Heather Emerson Email & Phone Number

Heather is a design leader working to close the opportunity gap. In her role as Head of Product Design at Coursera, Heather works with Enterprises, Governments and Universities to design solutions that build the workforce of the future. Prior to Coursera, Heather was Managing Director at human-centered design firm, IDEO, where she spent nearly two decades helping public and private institutions across almost every industry and sector create innovative products, services and experiences. While at IDEO, Heather co-founded and led the global Design for Learning Studio, partnering with change makers to reshape our systems of learning and work including; the design of an award winning digital platform to help first-generation college students thrive, a vision to transform career colleges into engines of student success, an experience blueprint for California’s new employability-focused online Community College, a novel learning & development model for organizations to build the skills needed to navigate digital disruption, and a lab to catalyze the workforce development ecosystem in designing interventions to systemic equity challenges. Guiding Heather’s work is the conviction that design is one of the most powerful levers we have to create meaningful change at scale. Heather studied Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Michigan and earned her BS in Product Design from Art Center College of Design.