industry NEWS

The Design Leadership Network Honors Ron Tumpowsky With the 2024 Design Leadership Award

On the final night of the Design Leadership Summit in Edinburgh last week, designers and industry leaders gathered at the National Museum of Scotland for the Design Leadership Award dinner, an annual celebration of leadership and community. The evening culminated in the posthumous presentation of this year’s award to the DLN’s late Partnerships Consultant, Ron Tumpowsky. ⁠Ron was an integral part of the DLN, leading its partnership program and fostering meaningful connections across the design industry, and his influence was on full display in Scotland.

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Photos: Sophie Davidson

The evening kicked off with opening remarks from the DLN’s Executive Director and CEO, Michael Diaz-Griffith, before 2017 DLA Honoree Nina Campbell took the stage for a broad-reaching reflection on her career, spanning stories from job sites while working underJohn Fowler to musings on the current creative industry.

While guests—comprising some 350 of the organization’s Members and Partners as well as design editors and Summit speakers—enjoyed a menu created by the acclaimed Scottish chef Martin Wishart, the DLN’s Editorial Director, Hadley Keller, invited David Calligeros and Kara Cox to give toasts memorializing Members Alice Kriz and Traci Zeller, both of whom passed away this year.

Then, following introductions from past honorees Jamie Drake (2023), Janice Parker (2022), and Jaime Rummerfield (2021), Michael Diaz-Griffith presented the 2024 Award, crafted by DLN Partner Formed For, to Ron’s wife, Jennifer Tumpowsky, on his behalf. Ron was memorialized in a video tribute featuring friends and colleagues before Jennifer delivered a moving speech on Ron’s life, impact, and sense of humor. The evening culminated in a traditional Highland bagpipe salute.

The Design Leadership Award celebrates a member of the DLN community who embodies the organization’s values of community, collaboration, and commitment to the design industry—someone who believes in doing good through design. Its honorees have included some of the world’s most celebrated designers, and now, its legacy includes a beloved and dearly missed part of the design industry.