Faculty Profiles

John Zapolski : Director, Strategos

John Zapolski is a San Francisco-based director of Strategos, a leading innovation and growth strategy consultancy. 

John’s work has helped many of the world’s leading companies and most innovative startups challenge convention, discover new strategic opportunities, and invent new businesses.

John was formerly a founding principal of Management Innovation Group (MIG), a business innovation firm that helped implement transformative growth strategies at companies like Nokia, BT, Reed Elsevier, and AARP. He has also held management positions at Wells Fargo and Yahoo!, where he pioneered new approaches to developing and managing user experiences that helped both companies win accolades from their customers and industry analysts. 



John has long been an active thought leader in the practice of strategic design, and has helped develop several research- and design-oriented professional organizations including chairing the AIGA’s international Experience Design community from 2003 to 2005.  He was also instrumental in launching the first Designing for User Experiences (DUX) conference to bring together the world’s leading user experience practitioners and academics. 
In addition to SVA, John has taught at the University of California, Berkeley and lectured at schools and conferences in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia. 

Education

University of Chicago, Columbia College

Professional Experience

Director, Strategos; Founding Principal, Management Innovation Group; Director, User Experience Practice Development, Yahoo!; VP, Customer Experience Research, Wells Fargo;

Publications

Boxes And Arrows; IIT Institute of Design’s Perspectives; BusinessWeek