John Zeratsky (Family and Consumer Journalism ’05) is an Author and Technology Designer in Milwaukee, WI.
“My work with SoHE is an opportunity”
After he graduated in 2005, John Zeratsky cut his professional teeth as a technology designer at YouTube and Google, and eventually found his way to Google Ventures. It was there where he and his colleagues co-authored the New York Times best-seller Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days. He also authored a second book, Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day. Zeratsky shares concepts from both books with audiences around him today, including SoHE.
“I’ve learned that design is not just a craft but an entire discipline for solving problems,” Zeratsky says. “My work with SoHE is an opportunity to broaden the application of that discipline outside the tech world —to give every student a human-centered approach to doing their life’s work.”
In addition to helping faculty integrate real-world design practices into their programs, Zeratsky has served on the Board of Visitors, been a regular leadership-level donor, a guest lecturer, and informal mentor at SoHE, inspired by memories of his own undergraduate encounters that he credits with an “outsized influence on my journey and understanding of the world.”