Thursday General Session

Wing and a Prayer vs. Process and a Plan: Leading Your Team to Creative Solutions

In this session we will explore how the design thinking process integrates with project management and how you can inspire creative
solutions to problems while keeping your team on the same page and on track.

SESSION OBJECTIVES:

The participants will be able to:

• Explore creativity and the innovation process.
• Apply a design thinking process to the development of a logic model.
• Learn how this process and model can be used to engage innovation and motivate teams while also managing the project.

Tera Lawson

Senior Programs Specialist, Student Innovation Center
Iowa State University

Tera Lawson is a continuous learner who strives to build win-win relationships and projects and is passionate about improving herself and others. With 23 years of experience in higher education, she currently serves as the Senior Program Specialist for Innovation Programs at the Student Innovation Center, where she works with groups of students, faculty, staff, and visitors of all sizes to embrace and ignite their creativity and ability to innovate. She has served in multiple leadership roles and was named one of the twelve Women Impacting Iowa State in 2023. She holds a B.S. in Journalism and Mass
Communications and an M.Ed. in Education, with an emphasis on Leadership and Learning from Iowa State University.

Stacy Renfro

Research Project Manager, Office of the Vice President for Research

Iowa State University

Stacy Renfro is a project and operations leader with more than 15 years of experience guiding teams through complex, high-impact work. She is a founding member of the Research Project Operations and Strategy Team (ResearchPOST) in Iowa State University’s Office of the Vice President for Research, where she serves as a Research Project Manager and partners with interdisciplinary leaders to strengthen alignment, accountability, and execution across large initiatives.

Her work sits at the intersection of leadership, innovation, and operational strategy. Stacy supports teams as they clarify scope, define roles, navigate complexity, and build the structure needed to turn bold ideas into coordinated action. She holds an MBA from
Northwest Missouri State University.