Stephanie Wade, Founder and CEO, is a global leader in innovation, bringing expertise as a human-centered designer, government expert, strategist, and change-maker. With a track record that includes directing the U.S. Federal Government's first design-based Innovation Lab, and building and implementing a $65M innovation portfolio for governments around the world at Bloomberg Philanthropies, Stephanie is committed to fostering cultures of innovation and delivering impactful innovation projects around the world.

She is a keynote speaker, adjunct professor, and has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and an BA from Boston College in Sociology and Studio Arts.  She is an expert human-centered designer, strategist, keynote speaker, teacher, and change-maker working to build a better world.

Jon Kolko is a world renowned designer, researcher, and author, whose magic power is to make sense out of ambiguity and build products that people love to use. He has built, and sold, successful design-led companies, and founded the non-profit educational institution Austin Center for Design. He was previously the Vice President of Design at Blackboard, the largest ed-tech software company in the world.

Currently, Jon works with startups, governments, and Fortune 500 companies in order to humanize technology and generate improved outcomes for society.

Rohit Talwar is a global futurist, award-winning keynote speaker, author, and the CEO of Fast Future. His prime expertise lies in helping clients understand and shape the emerging future. He has a particular interest in how we can create a very human future by putting people at the center of the agenda. Rohit is the co-author of Designing Your Future, lead editor and a contributing author for The Future of Business, Beyond Genuine Stupidity—Ensuring AI Serves Humanity, The Future Reinvented—Reimagining Life, Society, and Business, A Very Human Future—Enriching Humanity in a Digitized World, editor of Technology vs. Humanity, and co-editor and contributor for two forthcoming books: Unleashing Human Potential—The Future of AI in Business and 50:50—Scenarios for the Next 50 Years.

Breckyn Ryg is a PMP-certified project manager and researcher who has helped local and state governments, health systems, and national nonprofits understand how their systems work today, design better processes and structures, and carry those changes through to implementation. She has a focus on making complex services and decision-making clearer and easier for residents and staff. Fluent in Spanish and brings strong skills in mixed-methods research, human-centered inquiry, facilitation, program development and evaluation, and performance measurement. She is experienced in data analysis, visualization, and storytelling; plain-language content strategy and editing; and business process mapping and improvement, including light-weight Lean approaches. 

Susan Maly is a Fractional Chief Strategy Officer  who helps executives focus on the 30,000 foot view of the business, create the strategy to achieve their vision, and partner on the journey of growth. Whether it's a 10-year vision, 3–year strategy, or 90-day action plan – she excels at partnering with organizations to achieve their goals.

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Her breadth and depth of experience as an Air Force officer and corporate executive uniquely position me to help leaders solve the toughest challenges.

She has developed strategies for big business and small business across industries - from technology, cybersecurity, and oil and gas to retail, automotive, non-profits, military, and the government.

Teri  has more than 25 years of experience leading and consulting to nonprofit and mission-driven organizations in a variety of fields, including health and human services, education, government, philanthropy, and social research. She founded the strategic communications consulting practice Mission + Message to help mission-driven organizations develop and implement strategies that build their visibility and influence. Other roles include serving as Director of Communications and Influence at The Rippel Foundation, and as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Amida Care, a nonprofit Medicaid health plan specializing in comprehensive coverage and coordinated care for New Yorkers affected by HIV and other chronic conditions. 

Luce James is a UK-born designer with a Master of Design degree from the Institute of Design in Chicago. With a background in UX and Visual Communication, they  specialize in social innovation, civic design, and anti-oppressive design, actively challenging systemic barriers and promoting inclusivity. Luce applies a comprehensive lens everything they do, including UI/UX design, user research, curriculum design, strategy and facilitation roles, to create engaging sessions that generate successful experiences and results.

They have a Masters in Design Management from IIT's Institute of Design. Together, Stephanie and Luce embody Ascendant's dedication to visionary leadership, innovative solutions, and positive change on a global scale, shaping a future where design principles catalyze equitable and compassionate transformations.

Lyndon is a seasoned strategic thinker and creative change maker. Helping organizations work collaboratively and inclusively with their communities Lyndon leverages systems thinking and people-centered design methods, to amplify their power to navigate complexity and forge coalitions to realize and sustain impact.

Her expertise is in systems change, strategic planning, innovation & co-design processes, participatory design, community engagement, collective impact, organizational learning, and c change management.

David has over 15 years of experience working in government at the intersection of digital, design and organizational change. His work has spanned context, cultural and language barriers to deliver improved outcomes for residents across product, service and organizational design. For example, he led the delivery of a multi-million dollar, pan-European service transformation program, working with Mayoral teams and a range of international delivery partners in 8 EU capital cities to transform culture, ways of working and technology across a range of service areas, including health, social care, housing and planning. A confident communicator, he uses his emotional intelligence and judgement to interpret, translate and frame client needs into solutions, and the work into a language and shape that is understood by stakeholders. 

Dominic Campbell is a public service entrepreneur with a background in design and technology-led organizational change, strategy and leadership. With senior leadership experience in government, Dominic has delivered large change initiatives within government, initially heading up change in the London Borough of Barnet and more recently leading transformation at Homes England as their first Chief Digital Officer.

Dominic is also the former founder and CEO of FutureGov, a UK-based consultancy that helped to bring digital and design into the heart of government transformation since 2008 that was acquired by TPXImpact in 2019. During that time, he featured in the Local Government Chronicle's Top 100 most influential people in local government in the UK.

Amy Zasadzinski is a human-centered designer from Chicago, Illinois. She excels in co-design, workshop facilitation, and qualitative research that elevates the lived experiences of communities. She enjoys guiding interdisciplinary groups—from C-suite leaders to frontline staff—through collaborative ideation and synthesis.

Her work is grounded in building accessible, equitable systems, and with roots in STEM education program development, she has a passion for designing experiences that help people learn, collaborate, and synthesize solutions together.  In her free time, Amy enjoys playing Quadball and swing dancing.

Jason Safro is a triple certified Drupal application architect who has 25 years of experience developing web applications and brings a breadth of technical expertise to Ascendant’s projects.

He specializes in Drupal CMS and has earned accolades as an Acquia triple-certified developer. Jason’s professional experience has made him equally capable of leading a development team or tackling programming challenges himself.