Cultivating Creative Professionals
Tuesday | Oct 18, 2022
9 am - 11 am
Join us for a panel discussion on how local colleges and universities are preparing students to transition from school to the workforce, and how they can work with local organizations to be a catalyst for diversifying our creative workforce.
Meet our Panelists
Don Button
Don is a professor of Design & Digital Media at Sacramento City College. As a professional graphic designer, art director, and photographer since 1987, he has devoted his career to creating bold, innovative visual communication, dramatic imagery, and “preaching the gospel of form and function".
Although the bulk of his experience is in publication design and art direction, his portfolio includes work in identity, marketing, websites, menus, signage, environmental graphics, photography and illustration. His design work has received over two dozen individual and group awards, and has been featured in both Print and How Magazines.
As a full-time educator, Don has taught digital design and software courses since 1999 and specialize in page layout, digital imaging and illustration, user interface design, and portfolio development.
Natalie Rishe
Natalie Rishe is a professor and the Department Chair for the Applied Art & Design program at Sierra College where she teaches classes in web and interaction design, graphic design, portfolio development, and digital art. She is actively involved in supporting students as they transition from education into industry and is interested in working with the creative professional community to develop work-based learning opportunities and professional development opportunities to help bridge this gap for emerging creatives.
Bill Mead
Enthusiastic about teaching, learning and working with students. Deeply creative and always playful. Frequently engrossed in solving complex puzzles. Thoroughly engaged in the design and web development industry. A visual learner with an analytical mind. Introspective and always striving for improvement.
Bill teaches in the UC Davis Design department, as well as for the UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education department. He also teaches web design, web development and UX/UI courses for American River College, Sacramento City College and Sierra College. He taught at and helped run the Art Institute of Sacramento for ten years, until it closed at the end of 2018.
Bill has mentored and helped many students get started in their design and web development careers over the past 15 years. He remains very proud and gratified to have been a part of so many people’s professional lives.
John Forrest
Professor Forrest teaches Graphic Design and has served as the Department of Design Chair at Sacramento State on two separate occasions. He teaching career spans 22 years and three institutions. In addition to his 19 years at Sacramento State Professor Forrest taught as a full time lecturer at Cuyahoga Community College and as an adjunct faculty member at Kent State University both in Ohio. His teaching centers on preparing students to work with clients, understand the importance of audience and context while working to find beauty in form while communicating. Along with his teaching and administrative responsibilities at Sacramento State Professor Forrest continues his professional practice as a partner in Interval Press, and principal designer at Forrest McClain. Professor Forrest is a graduate of Kent State University's School of Visual Communication Design.
Lauren Kelly
Lauren operates at the intersection of design + technology, bringing together creativity and technical excellence. A true geek, Lauren has designed, built, and deployed web-based products for over 20 years. Since graduating from UC Davis, where she studied Design and Managerial Economics, Lauren has worked on projects for Instagram, YouTube, Reagan Presidential Library, Mount Vernon Presidential Library, Shutterstock, Gensler, Wells Fargo, HP, Intel, McAfee, Maxim Integrated, Intersil, Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, the University of Technology in Sydney, and Stanford University.
In her free time Lauren created Wayfindit, a web-based application designed to streamline the process of auditing physical spaces in environments such as hospitals, health-care campuses, retail stores, and universities. Lauren served as the San Francisco Chapter Chair of SEGD and has served on the board of AIGA SF as the Programming Co-Chair. She currently serves as the Technology Chair for the Junior League of Sacramento and as Treasurer of Capitol Creative Alliance.
Craig Martinez
I am a former self-employed graphic artist with over 25 years experience, but I now have a rewarding career as a full-time instructor of graphic design at American River College. This new career has also allowed me to put the long desired time and energy into my fine art career. My interest and excitement for graphic arts have not declined since leaving the private industry. I have continued to find this creative and ever changing industry as challenging and rewarding as ever.
Paul McClure
After graduating from UC Davis, Paul started his advertising career in San Francisco where he worked with national clients including Orville Redenbacher Popcorn and E. & J. Gallo Wines, while enjoying the final years of the Mad Men era.
A few years later, Paul moved to Los Angeles to pursue his girlfriend, Beth (now his wife of 31 years) and begin a stretch leading retail clients including Bally’s Health and Tennis and Albertsons Grocery.
In 1993, Paul and Beth relocated to Sacramento where they have raised their family and immersed themselves in the community, including 15 years at Glass McClure Advertising before moving over to RSE.
Today, Paul is one of the owners and Advertising Director of Runyon Saltzman, Inc. (RSE), a 70-person agency that surpassed $175 million dollars in revenue in 2021. Paul is especially proud of helping to launch the careers of others in the industry, many of whom have ascended to high-profile positions, even starting their own ad agencies.
In addition to his work, Paul has served as Board President for The Sacramento Ad Club, Cristo Rey High School, Wind Youth Services and Business Volunteers for the Arts. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for PBS-KVIE and Los Rios Colleges Foundation. He is a past Board Member of Positive Coaching Alliance, Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society Foundation, Metro Chamber, United Way, and the San Juan Education Foundation. He has been named the Ad Executive of the Year, and last year, received the Oh So Sacramento honor from the Sacramento Ad Club.