Jeevak has vast experience speaking at national and international events & conferences on topics at the intersection of design, business, and innovation. Scroll down to see his bio, experience, speaker recordings, verbatims, and more.
Whether addressing a leadership roundtable or a conference, Jeevak is an experienced speaker who inspires groups with his threefold hybrid perspective of blending creative design, inventive engineering and strategic business capabilities to leverage integrated product design & design thinking into company-wide aspirations for sustainable growth.
Fast Facts:
- Principal & Director of Strategic Growth at Sundberg-Ferar
- 27 years professional design experience
- Keynote Speaker at both national & international conferences at the intersection of design, innovation and business, virtual and in-person (details below)
- Executive MBA from Eli Broad College of Business
- Master’s degree in Industrial Design from the prestigious IIT Bombay
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering from Pune University, India
- FIDSA (Fellow of the Industrial Design Society of America)
- Board member of several design organizations and think tanks (details below)
Jeevak innately understands the core innovation practice and the contemporary product development methodology as well as prevailing market dynamics and the meticulous placement and the function of design in that framework.
Jeevak’s knowledge and upbeat, percussive delivery makes a thrilling impression, as do the insights he introduces, like the realization that industrial design is a field each of us has been deeply engaged with since birth. He leads audiences on a journey that allows people across multiple sectors to uncover the emotionalvalue of objects and to discover their role in the evolutionary history of making and using things.
It’s revealing for audiences to realize how much they intuitively know about design! Jeevak is a nimble and humorous facilitator and harnesses provocative questions from the audience to expand the collective conversation leading to a shared sense of possibility and the willingness to connect to others in the room.
Experience
- 27 years of Professional Design Experience, including Sundberg-Ferar Design Studio, ASC, GM Design Studio, Tata Motors, Tata-Johnson Controls
Education
- Executive MBA, Michigan State University, Eli Broad College of Business. (Go Green!)
- Master’s in Industrial Design, Indian Institute of Technology, IDC, IIT – Powaii, Bombay.
- Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, Pune University, India.
Board Member
- IDSA, Industrial Designer’s Society of America
- MDC : Michigan Design Council
- SHiFT : Aether Learning Group
- Design Core Detroit
A Few Speaking Topics
Fundamentals of Industrial Design Thinking
Humanizing Innovation
Business of Design
The Holy Trinity: Product-Brand-Marketing
10 Myths about ID
The Function of Beauty in Product Design
How Sustainable Design Fuels Business Growth
Previous Speaking Engagements:
IDSA: Emcee – 2020 International Design Conference (virtual) | Chair – International Design Conference, Atlanta Georgia | Speaker – International Design Conference, Portland, OR
DMI Design Leadership Conference, Boston, MA
PDMA Annual Conference & Research Forum, Orlando, FL
Guest Lecturer: MSU, U of M, CCS (College for Creative Studies), LTU, OU
The Future of Autonomous Vehicle Interiors Conference, Detroit, MI
Society of Plastics Engineers TPO Conference, Detroit, MI
SAE World Congress, Detroit, MI
Business Innovation Conference, Chicago, IL
Wards Auto, Interior Conference, Detroit, MI
IDEA Week at Notre Dame
Aether Summit, Chattanooga, TN
SHiFT Space Camp, Huntsville, AL
ConneXt LIVE! series by CX Forums
PLASTICS Industry Association Meeting, Detroit, MI
Detroit Economic Club Young Leaders Seminar
Click on the images below to watch Jeevak’s most recent talks!
Selected quotes and verbatims:
“If we as a civilization are to keep progressing, it will always fall on design.”
“Products are the ‘containers’ of the very fabric of our society, arts and culture. The everyday objects we use are and always have been the most clear and tangible expression of how we live on this globe. They are the physical and long-lasting ‘markers’ of who we are as humans.”
“ID is among a handful of disciplines that really, really values and strives to improve the human condition. Not just the intrinsic value—but fundamental, instrumental value. Whatever the world throws at us—digitization, electrification, sensorification, autonomy or connectivity—industrial designers surmount barriers by leveraging them as the building blocks to connect to humanity.”
“Design is the reflection of pop culture around us, but also make sure to isolate the distortion due bad behaviors set in the first place by bad designed products.”
– Jeevak Badve
“It’s no longer just about the styling aspects or even an end-user centered product design. Instead, the curation of the total experience in a given ecosystem will be paramount for the benefit of humanity on this biosphere” – Jeevak
Contact Jeevak:
Jeevak Badve, Principal & Director of Strategic Growth | SundbergFerar.com
jeevak@sundbergferar.com | Linkedin
About Sundberg-Ferar
Born in 1934, right here in Metro Detroit, Sundberg-Ferar, a product innovation studio, is the second longest standing independent design studio in the United States. We enhance and advance the spirit of innovation by blending form and function to make our clients products unique and the most compelling ones in the market place.
SF is in the business of designing products that move people – it’s that simple. We create extraordinary experiences that identify and exploit uncontested market spaces. Through our unique innovation process, we cross-reference ideal user experiences with competitors’ vulnerabilities. We navigate the market complexity to identify the right kind of different.
