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Business Innovation Factory

Connect. Inspire. Transform.

The BIF Team

A multidisciplinary office of unusual suspects: Meet the Business Innovation Factory team.

  • Mickey Ackerman

    Chief Design Strategist

    An internationally recognized design leader Mickey Ackerman has spent decades teaching designers how to define problems clearly and then solve those problems through multidisciplinary teamwork. For fifteen years as the head of RISD'...

  • Christine Costello

    Design Director

    Drawing on multi-disciplinary skills in human-centered research and iterative design, Christine Costello leads work in the BIF Experience Labs. Christine came to BIF from Razorfish, where she most recently served as the Associate...

  • Tori Drew

    Director of Operations

    As BIF's director of operations, Tori Drew plays a key role in several BIF activities, including the coordination of our annual Collaborative Innovation Summits. A logistics wiz kid with more than 15 years experience managing big...

  • Jeff Drury

    Interactive Designer/Developer

    Jeff has ten years experience concepting, designing and developing clean, accessible and functional websites and digital media for respected institutions, fine artists and smart designers. At BIF, he works with researchers, designers...

  • Kara Dziobek

    Experience Designer

    Kara works as a Design Researcher in the BIF Experience Labs where she combines her passion for people and multi-scalar design process to better understand the human experience. With her background in architecture, she approaches...

  • Christine Flanagan

    Student Experience Lab Director

    Chris is BIF's student experience lab director and believes passionately that students should play an active role in education innovation. In so doing, we democratize our education system. 

  • James Hamar

    Multimedia Producer

    James is BIF's Multimedia Producer. He creates audio, video, and print pieces for BIF’s Innovation Story Studio and helps tell the stories of the participants in our BIF Experience Labs. In addition, he also serves as a...

  • Saul Kaplan

    Founder and Chief Catalyst

    Saul Kaplan is the founder and Chief Catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory and author of The Business Model Innovation Factory: How to Stay Relevant when the World Is Changing. Kaplan...

  • Samantha Kowalczyk

    Digital Media Generalist

    Sam is a recent graduate of Johnson & Wales University where she completed her bachelor's degree in Computer Graphics & New Media. While attending JWU, she served as a tutor and teaching assistant, as well as Editor-In-Chief...

  • Deb Meisel

    Experience Designer

    Deb works at the intersection of innovation and social impact as an Experience Designer at BIF. Driven by empathy and a background in human-centered design, she grounds her work in the experiences, emotions and stories of people. Deb...

  • Lindsey Messervy

    Experience Designer

    Lindsey holds a BA in Psychology and Humanistic Studies from McGill University. She studied architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and most recently received an MS in Design Ethnography from the University of Dundee...

  • Eli Stefanski

    Chief Market Maker

    Eli is Chief Market Maker leading BIF’s development efforts. With over a decade of experience in building and leading social ventures Eli is an accomplished social innovator with a deep knowledge of the new platforms affecting...

  • Jessica Wallner

    Community Engagement Manager

    Jessica is equal parts passionate and nerdy about media, and the roll it plays in transforming culture and community. Jess recently received her MA from NYU in Media, Culture, and Communication where she concentrated on visual culture...