Creativity Connection

Jeremy Utley

Adjunct Professor, Stanford d.school

Starting his career as a management consultant focusing on economic development, Jeremy never expected to be a designer. But in 2008, the d.school derailed him completely. His time as a student and a fellow at the d.school showed him that “how” he worked was more important than “what” he did. Today, Jeremy is dedicated to helping others along the same path to becoming a designer. He helps people change their deeply engrained behaviors and discover, as he did, that it is possible for them to make a difference. He does this through teaching as well as through growing alongside his students to become better in his own life and work every day.

Perry Klebahn

Adjunct Professor, Stanford d.school

When it comes to startups, corporations, and executive leadership, Perry’s seen just about everything. He's a seasoned entrepreneur, product designer, chief executive, and co-founding member of the d.school faculty with over 20 years of experience. He also loves math, motorcycles, and making things. Perry founded the Atlas Snowshoe Company, which remains the leader in snowshoe design and technology. He sold Atlas and became the head of Sales and Marketing for the clothing brand, Patagonia in 2000. He then went on to be named the CEO of the iconic bag company, Timbuk2 in 2007. Despite his years running startups and corporations, Perry’s true calling is teaching.

Kathryn Segovia

Growing up on a Nebraska farm gave Kathryn a number of valuable skills, but two stand out: a strong work ethic and a love of getting to know new people. These skills and others served her well both in academia and industry. Kathryn brings a keen awareness and understanding of the unique challenges faced by internal design teams as well as those faced by intact teams working to apply design thinking. Kathryn enjoys helping people whittle down the layers of their work lives to reveal who they really are while supporting them through moments of doubt and fear as they embark on their life-long process of leadership development. Witnessing that moment in her students when they see their work and life challenges differently, through a new lens with refreshed energy, is one of her true joys.

Justin Ferrell

A career journalist and visual storyteller specializing in organizational behavior and design, Justin worked at The Washington Post and designed several award-winning projects — including the investigative series “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency,” winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Justin worked with hundreds of dedicated journalists during his 15 years in news, and he challenged himself to be as good at the skills he brought to their collaborations as they were at theirs. He designed for newspapers, books, websites, tablets, and cell phones. But most importantly, he designed for people, with people. Now, at the d.school, he’s helping restless experts redesign their worlds by taking the same approach with the fellows as he did with colleagues at The Washington Post.