Jeremy Utley
Director, Executive Education
Jeremy was using the principles of design thinking long before he encountered the d.school.
From starting a small-venture incubator in Bolivia to hanging out in biker bars to evaluate acquisition targets for clients of the Boston Consulting Group, Jeremy has sought to meld his analytical nature with his passion for human-centered innovation.
A graduate of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Jeremy has seen first-hand the cascading impact of the d.school in the world, while working in India as a business development consultant for D.light Design, a venture-backed start-up founded at the d.school. As a 2009 d.school fellow, he taught our flagship class, Design Thinking Bootcamp.
Jeremy currently leads our work with organizations, managing and directing our executive education programs. He serves in an advisory role to help organizations—from Fortune 500 companies to cutting-edge start-ups—implement design thinking. The key ingredients are often a mix of inspiration, coaching, provocation and the development of a passion for customers and a bias towards doing rather than thinking. The result is often a shift not just in practice or strategy, but a fundamental change in organizational culture.
Jeremy’s own passion is for fostering creative confidence and leadership potential in his students. This year he is developing d.leadership, a new d.school class that offers master’s students at Stanford the opportunity to move beyond the fundamentals of design thinking into leadership and teaching roles.
His interests include rock and roll trivia, board sports, and anything his wife Michelle happens to be into. A Texas native, Jeremy has permanently exiled himself from his home state by developing a preference for Indian food over barbecue.
