Advisory Board

Ed Krug

Trained as an architect and a passionate follower of design, Ed has spent 30 years applying the discipline of design thinking acquired in A-School to business problems for organizations in industries ranging from architecture and graphic design to financial services and consumer products. As an avowed pragmatist in a world of creatives, Ed believes that Design Ignites Change’s focus on promoting design thinking as a means to create real societal change is exactly right.

Now a partner in HDesign, a multidisciplinary consulting and design firm, Ed is working with (mostly) design-related firms to improve their business development efforts through better planning, tools, process and execution.

The through-line of his career has been the challenge of building enthusiasm for designing and implementing operational solutions. He works with both small and large firms to improve the efficiency of the painfully left-brain side of their practices, specifically helping them to determine how to resource, designing more effective processes and measurements, building a rationale for whether and how to outsource, off-shore, engage agencies or build better in-house capability.

As VP and Principal of Aquent Consulting, Ed managed the development of a proprietary methodology for assessing and benchmarking creative services requirements for Fortune 500 marketing communications organizations, and for helping them conceive, design and build the right solution to meet them. Ed has also held senior analytical, general management and business development posts on both the east and west coasts, the UK and India for Pitney Bowes Management Services, Spherion, OfficeTiger and Satellier. He has been a popular speaker at industry events – despite his focus on the dreaded “production” side of creative.

A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Architecture, Ed exercises his right brain by building and renovating modernist houses on the eastern end of Long Island, and working with community organizations to build appreciation for the rich history of art and architecture on the East End.