Andrew Lee

While there were many things that I enjoyed about being a lawyer, I found myself taking great purpose, inspiration, and energy from a volunteer activity as a math teacher to adults—to the point where I wanted to try to transition my career into education. This led to a great opportunity at the New York City Department of Education where I worked on data tools about school performance. There, I learned about human-centered design and became further inspired about using this approach to improve how the government addresses problems and opportunities. 

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Today, I’m a design strategist at the Lab at OPM, an innovation lab in the federal government. We work with agencies on projects to use human-centered design to improve government products and services. A big part of my job involves asking good questions, extracting insights from data, and communicating findings in clear and compelling ways. Speaking to citizens about their experiences and their lives – though sometimes heart-breaking – has been both memorable and enjoyable. Having the opportunity to work on important and challenging problems is a true privilege.

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