Martin M. Pegler was a professor for thirty years in the Display & Exhibit Design Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. A leading expert in his field for over 60 years, Martin hosted seminars in the United States as well as in Latin America, Europe and the Pacific Rim. He authored over 80 books and his textbook, Visual Merchandising and Display, is used in universities around the world. Martin was presented with a lifetime achievement award by PAVE, the Planning & Visual Education Partnership that supports retail design education for students and educators. He was also inducted into the Visual Merchandising and Display Industries’ Hall of Fame.

Martin worked with gia from the beginning of the gia program in 2000, as an Expert Juror, and since 2016 as an honorary member of the gia Expert Jury. To honor Martin’s leadership role with the program, the Top Window Award was renamed the “Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising” in 2008. Also that year, he was presented with an honorary gia Award for Lifetime Achievement.