magazine’s 2005 Designer of the Year and in 2006 was named a Retail Design Luminary. He serves on DDI’s editorial advisory board and has judged entries for design and advertising awards programs such as those of Architectural Record and Contract magazines.

Kristin D. Godsey
Associate Publisher/Executive Editor
VM+SD Magazine

Kristin D. Godsey joined VM+SD magazine as associate publisher/executive editor in November 2006. Godsey oversees the brand and editorial strategies of VM+SD, the largest and oldest magazine serving the visual merchandising and store design industry, and its website, VMSD.com. She is also the conference chair for VM+SD’s International Retail Design Conference (September 3–5, Seattle), the premier educational and networking event for the retail design industry. With a background in trade and consumer magazines, Internet publishing ventures, and conference programming, Godsey has more than 15 years of experience on such staffs as Writer’s Digest, Good Housekeeping, The Artist’s Magazine, and ClubMom.com. She holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Lynn Knutson
Retail Development Manager, Merchandising & Visual Standards
Harley-Davidson Motor Co.

As Retail Development Manager, Lynn is responsible for leading company wide cross–functional teams in establishing and advancing the Harley-Davidson and Buell merchandising strategy. Additionally, beyond the creative insight and direction of new and improved methods of reaching out to new customers, Lynn is responsible for providing strategic direction in and outside the Retail Environment Group (REG) to help plan for product proliferation, product line extensions as well as the overall space planning for products to maximize sales. She is also for responsible for all corresponding educational training to Harley-Davidson/Buell dealers/distributor network, with advisory influence in international markets.

Lynn has over 25 years of retail experience and has managed the Visual Merchandising Department in the Retail Environment Group for the last 12 years. Prior to joining H–D, Lynn worked for 15 years with Carson Pirie Scott Department Stores and JC Penney Company in visual merchandising and store planning. Harley–Davidson has approximately 675 U.S. dealer locations and approximately 2,000 worldwide. She is on the board of directors of NADI, the visual merchandising division of A.R.E. A current member of the editorial advisory board ofVM+SD magazine, she has served as a judge of POPAI’s OMA (Outstanding Merchandising Achievement) Awards and has been a presenter at GlobalShop.

Karen Meskey–Wilson
Divisional Vice President, Store Planning and Design
Macy’s Inc.

As divisional vice president of store planning and design, Karen Meskey-Wilson is responsible for all store planning in new and remodeled Macy’s stores. Additionally, she is responsible for rolling Macy’s “reinvent” strategy to all Macy’s stores. Before joining Federated in 2006, Meskey–Wilson spent 30 years with JCPenney, where she led the development of the off–mall prototype. Meskey–Wilson has accumulated several professional awards since 1989. She sits on the Editorial Advisory Board for VM+SD magazine.

RoxAnna A. Sway
Editor–in–Chief
DDI magazine

RoxAnna A. Sway is editor in chief of DDI magazine, a publication of New York–based The Nielsen Co. DDI has been widely recognized for its outstanding editorial coverage of the retail design industry, with the receipt of 28 awards for editorial excellence. She brings to publishing the wealth and knowledge of a previous, 20–plus–year career in retail marketing and design services. In the past, she has served in executive creative services, design, and marketing positions for some of the country’s top retailers, including Federated Department Stores, and as a consultant, has advised Fortune 500 companies and retail organizations on an international basis. Sway is a professional member of the Institute of Store Planners (ISP) and a multiple Store of the Year store design award-winner. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from ISP in 2006 and was recently inducted into ISP’s Legion of Honor.

Marianne Wilson
Editor–in–Chief
Chain Store Age

Marianne Wilson is editor–in–chief of Chain Store Age, published by Lebhar–Friedman. One of the industry’s most respected publications, Chain Store Age is targeted to executives and decision makers across the retail spectrum. Wilson has been with the magazine since 1989, covering store planning and design, construction, and facilities issues as well as retail strategies. She has spoken about retail trends and designs to various groups in the United States and abroad. Appointed executive editor in 2006, Wilson now oversees Chain Store Age’s editorial coverage, both in print and online, and is involved in the magazine’s annual SPECS conference.