Since 2000, I have worked with multiple Fortune 500 companies including eBay, Comcast, Toys'R'Us, and American Express.
I have developed comprehensive strategies for early-stage startups and mid-to-large enterprises, leading both in-house and offshore teams for product launches across North America and Europe.
Let's develop your product concept together through discovery and ideation.
Turn ideas into actual solutions with research, design, and testing.
Support existing design & engineering talent to grow their skillsets.
Deliver working software with iterative, just-in-time customer value.
Gather feedback from real people about how to make your solutions better.
Organize content around how your customers think about your problem space.
Rapidly visualize ideas without spending time on code or infrastructure.
Test solutions out and make changes quickly before implementation.
within finTech, edTech, & e-commerce industries
I lead all aspects of product and engineering for CurrentDesk's next-generation brokerage management (CRM) platform. In the first six months, I established a formal software development lifecycle from discovery through delivery and hired cross-functional engineers to foster a healthy, Agile-based culture of iterative development.
I have worked closely with the executive team to organize our backlogs, establish roadmaps and milestones, build an onshore QA practice, and coach our internal design practice. My responsibilities recently increased to include coaching executive leaders on all aspects of corporate strategy, including formalizing company goals and breaking down communication silos between teams.
In response to Frontline's rapid portfolio growth, I re-structured our design operations and elevated senior members to design manager roles, allowing us to better align people and processes to program needs. I hired a senior UX researcher to establish a formal practice and help us anchor our design activities around a science- and data-driven model.
These changes significantly reduced delays in our cross-functional partnerships and tied the effectiveness of our design artifacts directly to their business value.
With executive support, I grew our internal product design team to 16 members over 4 years to keep pace with the rapid acquisition of new products, including absorbing Frontline's existing instructional design team into our product design group.
During this period, we introduced user research and testing into our lifecycle, established a unified design system across newly-acquired product offerings, and partnered with PM & engineering to convert our standalone product offerings into a unified platform for K-12 school administration.
These efforts contributed to Frontline's second acquisition by Thoma Bravo in 2017, valued at over $1B (and securing Frontline's reputation as a tech unicorn).
I was hired by Frontline to bring all product design work in-house. Early responsibilities included creating user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity UI mockups and implementing HTML/CSS/JS code changes.
During the first two years, I helped Frontline incorporate design activities into our software lifecycle; I coached engineering, product, and executive leadership on the value of user-centered design; and I lobbied for a design seat at the table in product decision-making.
These efforts led to our UX practice being recognized as a key competitive differentiator during Frontline's acquisition by Insight Venture Partners in early 2014.
I led the front-end development teams for Toys'R'Us online store launches in Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal.
In addition to hands-on HTML/CSS/JS development, this included guiding 15+ on-and-offshore team members through all aspects of the development process; assisting in task assignment and professional growth of team members; and setting standards for code quality and techniques.
Mobile Strategy
DevOps / QA Leadership
Platform Strategy
Design Leadership
Engineering Leadership
Project Management
Product Design
UI Development
Yes! Depending on the project scope and length, I am always open to new opportunities. The most suitable projects are part-time with clear goals defined. Some projects may also be restricted by current agreements with other clients.
If you know enough to design or develop a prototype, start there! Otherwise, I highly recommend creating a lean canvas for your idea to rapidly sketch out your business plan and recruit engineers. I'm available to help you figure out the details and turn your plan into reality.
There are a lot of great low-cost resources available online for you to get started, such as training courses on Pluralsight and Treehouse. UIE's All You Can Learn Library also contains a wealth of learning content. As you get familiar with the space, you may consider getting certified through a UX bootcamp or intensive study to help you land your first gig.
