Antonio Borja

Executive Director
School of Industrial Design

Antonio Bailon Borja is an accomplished industrial designer, educator, and design leader who serves as Executive Director of the School of Industrial Design at Academy of Art University and Co-Chair of the IDSA San Francisco Chapter.

A graduate of Academy of Art University’s School of Industrial Design, Antonio earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2004. His career has bridged professional design practice and education, including experience as a Creative Designer at General Motors, where he contributed to programs across Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, and Cadillac, as well as work as an independent industrial designer.

Returning to his alma mater, Antonio has taught Design Drawing, Transportation Design, and Digital 3D Modeling while helping shape the Industrial Design program’s evolution. He established interdisciplinary industry collaborations that connect students with leading organizations, including NASA, Samsung, Audi, Autodesk, GM, Zoox, Under Armor, and Stellantis, giving students opportunities to work on real-world design challenges across multiple disciplines.

As Executive Director, Antonio leads the integration of emerging technologies and workflows, including rapid prototyping, virtual reality, generative design, and artificial intelligence, while maintaining a strong foundation in traditional design skills, critical thinking, and human-centered design. Under his leadership, the School of Industrial Design continues to build relationships with industry partners including Autodesk, Adobe, Gravity Sketch, Vizcom, and other leaders shaping the future of design.

Antonio believes that AI fluency must be matched by human intuition to truly unleash the power of the human imagination. His work is focused on bridging academia and industry while preparing the next generation of designers to combine strong fundamentals, emerging technologies, and human creativity to lead through a rapidly evolving design landscape.