Wendy Puffer is a licensed interior designer (NCIDQ and MA Interior Design) with an MFA in Design Thinking. Connecting people through the power of design is what drives her work. Her experience designing spaces and places for hundreds of clients spans three decades. Her passion to educate the next generation about the power design has the same staying power. Her new chapter in innovation has been a collaborative effort through a social design firm called Marion Design Co. The summer of 2016, Wendy, along with two other design professors and 17 volunteer students launched a nonprofit that would spur on revitalization in a small rural town in Indiana. Through hosting innovative events and conferences along with designing brands and places, this team has created a model for partnerships between the university and government and business leaders leading toward economic growth.