As Partner and Managing Director of IDEO, Melanie Bell-Mayeda helps organizations reinvent themselves and connect with customers in new and meaningful ways. An MBA by training and a sociologist at heart, two things stop her in her tracks: an analytical exercise that unlocks a completely new way of seeing an opportunity, and the development and launch of a market-facing pilot that sets the stage for changing an experience, brand, and organization. Melanie collaborates with clients to connect human need and market opportunity by leveraging IDEO’s strategic design capabilities. Her focus spans a broad range of industries, from financial services, to hard and soft good manufacturing, to consumer services. Most recently, Melanie led The Powerful Now, a global initiative that explored ways to bring creativity and design thinking to the topic of aging.