Story Bellows is one of the nation’s top civic innovators, works to turn urban challenges into people first solutions with positive outcomes for all. As a partner with Cityfi, Story is focused on organizational change management, civic engagement, and public-private coalition building. Before Cityfi, Story was the Chief Innovation and Performance Officer for Brooklyn Public Library, where she implemented a new organizational strategy across the institutions sixty-plus branches ensuring the library was positioned to deliver excellent service in a rapidly changing urban environment. She launched and directed the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in Philadelphia, where she developed mechanisms for entrepreneurs to work with the city to tackle shared challenges. She has also served as Director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, a National Endowment for the Arts leadership initiative, where she was afforded the opportunity to work alongside more than 200 mayors nationwide. She also led the research efforts of a large Chicago-based architecture, planning, and engineering firm, exploring how design could respond to issues like future of work, education, and healthcare.

Based in New York, Story works with cities and companies across the country and, increasingly, globe. She has spoken and is recognized internationally as an expert on innovation in large public institutions. She is a graduate of Colgate University and holds an MSc from the London School of Economics in City Design and Social Science. Story both loves cities and the middle of nowhere. Usually she can be found living in some large city (she’s covered quite a few), though she and her family have been testing out rural living since the beginning of the pandemic.