Valerie Fletcher

Executive Director | Institute for Human Centered Design
Panelist | Inclusive Design: Disability, Culture, and Preservation

Fletcher has been Executive Director since 1998 of the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD), an international design and education non-profit whose mission centers on the role of design in social equity.   IHCD is a deep content expert in accessibility and Inclusive Design.  Valerie oversees IHCD’s consultation, design, and education services and created the IHCD User/Expert Lab.  Current participatory research focus is generating data to inform designing for people with functional limitations in the BIPoC and low-income communities with an emphasis on brain-based and other non-apparent conditions. Fletcher earned a master’s degree in ethics and public policy from Harvard University.  She is on the Board of the International Association for Universal Design (IAUD) and a Trustee of the Boston Architectural College. The Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art in London named her Inclusive Design Champion 2022.