2012 Judges

Karin Onsager-Birch
Creative Director
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco

Half Norwegian, half Mexican, Karin grew up in Oslo, Norway. After studying art and design in Switzerland she graduated with Distinction from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Karin is currently serving as a Creative Director at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners in San Francisco. During her more than decade long tenure at GSP she has created and managed award winning work for Adobe, Chevrolet, HP, Hyundai, Kayak.com, Nike and many more. Her work has received honors from Cannes, The One Show, The Clios, The New York Art Directors Show, The Effies and The Library of Congress. Karin loves a competitive challenge and counts HaagenDazs, Nintendo WiiFit, Banana Republic and Kayak.com among her new business wins for GSP. A guest speaker at The Academy of Art and Design in San Francisco and at Dejando Huella, the pan-American design conference in Queretaro, Mexico, she loves loves more than anything to connect with people, through insights about the shared human condition, beauty and story telling.

Greg Christensen
Brand Creative
The Richards Group, Dallas

Before joining The Richards Group, Greg was in Geneva, Switzerland working on international clients like Alfa Romeo, Nestle Purina, Caterpillar and Adobe. But he eventually grew tired of skiing in the Alps, eating chocolate, and living within a daytrip's distance of Paris and Milan. So he moved to Dallas.

Greg spent most of his pre-Euro career in Chicago (another city that scores low on the snow-capped mountains index) where his work was honored at the One Show, Cannes, and a couple other award shows that no longer exist.

A graduate of the VCU Adcenter before it became the VCU Brandcenter, he's taught several semesters at the Chicago Portfolio School, and is the co-author of makinads.com, a blog for portfolio school students.

Greg and his wife Suzy have four children, and if you visit their house, that's exactly what it sounds like.

Ray Page
Creative Director
Zaaz, Seattle

Ray has an expertise in user experience, creative strategy, and design. He understands the changing dynamics in how consumers engage with online content, that in turn impacts how best to communicate and lead them to new thinking and behavior. He's a committed and effective collaborator whose leadership and talent has been recognized through numerous industry awards, including Cannes, The One Show, Communication Arts, ADDYs, The Webbys, Macromedia Site of the Day and The Effies — just to name a few.

With a background in both traditional and digital mediums he's able to navigate relevant, integrated solutions with ease. Having spent a portion of his career in Tokyo, rubbing elbows with the folks over at Interbrand and Hakuhodo, he's developed a unique visual language. Combine this with his intimate knowledge of the possibilities of digital, and you realize why clients such as The North Face, Sonicare, McDonald's, Microsoft, Amtrak, Holland America, Coca-Cola, Chateau Ste. Michelle, and Japan Airlines have sought his creative insight.

He spent time at Tribal DDB where he led the digital expansion and acted as creative lead for the Issues and Advocacy division. He has worked with nonprofit organizations and philanthropic foundations to bring people and resources together that resulted in social and policy change.