Design Team

“Our approach to health in the US has become a fragmented, misaligned, and, frankly, dysfunctional system. Trying to mend what is broken by working in small scale on individual silos is no longer tenable as an approach. What FORESIGHT represents is a comprehensive rethink of what the system, as a whole, needs to do in order to see real change happen.”

Stacey Chang serves as the executive director of the Design Institute for Health at the University of Texas at Austin. It is a first-of-its-kind institution, dedicated to applying design approaches to solving systemic health care challenges as an integrated part of both an operating health system, and a medical education and training program. Working with invested stakeholders in the health ecosystem, and harnessing the resources of the university, the Institute is focused on creating human-centered solutions in clinical and community environments—all with the intent to improve people’s health outcomes and health care experiences. The Institute considers topics as broad as the design of health products and services, the built environment, and the structure and functionality of the health ecosystem itself, and is committed to sharing advances that define a new model for societal health. Until 2014, Stacey served as the managing director of the health care practice at IDEO, the global design and innovation firm. Clients included governments, research institutions, hospitals, pharma, insurance, medtech, and all the upstarts trying to rewrite the script, in both established and emerging markets.

“FORESIGHT has the potential to change how philanthropy does business to bring about a new future for health.”

Katy Evans is project manager of the FORESIGHT initiative. In this role, she keeps things running on time and on budget by developing and overseeing workplans, managing the project budget, coordinating across the team and partners, and managing key meetings and events. Previously, Katy was senior program associate for Rippel’s ReThink Health Ventures project. She helped lead a collaborative and transparent process to articulate what was learned from the project and its significance for regional leaders and catalyzing organizations across the country. The products produced include toolkits to help leaders strengthen their resident engagement, public narrative, and value propositions—all critical for successful regional transformation efforts. Katy came to Rippel from the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, where she ran communications and programming for a large-scale project on institutional corruption.

Education: Boston University (doctoral candidate), Kings College London (MA), Boston College (BA)

“In a period in which we seem to lack inspiring visions for our future, it is exciting to have an opportunity to work with a group that is simultaneously so ambitious and so innovative in their efforts to transform American life. With all of the amazing individuals who are contributing to FORESIGHT, this promises to be a unique, inclusive, and inspiring experience.”

Richard A. K. Lum is an academically trained futurist and chief executive of Vision Foresight Strategy LLC (VFS), a foresight and strategic analysis firm based in Honolulu. His professional interests include the futures of governance, conflict and security, and industrialism. VFS’s current project work includes modeling and forecasting for a $10 billion educational institution and research for the Canadian governmental foresight agency. Richard’s current and recent work for the US Department of Defense includes research and concept work for distributed warfare, the F-35 Lightning II Program Office, the SOF community, and research and foresight work in support of the Strategic Capabilities Office, as well as speaking at the Naval War College, SOFWERX, and the Association of the United States Army LANPAC Symposium.

Richard has worked with a wide variety of non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, and government agencies on foresight, strategy development, and strategic thinking, including projects for organizations such as the European Commission, the UK government, the US Department of Defense, and PepsiCo. He has helped organizations apply foresight and develop strategy for endeavors ranging from the restoration of ancient Hawaiian island land management divisions, to crowdsourcing foresight development, to helping educators in the US anticipate the long-term futures of learning.

Richard is the author of 4 Steps to the Future: A Quick and Clean Guide to Creating Foresight and his contributions were featured in the book Thinking about the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight. He has been published in the Journal of Futures Studies, the journal Futures, and the International Journal of System of Systems Engineering. He is the co-creator of the Verge General Practice Framework for foresight work, which is used by foresight practitioners throughout the UK, Europe, Africa, and Asia, for horizon scanning, scenario development, and visioning work.

Richard holds a PhD in political science from the futures studies program at the University of Hawai‘i. His dissertation research focused on developing a conceptual framework for designing future governance systems.

“FORESIGHT has incredible potential to equitably inform, design, and test strategies to advance a holistic, comprehensive system and culture that fosters health and well-being. It is the first initiative of its kind in which an equitable design process is prioritized as much as the hoped-for outcome in that FORESIGHT is bringing in resident voices to inform and shape future strategies for change.”

