Dr. Christine Marie Ortiz Guzman

Board Member

she/her/ella

Founder & CEO, Equity Meets Design

The work I do: I am a serial entrepreneur with a passion for innovation through equity-centered design.  My current venture is Equity Meets Design, a think & do tank that builds capacity in folks to use an equity-centered design process to answer the question "How do I do equity?"  Our equityXdesign process supports individuals and organizations to intentionally design their interventions, interactions and institutions for equity and justice.

I spent my teenage years creating the national Truth tobacco prevention campaign and launched my first consulting firm at 17, supporting states and other countries interested in implementing the Truth model. I have launched k-12 microschools, consulted for schools in the US and internationally, designed and coached entrepreneurs, coordinated a national competition for innovative school models, and designed and taught graduate-level courses on redesigning schools at the Stanford d.School and Harvard University.  

I have a BS from MIT, Masters in Education and Non-Profit Management, and a Doctorate in Education Leadership from Harvard University. 

My connection to the work of Student Achievement Partners: I am a former HS chemistry teacher and school founder, and a reimagining of the K-12 education system towards equity and liberation is a place I am passionate about applying my work, and the context from which the equityXdesign process was born.

The perspective I bring to this Board: I am driven by the desire to help address the barriers innovators face when tackling complex equity-based social issues, and do that work while both leveraging and accounting for the entirety of who I am, specifically my experience being the first in my family to have a college degree and a Latina and a mother from the south. I live in Orlando, Florida with my partner who is a stay-at-home dad to my teenage and newborn daughters.