Laura Haynes of Appetite has been appointed as President of the design Business Association(DBA),taking over from outgoing President Nick Ramshaw of Thompson Brands.
Laura is Chairman of Appetite,a brand and communications agency based in London and North America.She is also a Board Director of a number of other international organisations including UN Women,UK,the Alberta Ballet and the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts(Canada).Laura has been involved with the DBA for many years and chaired the design Effectiveness Awards.She was intimately involved in the development of the new DBA vision and strategy,and hopes to further embed its position as the Bridge between Design and Business during her two-year term."There are a number of key issues facing our industry,its place in the UK economy and its future,and I hope to influence not only the way in which we work,but also the way in which we are viewed within the wider worlds of business,education and government."
"Laura's passion for the industry,her commitment to the impact of design in business and experience to network and influence at the highest corporate and government level is a perfect skills set to support the next phase in the DBA's development,"commented Deborah Dawton,DBA Chief Executive.
"I am particularly looking forward to learning from Laura's international experience which is incredibly important at the time when the eyes of the world are on the UK design and the DBA is working on supporting the sector to live up to its global reputation."
Laura Haynes will represent the DBA,in its work with other design organisations and on the Parliamentary Design Commission,which aims to explore how design can drive economic and social improvement and how government and business can better understand the importance of design.
"I look forward to strengthening the DBA's ability to influence the policy agenda in the UK as well as enhancing the design industry's reputation through existing programmes like the DBA's Design Effectiveness Awards,"said Haynes."However,my main challenge as the DBA President is helping to deliver the new vision for the DBA including the launch of the new Corporate Membership scheme aimed at the buyers of design and the new DBA Directory,a unique business resource which will change the way in which design is bought in this country."
The delivery of the new DBA vision will be further supported by the appointment of three business sector board directors to the DBA later in 2011.
