Anke Stohlmann

Anke Stohlmann (she/her/hers) is a design leader, educator, and entrepreneur who is dedicated to developing human-centered products and services that are effective and equitable. She uses human-centered design to create effective and equitable products and services.

Anke is currently an Executive Director, Design at The New York Times, a news organization dedicated to seeking the truth and helping people understand the world. She co-leads the cross-functional project team that is building the next iteration of Times Central, The New York Times Company’s internal site.

She is the founder of Li’l Stories, a language arts framework that leverages the power of storytelling to foster creativity, collaboration, and digital literacy in the elementary classroom. Li’l Stories’ mission is to prepare students to be thinkers, problem solvers, and innovators.

Anke was previously a Design Manager at Nava PBC and the principal of Li’l Robin. She also held positions at several of New York’s leading agencies in graphic design and publishing, including creative director at Time Inc., art director at The New York Times, and senior designer at Pentagram.

Recent Projects

In 2021, Anke was the program design lead on Nava’s IB Nebraska team, developing the iServe Nebraska portal and integrated benefits application. The portal provides Nebraskans a single place to log in, apply for, and manage their enrollment in all income-based benefits programs provided by the state.

From 2019 to 2021, Anke was the design lead on Nava’s cross-functional cms.cloud.gov team and led and shipped product development for cloud.cms.gov. The team scaled cloud.cms.gov from 4 pages to 150+ pages, updated the design, systematized the site, developed an authenticated experience, and as a result turned the site into the go-to place for customers for all things CMS Cloud.

In 2019, Anke served as senior fellow at the Public Policy Lab and led the Benefits Access Phase II project team. In partnership with the NYC Department of Education’s Office of Community Schools (OCS) and with the participation of 21 Community Schools, the team developed Benefits Access, a strategy and toolkit that supports school staff in referring families to public benefits and local services.

From 2016 to 2019, Li’l Stories ran storytelling labs at public elementary schools throughout New York City with a focus on Title 1 schools, helping more than 500 students develop critical 21st century skills.

MFA, Interaction Design, School of Visual Arts
MPS, Design Management, Pratt Institute
BFA/MFA, Visual Communication/Graphic Design, Fachhochschule Düsseldorf, Germany