About Us
Future Design School supports deep competency development and skill mastery through exceptional learning experiences.
We support leaders looking to develop unique, personalized pathways for their schools, educators and students. Schools across North America leverage our organization for transformational strategy, professional development as well as our robust tools, frameworks and resources.
Our proven methodologies combine significant learning generated from our extensive field work around the globe and leverage our deep expertise in strategy development, user centered design and change management.
Hundreds of schools and districts have leveraged our seasoned business strategists and renowned education experts to drive deeply impactful and measurable results.
Our sought after team of successful entrepreneurs, designers, engineers and educators have worked alongside innovation leaders inside some of the world's best known brands, and renowned educational institutions.
Our team has launched over 60 products, built and sold 5 companies, has over 100 years of user experience design, and over 30 years of classroom experience.
SARAH PREVETTE has developed transformational strategy for some of the country’s biggest business leaders and renowned brands. Globally recognized for her work in human-centered design and entrepreneurship, she is proud to work alongside an incredible team of educators to drive innovation inside schools. Prevette’s organization, Future Design School, provides world-class strategy development, professional training programs and resources that empower effective leadership and personalized learning.
Featured in:
Future Design School's Founder & CEO shares her vision for education
Sarah is interviewed on Breakfast Television
Sarah shares her thoughts with Canadian Business Magazine
Selected Leaders
Sandra Nagy
Director of Learning
SANDRA NAGY has dedicated her career to driving innovation and building effective organizational strategy. Sandra began her career at Accenture as a Change Management consultant where she supported public and private sector clients through large-scale strategy and business transformation. Two of her years at Accenture were exclusively focused in the Government practice.
Sandra spent over a decade as a senior digital strategist at Pearson Education where she led multiple teams that worked across K-20 to transform curriculum and professional development resources with the use of technology. She was a member of a global team of educational technology champions focused on collaborating to solve problems in education. She engaged with stakeholders globally and was responsible for nurturing strategic partnerships with key customers and other like-minded organizations.
Prior to Pearson, Sandra worked at The Learning Partnership, a non-profit organization responsible for building stakeholder partnerships to support, promote and advance publicly funded education in Canada. She led a government and business-funded research project to look at blended, online and face-to-face, professional development for teachers in STEM courses. Sandra engaged in speaking opportunities across Canada sharing best practices in sustained, action-research driven professional development that leads to authentic community building.
With over 20 years of experience, Sandra has designed, developed and delivered hundreds of learning opportunities to thousands of employees and educators. She is a firm believer in the capacity of educators to drive future-skill development, and in sustained professional development that leverages a blend of learning tools. Sandra leads the Education Practice at Future Design School building strong academic partnerships with school leaders that help to drive their strategic priorities through consulting support, professional development and efficacious curriculum resources.
Sandra’s educational background includes a Master's in Education from Harvard University focused on Technology in Education. While completing this degree she worked at TechBoston, an organization infusing technology programs into inner-city Boston schools; conducted published research into distance learning at the Concord Consortium; and volunteered through the MIT Media Lab teaching robotics to home-schooled students. Sandra also holds a Bachelor of Commerce focused on Organizational Behavior and Entrepreneurship from McGill University. During her time in Montreal she actively volunteered at the Montreal Neurological Hospital focusing on brain research, taught within the Faculty of Management, and led tours on campus to prospective students.
Leslie McBeth
Director of Special Projects
LESLIE MCBETH has nearly 15 years of experience at the intersection of design and education. She started her career with an international NGO at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, developing campaigns to educate and empower human rights workers in the field. This position brought her to New York City, where she joined the team at the Design Trust for Public Space. Leslie worked with the world’s top architects, designers and policy leaders to develop solutions to complex problems in the public built environment. Inspired by the power of design to engage individuals in civic action, Leslie moved back to Canada to pursue a career in teaching design.
After graduating from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, Leslie spent almost a decade teaching at Greenwood College, a co-educational independent day school, where she designed personalized, project-based learning activities that provided students with real-world experiences in design and innovation. In addition to teaching, Leslie was the Coordinator of Service Learning, the Social Sciences Team Leader, and a Guidance Counsellor. Passionate about experiential education, Leslie’s students were most often found outside the classroom engaged in community projects. She led student trips to rural India, New York City, and the backcountry of Northern Ontario and Vancouver Island.
In 2016, Leslie joined Future Design School to build and expand professional development programs across North America. She created a suite of programs for educators that empowers them to break down their classroom walls and engage students in future-ready learning experiences that connect to curriculum. Over the past several years, she has worked with thousands of educators around the world from Australia to Singapore to Sweden to California.
Leslie is a Columbia University Klingenstein Institute Summer Fellowship recipient, a Facilitator for the Ontario Conference of Independent School’s Cohort 21 Professional Development program, a Google for Education Certified Innovator, and a TEDx Speaker. She has presented to audiences around the world at events including SXSWEdu, the CUE National Conference, and she is the Design Thinking Coach for the Google Innovator Academy worldwide. She is an avid athlete, an accomplished Ironman and can often be found cycling, running or swimming.
