Fred Leichter

Clinical Professor of Engineering

Leichter is a Clinical professor of engineering and the director of The Claremont Colleges’ Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity (the Hive) since 2016. His work focuses on design thinking, innovation, and experiential learning, with a mission to accelerate students’ creative development through exploration and collaboration.

Before joining Harvey Mudd, Leichter served as Senior Vice President for Design Thinking and Innovation at Fidelity Investments, where he led teams focused on human-centered design and rapid experimentation. He also created a startup-style incubator within Fidelity to accelerate innovation and fostered collaboration among design teams from JetBlue, Nordstrom, Kaiser Permanente, and other companies. Earlier in his career, Leichter taught at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design offering courses such as Designing with Data, Visual Thinking Strategies, and Project Joy: Designing Delight into the Workplace.