DRIVING DESIGN THROUGH LEADERSHIP & STRATEGY
Empowering Teams & Driving Innovation
I am a results-driven design leader with over 18 years of experience in product development, digital communications, and creating impactful user experiences. My leadership skills are centered on empowering cross-functional teams, fostering collaboration, and driving innovation. I consistently stay ahead of technology and design trends, applying the latest user-centered design methodologies to ensure relevance and effectiveness.
Building High-Performing Design Teams in Agile Environments
With over a decade of experience in Agile settings, I specialize in assembling and nurturing design teams that deliver exceptional results. By fostering open communication, promoting iterative development, and aligning team efforts with strategic goals, I create a culture of collaboration and innovation. I focus on guiding and empowering teams to excel, ensuring they have the support and direction needed to achieve outstanding outcomes.
Aligning User Needs with Business Goals
My approach blends creativity with strategic thinking, ensuring every design not only meets user needs but also aligns with overarching business goals. By leading with vision and fostering a collaborative culture, I consistently deliver solutions that drive measurable business success.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
My guiding principles for leading high-impact design teams, driving innovation, and fostering collaborative excellence
Empowerment Through Collaboration
Fostering an environment where cross-functional teams thrive by encouraging open communication and shared ownership of design challenges.
Vision with
Strategy
Leading with a clear design vision, balanced with strategic thinking to align design efforts with long-term business goals.
User-Centric Decision
Making
Prioritizing the needs and feedback of users in every design decision to ensure solutions are impactful and relevant.
Adaptability
in Scaling
Adapting design processes to meet the evolving demands of scaling teams and growing businesses without losing design integrity.
Excellence
in Execution
Ensuring quality in every aspect of design execution, from concept to delivery, while promoting continuous improvement and innovation.
Mentorship
and Growth
Supporting team development by mentoring designers, encouraging learning, and fostering a culture of personal and professional growth.
EXPERIENCE
I have over a decade of building and leading design teams in various industries
Case Studies
This project will give you an overview of my design process and how I manage a team. Includes research, business modeling, personas, prototyping, designs and validations.
Budgeting Software
This overview goes into my methods used for discovery workshops. You will read how I facilitate, synthesis, and how I made recommendations on new initiatives.
Data Discovery Workshop
SUREID // 2 yrs, 11 mos
User Experience Manager
Accomplishments
At SureID, I played a pivotal role in transforming the company’s approach to user experience by building a dedicated UX design team from the ground up. By fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, I established workflows that integrated seamlessly with Agile practices, ensuring alignment between design, development, and product goals. Leveraging extensive user research, I created detailed personas and conducted usability studies to uncover pain points, enabling the team to prioritize and address user needs effectively. My efforts in auditing interactions and simplifying workflows significantly reduced cognitive load, enhancing usability across complex systems.
In addition to leading the design team, I developed and maintained a comprehensive design system for .Net, WPF, and web applications, ensuring visual consistency and streamlined collaboration. I introduced a UX review process with developers to bridge gaps between design and implementation, minimizing rework and improving efficiency. As a Scrum Master and CSPO, I facilitated sprint planning and prioritized product backlogs to align with user and business needs. These initiatives, coupled with my art direction for marketing, helped unify SureID’s brand identity and elevate its overall user experience, driving measurable results for the company.
Results at SureID
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Successfully established a UX discipline hiring 4 designers, positioning SureID for long-term success in user-centered product development.
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Improved user satisfaction and engagement through systematic reductions in cognitive load and workflow complexity.
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Delivered measurable business value by aligning design efforts with strategic goals and Agile processes.
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This experience highlights my ability to lead design teams, solve complex problems, and deliver impactful results in dynamic environments.
JET GLOBAL // 2 yrs, 8 mos
UX Manager
Accomplishments
At Jet Global, I established a UX team within the Product and Engineering group, setting the stage for a user-centered design approach across the organization. As the Product Design Lead for the Platform Squad, I provided strategic direction and mentorship, guiding a team of UX designers and researchers in their individual contributor roles. I helped foster a culture of autonomy and accountability by mentoring team members to take ownership of their work, while ensuring they had the necessary support and direction to succeed. I also introduced a design system and established user-centered design best practices, empowering the team to deliver consistent and high-quality design across all products.
I worked closely with stakeholders and product architects to understand user stories and translate them into high-level design strategies. By creating storyboards, wireframes, and prototypes, I provided the team with clear guidelines while allowing them to lead the creation of design concepts. I integrated UX processes into the Agile framework, ensuring the team conducted relevant research and usability studies that informed product strategy. Through regular feedback and critique sessions, I mentored the team to refine their work and align design with both user needs and business objectives, ultimately enhancing Jet Global’s overall product experience.
Results at Jet Global
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Built a cohesive 4 person UX team and design system, enabling scalable and consistent design efforts.
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Improved cross-functional collaboration through UX integration into Agile processes, reducing development cycles and aligning teams on shared goals.
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Simplified user workflows, increasing product adoption and satisfaction among key users.
