Annie Harper

Annie Harper has a multidisciplinary background- education, design, marketing and IT. Annie is a sessional lecturer and is also director of Idea Nation founded on the principles of using designed thinking to generate ideas for people and organisations to create their futures.In 1995, Annie was a key initiator and sessional lecturer of new communication and peak performance subjects at RMIT University. Annie is an allied member and former committee member of the Institute of Store Planners, an international organisation representing professional retail designers and architects; is a former member of the Industry Steering Committee Executive ('86-2004) and Chairperson of the committee ('96-2000) working on Federal Government accreditation of RMIT's Diploma of Arts (Visual Merchandising) throughout the strategy & implementation phases. The RMIT course is now not only the national educational standard, it is also recognised throughout the world as a leading course for Visual Merchandisers. Throughout Annie's career she has been a powerful champion and lobbyist for retail design and visual merchandising to be given professional credence as specialised fields requiring tertiary qualifications. In 2002 she completed a Master of Business (Marketing) focussing on two streams of study – organisational development and transformation and consumer behaviour. Her research thesis subject was an investigation into colour, how it relates to purchase decisions and whether it could be found to impact consumer behaviour. Annie is a regular speaker at conferences and frequently contributes articles to industry publications. She is also a passionate advocate of programs to inspire and empower people, businesses and authorities to think and action potentially new and different ways of thinking.