Jeanne Liedtka is a Professor of Management at the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Formerly the Executive Director of the School’s Batten Institute, a foundation established to develop thought leadership in the fields of entrepreneurship and corporate innovation, Jeanne has also served as Chief Learning Officer for the United Technologies Corporation (UTC), headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, and as the Associate Dean of the MBA Program at Darden. Jeanne’s current teaching responsibilities focus on design thinking, innovation, and organic growth in the MBA and Executive Education Programs at Darden.

Jeanne’s current research interests focus on exploring how design thinking can be used to enrich our ability to create inclusive strategic conversations about organizational futures. Her book, The Catalyst: How You Can Lead Extraordinary Growth, co-authored with R. Rosen and R. Wiltbank, was based on a three year study of operating managers who excelled at producing revenue growth in mature organizations. Published in March 2009, The Catalyst was named one of Business Week’s best innovation and design books of 2009. Her most recent book, Designing for Growth: A design toolkit for managers was published in June, 2011.

Jeanne joined Darden in 1989, having received her DBA in Management Policy from Boston University and her MBA from the Harvard Business School. She has been involved in the corporate strategy field since beginning her career as a strategy consultant for the Boston Consulting Group.

Natalie Foley is the author of The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide & is passionate about getting a new product or program from 0 to 1 and then on the path to scale.

Currently, she leads a team that designs, test & launch new products & services at Opportunity@Work, a startup social enterprise that is rewiring the labor market for the 71M workers in America who are STARs* (Skilled Through Alternative Routes, instead of a four-year degree).

Previously, she served as the CEO of Peer Insight, a venture studio and innovation consulting firm. She has contributed to dozens of new business ventures with clients like Kimberly-Clark, AARP, Canon, the Good Samaritan Society and ArcBest, several of which have become multi-million dollar revenue streams.

Before Peer Insight, Natalie worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers & IBM, where she led strategy and tech projects in various countries, and across all organizational functions, and both private & federal clients.

She holds an MBA from UVA’s Darden School of Business and a BA in Psychology from The College of William & Mary.

Liz Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and also serves as the Health Behavior MPH Concentration Lead. Dr. Chen has over a decade of experience as a teacher, public health practitioner, and researcher and earned both her MPH and PhD degrees in this department. Dr. Chen’s research interests are at the intersection of adolescent health, technology and design thinking (i.e. human-centered design). Her current research focuses on how to integrate design thinking mindsets and methodologies into public health training, practice, and research. Dr. Chen has a pan-campus role at Innovate Carolina, UNC-CH's our office of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development and serves as the director for the university’s graduate Certificate in Innovation for the Public Good. A native of Westwood, MA, Dr. Chen served as a high school science teacher through Teach For America in Eastern North Carolina before starting her public health training. She was also named to the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 class for Social Entrepreneurship for her work in developing and launching the Real Talk storytelling app for teens.

David is the Founder of strategic design consultancy, DK&A, and the executive training school Design Thinkers Academy London. He works with business, governments and the third sector to turn systemic challenges into innovative brands, products and services. As former CEO for the UK Design Council he pioneered projects with the NHS and shaped the first economic report on design to HM Treasury. David's current projects range across sustainable technology, transport, retail transformation, and social equity. He is leading the Mayor of London's Design Lab on workforce integration. As a committed educator, he is an a Hon. Prof at Warwick Business School, and a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art.