Alina Butan
Divisional Design Director for Footwear Materials
Nike
Alina Butan currently resides in Portland, OR—where she is a divisional design director for footwear materials at Nike. She leads a team of talented designers with diverse backgrounds and skillsets that lead innovation for the Nike footwear experience. In her 6–year tenure at Nike, she has held several roles, including design director for Nike Running, as well as for Jordan Brand footwear.
Butan hails from Detroit, where she studied industrial design at College for Creative Studies. She’s led the design of consumer electronics for companies such as frog, Motorola, Disney Consumer Products and Astro Studios. In 2009, her passion for deeper storytelling and trend setting designs led her to she shift her focus to color and material strategy. She made an impact on the home goods industry with her introduction of the Whirlpool White Ice collection and the KitchenAid Black Stainless series, while at Whirlpool Corp.
