Michael Kurtz (Founder) is an award winning designer with over 15 years of international experience in Industrial Design, Interaction Design and Graphic Design. Michael has a degree in Industrial Design from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and a Master's Degree in Ergonomics & Usability from Loughborough University in Loughborough, UK.

Prior to launching MKiD, Michael worked for a number of years at Nortel's Corporate Design Group in Canada and Europe focusing on areas as diverse as mobile device design, network product design, remote collaboration, voice interfaces and interface design research. After leaving the corporate world for the brave new world of the dot coms, Michael honed his skills as an interface designer and evaluator working as Design Director for companies like DocSpace and Critical Path, in Toronto, Calgary and San Francisco.

Michael is a member of IDSA and the Usability Professionals Association.

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Alan Boykiw's experience spans both industry and academic fields. His most recent position was the Design Head at the Emily Carr Institute of Art Design & Media in Vancouver and Lead Design Researcher of the Rich Media Entertainment area in the New Media Innovation Centre. His research was focused on creating innovative forms of interactions and experiences in new media environments.

Alan holds a BID and MA from Carleton University. He has several industrial design patents and registrations to his credit as a result of his 25 years experience in the telecommunications industry. Major achievements include the role of lead industrial designer on the world’s first calling line ID phone (Maestro) and the ubiquitous business handset used across the Nortel portfolio. He was the design experience project manager in the conception and development of the end user interaction with VOIP systems implemented in the Nortel Network portfolio

Alan is also active in the design education field in curriculum development, advisory and teaching capacities.

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