Designing for Social Systems

DSS Global Facilitators

Thomas is Director of the Designing for Social Systems Program at the d.school. In this program, he leads a fellowship for accomplished professionals to learn and apply human-centered design to complex social challenges, and facilitates workshops for social impact leaders to develop a more human and strategic practice.

At the d.school since 2009, the core of his work has been to design immersive hands-on learning experiences that provoke students, fellows and professionals to try on new tools and behaviors, and develop their innovation practice. In a previous role, he created and facilitated the d.school workshops for executives, including the highly praised Design Thinking Bootcamp Executive workshop.

Thomas holds a Master degree in Design from Stanford, achieved after a prior career as a mechanical engineer.

Nadia is Senior Designer of the Designing for Social Systems Program at the d.school, and the Director of Stanford University’s Effective Philanthropy Lab. Nadia returned to Stanford in 2012 as an inaugural d.school fellow, applying design thinking to philanthropy. In 2014, she was named the Walter and Esther Hewlett Design Fellow with Stanford PACS.

Over the past two decades she has launched several organizations and initiatives including Stanford’s Effective Philanthropy Lab; the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) with Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz at Columbia University; the Women Leaders Intercultural Program with Ireland’s former President Mary Robinson; Global Policy Innovations Program at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (CCEIA); the Building Bridges Program at the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (DDFIA); and the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI) at the University of Southern California.

Nadia received her BA in economics and international relations from Stanford University and her MA in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is a board member of the El Hibri Foundation.

DSS Coaches

Tania is the Founder and CEO of Beytna Design, an equity-design firm that focuses on issues of inequity in the government, education, and criminal justice systems. She is a Founding Co-creator of the Liberatory Design process, a new practice of human-centered design that accounts for power, historical context, and oppression. Tania is a Founding Member of the Equity Design Collaborative, Faculty at The National Equity Project in Oakland and a former Lecturer at the Stanford University d.school where she taught custom classes, managed programs at Stanford and abroad, and was a strategy designer on the d.school's capstone Stanford 2025 project. Tania is an expert designer and facilitator with over 9 years of experience, leading design teams in research projects across the world and facilitating design learning experiences for over 1000 learners. Tania is a graduate of Stanford University's Product Design program and is currently a StartingBloc fellow.

David Janka, M.D. is a lecturer, innovation consultant, and medical device entrepreneur interested in the intersection of design with healthcare and social entrepreneurship. David graduated from Stanford Medical School and was a fellow at the Stanford Institute of Design (‘the d.school’) from 2011-2013. As a member of the Stanford d.school teaching faculty, he has taught classes on design process and its application to emerging markets, healthcare, public policy and creative organizations. 

Meenu is a Learning Experience Designer at the University of Maryland's Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, where she develops coursework and tools that bring design thinking and other creative problem-solving methods to learners across disciplines. In addition to her work at the University of Maryland, Meenu teaches at the Stanford d.school’s Teaching and Learning Studio, where she's worked with 200+ university educators, department heads, and deans from around the world who are experimenting with new ways of bringing design thinking into higher education. Outside of the education space, Meenu designs with government agencies, private companies, and nonprofit organizations seeking to reinvigorate their modes of thinking and doing. Meenu is inspired by the creative potential that exists in you, you, and yes, even you!

Katie Krummeck is the Director of Programs at the Construct Foundation in Portland, Oregon. Construct helps to build cultures of innovation in K12 schools and school districts by developing the creative capacity in school leaders, educators and students. Katie is an educational designer and a national thought leader in leveraging the power of design to drive change in the K12 system. She is also an expert in using the design process and maker-based instruction to create student-centered learning experiences that develop students’ creative confidence, optimism, and problem-solving skills.

Dana is a design thinking coach and digital experience strategist with experience launching new products and services in organizations ranging from art museums to educational technology startups. She runs a Berkeley-based innovation consultancy, Designing Insights LLC, and her clients include the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Smithsonian, the J. Paul Getty Trust, and Fair Trade USA.

The former head of digital at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, she oversaw the research, development, design, and production of the museum’s award-winning website for over 10 years. Dana runs the site Design Thinking for Museums, where she writes about human-centered design in museums, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations.

