Faculty

Profile

Patty Beirne is a strategic leader with over 20 years of experience in public engagement, design, and civic innovation. She has worked extensively building internal innovation capacity programs in civic, cultural, healthcare, and educational institutions. She excels at building inclusive programs, leading multidisciplinary teams, and shaping mission-aligned strategy to launch and scale public initiatives promoting equity, wellness, and engagement.

Patty is currently a co-founder and advisor for Civic Design Collaborative, where she strengthens public institutions and government programs by embedding innovation practices, advising and training practitioners in design innovation, and strengthening strategic portfolios by centering the people they serve. Previously, as Principal Design Strategist at The Lab at OPM, she led federal public sector transformation, managing cross-agency programming and portfolio strategy. She has also served as Creative Lead of Design Innovation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She has taught at Parsons School of Design for 20 years across many programs in both the School of Design Strategies and the School of Constructed Environments.

Degrees Held

BA, Architecture, Washington University in St. Louis
MID, Industrial Design, The University of the Arts

Research Interests

civic innovation, service design, behavioral economics, human-centered design