First things first, I need to confess something: I'm slightly obsessed with great design. I've spent the better part of the last couple of decades helping organizations create successful design systems, improve collaboration between designers and developers, and deliver great digital experiences. Most importantly, I help organizations understand the importance of placing users and customers in the center of every digital project they deliver.
I'm a UX, Digital and eCommerce leader with more than 20 years of customer-centric experience, strategy, leadership, and mentorship. I thrive on the challenge of combining the art and science that drives eCommerce -- analytics, testing, research, and usability heuristics -- to develop user-focused solutions that drive results and elevate a brand's visual impact.
Self-assessment of relevant work skills and business acumen:
Wow, I've been busy. Check out my recent work history and education profile below. You can access my complete work history on LinkedIn. Professional references are also available upon request.
February 2020 - Present
As Director of eCommerce (User Experience), I partner with our Product, Engineering and Operations teams to create a best-in-class eCommerce experience for our digital retail customers.
I help drive the long-term vision at Conns.com by identifying and setting digital product strategy, defining our end-to-end UX process and ecosystem, and inspiring our team to place the Conn's HomePlus customer in the center of every decision we make.
Finally, I provide support, vision, and guidance for our UX team by clearly defining our workflow process, including ideation, user-flow analysis, qualitative testing, wireframing, interaction design, UI design, and usability requirements.
February 2020 - January 2021
In February 2020, my role within the Chico's FAS User Experience team was expanded to provide managerial support for our team of UX researchers and designers.
In addition to maintaining my role as Lead UX Architect for the Chico's FAS Design System and Senior Product Designer, I provided day-to-day leadership and support for all projects and initiatives that required input, research, design production and consultation from our design team. Added responsibilities included evaluating project requirements; allocating design support and resources; providing feedback, coaching, and design/strategic direction for the UX team.
I also played a strategic role in executing the organization’s business goals by identifying and implementing design process and usability improvements, and I served as a key change management agent in ensuring all digital products delivered a best-in-class user experience.
My responsibilities as Lead Architect for the Chico's FAS Design System are listed below in my previous job description.
April 2018 - February 2020
I served as the design systems architect for the Chico's FAS User Experience team, bridging the gap between our design and technology teams.
My primary responsibility was to provide ownership, maintenance, administration, and governance of the Chico’s FAS Design System and its components. My role was critical in helping the organization maintain a single source of truth for digital design standards and usage across a portfolio of brands, thus ensuring a consistent customer experience across our media platforms.
My functional responsibilities included:
November 2010 – April 2018
I developed a wide variety of creative marketing assets (landing pages, homepages, e-marketing materials, motion experiences, responsive experiences, etc.) for women's fashion retailer Chicos.com, and provided leadership, strategy, and project supervision for the five-person design/production team. I also created campaign concepts and provided on-set studio art direction for both on-model and still life photo productions.
July 2008 - October 2011
Owner and creative technology lead for full-service digital creative agency. Primary duties included development and execution of digital projects from concept through delivery; client strategy and campaign development; and day-to-day business management/operation.
1987-1992
Political Science/English (minor)
Dean's List, 1992
1994-1995
Journalism/Mass Communications
Graduated magna cum laude
I love working on cool projects with really cool people. Here's some recent work that I'm particularly proud of:
I love speaking to organizations, student groups, designers, and technology teams about the importance of customer-centric User Experience, and the value in creating successful design systems and collaborative workflows. If you're interested in having me speak to your group or take part in a panel event, get in touch with me!
I help teams deliver great digital products that drive results and elevate a brand's visual impact. How do I do that? Here's a look at my process and focus areas:
Put simply, I specialize in building digital systems and products that place the customer's wants and needs at the center of every experience. I do this by casting aside assumptions and guesswork, instead focusing on analytics, testing, research and user behavior to evaluate performance and success.
My greatest passion is helping organizations utilize the concepts, tools and techniques to create successful design systems. I build Sketch component libraries, Living Style Guides and web-based Brand Guides that allow organizations to provide a consistent customer experience across digital platforms.
Combining a modern design system with a collaborative workflow allows designers and developers to speak the same language and work seamlessly. I love helping organizations optimize this process in order to improve their testing capabilities and speed to market.
I've been fortunate throughout my career to learn from so many talented peers and mentors, and I feel privileged now to have the opportunity to pay those experiences forward — whether it's one-on-one interaction with young professionals, or speaking engagements with student groups.
I help organizations navigate the challenges of delivering a cohesive, consistent brand presentation in today's business environment by building design systems and workflow processes that can weather any device, channel or market.
My expertise in creative design and art direction provides me the ability to craft digital design solutions that combine aesthetic value with research-driven UX practice.
Interested in having me speak to your student group or organization? Working on a project that has you stumped? Have a question? Give me a shout, I'm always happy to talk shop.