Holly Finnan
Master of Design/M.B.A. ProgramResearch is in Holly Finnan's genes. The daughter of a lawyer and an anthropologist/professor, Finnan majored in psychology at Vassar College and also worked as a research assistant on a faculty project. During her senior year, she carried out secondary research associated with this project and designed an independent study on identity development.
Finnan became increasingly interested in how companies conduct research and after her graduation, moved to San Francisco where she worked for Banana Republic and Piperlime. From her experiences, Finnan decided that she wanted to become an advocate for the value of the creative process in business.
"I ultimately came to ID because of its great reputation in design strategy and that many of the class projects have clients," explains Finnan, who has already worked with the Chicago Transit Authority, the Chicago Park District, Kodak, and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Her service-design course focusing on MSKCC netted Finnan a summer internship and the opportunity to work on a capstone research and demonstration project with the facility. It also helped to guide her on a focused career path.
"Based on my experience at ID and in the internships I have held, I am interested in working as a service designer or strategic planner on health care projects within a consultancy or for a hospital," says Finnan. "The health care industry is changing so much right now and there is a huge opportunity to develop the user-centered design approach to help companies develop new business models, new care-delivery methods, and environments that benefit both patients and companies."