Dana is a coach for the School Retool project in the d.school’s K12 Lab Network, and she is a faculty member at the Getty Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University, where she teaches design thinking to international arts and culture leaders. She holds a BA from the University of Southern California, and an MA from The University of Chicago.

Andrew Molina (affectionately called Mo) is a Curriculum Designer for Design for Extreme Affordability at the Stanford d.school, a class applying design thinking to international development. He also facilitates various workshops and is constantly experimenting with creative side projects. Outside of work, Mo likes to climb rocks, perform, read, and loves playing games (board games, card games, made-up games, you name it).

Bre Przestrzelski is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of San Diego (USD), where she designs learning experiences that integrate social justice into the traditional engineering curriculum. Before joining USD in August 2017, Bre spent nine years at Clemson University, where she was a three-time graduate of the bioengineering program (BS, MS, and PhD), founder of The Design & Entrepreneurship Network (DEN), and Division I rower. In her spare time, Bre coaches a global community of learners through IDEO U, loves her Hemingway cat, and fails miserably at cooking.

Matt is a co-founder of the FEED Collaborative at Stanford University, where he is an educator-practitioner in design thinking and food system innovation.  Matt is also the founder of Crazy Beta Design, a boutique consulting agency that designs and facilitates highly customized workshops and executive training sessions, conducts consumer insight research, and provides innovation strategy consulting services.

Prior to his work as a designer and teacher, Matt was a fellow in residence at the Stanford d.school, director of Stanford’s Sustainable Food Program, and an operations executive at both Attune Foods and Niman Ranch. Raised on a 10,000 acre conventional corn farm on the plains of Colorado, Matt's more formal degrees include a BA in Environmental Earth Science from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford.

Chris Rudd is a human-centered designer, community organizer and youth worker with a passion for social justice. He’s worked with youth on the south and west sides of Chicago, challenging them to engage with their communities through activism and technology. Chris has helped youth from Chicago to the Bay Area design 8 civic apps, including Expunge.io.

Chris completed a year-long fellowship at the Stanford Institute of Design (d.school). As a Civic Innovation Fellow Chris spent a year immersed in graduate courses learning, applying and honing his skills in the Human Centered Design methodology. During the fellowship, he designed a program, Youth Tech Design, for opportunity and "at-risk" youth that can further bridge the gap between young people and the tech sector and allow them to create solutions to their self-identified issues. Currently, Chris is working with the Illinois Institute of Technology Institute of Design and leading ChiByDesign.

Sam Seidel is the Director of the Student Experience Lab at the Business Innovation Factory and author of Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011). Sam speaks internationally about innovative solutions to challenges facing schools, community organizations, and prisons. He is a passionate and experienced leader in education transformation.

Sam has taught in a variety of settings from first grade to community college. He has built and directed programs for young people affected by incarceration. As a consultant, Sam worked with leading national education organizations, including the Black Alliance for Educational Options, Big Picture Learning, and Jobs for the Future, as well as a spectrum of other clients on a diverse set of projects, ranging from redesigning a statewide juvenile justice system to working with the Rockefeller family to repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Sam was the Director of Partnerships, Annual Reviews, and Student Leadership for the Association for High School Innovation, a national network of school developers and replicators funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sam graduated from Brown University with a degree in Education and a teaching certification. He was a Scholar-in-Residence at Columbia University's Institute for Urban and Minority Education, and a Community Fellow at the Rhode Island School of Design. He is always learning.

Amie serves as Civic Designer for the City of Seattle. She works on the Innovation & Performance Team at the Mayor's Office to bring design-based innovation expertise and creativity to the team's work. During her time at the City, she has worked across multiple social issues including civil rights, racial equity, youth and young adult homelessness, and affordability. She has spent the last decade helping start-ups, public sector and non-profit clients use human-centered design to fulfill their missions and to create a more kind and equitable world. Amie holds a B.F.A. from ArtCenter College of Design. Prior to working in government, she spent 3.5 years cycling through 40 countries and listening to people's stories.

DSS Home Team