Part 1
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Part 2
About Amy Heymans
Amy believes that purpose driven design can help improve the human condition. It was with that mission and vision that she founded Mad*Pow in 2000. Amy plays an essential role in Mad*Pow’s visualization of evolved health and finance systems working with organizations to form experience strategies that deliver both social impact and business results. As Chief Experience Officer for MadPow, her work empowering human-centered innovation with companies like CVS and Fidelity has helped them improve the experiences they deliver to the people they serve inside and outside of the organization, improving outcomes for all. As the chief instigator behind Mad*Pow’s Health Experience Design Conference and key contributor to Mad*Pow’s Financial Experience Design Conference, Amy has successfully brought together communities to discuss important topics, bringing inspiration and motivation in the direction of positive change and connecting disparate parts of challenging and siloed systems.
As a speaker, Amy shares her vision at influential events such as TedX, Design Management Institute, UXPA, IA Summit, Stanford MedicineX, Health 2.0, and HIMSS. She hosts the Better Experience Podcast (available on iTunes and Spotify) where she interviews leaders in design and innovation. She is a guest lecturer in Massachusetts College of Art’s Masters Program for Design and Innovation Leadership teaching classes on design thinking and designing for sustainability. She also guest lectures for BU’s MPH Program, MIT’s Systems Design Program, UNH’s Entrepreneurship Program, & Kent State’s Health Leadership Program.
With her partners Will Powley and Bradley Honeyman, Amy has grown Mad*Pow’s presence, client base, and revenue, leading to Mad*Pow’s 2009 recognition as one of Inc. 500’s fastest growing privately held companies and the acquisition of Mad*Pow by TechMahindra in 2019. Mass High Tech, which named her one of its 2009 Women to Watch, has recognized Amy’s passion, energy, and commitment, and she’s been acknowledged as one of Boston’s “40 Under 40” by the Boston Business Journal in 2014, MedTechBoston in 2015 and as one of PharmaVoice Magazine’s “100 Most Inspiring People” in 2018.
Amy is on the board of An Orphan’s Dream, a nonprofit organization offering an oasis for AIDS-orphaned children in Gachoka, Kenya and on the Advisory Council of Ward Infinity, a social innovation program at John’s Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital. She is ever curious and is now expanding her horizons through studies in Futures Thinking at the University of Houston and personally investigating the overlap of ESG and business strategy.
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Show Notes
All times are approximate – hh:mm
Part 1
Early education :01
Mad*Pow origin story :04
Commoditization of UX :08
Three types of clients :14
Risk resistance :21
Degrees & design :24
Part 2
Ethics :00
Diversity :05
Generalists & specialists :08
Future of UX :12
Co-creation :20
Neurodiversity :28
Better Experiences podcast