DESIGN COHESION PHILOSOPHY
As an individual contributor, my approach to design systems has always been rooted in creating scalable, consistent frameworks that empower teams to work efficiently and deliver cohesive user experiences. I believe in developing reusable components and interaction patterns that not only meet immediate project needs but also provide a foundation for future growth. This involves a meticulous process of auditing interfaces to identify inconsistencies, defining design guidelines, and documenting best practices to ensure clarity for designers and developers alike. I prioritize collaboration with engineering teams to bridge the gap between design and development, ensuring that components are implemented with fidelity and function seamlessly in real-world applications. Usability testing is central to my philosophy, allowing me to refine components based on user feedback and maintain a focus on accessibility and inclusivity. By embedding design systems into workflows, I aim to streamline processes, reduce redundancy, and create a shared language that unifies teams across products and platforms.
WAYFAIR // 9 mos
Sr. Product Design Manager (Enterprise)
Accomplishments
At Wayfair, I played a key role in building a high-performing UX design team, focused on attracting top talent through behavioral interviews based on core competencies. Collaborating with upper-level stakeholders, I helped shape product roadmaps and influence product planning, ensuring design remained integral to the strategic direction. I led the team in meeting interaction design standards, working closely with front-end peers to ensure a seamless user experience across platforms. By leading cross-functional design reviews, I ensured all deliverables met the highest standards while conducting design sprints and workshops to clarify feature requirements and align team efforts.
In my leadership role, I oversaw and contributed to the creation and refinement of design systems, including components, interactions, and behaviors, ensuring consistency across Wayfair’s delivery network services. I mentored the team on producing fully annotated wireframes and functional specifications while supporting user research activities, including prioritization, planning, and field studies. By synthesizing research insights, I guided the team in generating prototypes for testing and iterating on designs. I also played a critical role in defining design acceptance criteria to ensure the final products adhered to Wayfair’s high design standards, influencing product planning and helping deliver intuitive, user-friendly experiences.
Results at Wayfair
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Built and mentored a 6 person high-caliber UX team, enabling efficient collaboration and high-quality design outputs.
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Strengthened design’s influence on product strategy, ensuring alignment between design, product management, and engineering.
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Streamlined design processes by contributing to robust design systems, improving consistency, and reducing development time.
Image credit: Dan Staton & Hero Rubin
AUTODESK // 4+ yrs
Sr. User Experience Design Manager
Accomplishments
At Autodesk, I lead experience design initiatives across Electronics, Fusion Core, and Growth, guiding my team of skilled designers to drive innovation and deliver exceptional user experiences. In the Electronics domain, I provide direction and mentorship to ensure the team is developing the next generation of ECAD/EDA tools. In Fusion Core, I oversee efforts to resolve foundational software challenges, ensuring application parity and a consistent user experience across platforms. In the Growth area, I guide my team in analyzing and improving end-to-end customer experiences, focusing on optimizing trial conversions and enhancing onboarding processes to drive measurable business impact. By collaborating closely with my team, I ensure that design efforts align with product goals, enabling them to deliver high-quality, user-centric solutions that meet business objectives.
In addition to leading design initiatives, I am deeply involved in career development and the growth of my team. I am a passionate advocate for career ladders, helping my employees build the skills they need to thrive and ensuring they are set up for success. I also actively contribute to TechX by assisting colleagues with writing proposals, creating workshops to refine those proposals, and reviewing them to ensure quality. Through these efforts, I help foster a culture of learning and growth, empowering my team to reach their full potential while contributing to Autodesk's overall success.
Results at Autodesk
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Built and mentored a high-performing design team, empowering them to innovate and develop the next generation of ECAD/EDA tools while fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence.
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Streamlined end-to-end customer journeys by guiding teams in optimizing trial conversions, enhancing onboarding processes, and driving measurable business impact.
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Delivered strategic insights that informed key business decisions across the Fusion platform, contributing to broader growth and customer retention strategies.
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Championed the adoption of consistent design practices, ensuring seamless integration of UX across Electronics, Fusion Core, and Growth initiatives, while improving usability and product parity.
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Played a pivotal role in refining Autodesk’s innovation culture through active contributions to TechX, including mentoring colleagues on proposals, creating workshops, and enhancing the quality of submitted work.
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Advocated for and implemented career development initiatives, including clear career ladders and skill-building programs, ensuring employees were set up for long-term success.
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Guided the team to develop user-centered design solutions that addressed complex challenges, driving innovation while consistently aligning with Autodesk’s overarching business objectives.
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Fostered cross-functional collaboration between product, engineering, and design teams, ensuring design excellence translated into tangible improvements for both users and the business.
Summary of Expereince
Overall...
Throughout my career, I have focused on delivering beautiful delightful designs and leading design teams to innovate, solve complex problems, and drive measurable business impact. Whether at Autodesk, Wayfair, Jet Global, or SureID, I’ve consistently guided high-performing UX design teams, helping them build next-generation products, improve user experiences, and align design efforts with business goals, all while not being afraid of getting in on the front lines getting my hands dirty. My leadership approach emphasizes mentoring, enabling my teams to take ownership of their work while providing strategic direction and ensuring high-quality, user-centric solutions. I’m passionate about career growth, having played an active role in fostering skill development and creating clear career ladders to set my employees up for long-term success.
In addition to my leadership in design, I have contributed to broader organizational initiatives, such as shaping product strategy, streamlining design processes, and building design systems that ensure consistency across complex products. My focus on user-centered design, cross-functional collaboration, and a commitment to career development has allowed me to consistently drive business growth and improve the overall user experience across the organizations I’ve worked with.
