Steven Babitch is an accomplished leader with experience in human-centered design, product management, and artificial intelligence. He has applied his expertise in consulting, startups, large corporate, international development, and government across a variety of sectors including consumer digital services, transportation, healthcare, climate technology, cybersecurity, and national security.

Currently, he is Founder and Principal of The Babitch Group, a consultancy he founded in 2014. Client work includes helping The World Bank launch an agriculture technology incubator in Brazil to help small farmers adapt to climate change and working with the City of Detroit on economic development and talent attraction initiatives.  Prior to that he led new market creation and product development at Konux GmbH, a Munich, Germany based AI scale-up focused on the sustainable future of mobility.

Previously, Steve was Director of AI at the U.S. federal government’s General Services Administration in the Technology Transformation Services. There, he led cross-agency responsible AI efforts.  As a Presidential Innovation Fellow, he led an information sharing initiative and spearheaded the engagement between the FBI and industry on criminal and national security matters. For this work, he received a commendation from FBI Director Christopher Wray for “Exceptional Service in the Public Interest” and a Presidential Letter of Appreciation from U.S. President Barack Obama for strategic leadership and public service.

Prior to that he worked for product design and strategy consultancies IA Collaborative and Monitor-Doblin with clients including the Mayo Clinic, Dexcom, Amgen, United Airlines, Ford Motor Company, SK Telecom, AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, Humana, Sonos, and Samsung. Steve has taught human-centered design and public private partnerships at Northwestern University, CEDIM Design School in Mexico, and American University. He was a mentor at MATTER, the health care incubator, and was in the Emerging Leaders Program at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Design from the IIT Institute of Design.