Title Director, Design & Innovation Company Nike Foundation Bio Tom De Blasis, Design Innovation Director at The Nike Foundation, took his first step towards a life in design when as an 8-year-old boy he took apart his Star Wars Tie-Fighter and gazed upon the mess of circuit boards, wires and molded parts contained within. Magic, inspiration and a painful lesson in spring-loaded assemblies hit him all at once. He believes in designing experientially and so in the name of design research he has found himself deliberately walking into a burning building in full firefighter turnout gear, walking on a football pitch with Sir Alex Ferguson, going on a stakeout with a private detective and walking the tent cities of refugee camps. In response to the Haiti earthquake Tom created The Gamechanger Bucket, a health and happiness kit that brings access to clean water and sport to disaster areas and developing communities all over the world. Previous to Tom’s role at the Nike Foundation, he was a Global Design Director both for Nike Football (Soccer) and for Nike as part of the London 2012 Olympics. In his current role his focus is to lead the creation of tools that girls in poverty around the world can use to unleash their potential and create the girl effect.