Courtney Lawrence

Founding CEO & Social Impact Designer at Designing for Social Innovation & Leadership; Center for Executive Education,UN University for Peace, Thammasat University School of Global Studies and Social Entrepreneurship

My experience and deep interests:

• Design

• Education (Adults)

• Education (Youth)

I am based in: Bangkok

I was referred to THNK by Roshan Paul.

I am a Southeast Asia based university lecturer and the founding CEO and curriculum curator of Designing for Social Innovation and Leadership (DSIL) - a global endeavor that unites international multi-stage entrepreneurs with a constellation of tools, networks and field immersions with local innovation communities to accelerate major impact in their own context.

Currently, I am also Adjunct Faculty at Thammasat University, School of Global Studies and Social Entrepreneurship (GSSE), teaching leadership and Human Centered Design. I am on the faculty roster for the THNK School of Creative Leadership in Amsterdam for in-company programs. My academic research focuses on the intersection of sustainable economic development, social enterprise and design thinking.

Since 2012 I have taught Global Studies at Japan based Hiroshima Jogakuin University where I also initiated and scaled the foundation funded ‘HJU Global Studies, Peace and Leadership Summer Seminar''; a program that has included field work with participants from more than 40 countries to India, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines.

From 2006-2014 I served on the Executive Committee of the of the Swiss-based NGO, World Alliance of YMCAs. Previous to co-founding a US social enterprise, Green Loop Nashville, dedicated to restructuring an old ironworks factory into a hub for closed loop systems and green sustainability entrepreneurs in 2011, I worked with Ashoka''s Full Economic Citizenship initiative in the Washington, D.C. area.

I have facilitated multiple trainings across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North and South America. I hold a Master’s in Sustainable Economic Development and Responsible Management from UPEACE, the UN Mandated Graduate School of Peace and Conflict Studies and have lived, worked and traveled across more than 50 countries. In my spare time, I am on a quest to explore the unknown, travel and have an amazing time in general with my husband JB.