School of Interaction & UI/UX Design Faculty
Doug Van Praet
Executive Director
School of Brand Communications
Doug is a leading branding expert, brand strategist, management consultant and industry best-selling author. He’s recognized as a pioneer in the application of behavioral science to brand and marketing innovation. Doug’s applied psychology methodology for inspiring and optimizing data-driven brand growth and change management draws from Unconscious Behaviorism and is grounded in evolutionary and social psychology, behavioral economics, and cognitive science.
Doug has positioned some of the world’s most iconic brands through results-oriented, award-winning campaigns with demonstrable financial and social ROI (Return on Investment). His proprietary approach has helped generate billions of impressions in earned media and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue growth. He has worked with leading advertisers and brands like Volkswagen, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, General Motors, Toyota, Lexus, Nike, Burger King, AB InBev, Dr Pepper, Snapple, Neutrogena, DIRECTV, Bank of America, City National Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Mitsubishi, etc. He has also worked with leading nonprofit brands including World Vision, Mercy Ships, Concern Worldwide, International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, etc.
Anna Villano
Executive Director
School of Brand Communications
Anna is a trained graphic designer with a background in architecture. From managing design departments to leading creative teams at digital agencies her career has spanned many areas in marketing communications. She’s been on the forefront of the evolution from pre-digital to post-digital and the use of various social media platforms for ad campaigns.
She was a Creative Director at VaynerMedia, a disruptive award-winning social media agency led by digital pioneer Gary Vaynerchuk. At VaynerMedia Anna oversaw multiple creative teams to create some of the most innovative and successful ad campaigns. She’s an expert in understanding how the social media and ad machine really work and how they influence viewers’ buying decisions.
In addition, she’s worked at top-tier agencies such as Deutsch LA, FCB, and Rapp. She’s worked with big name clients like Volkswagen, Taco Bell, Microsoft, Neutrogena, Unilever, Naked Juice, Noosa Yoghurt, Sonic Drive-In, Toyota, City National Bank and P&G, to name a few.
Anna helped create one of the biggest QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) campaigns to date, the Taco Bell Doritos Loco Tacos campaign. It was Taco Bell’s most successful product launch in history and helped build Taco Bell’s fanbase on social media to 1.2 million Instagram followers and 10 million on Facebook.
She was a professor at the University of California Los Angeles teaching graphic design and digital media. Her passion is helping students find their direction in the creative space and guiding their career choices.
She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley in Architecture and a Master of Fine Arts in Media Design and Communications from ArtCenter College of Design.
She was a judge for numerous Addy Awards and has received awards in digital design.
