Michael Vanderbyl has gained international prominence in the design field as a practitioner, educator, critic, and advocate. Since being established in San Francisco in 1973, his firm—Vanderbyl Design—has evolved into a multidisciplinary studio with expertise in identity, print and digital communications, interiors, showrooms, retail spaces, signage, textiles, fashion apparel, packaging, furniture, and product design. Printed work by Vanderbyl has gained recognition in every major design competition in the United States and Europe; his work is part of the permanent collections of several museums and is featured in national and international publications. Vanderbyl's showroom and product designs have also earned numerous awards and distinctions.

Michael received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from the California College of Arts & Crafts in 1968. He has been a professor and the dean of the School of Design at his alma mater (now known as California College of the Arts). He has acted as a visiting instructor at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Art Center College of Design, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Universities of Cincinnati, Kansas, and Washington. He is the recipient of the Joyce C. Hall Distinguished Chair at the Kansas City Art Institute and has been bestowed with the award of Buckman Professor in Design Education from the University of Minnesota.

In 1987, Michael was elected a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), an international graphic design organization based in Zurich. In addition to serving three terms on the board of directors of the national AIGA, he also served as president of the board of directors of AIGA; he has also served on the AIGA Education Committee and was a founding member of the AIGA San Francisco chapter. At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Michael held a position on the Architecture and Design Accessions Committee. He was selected as one of I.D. Magazine's "I.D. Forty" and received the "Lifetime Achievement in Product Design" from the Pacific Design Center. He is a professional member of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), and in association with their Calibre Awards, the Southern California chapter of the IIDA commended him with their Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also been honored with the Gold Medal Award from AIGA and with induction into Interior Design magazine's Hall of Fame.

Abby Chen is the Head of Contemporary Art and Curator at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. She joined in 2019 to lead the museum's groundbreaking Transformation project. Her curatorial debut includes commissioning Asian American women artists for large scale public art. She helped acquire the largest collection of Bernice Bing, along with works by Carlos Villa, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and many others. In 2023, she curated Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk about Asian futurism by the Malaysia-born artist. As part of the transformation, she established a new initiative Practice Institute, the collaborative model to change museum practices for the evolving artist community. Chen is appointed to curate the exhibition representing Taiwan for the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 and co-curate the American Pavilion at Gwangju Biennale. She was the recipient of the 2024 National Art Education Association Asian Art and Culture Interest Group Distinguished Art Educator Award.

Abby's experimental approach often explores the intersectionalities of race, sexuality, gender, border, migration, and especially technology in both the United States and Asia. The award-winning exhibitions, attendant programs, publications, and different initiatives organized by Abby — which span from curating to community building — have helped the Asian Art Museum in a few short years to reshape the narrative of contemporary Asian art outside of Asia.

Previously, she served for over a decade as the Curator and Artistic Director at the Chinese Culture Foundation and Center of San Francisco. Under her leadership, the community-based organization was transformed into an internationally recognized open and process-driven platform for contemporary art.

Abby received a Master of Arts (MA) in Visual and Critical Studies from California College of the Arts in 2011.