About

About

Three disciplines. One practice.

Human AI Partners brings human factors research, learning design, and organizational consulting to the specific problem of making AI work at the human level.

Our Team

Cynthia Coulbourne
Cynthia Coulbourne
Organizational Strategy & Change Management

Susan Adams
Susan Adams
Learning Design & Community Building

Julie Young
Julie Young
Human Factors Research & AI Interaction

Our Story

Human AI Partners grew out of Women in AI of Colorado (WinAI) – a community that started with a simple observation: the gap between having AI tools and getting value from them is not a technology problem. It is a human problem.

Through years of community-based AI education – labs, workshops, peer learning sessions – WinAI developed something rare: a methodology for changing how people actually work with AI. Not through one-time training events, but through sustained practice, shared experiments, and accountability.

When Colorado passed SB 205 – the first comprehensive state AI regulation in the country – the timing was clear. Organizations needed help not just understanding the law, but building the governance structures and cultural capacity to comply with it. The same behavioral and organizational expertise that powered WinAI was exactly what companies needed.

Human AI Partners is the result: a practice that brings human factors research, learning design, and organizational consulting to the specific challenge of making AI work at the human level. We work with organizations that have deployed AI and are struggling with adoption, governance, or both.

Community

Women in AI of Colorado (WinAI)

The community where it all started. Networking, education, and peer support for women navigating AI in their careers. Labs, workshops, and a growing network of practitioners across the Front Range.

Rocky Mountain AI Interest Group (RMAIIG)

Over 2,500 AI practitioners in the Colorado ecosystem. Susan sits on the Executive Board. RMAIIG is a hub for the broader AI community – practitioners, researchers, and leaders working on real problems.

The Human AI Index

The Human AI Index is an annual longitudinal study tracking professional women’s AI experience at work – the only study of its kind. Current data tells an urgent story: women are in AI-disrupted roles at higher rates, persistent gaps exist in manager encouragement, and the adoption trajectory is closing on usage but not on trust or recognition. No one is tracking longitudinally whether these women catch up, fall behind, or exit – and what organizational practices explain the difference. We are.

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Cynthia Coulbourne

Organizational Strategy & Change Management
Cynthia Coulbourne
Twelve years at PwC taught Cynthia what it looks like when large organizations try to change – and why most change programs fail. They fail because they focus on process and ignore the people navigating the process. At Human AI Partners, Cynthia reads the organizational landscape – the power structures, the unwritten rules, the real decision-makers – and designs governance programs that companies can actually sustain. She leads our SB 205 compliance practice and structures every client engagement from scoping through delivery.
Background: Former PwC Senior Associate | IBM Corporate Strategy | Change management certification | Colorado native

Susan Adams

Learning Design & Community Building
Susan Adams
Susan founded Women in AI of Colorado and sits on the Executive Board of the Rocky Mountain AI Interest Group – a community of over 2,500 AI practitioners. She knows what it takes to build a room where people actually learn. Her cohort programs use a 12-week community-of-practice methodology: structured experiments, peer accountability, and shared reflection. At Human AI Partners, Susan is the face of every AI Traction program and the architect of the learning experiences that drive behavior change.
Background: Founder, Women in AI of Colorado | Executive Board, RMAIIG (2,500+ members) | Learning design & adult education | Community-of-practice methodology

Julie Young

Human Factors Research & AI Interaction
Julie Young
Julie is an HCI researcher whose work sits at the intersection of human behavior and AI systems. With a background in experimental psychology (University of Louisiana at Monroe) and AI/ML (University of Texas at Austin), she designs the diagnostic instruments and measurement frameworks that ground every Human AI Partners engagement in evidence, not assumptions. Julie leads the human factors diagnostic that begins every AI Traction engagement, architects the assessment methodology for SB 205 compliance work, and is the principal investigator for the Human AI Index – the only longitudinal study tracking professional women’s AI experience in the workplace.
Background: Experimental Psychology, ULM | AI/ML, UT Austin | Human-computer interaction | Principal Investigator, Human AI Index

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Our Team
Our Story
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