Sandy K. Lacey is an executive leader who’s all about building things that matter. As the Director of Innovation at the Perkins School for the Blind, Sandy is catalyzing and convening key players to drive innovation in accessible products and services for the blind, visually impaired, and multi-disability communities. She is also a lecturer at MIT Sloan’s School of Management, where she teaches Building an Entrepreneurial Venture.
As an executive dedicated to making a difference, Sandy has extensive innovation experience in corporate, government, and academic settings, and excels in startup environments. Sandy is a 3x early startup employee, working at Emerging Energy Research (acquired: IHS), CB Insights, and Drafted (acquired: Instawork). Serving the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under Governor Deval Patrick, she wrote state policies, programs, and drove infrastructure investments to grow the state’s emerging climatetech innovation cluster. As a corporate executive, Sandy built and led the engineering, design, and product management teams at the Innovation Lab for a Global 500 financial services company. In this role, she also spearheaded the company’s advanced technology practice including blockchain and voice-activated devices. She loves studying how technology and design can be leveraged to improve the human experience. Sandy has a Master’s from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a B.A. cum laude from Georgetown University.