Alecia Wesner

Alecia Wesner is president and managing-partner of Kovacs-Wesner Design Group, licensor of George Kovacs Lighting since 2002.  She began as Director of Design for Kovacs in 1997 and continues to design for the brand.  Her work can be found in homes, hotels and contract applications throughout the world.  Alecia has served as both the visiting critic and guest lecturer at various design schools, and most recently at the Pratt Institute in New York City.  In 2006, Alecia founded Alecia Wesner Jewelry which serves as inspiration for many of her lighting designs with 10% of the proceeds donated to JDRF.

Alecia’s philanthropic pursuits led her to two 5-year terms as a TEAK Fellowship Mentor and recipient of TEAK’s Volunteer of the Year Award in 2010.  Alecia’s involvement with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation began with the Philadelphia chapter in 1979 when she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

In 2001, Alecia founded Alecia’s Stem Cells, a friends and family team, for the NYC JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. Since then, her team has participated in fifteen JDRF walks in Manhattan, Boston, Los Angeles, and raised over $300,000 for JDRF research.  Alecia currently is a member of the Board of Directors for JDRF New York City.  She has spoken at hospitals, medical schools and events about her experience living with T1D for 35+ years, the importance for advancing and funding diabetes technologies and research, and diabetes advocacy.

This year, she will be a participant in a clinical research trial involving the artificial pancreas (AP) system through Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City.

“I am proof positive of how technology has changed and is advancing diabetes care and treatments,” says Alecia. “If I could be a vehicle for making the artificial pancreas come to fruition, that would be an amazing thing.”