CV

• Adapted a React-based design system framework (MUI) to be aesthetically-aligned with the company’s latest product; got it front-end production-ready with team of designers and developers in 3 months, all while delivering incremental value through UI tweaks and polish to the main product on-track for customer launch

• Worked directly with VP Marketing to refresh all digital and print collateral to align with new brand direction

• As a part of the Leadership Team, rebuilt the UX Design & Research team, established and coached intra- and cross-team agile work processes and a culture of open communication

• Worked across teams to define, phase, test and launch Design System MVP components in less than 8 months.

• Successfully defined and lobbied to implement a Design System across Design, Product, Engineering, Publishing, Operations and Advertising teams by emphasizing the benefits of adopting a mindset and a toolset that supports rapid prototyping, reducing time-to-key learnings, identifying and automating low-value decision-making to clear the path for higher-value conversations between team members

• System has contributed to a measurable increase in key metrics including average revenue per user, and has enhanced key external stakeholders’ impression of our business as a whole

• Worked directly with CEO, CPO, CMO, and CTO in designing internal and external communications strategies

• Collaborated with product, engineering and process managers to create the unified iPad-based digital toolkit (“APEX”) that supports all retail associates nationwide

• Led my design team to adopt a formal agile process to streamline our workflow, mentored colleagues, promoted a culture of adaptability & excellence, and worked across teams to standardize our UX research process

• Recognized opportunity to leverage existing efforts & led collaboration with the Design System Team, aligning my team’s process & outputs to the expansion Capital One’s then-mostly web-oriented design system into iOS

• Responsible for minimizing time-to-value for 3Pillar’s diverse clients by co-creating digital user experiences on multiple platforms and formats, from responsive desktop, tablets and smartphones, to voice user interfaces

• Identified & balanced the end-users' needs with the needs of the client's team and business

• Led the design aspect of business relationships, including evangelizing human-centered design within clients including Capital One, CARFAX, Cisco Systems, and Next Day Blinds. Engagements ranged from 2 wks to >1 yr

• Co-created and teach a curriculum for a module on the Human-Centered Design mindset for an MBA course “Mobile Strategy and Product Development” — receiving consistently high student ratings over the past 7 years

• Guest-lectured a Design Studio class focused on instructional design at the Georgetown Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship (CNDLS)

Trove was a personalized news app that let you follow the topics you care about, curated by people you trust, so you didn't have to read about their dinners or sports teams -- unless that's specifically the topic you wanted to hear about from them. Trove also allowed you to create and manage your own topics so people could follow you. To this end, it would supply you with a feed of algorithm-vetted news on the topics you manage to make it easier to find fresh and relevant things to share.

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I worked with developers, product managers, marketers and editors, and was responsible for giving form to project initiatives, from information architecture, to wireframes, to high-resolution mockups of a news media tool that could integrate with blogs and be used as part of a social media strategy.

Over the 10 years of leadership in DT:DC, I have taught the fundamentals of human-centered design to a group of more than 4,000 local professionals through monthly workshops and extended projects. I helped to grow the group using communications tools and online social portals like Meetup.com, LinkedIn Groups, Google Docs and Groups, Gmail, and Twitter. Through DT:DC, I have created and facilitated human-centered design projects and contextual problem-solving workshops, teaching and using all the basic tools of design thinking I learned at the Stanford University d.school, including problem framing, ethnographic interviewing, design synthesis, storyboarding, rapid prototyping and implementation.

Aside from designing and managing monthly operations of its innovation practice and curriculum, my primary project with DT:DC has been Summer of Design, which is the largest human-centered design immersion project in the DC area. I was deeply involved in creating organizational structures and processes for the inaugural event series, and supported business development, project implementation, team forming, facilitation and evaluation; I reached out to prospective partner organizations, who I educated by communicating the fundamentals of design thinking via its benefits in developing solutions to difficult challenges in their industry's context; created visual templates using my graphics design experience to develop effective marketing material, communications tools, and educational aids; helped partner organizations develop a written project framework to set expectations and metrics, and expected project work, outcomes, and impact; facilitated interaction between participating partner orgs and teams made of participating DT:DC members, who I mentored. Further supported the development of project evaluation methods and innovation performance to assess the impact of each group's project.