Bio
Ariel Kennan (she/her) is a Senior Director at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, where she researches and advises on advancing design, data, and technology for accessible and equitable delivery of public benefits. Ariel leads the Digital Benefits Network to support practitioners in current and near term challenges in public benefits delivery and envisioning future policies, services, and technologies. She also serves on the Beeck Center’s leadership team.
Ariel is a transformative executive leader versed in organizational strategy, service design, digital product development, public policy, and network collaboration. With experience in the public, nonprofit, academic, and private sectors, she drives change and delivers impactful solutions. She is highly skilled at and has a passion for building initiatives from the ground up — including co-creating strategic vision and operational plans, fundraising, hiring and managing teams, and engaging diverse stakeholders. She is deeply committed to equity and justice and creating a world where everyone can prosper.
Previously, she served in the New York City Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity where she founded the nation’s first municipal service design studio and managed a portfolio of best-in-class digital products to connect and deliver services. Most recently, she was the Director of Civic Innovation at Sidewalk Labs, where she led the strategy for inclusive participation in the social infrastructure of cities.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Integrated Design from Parsons School of Design. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Experience
Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
New York, NY and Washington DC · February 2021 - Current
Senior Director (2024-Current), Senior Fellow & Research Faculty (2021-2024)
- Serve as a member of the Beeck Center’s leadership team to provide program strategy and engagement for multi-million dollar philanthropic grant fundraising.
- Represent the Beeck Center at events and in the media as an expert in government innovation and trusted partner in public benefits delivery.
- Lead the Digital Benefits Network composing more than 3,500 cross-program, cross-sector public benefits practitioners who are expanding the equitable access and uptake of public benefits by improving the technology and services used to deliver them.
- Manage team of multidisciplinary staff and students for program delivery, including mentorship and professional development. Additionally oversee procurement and management of vendors and independent contractors.
- Facilitate and empower the Digital Benefits Leadership Council to gather executives from ten civic technology nonprofit organizations for sharing strategies, identifying common challenges, and fostering opportunities for collaboration.
- Establish first of their kind conferences for digital benefits practitioners, including BenCon and BenCamp to share knowledge, build community, and set vision for the ecosystem.
- Conduct action-oriented, foundational research on emerging topics of public benefits technology and service delivery, including eligibility Rules as Code, digital identity, artificial intelligence, customer experience, and integrated benefits through partnerships with nonprofits and government agencies.
- Host topical communities of practice to offer peer spaces to explore and solve for near-term and long-term challenges in topics including Rules as Code and digital identity, with unique offerings such as the Policy2Code Prototyping Challenge to foster open experimentation and sharing in the ecosystem.
- Lead the development of the Digital Government Hub, a pioneering reference library that includes 1,500+ resources from more than 500 organizations.
Sidewalk Labs
New York, NY · May 2018 - February 2021
Sidewalk Labs was an urban innovation company working to make cities more sustainable and affordable for all.
Director of Civic Innovation (2018-2020), Design Director (2020-2021)
- Served as a design and product executive to advance new urban systems.
- Conducted customer and competitor research and advanced product hypotheses through prototyping.
- 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 which included a proposed joint venture.
- 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 by founding the first municipal service design studio and establishing and managing a team of designers, software developers, product managers, and analysts.
- Led 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, including the ACCESS NYC benefits screener and the rebuild of the SNAP and cash assistance application. Built new applications and services for delivering social services and connecting residents to public benefits.
- 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 compiled API’s to publish to multiple sites and open data.
- 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.
- As a member of the leadership team, consulted on strategic initiatives and organizational approaches.
- Informed social services policy and legislation.
Code for America
San Francisco, CA · January 2013 - November 2013
Fellow
- 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.
ESI Design
New York, NY · January 2008 - December 2012
Interaction and Experience Designer, Design Lead
- Collaborated with and led creative teams in research, concept development, design, and software production for cultural and corporate clients.
- Oversaw software development teams through design, code development, testing, and launch.
- Conducted client pitches and presentations with principal designer.
- Created project deliverable documents, presentations, and production budgets.
Local Projects
New York, NY · September - December 2007
Intern
- Assisted in research, design, and production of museum-based projects.
- Participated in museum education activities and created a visitor guidebook.
Education
Parsons School of Design
New York, NY
Bachelor of Fine Arts in
Integrated Design
Lorenzo de’Medici
Florence, Italy
Study Abroad
Advising & Community Building
Civic Design by Rosenfeld Media
Lead Curator, Civic Design Community & Conference
New York, NY · August 2012 - June 2013
Public Access Design Fellow
Year long series of conversations and mentorship with a group of designers focused on social and civic design.
Awards
Honorable Mentions: General Excellence; Social Good; Spaces, Places + Cities, 2018
Adobe Government Creativity Awards
Best Employee-Facing Campaign; Best Public Facing Campaign, 2018
NYC Technology Forum
Best External Application, 2017
New York Digital Government Summit
Best Application Serving the Public, 2017/
Tribeca Film Festival
Award for Transmedia, 2013
SXSW Interactive Awards
Kiosk and Installation Finalist, 2011; Educational Resource Finalist, 2009