The AIGA Connecticut Fellow Award Celebration returns and this year, we honor two remarkable individuals whose passion, leadership, and generosity have left an indelible mark on our creative community:

Karl Heine, founder of Creative Placement — a connector of people and ideas, whose advocacy for the creative industry has launched countless careers and built a thriving ecosystem of design talent.

Nancy Ruzow, founder of Ruzow Graphics and The Creatives Roundtable — a designer and mentor whose warmth, collaboration, and dedication to community have inspired creatives across generations.

The AIGA Fellow Award is the highest honor a chapter can bestow, celebrating lifetime achievement, design excellence, mentorship, and contribution to the profession.

Join us for a night that brings together Connecticut’s creative leaders, educators, and students to celebrate what makes our community extraordinary — its people.

Expect an evening filled with:
- Inspiring tributes to our honorees
- Engaging conversation and connection
- Drinks, light bites, and celebration among peers
- Reflections on design, leadership, and creative legacy

Let’s celebrate the people and the community that keeps creativity thriving in Connecticut.

Karl has spent decades building the backbone of Connecticut’s creative network — connecting designers with opportunity, nurturing young talent, and helping studios and agencies grow stronger through collaboration.

Through Creative Placement, Karl has championed design not only as a profession but as a community. He’s one of those rare leaders who sees the potential in every creative and helps them find the place where they can truly thrive.

His belief that “good design begins with good people” has shaped countless careers and strengthened the creative culture of our region.

Nancy is a force of creativity and compassion, a designer who leads by example, a mentor who builds confidence in others, and a connector who believes that community is essential to creativity.

Her decades-long design career spans corporate, nonprofit, and cultural work — always guided by empathy and an unwavering standard of excellence. But it’s her leadership in creating The Creatives Roundtable, a space where designers and freelancers come together for accountability, growth, and support, that has transformed the way creatives connect and collaborate.

Nancy embodies what the Fellow Award stands for: leadership, mentorship, and a lasting contribution to the design community.