Lunch-and-Learn with the Austin Innovation Office: Designing for the 100%

How do you design and deliver services that work for all users, not just the ones that think and act like you?

Join the City of Austin’s Chief Innovation Officer, Kerry O’Connor, and Senior Advisor for Design and Technology, Ben Guhin, for a conversation about how user-centered research, design standards, and technology strategy can make services more useful, usable, and accessible for all of us.

About the speakers:

Kerry O’Connor is Austin’s Chief Innovation Officer, having joined the City of Austin on March 24, 2014. Previously, Kerry worked at the U.S. Department of State, where she established an innovation unit called the Research and Design Center in the Office of the Secretary of State, which offers research, consulting, brainstorming facilitation, and strategic design services. She developed and managed an employee idea generation program, helped architect sustainable management reforms, coordinated logistics for the Pittsburgh G20 Summit, served as an executive staffer, and improved programs and operations at two U.S. Embassies.

Ben Guhin is the City’s Senior Advisor for Design and Technology at the City of Austin, having joined us on February 22, 2016. He advises the Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Information Officer on how to start a program to bring more designers, developers, and innovation leaders into city government. Previously, he served as a Senior Fellow for UX Design at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and as an interaction designer for education, retail, and entertainment clients including Kaplan, Lowes, and HBO GO.