Mr Ferdi van Heerden

Ferdi van Heerden (born in Phalaborwa in 1970) is a Berlin based change agent and innovation designer. A rich, multidisciplinary perspective with a focus on regenerative impact, drives his business and leadership strategy consulting approach.

Experiencing his "coming of age" at the end of the Apartheid era gave Ferdi a unique insight to the power of positive change, and the value of individual contribution. The societal and the personal, local and global blend into a framework of human potential.

Over the past ten years as a freelance consultant, he has served global clients such as Facebook, the New Zealand government, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, University of Helsinki, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes and Microsoft. Previously he worked as a Business Designer at IDEO, leading teams in Munich, London and New York on a diverse range of innovation projects.

Published work includes “Data Flow: visualising information in graphic design” that established a new typology of data visualisation (Gestaltenverlag 2008). In 2013 Ferdi also published the article "The unintended consequence of design" (CRISP/Government of the Netherlands) describing the process of human centred innovation.

Ferdi is a regular guest lecturer for various Design Masters courses including: TU Delft, Aarhus University and the University of Pretoria.

In 2015 he co-founded ReDI school of Digital Integration, recognised and promoted by Mark Zuckerberg and Angela Merkel. Ferdi holds a B.Com(Hons)Marketing from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.