Mark Heaps

Mark Heaps

Mark Heaps is the VP of Brand & Creative for the AI accelerator company Groq Inc. where he oversees the expression and execution of design concepts and campaigns. Previously he was the Executive Creative Director for his wife’s agency, Heaps LLC, where they specialized in communication design solutions for Fortune500 corporations like Google, E&J Gallo, and CapitalOne. He was the former Director of Development at Duarte Inc, an award-winning communication design agency. Mark has received the Max Masters Award for his sessions multiple times at Adobe Max, as voted by attendees. He is a published author, photographer, designer but prefers the label “Professional Creative”. If he’s not working on a project, he’s hanging with his kids in nature, riding motorcycles, or playing music.

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Russell Viers

Russell Viers

Russell has been doing this a long time. This year he celebrates 41 years as a professional in, and around, the publishing world. He also celebrates 25 years as a public speaker and trainer. “When I started as a reporter/photographer we had typesetters and darkrooms,” Russell laments. “I don’t miss either.” Russell started in the “desktop publishing” world with PageMaker in 1987 and has used all of the industry tools extensively since. In addition to training, he is hired to work on projects that allow him to push the limits of the software so he gets to practice what he preaches. “I don’t show anything to an audience that I haven’t used on a real project,” Russell said. “It allows me to know the nuances of a feature…the things you don’t know until you really push it.” You can catch Russell’s live stream, which he does with Julia Zieger, regularly on Behance: https://www.behance.net/digiversitytv/livestreams.

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Colin Smith

Colin Smith is a Los Angeles based trainer, designer and photographer. He is founder of one of the world’s most popular websites for creators, PhotoshopCAFE.com. Which has received over 50 million visitors.

As an award-winning digital artist, Colin has 3 guru awards under his belt. His work has been featured in most of the industry magazines as well as Time Magazine and the New York Times.

His client list includes, Toyo Tires, Microsoft, Saatchi and Saatchi and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, David Lee Roth.

As a leading trainer, Colin has written 21 books, and too many video courses to count. His training clients include Adobe, Apple, Disney and Edison International. He is a regular speaker at major conferences, including Adobe Max, PPE, WPPI, Photoshop World, CreativePro and Imaging USA.

He runs a popular YouTube channel (photoshopCAFE) with 300,000 subscribers.

When he isn’t at his computer, Colin can be found pursuing his passion of travel and capturing beauty with his drone and camera.

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Nigel French

Nigel French is a graphic designer, photographer, and design teacher, based in Lewes, UK. He is author of InDesign Type (now in its 4th Edition), The Type Project Book (with Hugh D’Andrade) and the Photoshop Visual Quickstart Guide (with Mike Rankin). He has recorded more than fifty titles in the LinkedIn Learning online training library.

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