Stacy Benjamin is the Director of the Segal Design Certificate program at Northwestern University and a member of the Executive Committee for the Segal Education Council. She is the lead instructor of the Interdisciplinary Design Projects sequence where students work on real projects with real clients in a learn-by-doing format, in an atmosphere similar to a small design firm.In addition to design methods, the teaching team also provides contextual training in professional communication and in effective team dynamic strategies and tools.
In her consulting roles, Benjamin focuses on innovation strategies, ideation, user-centered engineering design, and design thinking. She has applied these strategies to generate new growth opportunities across a range of sectors, including industrial equipment, transportation, mining, finance, health care, telecom, and CPG.
Prior to her work with Northwestern, Benjamin worked for nine years at IDEO. There she was a senior project manager in the style of “player-coach.” She led multi-disciplinary teams to develop products, beginning with needs identification, to concept generation and detailed development, through manufacturing support.
Benjamin holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester.
