In late 2016 Nicole Dessain designed the hr.hackathon event concept for DisruptHR Chicago. It resulted from feedback that the community wanted to have more opportunity to collaborate with peers. Nicole combined this insight with her passion for design thinking. And, voila! The first hr.hackathon event was delivered in June 2017 with 50 rock star HR and business leaders. Countless post-it notes, laughter, inspiration, and ten top ideas later a movement was born.

​During her corporate career as a leadership development executive in the tech industry, Karan fell in love with power of design thinking.  She was fascinated with seeing the magic that occurred when the company’s top leaders used design thinking to accelerate the process of discovering innovative solutions in the fraction of normal time.  She began taking classes in design thinking and following the leading experts, such Google Ventures and IDEO.   After starting her own human capital firm in 2013, Karan brought many of the design thinking concepts to her Organizational Effectiveness and Change Management engagements.

In 2019, Nicole partnered with Karan Rhodes to bring the concept to the Atlanta HR community.  Karan then partnered with operational strategist, Vicki Wright Hamilton, to join other city leaders, like those in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Detroit, in spreading this most valuable tool to HR functions across the U.S.  Everyday, more and more HR professionals are using design thinking and design sprints to become an even more valuable business partner to their business leaders.

Karan Ferrell-Rhodes, hr.hackathon-Atlanta Event Host
Vicki Wright Hamilton– hr.hackathon-Atlanta Event Co-Host

Karan’s Creative Superpower: Strategic Ideation
Vicki’s Creative Superpower: Radical Transformer
Yours?  We will help you identify it during the next session!

GET SOCIAL:  Use the hashtag- #hrhackathonatl

OTHER INFO:

• Learn more about the hr.hackathon Alliance
• Learn why Karan LOVES design thinking
• SUBMIT A CHALLENGE:  Have a great idea for one of our next hr.hackathon-Atlanta sessions?  Submit it here.
• VENUE SPONSORS: Interested in being a venue sponsor?  If you have meeting space which has AV and seats at least 60 people in rounds or pods, please email us for more details. 
• REFRESHMENT SPONSORS:  Interested in being a refreshment sponsor?  Please email us for more details.
• EVENT VOLUNTEERS:  We have 10 volunteer opportunities at each event.  If interested in helping with tasks such as check-in, table hosts, or refreshment set-up, please email us for more details BEFORE you register.  You will be sent a special registration link.

Danica Kombol, CEO – Everywhere Agency
Past Challenge Presenter

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