Anna Abovyan

Anna Abovyan is the Founder and Principal of Yaluna Design, a UX strategy, research, and design firm specializing in thoughtful application of AI/ML in data-intensive enterprise platforms. A mathematician by training and a software engineer early in her career, Anna has spent more than fifteen years working at the intersection of advanced technology and human factors.Anna spent a decade at M*Modal (later acquired by 3M) designing clinical AI tools — ambient voice assistants, conversational agents, and human-in-the-loop decision support systems built to keep clinicians in control of decisions machines increasingly influence — work for which she holds a patent. She subsequently worked with machine learning researchers at Google and DeepMind as large language models were moving from research into production, in the early days of what would become Gemini.

She founded Yaluna Design in 2021. The firm operates as an embedded, long-term partner to its clients rather than on a project basis, leading a network of senior UX strategists, researchers, and designers assembled to fit each engagement. Clients have included GrowthCurve portfolio companies such as Brightway Insurance, Duetto, and PlanHub, as well as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Storyworth, and Somatus, among others.

Anna taught human-centered design and research at Carnegie Mellon University and led the Pittsburgh chapter of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). She holds a master's degree in Applied Mathematics from Russian-Armenian State University. She divides her time between Pittsburgh and Lisbon, Portugal.