Interactive symposium highlights successful alumni

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William Snyder, Christopher Edwards, Patricia Moore and Renato Libric

Rochester Institute of Technology alumni making significant impacts on the world will share their insights into the importance of creativity and innovation to their success during an interactive symposium next week.

The Creativity and Innovation Alumni Spotlight Symposium—part of two days of events commemorating the inauguration of RIT President David Munson—is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, inside Ingle Auditorium in the Student Alumni Union on the RIT campus. The event is free and open to the public.

“This is going to be a tremendous symposium, one befitting of a presidential inauguration,” said Robin Cass, interim dean of the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences (CIAS). “Each of these panelists is making a real impact on the world, and I’m extremely proud that they all had their start at RIT, including CIAS.”

Munson will introduce participants for the symposium, which will be moderated by Jeremy Haefner, RIT provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

The four RIT alumni scheduled to participate are:

• Christopher Edwards ’97 (film and animation), a renowned 3D layout and animation artist at The Walt Disney Co. Now founder and CEO of The Third Floor, billed as the world’s largest international previsualization company, Edwards has helped design many notable commercials, game cinematics and featured films, including Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Marvel’s The Avengers and Gravity. He also launched Hydra Entertainment, a production company developing unique story-driven franchises.
• Renato Libric ’03 (hotel and resort management), named Entrepreneur Magazine’s No. 1 entrepreneur to be followed for 2017. He is widely recognized as a U.S. and European serial entrepreneur, investor and speaker on topics such as new technologies, social entrepreneurship, positive education, sustainability and transportation. Following a decade in commercial real estate, Libric founded and became CEO of Bouxtie Inc., a company seeking to disrupt the $400 billion global gift card market.
• William Snyder ’81 (photography), a four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and chair of the photojournalism program in RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. His Pulitzer Prizes included coverage of a 1985 plane crash, documenting desperate conditions of ill and orphaned children in Romania, the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2006. In addition to winning numerous photo industry awards, Snyder has served as the official photographer for the rock band The Who.
• Patricia Moore ’74 (industrial design), recognized by ID Magazine as one of the “40 Most Socially Conscious Designers” in the world. Moore, an internationally renowned industrial designer, gerontologist and author of Disguised: A True Story, is a leading authority on consumer lifespan behaviors and requirements. For three years, disguised as an elderly woman, she traveled extensively to help her respond to people, products and environments as an elder.