Natalie Nixon

Natalie Nixon, PhD is recognized for her expertise in creativity strategy, guiding leaders to foster transformative business outcomes through the application of wonder and rigor. She is a global keynote speaker, valued for her practical insights on creativity, the future of work, and innovation.

Nixon was recognized on Real Leaders' "Top 50 Keynote Speakers in the World for 2022" and has been featured in prominent publications including Forbes, Fast Company, and Inc. She authored "The Creativity Leap," which was honored in the creativity category of Fast Company's 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards. Her consulting firm, Figure 8 Thinking, was named among the top 20 women-led innovation firms in 2021 by Core 77. In 2022, LinkedIn unveiled Nixon’s course “Lead with Inquiry, Improvisation & Intuition.” Her client roster includes notable firms such as Microsoft, Salesforce, Comcast, Citrix, Morrison & Foerster, Living Cities, VaynerMedia, and Bloomberg.

Nixon leverages her diverse background in cultural anthropology, fashion, design thinking, and dance as a hybrid thinker, engaging in early-stage investments in two social impact ventures where she contributes her unique perspective at the intersection of commercial value and stakeholder equity. She serves as a trustee for the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, Vassar College, and Leadership+Design. Having resided in Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Israel, and Sri Lanka, Nixon is proficient in Portuguese and Spanish and holds a Foresight Practitioner certification from the Institute for the Future. She earned her BA with honors from Vassar College and her PhD from the University of Westminster in London.

Outside her professional life, Nixon enjoys participating in dance, ranging from hip-hop to ballroom styles like salsa, foxtrot, and tango. She resides in Philadelphia, her hometown, with her husband, John Nixon, and takes pride in her role as stepmother to Sydney.