About
Sandy Speicher leads IDEO’s Design for Learning domain, which brings human-centered thinking to systemic challenges in education. Her work helps students, educators, entrepreneurs, and organizations use the tools and methods of design to work in new ways, to prepare for future challenges, and to transform their organizations and communities. Sandy has collaborated with students, teachers, schools, charter organizations, districts, foundations, universities, and nonprofit organizations to develop new solutions that enable learners to thrive in the 21st century. While much of her work has focused on education, Sandy has a broad range of experience leading and contributing to programs in the areas of hospitality, telecommunications, healthcare, and social innovation.
Prior to joining IDEO, Sandy taught visual communications at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent six years teaching design thinking to fifth-graders at a public school in San Francisco. She launched her design career at MetaDesign, where she developed visual systems that brought clarity to complexity. Her work included brand development, way-finding graphics, and interactive platforms.
Sandy holds an MA in Education from Stanford University and a BFA in Visual Communications from Washington University. She currently serves as a strategic adviser for the K-12 Lab at Stanford’s d.school and as a member of the advisory board for the university’s Learning, Design and Technology program. Sandy loves to travel and learn by immersing herself in other cultures. She takes pride in her fairly robust, yet still enigmatic, collection of Mona Lisa kitsch.