Daphne Bourne is a self proclaimed Design Operations fan girl, known for her dedication to building global (and local) communities, championing the DesignOps discipline, and navigating the complexities of hypergrowth within Product and Tech organizations. As a Design Operations lead, Daphne’s passion lies in cultivating communities of practice, mentoring emerging voices in the DesignOps industry through platforms like adplist.org and DesignOps Assembly.

In her roles as the Sydney Chapter Co-Lead at DesignOps Assembly and the Design Operations Practice Lead at Atlassian, Daphne is resolute in her mission to optimize the value of design within product organizations. She enjoys advocating for the integration of design operations functions and fostering collaboration at the intersection of business and design.

Daphne’s global career journey spans pivotal DesignOps positions at organizations such as Afterpay, Capital One, and Westpac. Her wealth of experience includes leading design operations teams and implementing effective practices that drive innovation and collaboration at executive levels. She’s passionate about coaching and empowering teams to embrace human-centered design techniques and tools, promoting early inclusion of design and influencing cross-functional partners.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Daphne is a full time working mom of two young boys, a woman in tech and a dual American / Australian citizen with an unwavering obsession for live music of all kinds.