“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Patricia L. Raufer is an Innovation Strategy Executive and Educator who has led foundational transformation initiatives in payments, digital media and travel industries.
Patricia L. Raufer is an Innovation Strategy Executive who has led transformation initiatives in payments, digital media and travel industries. Patricia uses Systems Thinking to transform ecosystem complexity into clear, actionable strategies that work. After years of pioneering platform initiatives, Patricia developed expertise that demonstrates that the most powerful transformations look elegantly simple from the outside but require sophisticated ecosystems thinking on the inside.
Patricia’s work at the intersection of business, technology and design has led to game-changing innovations in consumer networks. Her background includes marketing, product and technical positions at Citigroup, Rosenbluth International, Interactive Solutions, Prodigy Services Company, Catalog Media and TWA.
In recent work for her consulting practice, Patricia defined flows outlining ecosystem and stakeholder participants in a business transformation initiative establishing the Future State Operating Model as Subject Matter Expert for TPG Consulting. Patricia created a commercialization model to facilitate speed to market for a payment solution provider focused on small-to-medium sized businesses as Subject Matter Expert for Protiviti. Patricia provided the client stakeholder perspective for a payments network creating a digital platform targeting Affluent Millenials as Subject Matter Expert for Deloitte. Patricia also recommended and implemented e-commerce solutions to establish the Minimum Viable Product for a subscription model for an AARP start-up.
Patricia’s prior work includes roles at Citi where she combined two consumer platforms – payments and airline systems to create the award-winning Citi Premier Pass / Citi Thank You Cards product suite. Patricia developed the Citi 2G Card prototype for Pay with Points enabling rewards edemption at point of sale. Patricia’s prior transformation experience includes participating in the launch of the digital marketplace while at Prodigy and serving as a member of the team that validated the viability of consumer-initiated travel transactions for Sabre’s Travelocity.
As an Adjunct Professor at Jefferson University, Kanbar College of Design, Engineering & Commerce and College of Architecture and the Built Environment, Patricia works with undergraduates in the “Systems Thinking & Sustainability” course focused on systems dynamics, stakeholder analysis and the circular economy. Patricia also conducts seminars on Business Model Canvas for entrepreneurs enrolled in the Community College of Philadelphia Power Up Your Business Program.
Patricia completed an MBA in Organizational Effectiveness at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. As a lifelong learner, Patricia also completed a Certificate in Design from Parsons School of Design | The New School, New York, NY, and AI Certfications in Prompt Engineering at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN and AI for Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Patricia is a member of Wharton AI+ Analytics Initiative, a collaboration between academia and industry to share insights and real-world application to explore how AI is defining business strategy and industry practice. She is also a member of the Executive Forum, a professional network of c-suite executives who share a passion for what’s next to drive business growth for tomorrow. Patricia attended the UN Intergenerational Dialogues on Sustainable Development Goals (August 2017) focused on intergenerational innovation. She is a member of the Activist Network for the Hunger Project, a philanthropy aimed at addressing the UN Sustainable Development goal to end world hunger.
Patricia has traveled extensively throughout Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East. Patricia resides in Nutley, New Jersey and vies for the title of “Favorite Aunt” to 28 nieces and nephews.