Keynote address at the International Government Design conference in London, UK (July 2018). Photo courtesy of GDS.
Selected Presentations
Photo courtesy of Design/Content
Sketches to Strategy: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace Being a Leader
Design Leadership Summit
Toronto, Canada
September 2018
Slide deck | ▶ Watch this talk
Photo courtesy of DesignX
Photo courtesy of GDS
Common(wealth) Challenges: Starting the Canadian Digital Service
Keynote
International Government Design Conference
London, UK
July 2018
Slide deck
Designing for Justice
CanUX
Ottawa, Canada
November 2017
Slide deck | Watch a recording of this talk (subscription required)
Photo courtesy of CanUX
Other Speaking Engagements
UX Edmonton
Keynote
Edmonton, Canada
November 2019
DotGain
Keynote
Charlottetown, Canada
October 2019
Ladders
Keynote
Toronto, Canada
August 2019
RGD In-House Design
Ottawa, Canada
April 2019
Design/Content
Keynote
Vancouver, Canada
July 2019
CRA Digital Forum
Keynote
Ottawa, Canada
November 2018
Design Leadership Summit
Toronto, Canada
September 2018
International Government Design
Keynote
London, UK
July 2018
TorCHI
Toronto, Canada
June 2018
Innovation Fair
Ottawa, Canada
May 2018
DesignX
Toronto, Canada
December 2017
WAQ (Web à Québec)
Québec City, Canada
April 2018
Government Service Design
Sheffield, UK
March 2017
CanUX
Ottawa, Canada
November 2017
Design+Banter
London, UK
2014
Design in Government
London, UK
2016
Expedia Summer Summit
London, UK
2013
Panels
Public Service Network & Apple
Remote
January 2023
Rosenfeld: Perspectives on Civic Design
Remote
September 2021
Sheridan College
Remote
January 2021
Creative Directions (RGD)
Remote
April 202o
CIO Summit
Ottawa, Ontario
May 2019
Code for America Summit
Oakland, USA
June 2018
Service Design Canada
Montréal, Québec
November 2018
UXPA Toronto
Toronto, Canada
December 2017
Bio
Long version
188 words
Chris Govias is a designer who’s worked with startups, charities, Fortune 500 companies, and two federal governments. As the Head of Design for the Ministry of Justice (UK), he was on the forefront of delivering transformative, user-centred government services. That work led to him becoming a founding member and the Chief of Design with the Government of Canada’s Canadian Digital Service. Today, as Chief Design Officer for Versett, he continues to work at the intersection of people, design, technology, and service delivery.
Chris’s work on Spacelog.org, which converted scans of NASA transcripts from early space missions into a searchable, accessible, linkable website, won praise from The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, Popular Science, BoingBoing and NPR, to name a few. His work has also appeared in Applied Arts, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Design Magazine, and Communication Arts.
Chris holds a Bachelor of Design from the University of Alberta. Originally from the snow-swept Canadian prairies, he lives in Ottawa with his partner and tiny human where they spend a lot of time riding bikes, cooking and eating delicious things from their extensive library of cookbooks, and drawing raccoons and monkeys.
Short version
82 words
Chris Govias is a designer who’s worked with startups, charities, Fortune 500 companies, and two federal governments. As the Head of Design for the Ministry of Justice (UK), he was on the forefront of delivering transformative, user-centred government services. That work led to him becoming a founding member and the Chief of Design with the Government of Canada’s Canadian Digital Service. Today, as Chief Design Officer for Versett, he continues to work at the intersection of people, design, technology, and service delivery.
