Ariel Kennan Email & Phone Number

New York, United States

Washington, Dc, Us

Washington, Dc, Us

• Founded and set strategic vision for the Digital Benefits Network to support public interest practitioners working to deliver a more equitable safety net.• Research and advocate for best practices for using design, data, and technology for improved public benefit delivery and policy outcomes. Topics include eligibility rules as code, accessible benefits information, digital identity, integrated benefits, and American Rescue Plan investment.• Engage leaders with federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local governments and national public benefit delivery and research organizations.• Manage Digital Benefits Network team composed of a program lead, researcher, program and data manager, student analysts, independent contractors, and vendors. • Provide programmatic strategy and funder engagement for multi-million dollar philanthropic grant fundraising.

New York, New York, Us

New York, Ny, Us

• Served as design and product executive to advance new urban systems. • Facilitated workshops with subject matter experts to develop business and product approaches.• Conducted customer and competitor research and advanced product hypotheses through prototyping.• Managed design and product contractors.

New York, Ny, Us

• Created the civic life strategy for the social infrastructure proposal for Sidewalk Toronto, a district plan for Toronto’s eastern waterfront. • Defined physical spaces, digital services and programming to engage communities in decision making, relationship building, and interactions with local organizations and government.• Developed partnerships with local organizations, government, and communities to bridge the digital divide, foster social cohesion, and inspire civic engagement and transparent decision making. • Engaged executives in organizations and government to provide funding of pilot programs, such as inclusive usability testing through GRIT Toronto with Code for Canada.• Led strategy, product development, and business planning for Collab, a new technology venture for inclusive participation in urban planning and development. • Developed product concept and prototype, conducted customer and market research, hired contractors and staff, and delivered a scalable business plan including a proposed joint venture.

New York, Ny, Us

• Built capacity and advocated for service design and digital product development approaches to improve service delivery and advance equity and opportunity for all New Yorkers. • Established and managed a team of designers, software developers, product managers and analysts, including founding the first municipal service design studio.• Led foundational service design projects to document and deliver service design methodologies, advise agency partners, and build a community of practice across government. • Developed and managed strategy and delivery of a digital product portfolio, including redesign and redevelopment of legacy products and building new applications and services for delivering social services and connecting residents to public benefits.• Led iterative design processes through deep public and stakeholder engagement.Introduced a design system, managed plain language and translated content through a centralized content management system, used a rules engine to standardize eligibility rules, and used APIs to publish to multiple sites and open data. • Facilitated accessibility and privacy review, security compliance and deployment to cloud infrastructure.• Championed a new master services contract to facilitate the procurement of professional services in service design, graphic and branding design, and user experience design. • Oversaw grants and vendor contracts, including multi-million dollar budget management.• Informed social services policy and legislation.• Consulted on strategic initiatives and organizational approaches.

San Francisco, Ca, Us

Paired with the governments of Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri to build new civic software applications and enhance technology policy, government innovation, and community organizing. • Consulted city governments regarding digital innovation including open data policy and standards, data portals, and technology best practices which led to new legislation being passed, creation of innovation roles, and events within city hall.• Created a new application for small business digital literacy, BizFriend.ly.• Spoke publicly on behalf of Code for America and presented BizFriend.ly, including at community events, within city hall, and in press interviews. • Organized events including community roundtables, hackathon, and app launch.• Co-founded a local volunteer group for civic technology.

New York, Ny, Us

Promoted from intern to lead designer. Served on creative teams and provided production oversight on key projects within the studio. • Collaborated with and led creative teams in research, concept development, design, and production of experiential environments for cultural and corporate clients. • Conducted client pitches and presentations with principal designer.• Created project deliverable documents, presentations, and production budgets.Clients included: Barclays, Beacon Capital Partners, Comcast, Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate, General Electric, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, News Corporation, Octave Living, Pfizer, Trust for the National Mall, Rodale

New York City, Ny, Us

Assisted in research, design and production on museum-based projects

Participated in museum education activities and created visitor guide in Florence, Italy.

Cupertino, California, Us

Gained an expanded knowledge of Apple technology while assisting customers in a creative retail environment

Bfa, Integrated Design With Concentrations In Design & Technology And Communication Design

Study Abroad, Museum Studies, Italian, Photography

Govlab - Gov 3.0, Public Administration