Quin Henderson
Education Lead
QUIN HENDERSON has dedicated his career to helping schools and educators to develop the next generation of problem solvers. Quin spent over a decade as a celebrated educator, technology leader and coach working to inspire students and teachers alike to unleash their creative confidence and develop new skills. Quin has deep expertise in developing district-wide coaching programs, effectively integrating technology into the classroom to support student-centred pedagogy and supporting school-wide strategic change.
As an Education Lead at Future Design School, Quin empowers and challenges teachers and leaders across North America to lean in to driving future ready competency development and assessment. Quin is also the voice of the Future X Podcast, where he interviews global thought leaders on the changing nature of work and the skills required for the world’s fastest growing industries.
Rachel Franks
Education Lead
RACHEL FRANKS is a proud Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) and dedicated educator. She has over a decade of experience teaching in classrooms both at home and abroad where she leveraged design thinking to engage students in developing empathy and creating solutions for real world problems.
After graduating from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto and teaching in international schools for a number of years, Rachel’s passion to empower students to become leaders became evident. She focused on teaching students to leverage their strengths and bring their own choice and voice into each learning experience to deepen their understanding and interest.
Rachel has a particular interest in providing a platform for Indigenous youth to connect to, appreciate and leverage their own cultural knowledge in today’s world. Rachel joined Future Design School to enable all youth to put their ideas into action and encourage everyone to have a positive impact on the world around them.
Rachel plays an integral role in student programs; including direct to student workshops, customized student retreats, Future Prize, micro credentialing and Young Innovators which operates globally.
Diane Rutherford
Education Lead
DIANE RUTHERFORD is an Education Lead at Future Design School dedicated to empowering individuals to achieve their greatest personal potential. Diane has over seven years of experience as a certified educator who has worked with hundreds of students of diverse backgrounds and ages, from across North America.
Diane completed the Future Design School Innovation Leader Certification in 2016 before joining Future Design School full time to design and deliver exceptional learning experiences with educators, business professionals and government leaders. In her role as Education Lead, Diane has designed and delivered customized workshops that address system challenges, build specific foundational skills and drive measurable personal growth. Diane has considerable experience in teaching Design Thinking, and is a sought after resource for school board leaders looking to drive innovation and future vision in their school boards and agencies.
At Future Design School, Diane works with a team of educators, entrepreneurs and designers to develop world-class curriculum based on deep pedagogical knowledge. The focus for all curriculum is to create meaningful learning experiences for participants that drive towards the actionable development of pre-determined skills. Diane is world class facilitator of a range of Future Design School workshop offerings. She frequently leads workshops with a diverse range of participants and is an expert in customizing learning to suit the diverse needs of participants from a range of industries and backgrounds.
Diane completed her teaching degree at the University of Edinburgh and her undergraduate degree at Dalhousie University. Diane is an Apple Certified Teacher and is a Level 1 Google Certified Educator; actively helping develop and deliver professional development workshops with both companies.
Our Philosophy
We believe in evidence based decision making and our team of seasoned strategists have an illustrious history of creating positive change through human centered design. Our student centered philosophy yields actionable plans and measurable results.
We believe in authentic, challenge based learning that engages students to think deeply, inspires them to ask provocative questions and builds their skills and competencies. We develop executive functioning that is essential for future readiness and build growth mindsets critical for post secondary success.
We believe that each individual possesses unique talents and deserves opportunities to explore their interests and discover their own potential. We recognize that each learner is different and that everyone requires personalized pathways and support.
We know that in order to thrive in a rapidly changing world, individuals need to develop flexible, adaptable problem solving skillsets and have the creative confidence to tackle complex challenges. We believe in experiential learning that engages students in authentic, real world problem solving.
Our Frameworks
Our proven methodologies scaffold deep competency development and measurable skill mastery through experiential learning. Our robust frameworks support an ongoing process of deep investigation, questioning, collaboration, documentation and meaningful reflection. Our frameworks, tools and resources enable schools around the world to develop unique differentiation and engage students in deeper learning.
Educators leverage our resources to help each student build powerful, personalized portfolios that demonstrate ongoing progress towards skill mastery and growth around desirable attributes. Our learning frameworks enable deep inquiry and holistic self-actualization over sustained periods of time.
Our recognized Microcredentials enable students to demonstrate skill mastery to post-secondary institutions and potential employers. Our proven assessment frameworks enable ongoing measurement and tracks individual progress from identifying potential through towards thorough comprehension.
Future Design School’s seasoned team of experts can be enlisted to provide assistance whenever it is required.
Future Design School has developed an expertise in the business of education working with hundreds of schools and districts across North America and Europe.
We’ve helped our clients design new schools, improve school culture, increase admissions, develop leadership capabilities, transform pedagogical documentation, measure student learning progress, advance assessment practices, enhance career readiness with students, strengthen instructional practices, rethink report cards, redesign timetables and develop new funding strategies.
Our team are leaders in solving complex challenges. We specialize in user experience design and can work across all aspects of your school or district.