podcast / alumni / president / graphic-design
October 17, 2017

Change Lab Podcast: Sara Ortloff Khoury on Leading Design Innovation for the World's Biggest Technology Brands

Sara Khoury (MFA 92 Graphics and Packaging) has marshaled her formidable talents as a user experience designer, a big picture thinker and instinctive problem solver to scale Silicon Valley’s highest peaks of design leadership. In her current role as Google’s director of user experience design, she oversees product design for many of the tech giant’s most innovative initiatives, including the recently introduced Google Hire. Previously, Sara held executive design leadership roles at Bank of America and Walmart Labs, where she oversaw the overhaul of the mega retailer’s approach to e-commerce.

With over 20 years experience at the intersection of design and technology in Silicon Valley, Sara continues to pioneer paths for female leaders in the tech field. She has forged new frontiers for women designers and technologists with executive aspirations, without losing sight of her values and commitment to leveraging her position as an influential design leader to drive positive change, developing solutions to improve our digital experience of major brands, at the systemic and individual level.

In this episode Sara opens up about her upbringing by bohemian artist parents in a rural setting, developing her critical thinking faculties and her strategies for thriving in male-dominated corporate arena.