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Cooper-Hewitt Museum
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New Cooper-Hewitt Museum trustees
(l-r) Todd Waterbury, Avi Reichental and Jon Iwata.
President and CEO of 3D Systems Avi Reichental has been appointed to the prestigious board of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York by the Smithsonian Institution's board of regents in Washington DC.
The head of one of the biggest 3D printing companies in the world has been given this honour along with Senior Vice-President and Executive Creative Director of Marketing at Target Corporation Todd Waterbury, and Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Communications at IBM Jon Iwata.
Cooper-Hewitt Director Caroline Baumann enthusiastically welcomed the three business giants to the board.
She said: "As we start the countdown to our reopening in late 2014, it is absolutely thrilling to welcome to our board of trustees Jon, Avi and Todd, each of whom is passionate about the future of the nation's design museum and its impact on visitors worldwide.
"Both Jon and Todd will be of vital assistance in providing innovative marketing ideas and connections for promoting the new museum, and Avi will be instrumental in helping Cooper-Hewitt integrate digital technology into a transformative visitor experience."
Led by Chairperson Barbara Mandel and President Beth Comstock, the board of Cooper-Hewitt includes 36 civic and business leaders who are dedicated to the institution's growth and development.
Reichental said he was "honoured" and "thrilled" to be considered for a place within this distinguished group. The recipient of the regional 2011 EY Entrepreneur of the Year award and the 2012 Financial Times Boldness in Business award, Reichental already serves as Faculty Chair of the Digital Fabrication Program at Singularity University and is a member of the XPRIZE innovation board and the National Children's Oral Health Foundation board, AKA America's ToothFairy.
He said: "I am honored and humbled to become part of Cooper-Hewitt, our national design museum, and thrilled to help this national treasure expand its mission and reach by harnessing the latest 3D design and printing tools."
Iwata heads up IBM's marketing, communications and citizenship arm, which is responsible for the marketing of IBM's portfolio of products and services, market development and insights, communications and corporate affairs and stewardship of the IBM brand. He is chairman of the IBM Strategy Team, which focuses on the company’s long-term strategic issues and opportunities and is a member of the IBM Operating Team, responsible for day-to-day marketplace execution. Iwata is Vice-Chairman of the IBM International Foundation and serves on the board of directors of the Japan Society.
He remarked: "I am deeply honoured to be elected a trustee of Cooper-Hewitt, especially at this historic and exciting time for the museum. Design, broadly understood, has never been more central to re-imagining and transforming how our world works,and no institution plays a more vital role in shaping the meaning and relevance of design than Cooper-Hewitt."
Waterbury is responsible for establishing the creative direction of Target's marketing efforts and leading an internal team of art directors, designers, developers, writers and producers, as well as its external agency partners. He joined Target in 2013 from the consulting company he founded, working with national and international clients. Prior to that, Waterbury served as Co-Executive Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy New York, an agency where he oversaw campaigns for brands ranging from Nike to Delta Airlines. His work has received numerous design and advertising awards and is included in the permanent collections of the Guggenheim and The Museum of Modern Art.
"I’m honoured to join this prestigious organisation and devote my time to accelerating the influence of great design,” he said.
