Julia Maddox

She has led transformation and strategy work for many universities, organizations and companies, including University of Michigan, Florida International University, and Universidad Tecnológica del Perú.

She’s served as a lead faculty member for clients including Microsoft, Pixar, and Airbus and has taught collaboration, creativity, and social innovation to over 1,000 learners.

While at the global innovation firm IDEO, she led multidisciplinary teams to design transformative systems, strategies, and structures, beginning and ending with the needs of the impacted people.

She excels at bringing together disparate and disconnected stakeholders, helping them form clear, shared visions. She helps teams navigate competing needs and tensions, making strategic choices and committing to a shared strategy.

Julia is a learning experience expert who specializes in experiential and inquiry-based learning. She has helped clients transform their leadership development operations to emphasize greater agility and learner engagement.

She was the Director of Organizational Innovation at the University of Rochester (UR) where she led transformation projects and served as a strategy consultant to university leaders and community partners. She founded UR’s 12,000 square foot innovation center and led a team of 15 facilitators and consultants to aid in project development and execution. 

While at UR, she was the instructor for several undergraduate and graduate courses on topics related to design thinking and entrepreneurship. She spearheaded dozens of complex stakeholder initiatives with community partners from the City of Rochester, Rochester Public Schools, and Community Organizations.

At Stanford she received her training in Life Design, a coaching approach that uses innovation and prototyping to help people design their education and career. She also received her design thinking and facilitator training from the Stanford d. School.

She is a graduate of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She grew up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.