luisa schumacher, director

Senior Manager Essential Services, Ford Motor Company

Luisa Schumacher is a leader in social impact design, or creating value using human centered design methods and strategies. With over 20 years’ of experience as an executive, Luisa’s ability to solve and prototype in complex social and corporate environments by fostering a collaborative atmosphere has made her a leader in the fields of social innovation, design thinking, philanthropy, culture change and education. Luisa’s unique leadership-focused approach to facilitation has led her to spearhead strategic innovation initiatives at a number of prestigious institutes and companies, including United Way, Ford Motor Company, the City of Detroit, Unidos US, GreenPath and The New School. Her work has been recognized and awarded in numerous global arenas. Most significant is her work writing and facilitating the strategic plan for the creation of the Museum School, winner of the $10M XQ Super School Project grant for education and innovation. In addition to having served in traditional executive roles, Luisa has been launching new businesses since she was a teenager. In 2017, Luisa founded and ran Space Hostess, an experience design social enterprise, out of Impact Hub (Vuka Collective) in Austin, Texas. Luisa was a global design fellow with the Design Science Studio at The Buckminster Fuller Institute where she worked on museum concepts for global impact. She currently is a Design Thinking Catalyst Lead at Ford Motor Company. Luisa lives in Southwest Detroit and is proud to be a Puerto Rican living in Michigan.