Zaha Hadid Honored for Creative Leadership with Aenne Burda Award

Earlier this week, Zaha Hadid was presented the Aenne Burda Award for Creative Leadership at the Digital Life Design (DLD) Conference in Munich, Germany. The Award for Creative Leadership honors women for outstanding entrepreneurial and creative achievement.

Rhode Island School of Design president John Maeda delivered the honorific address on Zaha Hadid: "Leaders are needed when times are changing, creative leaders change times themselves. They make things - like Zaha. She's unafraid to disrupt, she's very optimistic. Today we celebrate her incredible optimism."

The Aenne Burda Award for Creative Leadership has been conferred annually since 2006 in memory of famed publisher Aenne Burda, who passed away in 2005. As a visionary entrepreneur in post-WWII Germany, Aenne Burda turned a small publisher into the world's largest fashion publishing house.

Previous DLD Conferences saw the following recipients of the Aenne Burda Award: Marissa Mayer (2006), Caterina Fake (2007), Martha Stewart (2008), Esther Dyson (2009), Mitchell Baker (2010), Natalie Massenet (2011), and Arianna Huffington (2012).

DLD is an international conference and network connecting new media, business and social leaders, opinion formers and investors for crossover conversation and inspiration.