Chief Innovation Officer
Let's make the revolution irresistible.
"The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible." That charge comes from Black feminist filmmaker Toni Cade Bambara. As an artist myself, I am here for it.
I help people build more productive, impactful, and downright inspiring innovation engines for their teams. Below, you'll find examples from my many years of transforming creative ideas into reality.
Three Pillars
Here are the three pillars of my career in innovation, with highlights from my resumé.
SERVICE DELIVERY
I have a reputation for getting sh*t done.
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I've coached dozens of healthcare workers to use a design thinking approach for innovation projects, chiefly at Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital. These 68 postcards from the field tell some of the stories.
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Inspired by the success of a design project that I piloted in a hospital with a nurse practitioner, I built a nonprofit that connects poets with healthcare workers around the world to help improve communication and fight burnout. It's currently in its seventh year of double-digit growth.
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I'm highly skilled in behavioral science and the art of change implementation, which I spoke about in my keynote talk at Berlin's Service Experience Camp conference.
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Two of my published games have become bestsellers: BrainSpin (2015), which celebrates neurodiversity, and Dumb Questions to Ask Your Friends (2024), which is available in six languages and sold 100,000+ copies last year.
EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Intentional experiences are my bread and butter.
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In my course on Innovative Thinking for grad students at the University of Maryland, I share many world-building examples from my career as an experience designer.
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I've got a deep, longstanding passion for user research that drives change. Here's a video training on discovery interview skills I created that is still used widely for hospital staff and researchers.
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Every detail of operations for The Good Listening Project was an opportunity to build our culture and community. Onboarding has always been a special passion of mine, for example, so I wrote a Listener Poet's Handbook for Working and made sure all our new hires received a copy in the mail during their first week.
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Meetup groups I've led and/ or co-founded include the massive Design Thinking: DC; Healthcare Experience Design | DC; and DC Graphic Facilitators.
COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP
Facilitating high-performing teams is my true strength.
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I co-founded The Good Listening Project, a nonprofit that supports psychological safety in healthcare, and led it for five years. As executive director, I championed a collaborative governance model, earned a "Most Receptive to Feedback" award, and doubled revenues every year.
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While co-directing the Innovation Hub at Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital, I built the first design internship program there. It was a massive force multiplier. You can find many of my former interns' testimonials on my LinkedIn.
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I'm trained in agile and predictive project management, and have years of experience with both. My Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is current through January 2028.
I'm proud to say I've learned from getting things wrong, too. Here is my failure resumé.
Testimonials
I asked some some current and former colleagues to help me tell the story
of how I show up as a team member.
Dr. Andrew Yin, MD
Coworker, Sibley Hospital Innovation Hub
"He pushes to solve problems from all different kinds of angles, and he's always ready to pivot."
Jenny Hegland
Co-director, The Good Listening Project
"He's really a joy, and anybody would be lucky to work with him."
Pradeep Suthram
Venture-Backed Startup Coach
"Frankie gives people the courage to do what they think may be hard or downright impossible."
Mary Page Jones
Nonprofit Leader
"Frankie is talented, innovative, and has a creative way of bringing diverse groups together."
John Johnson
Theater Director
"He is definitely bilingual, meaning he can use both sides of his brain."
Caroline Durham
Nonprofit Executive & Co-Mentor
"Frankie brings creativity, groundedness, & joy to whatever spaces he's in."
Manuel Großman
Service Design Leader
"I loved to see how he would create the community, how he would come up with new ideas for how to connect the people."
Nancy Eddy, Social Worker
Board Chair, The Good Listening Project
"His passion is contagious. Whatever he's working on, you want to work on it, too."
Matt Brown, RN
Clinical Advisor, Sibley Hospital Innovation Hub
"He exposed me to human centered design, and it changed my professional life."