Meet Kevan Gilbert
Meet Kevan Gilbert: coach, speaker & creator working and living in Kelowna, BC
Canadian coach, speaker & creator working and living in Kelowna, BC.
Kevan Gilbert is a coach, facilitator, and founder of Co.school, a creative changemaking studio. He was formerly Lead Facilitator of Deloitte's prestigious Greenhouse Experience program, and for 12 years helped lead and grow at Canadian digital agency Domain7. Prior to that, he led in-house digital communications at Vancouver's Union Gospel Mission.
With Co.school, Kevan has led processes of human-centered change with groups at Shopify, Ubisoft, Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, BC Disability Collaborative, Canadian Cancer Society and more. At Domain7, he was responsible for leading change efforts with teams including the World Bank, Imperial College London, City of Vancouver and more.
Kevan is also a deeply involved parent of four kids, spanning elementary, middle and high school ages, all with varying degrees of neurodiversity (autism and ADHD) – with an adult ADHD diagnosis himself. He lives and works on an intergenerational, solar-powered chicken farm with his partner Kendra on the outskirts of Kelowna, BC, where he also makes music and tells stories.
Click here to access a current CV.
Selected work bits
Co.school: A social innovation design firm
Founder, CEO, Principal Facilitator & Coach
May 2022 - Present | Kelowna, BC | Remote
Co.school Case Studies - Facilitation, Coaching, Design in BC, Canada
Stories of Co.school’s facilitation, coaching, strategy & design for social change in BC, Canada
Domain7: Digital agency (acquired by Collaboration Betters the World Company / Versett )
Facilitation Practice Lead
April 2018 - May 2022| Kelowna, BC | Remote
- Work: I led the organization’s shift into human-centered design and facilitation, by leading client-facing engagements, mentoring the internal team, and providing public-facing thought leadership.
- Clients: University of the Fraser Valley, City of Vancouver, Child Development Institute, Trinity Western University, MCC, SAP, Seattle Public Library, Civil Space, Translink, First West Credit Union
- Skills: Leadership, people & culture, facilitation, strategy, human-centered design, stakeholder & community engagement, public speaking, branding, writing, strategy, positioning, podcasting.
- Sample portfolio items:
The Cascad.AI Summit for Responsible AI (2019)
The unstoppable Bethany Edwards of Northeastern University conceived of a conference that would invite forward-thinking technologists and ethicists together to share case studies, perspectives, and eventually co-create a manifesto for the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence. It became known as the the Cascadia Commitment, and would call on organizations to
Kevan Gilbert
Design Thinking Days
| A special program for community engagement and education When I was part of the team at Domain7, I helped conceive of, strategize and co-facilitate our cornerstone community education series, “Design Thinking Day.” These events were day-long, immersive, practice-driven dives into the methodology of design thinking, centered around real-world design challenges
Kevan Gilbert
Cold Feet
Songwriting, performance, content campaign (2018, Domain7) In the spirit of the holidays, the digital agency I worked for wanted to create a memorable, warm and friendly seasonal campaign to honour their clients, employees and partners. Following in the multi-modal tradition of past holiday campaigns, I did what I do best:
Kevan Gilbert
Director of Engagement Strategy
June 2014 - April 2018 | Kelowna, BC | Remote
- Work: Co-developed the company’s vision, core values, 5-year plan, internal retreats and rebranding. Led collaborative design practices for digital strategy work. Served as brand spokesperson.
- Clients: Imperial College London, World Bank, University of British Columbia, Central 1 Credit Union, Redlands University, District of North Vancouver, Point Loma Nazarene University
- Skills: Team leadership, digital strategy, user experience design, brand strategy, facilitation, creative direction, community engagement, writing, co-creation, marketing, podcasting, speaking.
- Sample portfolio items:
Imperial College London content strategy
A top-to-bottom, content-driven redesign for the world’s leading science educator (2013 - 2014) It was on the grounds of Imperial College London where the industrial revolution was launched, at the Grand Exhibition hosted at Imperial in 1867 – and from there, the world springboarded into a new century of technological growth.
Kevan Gilbert
The Loop
| A special program for continuous improvement I was asked by my boss at Domain7, the brilliant Sarah Evalina, to explore ways we could improve customer care by rethinking the tired “retainer” idea. I conducted a process of research, ideation, branding, strategy and internal leadership to help build our program, called
Kevan Gilbert
Change is in the Making podcast
Podcast creation, content planning, brand building (2018-2021, Domain7) “Change is in the Making” was the name of the podcast I co-created at Domain7, and served as co-strategist, co-writer, co-host, audio editor/producer (for some episodes). The podcast used interviews and conversations to explore themes like: * Digital transformation * Effective communication * Listening
Kevan Gilbert
Helping Civil Space find its voice
Co-creating the voice of a SaaS product Before it was acquired by Zencity, Civil Space was hatched at the digital agency I worked at, Domain7. In fact, before it was Civil Space, it was a clever little tool we helped build for our clients at the District of North Vancouver.
Kevan Gilbert
Pitching remote work in 2016
A creative, comical, retro way to sell telework to the corporate crowd.
