Committees
The EPIC community is driven by the vision, expertise, and hard work of our members. Independent committees develop conference programming and run the show.
Conference Chairs

Co-Chair
Marta Cuciurean-Zapan
Marta Cuciurean-Zapan is a design researcher and Director based in IDEO’s Chicago studio. She’s a six-time EPIC presenter and facilitator since 2014. As a co-lead of Research and Insights at IDEO in North America, she is focused on building innovative research approaches, futures perspectives, and the intersection of content, belonging, and culture in teamwork. Marta brings this lens across industries, including mobility and financial services. Her previous work includes user experience at Uptake, pioneering an industrial analytics platform, and Conifer Research. Marta also teaches human centered research and design at DePaul University. She has an MA in Cultural Anthropology from Temple University and a BA in Anthropology and Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University. She enjoys hanging out, arts and crafts with her daughter, and running slowly through Chicago’s city streets and parks.

Co-Chair
Evan Hanover
Evan Hanover is an anthropologist and Director at Conifer Research in Chicago. At Conifer, he is passionate about his teams bringing keen anthropological and semiotic lenses to their work. He has done this for clients on topics ranging from healthcare to boating to innovation ethics. He has been an EPIC regular since 2014—presenting, serving on the Pecha Kucha and Tutorials Committees, and occasionally just attending as a civilian. Evan has degrees in Anthropology from the University of Chicago and Cornell University and continues to be surprised and delighted daily that he is using them. In his less ethnographic moments, he tries to make his family laugh, does production photography for several Chicago storefront theaters, and practices the art of soup making.
Case Studies

Co-Chair
Ryoko Imai
Hitachi

Co-Chair
Autumn Sanders
Quire Consulting, LLC

Gillian Bowan
Atlassian

Yuliya Grinberg
Drew University

Mithula Naik
Canadian Digital Service, Government of Canada

Juliana Saldarriaga
A Piece of Pie

Michael Thomas
Space Doctors

Lindsey Wallace
Cisco
Papers

Co-Chair
Karl Mendonca

Co-Chair
Jillian Powers
JP Morgan Chase

Todd Carmody
Gemic

Sophie Goodman
SEC Newgate Australia

Oskar Korkman
Alice Labs

Tiffany Romain
Intel

Louise Vang Jensen
Is It a Bird
PechaKucha

Co-Chair
Letizia Nardi
InProcess

Co-Chair
Laura Reiss
EY Design

Sue Faulkner
Intel

Almina Karya Odabasi
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Rogerio Lourenco
Cross Project Resources

Nora Morales
Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Cuajimalpa

Brandy Parker
IDEO

Traci Thomas
Boston Consulting Group
Visual Ethnography

Chair
Charley Scull
Graduate Colloquium

Chair
Matt Bernius
Code for America
Site Chairs

Co-Chair
Kim Erwin
Institute of Design at Illinois Tech

Co-Chair
John Payne
Institute of Design at Illinois Tech
Accessibility

Kate Mesh
Open Inclusion

Emily Nickolson
Amazon

Gregory Weinstein
CVS Health