Hi, I’m
Mauricio Manhães
Service Design Leader
Savannah,GA
Summary
Service design leader whose career sums to one discipline practiced at every altitude: building a six-team enterprise design practice as SVP, Service Design Director at Truist; growing SCAD's service design graduate program tenfold as Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator; and advancing the field's response to GenAI through the Move 78 method and the quasi-creature framework, presented at the 30th Anniversary of Service Design Education (KISD, Cologne, 2026). Doctoral research on prejudice in knowledge creation grounds a continuing focus on how organizations evaluate unfamiliar intelligence - human and artificial. Writing "Innovation Is Service Design" (in preparation).
Overview
16
years of professional experience
4
Languages
Work History
Savannah College of Art and DesignSavannah, GA
Professor of Service Design
01.2025 - Current
Job overview
- Lead the M.A. in Business Innovation graduate program - curriculum architecture, faculty coordination, industry partnerships, and student success from admission through thesis - at the school hosting the world's largest dedicated service design degree programs.
- Teach graduate and undergraduate service design (SERV-311, 762, 790, 797), integrating GenAI collaboration methods including Move 78 and the quasi-creature framework across the curriculum.
Independent Practice
Service Design & HCAI Advisor
01.2023 - Current
Job overview
- Advise organizations (under NDA) on human-centered AI and human-AI-human collaborative performance; developed a value-driven service design framework for GenAI-based offerings grounded in Associative Memory Networks.
- Created the Move 78 method for productive human-GenAI collaboration, field-tested in instrumented workshops with four-wave longitudinal psychometric measurement.
Truist
SVP, Service Design Director
01.2021 - 01.2023
Job overview
- Built the enterprise service design practice at one of the largest US banks: structured, hired, and activated six teams across lines of business, embedded in Agile triads with Journey Architecture and Engineering.
- Defined the practice's job architecture and recruited 10 designers within the first three months.
- Developed a GenAI-ready XD Exploration Research framework and led its first application through delivery; replaced workshop-heavy rituals with a designed asynchronous approach, saving hundreds of hours annually.
Savannah College of Art and Design
Service Design Professor
01.2015 - 01.2021
Job overview
- Grew graduate program enrollment tenfold through curriculum development and international recruitment; graduates earned the highest entry-level salaries of any SCAD program.
- Developed and launched a new online Master of Arts in Service Design for working professionals.
- Created and led Innovation Through Service Design (ITSD), a 3-day executive intensive with SCADpro Executive Education, adopted by a global management consultancy for manager training.
Service Design Network
Group Lead, Academic Task Force
01.2018 - 01.2025
Job overview
- Led SDN's international Academic Task Force for seven years, advising the global community on establishing and strengthening service design academic programs; co-initiated the founding SDN/SCAD 'Academic Challenge' research (2017).
Livework
Service Design Consultant, Design Researcher
01.2011 - 01.2021
Job overview
- A decade of concurrent service design and innovation engagements in Latin American banking and manufacturing; redesigned the innovation department and processes for one of Latin America's largest banks.
Education
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
Ph.D. from Knowledge Management and Engineering
01.2015
University Overview
Dissertation: prejudice and innovativeness in knowledge creation. Guest researcher, KISD/TH Köln.
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
M.Sc. from Knowledge Management and Engineering
01.2010
University Overview
CTF Service Research Center
Doctoral coursework from Business Administration
01.2012
University Overview
Websites
Languages
English
Portuguese
French
German
Research Publications Recognition
Research Publications Recognition
- Innovation Is Service Design, book, in preparation
- Navigating the Uncanny Valley of Agency: The GenAI Quasi-Creature in Service Design Education, 30th Anniversary of Service Design Education, Service Design Now, KISD, Cologne, 2026-01-01, C. Miller, N. Schroeder
- Move 78 Playbook, method, method for human-GenAI collaboration, L. Manhães
- Embedding Innovation in Service: A Human-Centered Framework, chapter contributor, The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity, Oxford University Press, Elsevier volumes
- ISSIP Excellence in Service Innovation Award, 2021-01-01
- Conference speaker, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Sweden
Focus Areas
Focus Areas
- Service design
- Enterprise AI strategy
- Executive education
- Curriculum design
- Human-centered AI
- University-industry partnerships
- Neurodiversity and inclusion
Open To
Open To
- Enterprise AI strategy engagements
- Executive education
- Visiting/industry professorships
- Academic program leadership
Timeline
Professor of Service Design
Savannah College of Art and Design
01.2025 - Current
Service Design & HCAI Advisor
Independent Practice
01.2023 - Current
SVP, Service Design Director
Truist
01.2021 - 01.2023
Group Lead, Academic Task Force
Service Design Network
01.2018 - 01.2025
Service Design Professor
Savannah College of Art and Design
01.2015 - 01.2021
Service Design Consultant, Design Researcher
Livework
01.2011 - 01.2021
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
Ph.D. from Knowledge Management and Engineering
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
M.Sc. from Knowledge Management and Engineering
CTF Service Research Center
Doctoral coursework from Business Administration