Kevan Gilbert
SAP Analytics Cloud
| Digital product launch leadership It was in the final months leading up to the official public launch of the massive project code-named “Orca” that SAP approached my team at Domain7 with this question “Will you help us launch Analytics Cloud?” We learned that Analytics Cloud was slated to be unveiled
Kevan Gilbert
Content Strategist
January 2012 - June 2014 Kelowna, BC | Remote
- Work: Developed award-winning creative concepts to help clients better tell their stories and display their information online, from initial discovery, to user research, to final launch.
- Clients: Claremont McKenna College, A&W Canada, Earls Kitchen + Bar, TELUS, VarietyBC
- Skills: Content strategy, creative direction, user research, discovery meetings, stakeholder engagement, user experience design, project management, client leadership
- Sample portfolio items:
Bouloum, the person-shaped chair
Helping the original designer reclaim internet authority Copycats, fakes and replicas for this iconic midcentury modern chair are all over the internet. I got to help Arconas, the chair’s current manufacturer, reclaim web authority by crafting a clear, compelling pitch for this recliner-for-weirdos. The process went through competitive research, and
Kevan Gilbert
Merry Christmas, Internet
| a song-driven content campaign for the holidays, online. For the 2013 holiday season, web agency Domain7 wanted to surprise and delight their clients and partners with “not just another Christmas card.” With the help of the team, we produced this ridiculous song and music video. It was hosted on a
Kevan Gilbert
Project Manager
Nov 2010 - January 2012 Vancouver, BC
- Work: Oversaw complex creative and technical web projects — from initial sales and discovery, to completion and launch — across a broad range of clients and industries.
- Clients: HSBC, Baby Gourmet, Oakridge Centre, Go2HR, ISS of BC
- Skills: Project management, client leadership, cross-team collaboration, UX redesign workflows
- Sample portfolio items:
Full project & portfolio list
Through my 12 years at Domain7 and my 3 years running my own consultancy called Co.school, I have helped lead large-scale digital transformation projects, product development, and original/creative concept development for dozens and dozens of organizations. I’ve offered my services and skills of facilitation, content strategy, UX research,
Kevan Gilbert
Union Gospel Mission: A not-for-profit addressing poverty, homelessness & addiction
Project Manager, Creative Technologies
Aug 2007 - Nov 2010 Vancouver, BC
- Work: I led the work of digital transformation, as web 2.0 technology emerged. I led projects to rebuild our intranet, public-facing website and donor database, introduced the org to social media, developed highly visible influencer partnerships, and grew online donations to $1M annually.
- Skills: Digital communications, social media, influencer relationships, community partnerships, website redesign, project management, writing, internal communication, fundraising, donor relations.
- Sample portfolio items:
Influencers and infrastructure with Union Gospel Mission Vancouver
| Leading early adoption in social media Based in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, UGM helps address poverty, homelessness and addiction through a broad range of services. I was part of the team that helped raised money and reach donors through creative campaigns and digital experiences. In a time when social media
Kevan Gilbert
Elbowroom Design: A digital & design studio
Communications Director
Sept 2006 - Aug 2007 | Calgary, AB
- Work: I led content development, client communications, community outreach and general content management for this small design agency, while also providing on-project creative support.
- Skills: Content marketing, content strategy, writing, client communication, community outreach, sales, graphic design, web design, multi-media coordination, video editing, audio editing.
- Sample portfolio items:
Content marketing for Elbowroom Design
Creative content labs with Elbowruminations My brother Neil used to run a design studio in Calgary, Alberta, called Elbowroom Design. It was his primary vehicle for serving clients through visual design and digital production for over a decade, starting in the early 2000s. Just to contextualize that 2003 is when
Kevan Gilbert
Writing & Publication
Guide to Facilitation
Stories and methods for an authentic practice, Book, 2023
A guide to facilitation
Stories and methods for an authentic practice Buy on Amazon here My teammate Charlotte and I wrote this book in 2023, bringing together our experience co-designing and leading virtual and in-person engagements. My favourite parts are the stories. Each chapter opens with an anecdote that finds me in a facilitation
Kevan Gilbert
Pocket Guide to Design Thinking
Community-centred innovation, Book, 2023
Pocket guide to design thinking
A framework for holistic, equitable, community-centred innovation Buy it on Amazon here This little book was planned, written, edited, designed and published in-house by my company, Co.school. Tracey Falk was responsible for the ins-and-outs of the visual design. My favourite part, again, are the stories. While it’s a helpful,
Kevan Gilbert
The Co-Design Workshop: The Facilitator’s Pocket Guide
Highly cited article, referenced in:
- The Co-Create Handbook, co-funded by the European Union’s ERASMUS+ Programme
- The Government of Victoria, Australia’s Human-Centered Design Playbook
- Human-Centred Systems Design program, at the University of Wollongong, Australia
- User Experience Engineering curriculum in the Technical University of Denmark
- User Research: A Practical Guide to Designing Better Products & Services, Steph Marsh
Co-design in UX research
An unexpectedly influential article about collaborative UX When I was in full-on learning-and-experimenting mode with Domain7, I was intuiting my way into the world of workshops for UX. Heck, the idea of “UX” being the common moniker for the process of making digital things wasn’t even all that common; and
Kevan Gilbert