"The value of the awards is the culmination that designers always brag about, and that is how much we contribute to our clients commercial success,” said Herbst, “I was honored to be on this jury, more so than any other jury, as it is what I espouse in my teaching role at Northwestern University or in my role as Chairman at HLB; ‘product design done right, has to culminate with commercial success in the market place.’ The other awards are nice, but Catalyst should really be the one we all aspire to."

Mr. Herbst holds over 85 patents for consumer, industrial and medical product innovations. He is the co-author of the PDMA Handbook of Product Development considered the industry standard, and was recognized by BusinessWeek magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) with a "Design of the Decade" award for design work with Gillette. He is a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, McCormick School of Applied Science and Engineering and Director of the Master of Product Development program. He has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a B.F.A. in industrial design from the University of Illinois.

"The Catalyst is our way of showing how the industrial design community provides valuable contributions to business," stated Ravi Sawhney, founder and CEO of RKS Designs, and the initiator of the Catalyst. "As the conceiver of the award, Walter's profound experiences in guiding brands and emerging companies through the channels of successful consumer and business adoption of product and brand will provide those critical insights that recognize those few designs that are worthy of the Catalyst, our highest level of recognition.”

The Design & Business Catalyst Award takes traditional design competitions a step further by recognizing excellence in market and financial performance as well as strategic and social impact. Created by IDSA and BusinessWeek magazine, the competition rewards management's foresight in using the power of design beyond the actual design process. For more information on the Catalyst Awards, please visit the IDSA website (www.idsa.org).