Stephanie Wade is a world leader in civic innovation and the Founder and CEO of Ascendant, a innovation firm dedicated to helping public and social sector organizations build a culture of innovation, solve complex problems in new ways, and develop creative ideas, programs, and services that transform people’s lives.

Prior to this role, Stephanie served as the Lead for Innovation Programs and Design at Bloomberg Philanthropies. In this role she led multiple programs that helped over 100 cities around the world build a culture of innovation and tackle their toughest challenges using design, data, and behavioral economics to deeply understand complex problems and quickly implement new ideas that had measurable impact. Stephanie also served as the Director of the Lab@OPM where she worked across the U.S. Federal Government to develop and deliver human-centered design curriculum and training and helped Departments implement bold new services.

She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, a Practitioner’s Certificate in Design, Design Thinking, Coaching and Facilitation from the Austin Center for Design, and a Bachelors from Boston College with an honors degree in Sociology and minor in Studio Arts.