Deborah Alden

As a strategist, advisor, and educator who straddles the business and design worlds, Deborah serves as a thought partner to leaders navigating ambiguous futures, and has consulted with global corporate executives, non-profit leaders, and hundreds of inspiring entrepreneurs. A builder and systems thinker at heart, she is particularly drawn to opportunities to create new models that blur the line between purpose-driven and for-profit organizations.

Both an intrapreneur and entrepreneur, she has led the design and development of five purposeful organizations including WeWork’s global 'cultureOS’ business, which drove revenue growth by helping C-Suite executives think and act differently about culture and the role it plays in their businesses, and the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator, which focused on sustainable and ethical businesses.

She loves sharing the stories of impact of the communities of which she is a part and is regularly invited to do so globally. She has taught human-centered design and research at SVA, IIT Institute of Design, CEDIM in México, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, where she was the Inaugural Chair for the BFA in Visual Communication.

Education

• School of Visual Arts
• MS Pratt Institute
• BA Washington University in St. Louis

Companies

• Advisor & Strategic Partner for Principled Organizations Independent / Collaborative (2020)
• Impact Council - Juror, Mentor & Coach D&AD (2018)
• Senior Director, cultureOS WeWork (2018 — 2020)
• Adjunct Professor School of Visual Arts (2018 — 2018)
• Juror, Architecture & Design New York State Council on the Arts (2016 — 2018)
• Strategy, Innovation & Organization Consultant Independent / Collaborative (2017 — 2018)
• Founding Managing Director Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator (2014 — 2017)
• Co-Founder The Comradery (2012 — 2014)
• Invited Facilitator & Media Advisor Sundance Institute (2012 — 2014)