Board of Directors

Betsy Knorr
President, Board of Directors

Betsy Knorr has over 30 years of experience driving strategy and execution uniquely balancing strategic planning, business development, operations, and information technology delivery. She is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Marpai Health focusing on utilizing artificial intelligence to change the overall healthcare experience for their members leveraging leading edge technology.

Betsy has deep experience driving change in multiple industries including manufacturing, oil and gas, and finance with a focus on healthcare for the last 20 years. She has played many roles from leading major change programs to driving business development as a Chief of Staff, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer. Betsy has managed a book of business of over $250,000,000 and has extensive experience from operations to finance and customer satisfaction.

David Simon
Director of Strategic Planning, Board of Directors

Dave Simon is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Memo Furniture, a design-driven contract furniture company based in Seattle. Dave brings a wide breadth of design and management experience gained from over two decades of creative leadership within the furniture industry. His prior roles have spanned from design author to senior management at notable brands such as Metro Furniture, Brandrud, and Herman Miller.

Dave’s leadership is marked by a drive to discover new value and a belief that design is inherently multi-faceted; requiring not only a sensibility around form and function but consideration of the entire eco-system linked to a design’s execution. Dave lives near Seattle on Bainbridge Island with his wife and two sons and enjoys cooking, cycling, and paddle boarding the local waters of the Puget Sound.

Mia Lewin
Board of Directors

Mia is an experienced start-up and technology executive at the intersection of eCommerce, design and lifestyle industries. For over 25 years, she has held roles in tech from every angle of the ecosystem in B2C and B2B, internet and mobile, AI and personalization. She has started and scaled startups, and as Founder CEO of 3 design-centric start-ups (with 2 exits) she has partnered with hundreds of brands and designers, 800 design & architecture firms and raised tens of millions of dollars from angel investors and large reputable VCs in Silicon Valley, New York, Pacific Northwest and Europe. As Head of Product, in two publicly traded companies, she leveraged her start-up experience and set forth and executed on ambitious innovation agendas driving $1-5bn of annual GMV and $200-$500M of annual growth. As an early stage VC she invested $50M+ in early-stage start-ups across Europe, Israel and the US and as investment banker she advised on M&A exits generating over $1.5Bn of shareholder value. Currently as an Independent Board Member and Venture Advisor, she advises, coaches and mentors Founders and CEOs and Boards across strategy, fundraising, strategic partnerships, hiring and growth, making introductions to partners, investors and employees. Mia is passionate about supporting her “portfolio of impact” and is involved in design, sustainability, climate tech, edTech, social ventures, and leveraging the latest in tech, personalization and (generative) AI.

Brian Graham
Treasurer, Board of Directors

Brian is a accomplished Designer, Advocate and Business Leader. Brian offers a strategic approach in the design, development and marketing of workplace & healthcare furniture. “I’m an interior designer who has evolved into a furniture designer, and it informs everything that I do. While it's important to understand the object that we're designing, it’s even more vital to understand how it’s going to be used. That’s why planning is the foundation of everything that we do.” Graham’s design solutions have been recognized by the most prestigious organizations in the U.S., including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), The International Interior Design Association (IIDA), The Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA), The International Facilities Management Association and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design’s GOOD Design Program.

Creative Competence IDO Mentor Board of Directors Education

Angela Clark
Board of Directors

Angela is a design and product development executive with a passion for creative leadership that contributes to the greater good. She has robust design and product development experience at leading international brands, notably IKEA and Pottery Barn. Her career has spanned from designing medical devices, exercise equipment, and fragrance delivery systems to decor, furniture, and storage solutions for the home. Having earned multiple design awards and patents, she brings her creative thinking, design, strategy, and business expertise into developing products, services, and experiences that have a lasting positive impact.

An adjunct professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art, her alma mater, she teaches Marketing & Design and Professional Practices Entrepreneurship. Angela has served IDO as Mentor, Managing Director, and Program Director, opening the chapter model in Cleveland. Additionally, she continues her entrepreneurial spirit as an operator in start-up organizations. She believes in the power of design to create positive change in people's lives and our communities.

Board of Directors Emeritus

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Martin Linder
Founder, Board President Emeritus

Martin Linder is the Founder of IDO, an industrial designer with MSL Design, Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University, and community actionist. A MFA graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art his innovative work includes InVision Technologies and Reveal Imaging’s explosive detection system industrial and software design programs which are utilized in public transportation facilities throughout the world. His award-winning furniture designs for companies, including Steelcase Inc., Knoll International Design America, and Herman Miller grace the worlds businesses, hospitals, and homes.

For these achievements, Martin has been honored with the IDEA Industrial Design Excellence international award, the Nightingale Health Care Product Innovation award, and the Progressive Architecture Furniture Innovation award. In addition to his success as an industrial designer, Martin has also distinguished himself as a design educator holding the title of Emeritus Full Tenured Professor.

His education and community activities have been honored with the Jefferson Public Service, Core 77 Education Innovation, Sarlo Distinguished Faculty Awards, and recognition in Most Admired Design Professors in Academia by Design Intelligence. San Francisco State University has honored Martin with an endowed scholarship in his name.

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Grant Specht
Secretary, Board of Directors Emeritus

Grant Specht has a long history of working for nonprofit organizations, including over 28 years as a legal aid attorney providing free legal assistance and representation to low-income, disabled and elderly clients.

Grant worked at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles for 16 years, where he served as a Directing Attorney from 2003 to 2018, including four years as the Directing Attorney of its North Hollywood office. From 2002 to 2003, he served as a Bet Tzedek staff attorney and Training and Litigation Supervisor.

His previous work includes 12 years with Channel Counties Legal Services Association, first as a staff attorney and later as Managing Attorney of the firm’s Ventura County office in Oxnard, California. Prior to his work with Channel Counties he served as a Deputy Public Defender with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s office.

Grant graduated cum laude from Yale University in 1980 and received his J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1985. He is admitted to practice in California and the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Programming Leadership

Amy Berk
Program Director, SF

Amy is an artist and art educator who directs City Studio, the San Francisco Art Institute’s award-winning youth studio program offering underserved youth high-quality arts education in their own neighborhoods. She has taught at SFAI since 2006, serving as Chair for the Contemporary Practice program from 2011 to 2013, and has taught “City as Studio Practicum,” offering practical teaching experience to the SFAI student body since 2010. In 1996, she co-founded the innovative Meridian Interns Program serving inner-city teens and has taught in the Post-Baccalaureate program at UCBX since 2004. Since 2019 she and Chris Treggiari have collaborated on ARTIVATE, creating opportunities for youth to explore artmaking and citizenship in the public sphere. She is looking forward to working with all of the mentors at IDO and creating some dynamic projects. She remains committed to giving teens (and adults) a much-needed voice, a safe place in which to speak and helping them find the proper tools to do so.