Olivia Mastry is principal and founder of Collective Action Lab, a unique collaborative forum that fosters cross-sector, large-scale systems change in the health and well-being. Olivia combines her training and experience in law, health administration, public health, and conflict resolution to support a disciplined collaboration process that enables organizations to accomplish together what they cannot do alone. Her previous collaborations include ACT on Alzheimer’s and Dementia Friendly America, LTSS Pathways, Silos to Circles, and Mill City Kids. She holds an MPH and JD from the University of Minnesota, and has received the 2015 Public Health Innovator Award (from the University of Minnesota) and the 2016 Gerontologist of the Year (from the Minnesota Gerontologist Society).

“As our world continues to change rapidly, we must determine how we can be more responsive, nimble, and able to meet community needs in the realm of health and well-being in the future. That takes a team that brings a wide variety of perspectives and expertise—a team that can listen, learn, and imagine what is possible. I’m excited to be a part of this team to create influence and inspiration for the future.”

Anne Jin Soo Preston has been working with nonprofits, government agencies, and foundations for over a decade and specializes in research and evaluation. She works with inter-agency partners and cross-sector collaborations to impact society’s toughest issues in aging, arts and culture, disability, education, health, housing, science, social services, and transportation. Anne’s work across multiple sectors helps her visualize entire ecosystems, finding challenges and interdependencies within. Her abilities for aligning strategy, programmatic goals, advocacy, and program outcomes has helped organizations evaluate the process around learning, relationship building, collaboration, and collective impact. Recent projects include: We Are Water MN, MinnesotaHelp.Info, Disability Hub MN, Help Me Grow MN, Reach out and Read MN, and Metro Transit. Anne holds an MPS and a BA from the University of Minnesota.

“Assuring health and well-being for all is a transformative goal—and a wicked problem. FORESIGHT represents an audacious national effort to unite diverse communities in exploring what a vision for healthy lives for all might be. It’s one of the most exciting and challenging foresight initiatives I’ve worked on.”

Wendy Schultz is an academically trained futurist with over 35 years of global foresight practice. She has designed futures research projects for NGOs, government agencies, and businesses. Recent clients include GlaxoSmithKline, Policy Horizons Canada, Vodafone, the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, Nesta UK, Singapore’s Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning Centre, the Industrial Research Institute, and PepsiCo. Wendy specializes in participatory futures workshops—most recently at A Temporary Futures Institute at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp; for Africa Knows in Arusha, Tanzania; at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy; and in Budapest for Vodafone. These workshops are participatory, exploratory, provocative, and creative. Wendy teaches futures studies in the Masters Program in Strategic Foresight at the University of Houston, is a senior fellow of the Center for Post-Normal Policy and Futures Studies; vice president of training for Vision Foresight Strategy; and a principal of SAMI Consulting. She is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists and a fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation. Her award-winning articles on futures research have been published in Foresight, Futures, the Journal of Futures Studies, World Futures Review, and APF’s Compass.

“In California and across the country, we are confronting deep, persistent inequities in health and well-being. It’s also a time of rapid technological and social change. The complexity of how human health is produced—through many interconnected social and economic factors—requires us to think about new solutions. The future is a place of creative possibility, and FORESIGHT is designed to help us imagine what could be and figure out how to get there together.”

Rachel Wick is a senior program officer at Blue Shield of California Foundation, where she leads an initiative focused on designing the future of health in California. Previously, she led the Foundation’s statewide policies and systems change strategies focused on advancing the integration of primary care, mental health and substance use treatment, the spread of electronic consultation (e-consult) between primary care and specialty care systems, and the launch of accountable communities for health. Prior to joining Blue Shield of California Foundation, Rachel spent eight years at the Consumer Health Foundation in Washington, DC, implementing and evaluating a health equity and advocacy strategy—first as a program officer, and then as director of policy, planning, and special projects. Rachel was selected as a 2010 Terrence Keenan Emerging Leader in Health Philanthropy Fellow by Grantmakers in Health. She holds a BA in philosophy from the College of St. Benedict and an MPH in health management and policy from the University of Michigan.