Stephanie Wander is the Director, Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at the GeoTech Center and a technology and innovation strategist with a track record of launching large-scale projects to solve global grand challenges. Wander’s approaches focus on integrating innovation best practices and mindsets including design thinking, behavior change strategies, foresight techniques, and expert and public crowdsourcing.   

Previously, Wander was a lecturer at the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work where she taught graduate social work professionals in design, innovation, and disruptive technology. She is also a former senior manager of prize development at the XPRIZE Foundation, where she led the design of IBM Watson artificial intelligence (AI) XPRIZE and competitions for on-demand urban aviation and tissue engineering. Wander was also a contributing designer on the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE and the Global Learning XPRIZE competitions.  

Wander has written and spoken about disruptive technologies and processes, notably at NASA’s On-Demand Mobility Workshop, at South by Southwest, and on CXOTalk. She co-authored the chapter “The Power of Prize Competitions” in the book What Matters: Investing in Results to Build Strong, Vibrant Communities. She has also been quoted by various publications including Sports Illustrated, Wired Germany, Vice, Engadget, Digital Trends, Geekwire, Futurism, I Programmer, IFLscience, and the Verge. 

Wander is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management and Northwestern University. She is passionate about collaborating with experts and teams to identify disruptive change, create meaningful opportunities, and deliver high-impact results through innovation.