ADC GrandMasters are educators whose careers in creative education have impacted and mentored generations of student creatives and whose legacy is a far-reaching network of industry leaders and professionals in Advertising and Design.
The program salutes those who have dedicated over 10 years of their teaching careers to establishing and raising standards of excellence in visual communications with an award presentation and a 3-week exhibition representing the ADC GrandMasters’ work and that of a cross section of their protégés. Scholarships are endowed by alum in the name of the ADC Grandmaster for their alma mater.

The Art Directors Club presented the second ADC GrandMasters Awards November 16, 2009. CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS!

This year's GrandMasters are:

	Deborah Morrison, University of Oregon Deborah Morrison is the Chambers Distinguished Professor of Advertising at the University of Oregon. She holds a PhD from The University Of Texas. During her tenure at The University of Texas at Austin, she worked with colleagues to build one of the best university portfolio programs in the country. At Oregon, she and the strong body of advertising faculty have crafted the successful Creative Strategist Model, where all specialties are grounded in creativity and strategic thinking. She has co-authored two books: Idea Industry: How to Crack the Advertising Career Code (2008) and Process Illustrated: Advertising Creatives Reveal How Big Ideas are Born (In Press, HOW Design Books). For over twenty years, she has had the good fortune of studying, and thinking about hundreds of agencies while learning from thousands of students, to whom she owes so much.
	Tom Ockerse, Rhode Island School of Design A pioneer of semiotics in design, Tom Ockerse has influenced generations of designers and design educators. He started teaching first at Indiana University in 1967; then at RISD in 1971, where he was head of the Graphic Design Department for 20 years and initiated the Graduate Program of Graphic Design in 1976, one of the early MFA programs in Graphic Design. For students and colleagues alike, he illuminates the path from deconstruction to reconstruction on which designers can perceive the essential elements of the language of design and return versed in the necessity and higher purpose of making information visible to inspire understanding.
	Hank Richardson, The Portfolio Center Hank Richardson has long been a leader of The Portfolio Center. During his tenure there, his students have garnered more than 5,000 local and national awards, and his graduates are employed in the most highly respected firms and agencies in the world, including And Partners, The Attic, Cartoon Network, CNN, DesGrippes Gobe, Goodby Silverstein, Hornell Anderson, Hallmark, Landor, Leo Burnett, Martha Stewart, MTV, Pentagram, The Richards Group, Sapient and VSA and others.
	Ron Seichrist, Miami Ad School Few people have shaped the world of advertising like Ron Seichrist. As founder of The Portfolio Center and Miami Ad School, he has influenced many of the world's top creative talent and continues to find new ways to train students, placing them in internships at agencies worldwide. He is considered a leading innovator in advertising and design education, and is the winner of many major national and international awards, including being named by Adweek as among the 10 people who shaped advertising in the last decade.

The 2009 ADC GrandMasters were chosen by the ADC Grandmaster Nominating Committee comprised of:

Bill Oberlander, Chairman
Former President of the ADC and Executive Creative Officer, Cossette Communication New York

Bob Barrie
Barrie D'Rozario Murphy

Wayne Best
Executive Creative Director, Taxi New York

Julian Bittiner
Lecturer, Yale School of Art

Rick Boyko
Director, VCU Brandcenter

Kathleen Creighton
Chairperson of Art Communications Design, Pratt Institute

Ann Lemon
Professor, University of Delaware

Kirk Souder
Partner, Executive Creative Director, GMMB

Richard Wilde
Chairman, Advertising/Graphic Design Departments, School of Visual Arts

Laetitia E. Wolff
Founding Director, FutureFlair

Ami Brophy
Former CEO, Art Directors Club

The awards reception took place against the backdrop of an exhibition featuring the work of ADC GrandMasters and that of 85 of their current and former students. view photos

Last year's ADC GrandMasters included: Mark Fenske, VCU Brandcenter; Ray Nichols, a former University of Delaware instructor; Carin Goldberg, School of Visual Arts; Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Yale University; Jeffrey Metzner, a former School of Visual Arts instructor.