Meet The Jury – 2025 Student Competition

Alexis Dennis-Huether is an interior designer with over 20 years of experience who joined SLAM in 2021 as an Associate Principal. With a passion for connecting with clients and their organizations, Alexis’ interest lies in continual exploration of how design thinking can support the business plan. She has the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity, and rationality to meet user needs, solve problems, and drive business success through design. Alexis leads project teams from initial concept through completion of construction and is adept at sculpting spaces that solve problems and meet project budgets. Alexis was part of a team that won a Next Work Environment Competition award for “Mind the Gap,” a theoretical project featuring a mobile workplace that came out of SLAM’s Workplace Innovation Think Tank (WITT). The team also won a WellBeing + Greatest Impact award for “CollaborEATs,” which blends food, dining, and meeting into the workplace.  She has been published in Interior Design, Contact Magazine, Office Insight, and Time Out NY. Alexis served as Director for the IIDA’S LA City Center as well as the IIDA Southern California Board of Directors.

With over a decade of experience working with individuals of diverse disabilities across different age groups and socio-economic backgrounds, Francisco’s expertise in human-centered design, task analysis, accessibility, and UX provides him with a uniquely empathetic and functional perspective when it comes to architecture and design. As an Occupational Therapist leading the Inclusive Design team at the architecture firm M2, he is passionate about helping designers create inclusive and accessible spaces and products. He has served as a speaker during the global conference “In Pursuit of Equity: A Symposium to Re-envision the Center for Universal Design” and presented about the “Intersection of Occupational Therapy and Architecture” during the 2024 AOTA Inspire Annual Conference and Expo. Francisco is also a Second City-trained improv enthusiast and performs with his improv group in comedy theaters around Chicago.

Rex Miller is a recognized thought leader and orchestrator of transformation across industries. With 25 years as a corporate executive and 15 years as a consultant, Rex brings a rare combination of frontline leadership and future-focused insight to complex challenges. He is best known for pioneering the MindShift process—an award-winning approach that breaks through constraints to spark innovation, align cultures, and move industries forward.

Rex founded three ventures: MindShift, a research and consulting firm; GeniusSpark, a software and training platform based on NASA’s research into activating your genius traits; and River Rose Leadership Ranch, a retreat designed for immersive, nature-based team experiences. His work empowers leaders to unlock hidden potential and build more human-centric, high-performing organizations.

A recipient of CoreNet Global’s Innovator and Industry Excellence Awards and IFMA’s Outstanding Achievement Award, Rex is also a celebrated Wiley author and professional speaker. His influence spans Fortune 100 companies, cutting-edge healthcare systems, and world-class institutions such as Google, Facebook, IWBI, UC Davis Health, the Port of Virginia, and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Rex holds a master’s degree in Strategic Foresight and brings a unique perspective to leadership, influenced by his background as a USPTA-certified tennis professional who coached two Hall of Fame athletes and the U.S. Olympic Pole Vault team. This diverse experience provides valuable insights to overcome barriers and fosters a high-performance approach to personal and organizational growth.

His latest project, The GeniusSpark, is a transformative app and book that helps individuals map their innate strengths and elevate their leadership impact.

Rex Miller doesn’t just consult—he catalyzes. Whether in a boardroom, stage, or retreat, he guides leaders into new conversations and new realities.

As Chief Product Officer at the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), Jessica helps to lead IWBI’s global movement to transform health and well-being through our people first approach to buildings, organizations and communities. Combining her experience partnering with global market adopters in her previous role as IWBI’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jessica drives the continuous evolution of the WELL Building Standard (WELL) and focuses on scaling WELL’s positive impact around the world. She oversees the standard development, implementation and achievement processes, as well as customer experience, technical account management and education.

Before joining IWBI, Jessica led consulting services at Delos and worked with WELL’s early adopters on improving business performance by prioritizing health. Prior to WELL, she developed and delivered educational programs for the New York City green building community at Urban Green Council. Trained as an interior designer, Jessica intersected design and real estate at LB Architects where she managed interior design and construction projects for corporate, residential and not-for-profit clients.

Jessica is a WELL Faculty and one of the first WELL Accredited Professionals, having earned her credential in 2015. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and a licensed interior designer who holds an NCIDQ Certificate. She is a graduate of Cornell University.

Dr. Lindsay T. Graham is a personality and social psychologist who specializes in the ways people form relationships with, craft, manipulate, and select their daily environments to best fit their lives. Lindsay’s work spans the fields of psychology, architecture, interior design, engineering, and human-computer mediated interactions. Currently Lindsay is a researcher within Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services group to support the creation of work environments that promote wellbeing and productivity. Prior to Google she founded and led a research program on the Psychology of Space at UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment. Lindsay is also author of the book People and Spaces: Experience, Ethics and Intent which highlights the value of collaborator work when working to make spaces that serve those who use them.

With over 15 years of experience at the intersection of digital and physical technologies, Fernando is a seasoned Service Design professional based in Chicago.

Fernando’s career has been shaped by his unique background in architecture and industrial design, having trained at the Illinois Institute of Technology for college. His deep curiosity about how things are made and used helped his shift to the tech industry during the 2008 recession and sparked a passion for design thinking, human-centered design, and innovative problem-solving that seamlessly blend technology with user needs.

Among his training, Fernando also holds dual master’s degrees—one in Marketing and another in Human-Centered Design Strategy—and specializes in Futures Thinking, LUMA, and other innovative methodologies to develop intuitive, accessible products and effective go-to-market strategies. His career spans high-profile roles at companies such as Leo Burnett, Bose, Nokia, and Microsoft, and his consultancy portfolio also includes high-profile projects for clients such as SoFi Stadium, One World Trade Center Observatory, Pantone, Corelle/Instant Brands, among others, all of which push the boundaries of user experience and technology interaction that are both delightful and simple.

Currently, Fernando serves as the Global Head of Hybrid Experiences for the Office of the CTO at Avanade, a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture. In this role, he helps his organization and their clients build the foundation for cutting-edge technologies like Digital Twins, VR/AR, wearables, embodied AI and others, ensuring they’re well-positioned to incubate and launch these innovations successfully.

Outside of work, Fernando is passionate about mentoring young professionals, competing with his dogs in obedience and agility, speaking at conferences, and advocating for LGBT and neurodiversity causes.