Summary
Design executive, product owner, hands-on leader with 10+ years of experience guiding experience strategy, product design and user research team leaders and practitioners.
Effective collaborator and influencer with C-level executives, marketing and engineering teams. Proven track record for leading product design and multi-disciplinary teams through complex programs, requiring collaboration and innovation.
Highly successful at integrating customer needs, design and business goals to how customers use technology, creating delightful experience design, and most importantly, bring innovative ideas to life.
Momentum Design Lab
Head of Design
2019-Present
9090
Founder
2010-Present
Currently working with Fortune 500 and startups as an advisor, consultant, human-centered design ambassador and creator.
Focus: Integrated Brand Experience Strategy, Product Design and Research
Verticals: FinTech, Social, SaaS, B2B2C
Projekt202
Senior Director - User Experience and Strategy
2018-2019
Projekt202 is an integrated brand experience agency that is singularly focused on designing experiences that delight, disrupt, engage and innovate. As Senior Director of User Experience and Strategy, I was the client-facing lead for all UX strategy and product design work for the San Francisco office, which was composed of striking a balance between strategic engagement leadership, user research, directing / providing design team oversight, mentoring cross-functional collaboration and rolling up my sleeves and doing hands-on design on occasion.
Evolved the UX best practices, UX methodology and participated with growing the integrated brand strategy offering, resulting in client wins of ($3M+).
Focused on design-led strategic efforts to define new opportunities for clients to broaden their reach by better serving customer needs.
Led and managed a full-time and freelance UX staff (6+) and provided UX leadership to external partners.
Reinforced a human design-thinking culture founded on empathy – understanding how and why an experience or feature succeeds or fails for the customer.
Managed multiple projects/work streams concurrently and directed distributed project teams for engagements with tech, retail, entertainment and financial clients.
Clients included: Twitch, Facebook, Cypress Semiconductors, Roofstock, and more
ICF Next
Director - Digital Strategy and User Experience
2014- 2017
As Director of Digital Strategy and User Experience for this global integrated experience agency, I was the discipline lead and subject matter expert for the ICF Next western region. As the principal UX point-of-contact within client relationships, lead hands-on problem-solver from definition to launch I was accountable for leading teams of thinkers and doers; directing / overseeing / crafting and socializing strategic visions, user journeys, user models, roadmaps, design specifications: experience frameworks, design systems, feature interactions, user stories and synthesizing qualitative and quantitative research, voice of the customer and data-driven learnings.
Grew agency revenues and capabilities within accounts and participated in new business development efforts ($15+), including scoping, estimating and planning design efforts to ensure team success.
Established lean design methodology for rapid, iterative design to blend with agile development methods. Which in part earned us Amway’s 2014 Vendor of the Year for Innovation and 2015 CIO Award.
Directly managed and developed a team of 8+ talented strategists, user researchers, product designers across multiple offices and aided in the recruitment/retention of best-in-class talent at the global group level.
Clients included: Amway, Express, Liftmaster, First Data, Anthem, AARP, McDonald’s, United Healthcare and Crown Equipment and more.
Wrapports (Tronc)
Head of Design - Digital and Experience
2012- 2014
Wrapports was a technology holding company. As the Head of Design for Wrapports, I built a nimble cross-discipline innovations team of 12+ product strategists, product designers, UX designers, producers, copywriters and technologists. The mission of the group was to design products and rethink services to scale the Wrapports ecosystem of products, which required integrating design thinking, design and refining business goals to how customers use technology, rethinking service design frameworks, and most importantly, bring delightful ideas to life.
I was responsible for brand, digital strategy, creative, UX and front-end development oversight of integration and growth for 36+ multi-faceted brands and products. Using responsive design frameworks, visual models and proven human-centered methods to align business objectives with customer needs in framing and conceptualizing solutions was key to inform business decision-making and provided actionable input to stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
Established and managed the Marketing Design Studio/ Global Design Systems teams at Wrapports, which was responsible for creating and evolving our UI pattern library for designers and developers, supporting all product teams in creating consistency across desktop, mobile, and marketing platforms.
In addition to the core ecosystem of products, the Wrapports portfolio had a startup incubator component, which I provided product development mentoring and helped staff to explore and design those programs and products.
Design oversight and hands-on creation of carefully crafted user experiences and visual design deliverables, including user flows, wireframes, typography, color, and information design.
Work closely and collaboratively with executive stakeholders, brand managers, content partners to set product/brand strategies; directed customer and partner engagements and to develop innovative and beautiful approaches to complex design challenges across advertising, experiential, digital and user experiences.
Used my strong visual and interaction design judgement and ability to think systematically to define, refine and employ global design systems that reinforce brand and reflected a high level of design coherence and craft across the portfolio of products.
Acted as the design ambassador for the organization, to rethink, standardize, guide and elevate the work flows, tools, systems and frameworks to provide a high level of coherence and scale.
Recruited, coached, mentored and conducted regular performance reviews.
Wrapports portfolio: Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader, CST Local (34+ titles), High School Cube, Higi
Sears Holdings
Creative Director - Digital Innovation
2009- 2012
As Creative Director of Digital Innovation, I furthered the main objective for the Digital Innovations group which was to act as the next-gen product incubator with all SHC business units (23 business units) and work with c-suite leadership to think beyond just what’s known, normal, or available and instead help them envision and redefine what’s possible. Created product visions, user research, defined practical experience roadmaps and iterative design plans.
Led an globally distributed cross-functional team of ~25+ and served as the enterprise discipline director of visual design for Sears Holdings UX where I was responsible for governance of the global design systems; dedicated to enhance the design standards across the ecosystem of Sears Holdings customer experience portfolios.
Work closely and collaboratively with executive stakeholders, brand managers, content partners to set product/brand strategies; directed customer and partner engagements and to develop innovative and beautiful approaches to complex design challenges across advertising, experiential, digital, instore and services.
Launched Shop Your Way Rewards Program and evolved it into Shopyourway.com
Core experience responsibility to enhance and optimize performance for Sears.com home.
Led UX teams in support of Sears Commercial, Sears Home Services, Sears Service Live, Manage My Home and Sears Parts Direct.
Caxy Inc.
Creative Director
2006- 2009
Hired to develop and lead the creative team for Caxy Consulting. Charged with inspiring innovations and expanding the creative services offered by Caxy. This included creative vision, brand strategy, and directing design solutions that met marketing objectives at many different budget levels. Projects ranged from consumer brand integrated advertising campaigns to healthcare focused social networks.
Q Interactive
Senior Producer
2002- 2006
IXL / Razorfish
Art Director
1999- 2002
Education
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Bachelor of Fine Art, Art and Technology
Additional Studies:
• Kellogg School of Management, Consumer Marketing Strategy & Writing for Business
• Masters Program [Graphic Design], The Studio Art Center International, Florence, Italy
• Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois