Hi, I'm Tracey.
I specialize in combining leadership, design thinking, AI strategy, and innovation to help organizations uncover opportunities and drive real business results with customers and employees.
With a focus on aligning teams, technology, and vision, I turn complexity into clarity and action.
AI Strategy + Design Thinking Expert
My Expertise
Team Leadership
Empower Team Potential
I’m passionate about building teams where people thrive and results follow. Over 20 years, I’ve led groups across design, strategy, and sales—always with a focus on unlocking human potential. I create clarity through open communication, align individuals around a shared vision, and foster trust so people feel empowered to take risks, innovate, and deliver meaningful outcomes. My leadership is about more than managing work—it’s about inspiring people to grow, collaborate, and achieve impact together.
Business Value Strategy
From Vision to Value
I help organizations create a clear strategic vision and translate it into an activation plan that drives measurable outcomes and tangible business value. My approach ensures strategies don’t just sit on paper—they come to life through defined goals, actionable steps, and accountability frameworks that keep teams focused on delivering impact. I guide leaders in aligning vision with execution so that progress is visible, measurable, and sustainable—ensuring investments translate into long-term value for the business.
Executive Selling + Storytelling
Executive Conversations that Influence
I specialize in helping leaders and sellers connect with executives through strategic storytelling. It’s not just about selling—it’s about framing complex ideas in a way that resonates with what leaders care about most: outcomes, priorities, and impact. I’ve not only practiced this in my own career, but I also coach and teach other sellers how to use storytelling as a tool to build trust, influence decisions, and create lasting executive relationships.
AI Strategy and Prioritization
Leading AI with Business Value impact
Experienced in guiding Fortune 100 companies through AI strategy development and use case prioritization to ensure high-impact, scalable outcomes. Skilled at identifying and evaluating AI opportunities across the business, aligning initiatives to strategic goals, and structuring them into actionable roadmaps. Focused on balancing feasibility, value, and risk to help organizations make confident decisions about where and how to invest in AI for the greatest return.
Design Thinking Workshops
Creativity and Professionalism
Expert in planning and facilitating high-impact design thinking workshops that drive clarity, alignment, and strategic outcomes. Skilled in stakeholder engagement, pre-workshop planning, and selecting the right exercises to surface insights, prioritize initiatives, and unify siloed teams and information around a common vision. Sessions are purposefully designed to build momentum, unlock innovation, and align cross-functional stakeholders on what matters most.
UX Research + Analysis
Non assumptive discovery
Deep expertise in field user research and analysis rooted in uncovering the “why” behind behaviors to drive meaningful impact. Focused on translating insights into actionable outcomes, with deliverables such as personas, journey maps, and custom artifacts that clarify user needs, surface patterns, and guide strategic decisions. Research is always designed to connect back to business goals—turning qualitative and quantitative data into clarity, alignment, and direction.
UI Prototype Design
Low-high fidelity prototyping
I have expertise in designing both low- and high-fidelity prototypes across a range of tools, including Figma, PowerPoint, paper sketches, and the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite. My capabilities span from rapid concept visualization to polished, interactive designs, enabling me to tailor outputs for ideation sessions, stakeholder presentations, and user testing. Proficient in storyboarding with video, video editing, and graphic design, I bring a comprehensive creative skill set that supports end-to-end design workflows—from initial concept through to production-ready assets.
My Skillset
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Leadership + Management
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Deep Research + Analysis
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Strategy + Innovation
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Workshop planning + orchestration
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Immersive Experience Design / Physical Design
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Data + Information Architecture
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Brand Design / Visual Design
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UI mockups / Prototyping
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Front End Development / UI Dev
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Storyboarding / Storytelling
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Video creation / editing / production
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Educational / Learning Design
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AI training
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Change Management / Adoption
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Design Thinking / UX
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Sales / Selling / Pre-sales
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Coaching / Mentoring / Training
About
Tracey Kelly
I'm a design thinking leader, strategist, and author with a passion for turning complexity into clarity. As the former Envisioning Lead for Microsoft’s Business Applications Global Black Belt Team, I’ve led hundreds of virtual and in-person workshops to help Fortune 100 companies uncover business challenges, align on strategic outcomes, and build a clear path forward—often as part of large, high-stakes deals. I also led Microsoft’s global Design Thinking Community, fostering collaboration.
Before that, I directed multiple Microsoft Technology Centers and created the envisioning workshop model now used globally across the MTC network. I’ve trained sales, product, and operations teams across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East in design thinking principles.
As the author of Design Thinking for Software and AI (and currently writing Designing Your Career), I’m driven by a love for learning, growth, and helping others succeed. I live in Dallas, TX with my husband Dan and our French Bulldog, Maggie.
Design Thinking for Software and AI
Co-authoring
The reason I wrote this book with fellow AI architect Bob Stackowiak was to teach and empower people and businesses to build their skills around how to think about innovation, AI, and the grander scheme of business strategy to achieve big impact.
Drawing on our combined expertise, Bob and I guide readers through the fundamentals and history of Design Thinking as a strategic innovation approach—especially in contexts where software and AI intersect—demonstrating how rapid prototyping proves ideas and accelerates value delivery.
From preparing and facilitating workshops to conducting stakeholder-centered ideation, prototyping, and managing change, this book distills a practical, human-centered methodology for turning bold concepts into actionable, business-ready solutions.
P.S. I'll be authoring another book soon. Stay tuned.
Connect with Tracey Kelly
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