2025-04-10
April 10 (the second Thursday of the month) is the 130th meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. This will be an online session. The registration (in advance) is at: https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/INVPwr5OQfyYB57Grxl_Iw .
This session is also announced at https://guild.host/events/designing-choices-a-8f7rfq
Designing Choices: A conversation with Jordan Ostapchuk on Capital Design & Design Education
“Are you making choices or decisions?” A key tension and theme that Jordan Ostapchuk has been investigating throughout his professional and academic pursuits.
In this session, we’ll have a fire-side chat with Jordan to learn about his education journey from graduating from the SFI program at OCADU to completing his PhD at Institute of Design at IIT. We’ll learn about how Jordan weaves his professional experiences in management and infrastructure investment into his design scholarship. We'll also discuss the ways systems thinking shows up in 'Capital Design', which is the focus of Jordan's dissertation and his professional work.
Discussant
Jordan Ostapchuk advises institutional investors and capital allocators on strategic choice-making.
He spent a decade at OMERS, a $130B+ pension plan, where he led strategy, innovation, and communication functions across Infrastructure, Pensions, and Real Estate. Most recently, he led OMERS Infrastructure's investment strategy function. He started his career as a Consultant at Deloitte.
Jordan has a PhD from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology on the role of design in institutional capital allocation, which created the field of Capital Design. Jordan also has an M.A. from the University of Southern California and an M.Des. in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University.
Venue & Registration
Session will be held on Zoom (Please note: the session will be recorded and posted to ST-ON's YouTube page)
Registration at: https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/INVPwr5OQfyYB57Grxl_Iw
Suggested pre-readings / audio / video
Ostapchuk, J. (2024). Systemic is the New Strategic. https://capital-design.medium.com/systemic-is-the-new-strategic-ade7d0858f25
Ostapchuk, J. (2024). Capital Design: The Role of Design in Institutional Capital Allocation (Doctoral dissertation, Illinois Institute of Technology). https://www.proquest.com/docview/3054358665
Boyd, J. (1987). Destruction and creation. Leavenworth, WA: US Army Comand and General Staff College. https://www.coljohnboyd.com/static/documents/1976-09-03__Boyd_John_R__Destruction_and_Creation.pdf
Agenda
Post-meeting artifacts
Bloggers are encouraged to write about their learning and experiences at the meeting. Links will be added to this page.