Title
Imagine RIT Futurist Symposium 2021 - The Future of Technology, the Arts, & Design
Date:
Saturday, May 1, 2021
Time:
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Location:
Zoom Videoconferencing
Registration is required to attend. Register for the Zoom event by clicking here, and you’ll receive an email confirmation with the video conferencing details.
The symposium will feature:
Ben Meunier '03, VP of Global Product Strategy at Oakley
Gregory Smith '06, Head of Characters and Technical Animation & Brittney Lee '06, Visual Development Artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios
Matthew Peltier '13, Founder and CEO of Community
Dimple Joseph '18, Front Line Leader, Operations at Abbott Rapid Diagnostics
Panelist Bios:
Ben Meunier '03 is a consumer product veteran with over 18 years of experience bringing innovative products to life. He currently serves as the Vice President of Global Product Strategy at Oakley. He believes that the best products, use a blend of art and science to solve a consumer’s need/problem. Prior to this role, he spent 13 years in the Research and Development Group at Oakley, four of which he held the title of Vice President. During that time he launched many new technologies and products to market, a few examples are PRIZM, Laser Protective Lenses, and two wearable electronics, Inferno & Radar Pace. During his time at RIT he spent two years in the Industrial Design program, before he transitioned to the Electrical/Mechanical Engineering Technologies. Upon graduation he spent 5 years working at a small product testing laboratory in Rochester NY, where he found his passion for leadership, innovation/creativity and product development. Wanting to be more involved in product development, he took a job at Oakley, and upon walking in the building saw “Science Wrapped in Art” on the wall and has been hooked ever since. He and his family currently reside in San Clemente, California and can be found in his free time fishing or working on projects with his two sons.
Gregory Smith '06 is an animation veteran with 15 years working on feature animated films. He currently serves as a Head of Characters and Technical Animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios. In this role, Smith leads a team of over 65 artists and supervisors in the creation of all of a film’s characters, their hair and cloth simulation and final polish. He draws on his expertise in problem solving, artistry and leadership to help his team achieve some of the most sophisticated and appealing animated films made today. After graduating from The School of Film and Animation at RIT, Smith began his career in the R&D group at Laika Animation where he honed his knowledge of programming and pipeline design on their first film “Coraline”. Then in 2009, Smith joined Walt Disney Animation Studios as a rigging and technical animation artist on the hit film “Tangled”. Since then, he has held a breadth of artistic and leadership roles across films such as “Wreck-It-Ralph I & II”, Academy Award® winning “Frozen” and “Zootopia”, and most recently “Frozen 2”. Hailing from Pennsylvania, Smith became interested in filmmaking and animation at a young age. Films like “Aladdin”, “Jurassic Park” and “Toy Story” showed the possibilities of storytelling in a medium seemingly without restrictions. He and his family currently reside in Los Angeles, where they spend their days like most parents today - balancing school and work from home.
Brittney Lee ’06 is a Visual Development artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios. In her work, Brittney helps to inspire and illustrate ideas from the early concept stages all the way through to the final production of a film. She has spent the last decade contributing inspirational and production artwork for films such as Wreck-it Ralph, Frozen, Zootopia, Moana, Frozen 2, and Raya and the Last Dragon. She has also contributed to many of the studio’s short films such as Paperman, Get a Horse, Feast, Frozen Fever, and most recently served as the Production Designer for the VR short film Myth: A Frozen Tale. A 2006 graduate of the School of Film and Animation at RIT, Brittney knew that she would pursue a career in animation from the moment she saw The Little Mermaid at age 6. Brittney currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two cats, and can be found spending her free time in her home studio experimenting with paper art.
Matthew Peltier '13 is the CEO and founder of Community, the company that powers direct relationships and one-on-one conversations between Leaders and their Members through text messaging at scale. Matt launched Community in 2019, alongside his co-founder Josh Rosenheck. Today the company is breaking new ground in trusted marketing and communications channels by connecting Leaders- global pop culture stars, local community organizers, small business owners, media companies, and brands- to their Members to drive conversations that convert into actions, sales, revenue and more. Prior to starting Community, Matthew was CEO and founder at Shimmur, a Sony Ventures, Greycroft and Arena-backed company that built solutions to help artists, brands and public figures engage with their audience at scale. Shimmur pivoted into Community in 2018. For more information on Matt, people are encouraged to text him at 716-330-3003.
Dimple Joseph '18 is a graduate of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering and has been with Abbott for 3 years. She started as an intern on the Business Excellence team while in college and joined full time in May 2018 after graduating. In her first role as an Industrial Engineer, she spent her time helping the business identify areas of opportunity and executing actions needed to improve and grow. Being process & behavior oriented, Dimple’s work allowed her to be flexible and contribute to multiple areas of the Abbott Neuromodulation business such as Manufacturing, Operations, Research & Development and Sales. She recently transitioned to the Abbott Rapid Diagnostics business unit as a Front Line Leader where she supervises the production of BinaxNOW, Abbott’s COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test. Dimple is passionate about fostering an environment of continuous improvement and digital inclusion. She stays professionally active by advocating for STEM education, upskilling her digital and lean knowledge, and listening to audiobooks and podcasts.
Evan Dawson, our symposium moderator, joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007. Evan is also the author of Summer in a Glass: The Coming Age of Winemaking in the Finger Lakes and is the managing editor/Finger Lakes editor for the New York Cork Report, a web site that offers independent news, reviews, and commentary about the New York wine industry. He has written freelance articles on topics including politics, wine, travel, and Major League Baseball.
If you have any questions, please contact Jon Rodibaugh.
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