Faculty

Sue Tan is a part-time adjunct lecturer in the Academy's Masters of Integrated Design, Business and Technology program and has been teaching at the graduate program since its inception in 2017. 

She combines over 20 years of experience in human-centered design from the celebrated innovation firm IDEO, cross-industry consulting, and entrepreneurial ventures to help students connect theory with the messy realities of practice, and how products, markets, systems, regulations, technology, culture and behaviors intersect in the real-world. 

Throughout a diverse global career in user research, product and brand development, service/UX/education design, consulting for some of the the world’s largest organizations, to co-founding and operating a small business, her work is increasingly focused on the space of healthcare equity. She has led projects for some of the world’s largest health and medical organizations like the VA and Medtronic, worked with palliative care experts to co-create educational tools for patients, caregivers, and providers, and most recently co-founded a cannabis and hemp therapeutics venture. 

Tan gained her foundation in creative problem solving while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial Design at the University of Washington. She then earned her Masters in Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, which is a program that was similarly founded to disrupt the world of higher education. In 2014 Tan co-authored a book about innovation called The Tao of Innovation: Nine Questions Every Innovator Must Answer.