The Experiential Design Authority Announces Esteemed Judging Panels for the 2025 ExSys Awards

The Experiential Design Authority (TEDA) is honored to unveil the distinguished professionals who served as judges for the 2025 ExSys Awards. These individuals, each a respected leader in experiential design, marketing, or brand strategy, lent their expertise to evaluate entries across categories celebrating the most innovative and effective exhibit systems of the year.

Divided into three panels, this year's ExSys Awards jury comprised 20 professionals from the experiential marketing and design industries.

Preliminary Panel

This year's initial round of evaluations was conducted by a select group of industry veterans with deep experience in trade show marketing, event strategy, and brand engagement:

• Glenda Brungardt, CTSM Diamond, former Global Event Manager for HP

• Brian Dukerschein, Manager of External Communications, Abbott

• Matt Jones, Founder, DXM Solutions

• Dee Silfies, Principal, Knowledge Hub

• Judy Volker, Founder, Volker Marketing Strategies

Their collective insights helped shape the shortlist of entries moving forward to final consideration.

Best Student Design Judging Panel

To ensure thoughtful assessment of tomorrow’s experiential leaders, TEDA assembled a diverse panel of professionals to judge the Best Student Design category — an award recognizing fresh perspectives and creative potential among student designers. This panel included:

• Casey Baron, Director of Creative, Storylink Creative

• Glenda Brungardt, CTSM Diamond, former Global Event Manager for HP

• Stephanie Chavez, CTSM, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, BlackPearl Technology

• Steve Deckel, CTSM, CEO, Deckel & Moneypenny

• Matt Jones, Founder, DXM Solutions

• John Pavek, Director of Partner Development, Willwork Global Event Services

• Michael Vallone, Vice President of Creative and Brand, Hill & Partners

• Judy Volker, Founder, Volker Marketing Strategies

Final Round Panel

The final stage of judging brought together a broader group of experiential design experts and brand leaders, whose combined experience spans disciplines from creative direction to large-scale production. These individuals reviewed top-ranked entries to determine this year’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze Award winners.

• Brian Dukerschein, Manager of External Communications, Abbott

• Dee Silfies, Principal, Knowledge Hub

• Frank Jones, Experiential Producer, A Team Experiences

• Jorge Reis Alves, Founder and Lab Master, Mind Trooper, Lisbon

• Liz Nacron, Partner, President of Creative and Production, Live Marketing

• Steve Riches, CEO & Principal, Laguna Displays

• Kerem Oba, Founder/General Manager, Capital Events Türkiye, Istanbul

• Allison Saget, Author and Event Marketing Consultant, EventBLT

• Al Mercuro, Strategic Marketing & Client Engagement Advisor, Genesis Exhibits

• Vickie Veljie, Chief Experience Officer, Kubik

• Alex Hill, Vice President, Experiential Solutions, Taylor Corp.

• Umaree Charnnarong, Creative Business Development Director, Index Creative Village, Bangkok

  
  

TEDA extends its sincere thanks to all judges for their time, expertise, and thoughtful evaluation of the many exemplary entries submitted to the 2025 ExSys Awards.