Tom Matano
Executive Director of Industrial Design

Tom Matano has thirty years of experience in the automotive design industry. Prior to joining Mazda, he held design positions at General Motors, Volvo, and BMW. In 1983, he became a Chief Designer at Mazda North America. He later became Vice President of the Design Division and Executive Vice President of Western Operations for Mazda R&D North America, and Executive Designer & Director of Mazda's North American Operations.

From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Matano worked with Mazda in Japan as an executive designer in the Global Advance Studio and eventually became the General Manager of Mazda Design. Mr. Matano managed the chief designers group that created Mazda's entire line of car designs, as well as the European and North American studios. His accomplishments at Mazda include the MX 5, the RX 7, the 929 Miata "M-Coupe" concept car, the Miata "M-Speedster" concept car, and many other projects by the design teams he managed and created. Mr. Matano is a committed educator, and uses his immense knowledge and experience to enhance the Industrial Design program at the Academy of Art University.

Hideki Masuda
Associate Director

Hideki Masuda received a Bachelor of Arts degree in fine art from Bard College in Annandale, New York, and a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial design/transportation design from the Art Center College of Design. While he was a student at the Art Center, Mr. Masuda designed, engineered, and built a full-scale running prototype vehicle. In 1998, he joined the Academy of Art University as an instructor in the School of Industrial Design. In addition to playing his role as an instructor, Mr. Masuda has contributed to developing the Industrial Design program. He currently teaches both transportation design classes and computer courses at the Academy.

Paul A. Wilczynski
IDS 3D Manager

Paul studied industrial design at the University of Illinois and the Art Institute of Chicago. He has worked in staff and consultant designer capacities, and served a full apprenticeship as a precision product modelmaker and finisher. He designed his own car at age eighteen while still in college, and formed a company that built over fifty examples. He has created several Top Ten Toys, and his toy designs have won a number of awards from parents' groups. A vehicle that he designed and built won the Nissan Biennial Design Competition in 1990.

His career comprises hundreds of projects in the design and fabrication of toys, medical devices, power tools, recreational vehicles, automobiles and automobile accessories, computer peripherals, electronics, trade show and point-of-purchase displays, home furnishings, and consumer goods.