Megan Tremelling is a design strategist who uses design thinking methods, quantitative data analysis, and qualitative research to understand customers. She has over nine years of business experience at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company where she won a company-wide award for uncovering a key to profitability, resulting in a new underwriting strategy. She holds an MBA in Design Strategy from California College of the Arts, having graduated at the top of her class. Megan is currently a Service Designer on contract at Wells Fargo in San Francisco. She consults for businesses that are seeking to create valuable products, services, and strategies that are based on a deep understanding of their customers.


My personal and professional journey has been a winding path – from insurance actuary to design strategist. All steps along the way have left me with skills and capacities that have served me and my clients in unexpected ways.

Where My Passion for Design Was Born

What would you do with just 48 hours to change the world? You enter a design agency on Friday night, butterflies and anticipation in your stomach. Your task: design a new service based on this year’s open-ended prompt.

I found myself at the Global Service Jam in March of 2013 – an event where people come together in cities around the world to design an innovative service. It was my foray into the world of experience and service design, and it was a weekend I’ll never forget.

I joined a small team of other aspiring designers. We interviewed people on the streets of San Francisco, brainstormed concepts, made prototypes, and tested them, culminating in a final presentation of our service, HeartLift.

I left this experience thinking “I have to pursue this! I want to be a designer.” I was excited by the opportunity to learn about people’s experiences and to develop something brand new.

Meanwhile, I was a statistical analyst at an insurance company, the farthest thing from being a designer I thought possible.

What My Career in Insurance Has to Do with Being a Design Strategist

I came back from the Global Service Jam to my cubicle, tasked with running a large-scale statistical model for measuring risk capital. Wow! Could this be further from design?

I got into insurance because both of my parents were in the industry. It was a great way to grow from a wide-eyed youngster out of college into a well-polished professional. And in retrospect, I gained many skills that currently set me apart from my other design colleagues.

I learned to draw out insights from quantitative data – which perfectly complements qualitative design research. I also held roles in finance, operations, and marketing, so I can empathize with the stakeholders of a project and evaluate the viability of design concepts.

But at the time, I didn’t know how my experience in the insurance industry would translate into the design field. All I knew is that I wanted to go back to school so I could follow my new passion.

Investing in Formal Training and Rising to the Top of My Class

I decided to enter the MBA in Design Strategy program at California College of the Arts because I wanted a robust educational experience and an opportunity to connect with others in the field.

These two years were a fabulous experience. I made connections with diverse professionals, from design and business. I received training in design thinking methodologies, experience design, and Lean Startup processes. I also learned how to successfully take new products to market from an operational and finance perspective.

By the time I graduated, I had over a 4.0 GPA. I was appreciated by professors for my rigorous work, and by classmates for being an enjoyable and hardworking teammate. It was exciting for me to connect with creatives, and for the first time in my life, be a creative myself.

What I Bring to Every Design Project and Team

I love collaborating with creative individuals, and contributing my analytical business skills that are more rare in the design community.

I am extremely perceptive of people. I specialize in user research and I uncover behaviors and tap into insights that other people don’t notice. When I participate in and lead teams, I do so with humor, compassion, and inclusiveness.

I am hard-working, organized, detail-oriented, and process-driven. When I lead a project, you can count on a smooth process and brilliant delivery.

I love that design offers the opportunity to live in ambiguity and creativity. There’s simultaneously a permission to get messy and an invitation to have a clear intention and solve real-world problems.

"Megan and I worked together on several teams in the DMBA program, co-led an SF Design Week event, and are consulting partners. Her way of working, communicating, and executing projects is very thorough. She is uber-organized and takes a planned approach, but also has a flexibility to change her approach as needed. She is curious to learn about the experiences of others and takes the time to understand how things work and why. For Design Week, she was the hub for all things operational and we had a well-oiled machine from start to finish."

– Liz Comperchio