Vaki Mawema is an award-winning designer and is the Director of the global design firm Gensler’s Lifestyle Studio in Washington DC that focuses on place making and retail, hospitality, sports and entertainment design with an emphasis on social spaces in the public realm. With over 50 design projects to his name, Vaki is a business leader who’s professional and industry accomplishments, along with his community involvement have recently resulted in his being named one of the Washington Business Journal’s 40 under 40 for 2016.

Ned Cramer is editor-in-chief of Architect, the magazine of the American Institute of Architects, and group editorial director of design and commercial construction at Hanley Wood Media. Prior to joining Hanley Wood, Mr. Cramer served for five years as the curator of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and for eight years as an editor at Architecture magazine. Mr. Cramer is a trustee of Archeworks, the Chicago–based alternative design school, and a member of the U.S. General Services Administration’s Design Excellence National Peer Registry, the selection committee for the National Building Museum’s Scully Prize, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art National Advisory Committee. He was co-curator of the U.S. Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale.Born and raised in St. Louis, Mr. Cramer received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Rice University, where he also did graduate work in art and architecture history. He now lives in Washington, D.C.