Erin Henkel
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Policy


Erin is motivated by the belief that design is about making things better for people. Combining her innate creativity and desire to help others, Erin has applied design thinking to solve complex challenges faced by leading companies, non-profits and small entrepreneurial ventures. She has led such diverse projects as creating a new exponential source of funding for the Alzheimer’s Association, creating a growth strategy and signature spaces for a 100-plus-member pediatric association, developing a new retirement planning offer for the second largest bank in the United States, and imagining the workplace of the future for a major multinational networking and communications corporation. This work has taken Erin into the field across the world, including work in Africa, India, and China.

Sharing her passion for design, Erin has taught design-innovation classes at the Universidad de los Andes in Columbia, South America, The Institute for Design at IIT, and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.