Experience

Zonar Systems: Director of Design – Nov 2023 - Current

• Director of Design with a passion for human-centered digital product design.  

• Work with directors of Product and Engineering to provide creative leadership

• Help drive organizational change by championing Dual Track Agile practices that enable cross functional teams to be faster and flexible in the face of ambiguity

• Lead and facilitate strategy workshops with directors and senior leadership teams

• Mentor, manage, and direct a design team of 7 amazingly talented designers and UX Managers

Zonar Systems: UX Manager – Apr 2022 - Nov 2023

• Worked with cross-functional teams to gather and define design and development requirements for MVP backlogs

• Advised on product roadmaps, research methods and product validation approaches for both new products/features and modernization efforts

• Oversaw UX research & Usability testing (Contextual inquiry, interviews, synthesis, prototype creation and testing)

• Mentored and managed 4 direct reports

Smashing Ideas: Head of Design – Nov 2020 – Apr 2022

Collaborative and innovative Head of Design with a passion for human-centered digital product design. Specialized in leading product strategy, research, and build for a wide range of digital products that enable strategic advantage for fortune 500 companies and lasting value for users.

• As part of the Senior Leadership Team, I provide strategic creative leadership for clients and deliver go-to-market strategies and tactics for our agency

• Work closely with strategy and engineering teams to lead business development for B2B and B2C work, including communicating value and methodologies to internal teams, clients, and client prospects to win new work and expand existing relationships

• Craft and present custom proposals, budgets, timelines, resource plans, and supporting materials Oversee and guide DesignOps within agency to enable our design process to be scalable, repeatable, and self-improving, and help meet OKRs

• Mentor, manage, hire, and direct a design team of 15 amazingly talented designers and design directors

Smashing Ideas: Design Director - June 2015 to Nov 2020

• Worked with cross-functional teams to gather and define design and development requirements for MVP backlog 

• Advised on product roadmaps, research methods and product validation approaches for both new products and modernization efforts

• Crafted and presented custom proposals, budgets, timelines, resource plans, and supporting materials Facilitated Design Thinking workshops with staff and client stakeholders to develop design concepts 

• Led ideation, presentation, and execution of design concepts internally and with client C-Suite

• Executed both visual and UX design for websites, mobile applications and custom software

• Led design team in design sprints within Agile based methodology

• Participated in UX research & Usability testing (Contextual inquiry, interviews, synthesis, prototype creation and testing) 

• Mentored and managed 4 direct reports

Smashing Ideas: Associate Design Director - June 2013 to June 2015

• Worked with cross-functional teams to gather and define design and development requirements for MVP backlog

• Contributed to UX and product definition

• Participated in UX research (Contextual inquiry, interviews, synthesis, prototype creation) 

• Designed all visual design and UI for projects

• Participated in Thinking workshops with staff and client stakeholders to develop design concepts 

• Participated in presentation, and execution of design concepts internally and with client C-Suite

• Led design team in design sprints within Agile methodology

• Designed responsive websites and digital experiences 

• Designed tablet and mobile applications for IOS and Android

• Designed Design Language Systems and UI for product integration

Smashing Ideas: Senior Product Designer - June 2008 to June 2013

• UX lead and visual design on multiple agency projects, worked closely with engineering to oversee design integration 

• Designed responsive websites and digital experiences 

• Designed tablet and mobile applications for IOS and Android

• Designed Design Language Systems and UI for product integration

Smashing Ideas: Designer - June 2005 to June 2008

• Concept design, Ideation, visual design for youth marketing websites

Smashing Ideas: Junior Designer - June 2003 to June 2005

• Visual design for youth marketing websites and interactive media

Clients

Sound Transit: ORCA Mobile App and Device Ecosystem
Led design team through UX and visual design phases of design to create mobile application for pacific northwest public transit app. Oversaw and co-designed UX and visual design for fare management devices like ticket vending machines, driver display units, fare enforcement apps, tap-to-pay fare payment devices, and customer service terminals.

American Greetings
Research, planned, and co-executed multi-day workshop to produce high-level product portfolio roadmap that targeted new demographic for the company.

Kaskada
Worked closely with the Kaskada team to develop low-fidelity prototypes for a new-to-market experience to test with users. Incorporated feedback and enabled Kaskada to secure next round of funding.

Boeing
Worked closely with client stakeholders and cross-functional team to prototype, test, design, build, launch, and iterate upon critical software product as part of client's physical product delivery. Led creative direction and partnered with UX practitioner to lead product experience design. Multi-year project.

Microsoft
UX redesign of rewards program for major operating system software company. Combined to separate rewards programs into one user experience. Worked with small design team to create core feature experiences that appealed to both user bases, increase rewards redemption within rewards economy, and improve overall engagement frequency.

Penguin Random House
UX Lead and creative oversight on the Haylie Pomroy Fast Metabolism Diet mobile application for New York Times best seller. App was in the top 10 in iTunes App Store, #1 app in Health & Fitness category, one of PRH's most successful paid apps.

Panasonic
Lead Designer on white-label inflight entertainment iPad app. Led creative direction and user experience efforts on white-label in-flight entertainment app. Experience included pre and post flight user engagement concepts.

Philips
Designed and co-facilitated health product definition workshops. Interviewed medical professionals and tested lo-fi prototypes for concept validity. Resulted in refinement of clients of go-to-market strategy.

Amazon
Led design and creative oversight for original Amazon Lightsail marketing site. 

Mattel
Created and led design on multiple online games, websites, and interactive marketing content for Marvel, Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket, Dora the explorer, and Monster High brands.

Hasbro
Created and led design on interactive marketing content for the Incredible Hulk movie line of toys.

Disney
Created and led design on multiple online games, content websites, and interactive marketing content for Disney Channel, including: Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Johnny Kapahala, Cow Belles, Wizards of Waverly Place, Twitches, Sonny with a chance, The suite life of Zack and Cody, and many more. 

Nintendo
Created and led design on interactive marketing content for Metroid Prime 3 (Wii), Meteos (DS). Assisted design on interactive marketing content for Animal Crossing (DS).

Nickelodeon TV and Movies
Created and led design on multiple online games, content websites, and interactive marketing content for Nickelodeon, including: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Rango, Fairly OddParents, and Drake and Josh, and many more.  

Education

• 1998- 2001 Western Washington University - BA in Fine Art with an emphasis on New Media and Graphic Design

• 2024 Harvard Business School Online - Certificate in Business Analytics

• 2024 Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Certificate in Designing and Building Al Products and Services

References

Available on request