Stephen Downs

Background

About Stephen Downs

Hi, I’m Stephen. I’m a creative and digital product leader working at the intersection of climate, data, and design. I’m the co-founder and Managing Partner of Ode. We are a digital product agency built to tackle complexity. We help people drive positive change. Our roots run deep in climate, nature, food systems, and energy—domains where easy answers are rare. Over time, we’ve honed the creative and technical skills needed to deliver clarity, insight, and real-world impact across sectors. We’re a team of designers, data scientists, and storytellers helping leading organizations translate complexity into actionable tools and platforms. From ocean restoration to global carbon tracking, we partner with foundations, NGOs, scientists, and multilateral institutions to shape decisions, move capital, and accelerate the transition to a thriving planet. A little more about me- Led digital strategy and product design for the University of California, the NFL, and the Council on Foreign Relations - Co-founded Clay, an open-source AI initiative reimagining Earth data for planetary action - Founding team at LGND, building AI and integrated services for developers and analysts to create, tune, store, and serve geographic embeddings- Obsessed with making environmental data usable, beautiful, and actionable If you’re working on climate or nature solutions and need a partner who can turn vision into product—we should talk.