B/E Aerospace Inc.
Glenn Johnson, IDSA established the Collins Studio USA (RTX Technologies) in 1998 and is currently a Fellow of Industrial Design at Collins Aerospace. His focus has been in design and innovation, and he has nearly 50 patents, several known products in the aerospace/transportation market and design awards, including the Endura coffeemaker that won an IDEA Bronze. Glenn helps others with standard and non-standard designer paths become more involved in design. This focus now also covers inclusion, accessibility, product longevity and sustainability. Glenn brings a pragmatic, humble view of design and how it should be helping everyone in our world.
He graduated from Royal College of Art (RCA) in 1989 and worked in the Michael Peters subsidiary Dragon Design and BAe Systems in the UK before working in the Industrial Design Studio at Airbus, Toulouse. https://designawards.core77.com/Transportation/73790/Universal-Passenger-Seat-System-Interface
Statement of Candidacy (Board of Directors - Sections Director | 2022-2023 term)
I have been a long-time supporter of the IDSA. This has involved attending Chapter events, regional events, CES events, and Sustainability conferences; sending delegates to IDSA conferences; sponsoring several Southeast design projects, including at Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Appalachian State, and NC State; and helping with IDSA portfolio and student work reviews, both undergraduate and postgraduate.
Other IDSA involvement has included serving on the IDEA Jury and restarting the IDSA Transportation and Mobility Section.
As a company, we have entered and won IDEAs in the Gold, Silver, and Bronze categories in collaboration with design agencies such as TEAGUE and Tangerine, and with our own internal design group.
Before rebooting the Transportation and Mobility Section, I researched as to what was important to the Section members – what did they wish to see? A plan was then created, the results were published and agreed on. This resulted in a biannual presentation schedule and a wider focus of transportation/mobility interest in general. We have had leading figures from companies such as Priestman Goode, RTX Technologies and BMW Designworks present their latest work on trains, space, aircraft, automotive and mobility. The quality of the presentations has seen these recordings show up in other industry press. This increases IDSA presence exponentially.
Another goal is to help younger designers figure out how to build a design career for themselves and expose them to contemporary world-class design thinking – and to be able to ask questions. Future presentations are planned to add inclusion and accessibility with major nonprofit groups and academia working in these areas.
If elected, I would reach out to the Sections, to continue in a similar vein as above – to help each Section figure out what we like most and what needs to be improved. How might we improve overall consistency and how might we improve our professional knowledge base? Overall, we should seek to improve the ‘presence’ of our Professional Sections and how might they best interact with IDSA Chapters, and other special interest groups?
I am honored to be here and humbly seek your vote today, at the same time understanding how highly respected IDSA is seen around the world.
