Experience

  • Proven track record of building scalable product and people solutions that drive results

  • Experienced leading people, teams and projects

  • Biased towards action with humans at the center of my practice

  • Advocate for the user, creating space for empathy, and building shared understanding across teams and with executives

  • Leverage data and insights to blend user and business objectives

Core Capabilities

With over 17 years of experience, I have a proven track record in design and leadership – solving omnichannel and end-to-end problems using a human-centered approach.

  • Visionary and effective leaders imagine big possibilities then rally others around those bright futures and bring the vision to life. I lead through my values and make sure teams are doing great work.

  • Understanding and defining the right problem to solve can make all the difference to your users and your bottom line. I leverage tried-and-true methods to uncover problems.

  • Having a clear vision for where you want to take your product is where inspiring change begins. I’ll work with you, your team and stakeholders to create a vision that is right for you.

  • Taking your vision and activating on a plan is critical to deliver value to your users and your business. I work at the intersection of user + business goals to create a roadmap that is effective, efficient and sustainable – all in service of achieving your vision.

  • Operations are at the heart of well-functioning teams. I help design teams work better together, uplevel skills, hire the best talent, and implement processes that drive alignment and decision-making.

Design Leadership Experience

In-House Design Leader

Director Product Design UX

Target • Oct 2019 - present

  • Lead a large cross-functional UX team for the strategy of Target.com and native app experiences for all of top of funnel – including Home Page, Search, Product Listing Pages, Product Detail Page, and Deals

  • Lead end-to-end experience strategy for Loyalty and Personalization

  • Manage a team of 25+ product designers of all levels, including design managers

  • Intentional developer of managers, future leaders and teams

  • Leading culture change within and beyond my team to retain top talent

  • Grew team from 15 designers to 25 designers

  • Implemented embedded research and content design staffing model to enable long term product strategy development and step-level experience improvements

  • Established new, equitable recruiting and hiring practices; created entry-level designer role; and increased diverse hiring rate to 67% in 2 years

  • Advocated for and executed equitable performance assessment and pay equity processes for 150+ person UX team across all disciplines (product design, research, accessibility, content design)

  • Partnered with product and eng leaders to assess and analyze user data by category to evolve customer lifetime value strategy resulting in 10% growth in digital customer acquisition

Senior Manager Product Design

Target • May 2019 - Oct 2019

  • Led and managed a team of 3 product designers

  • Led digital strategy for Search, Listing Page, Product Page and end-to-end Fulfillment across Target.com and native apps

  • Developed Jobs to Be Done framework, socialized and onboarded multiple teams

  • Partnered with product, engineering, UX research and analyst leadership team to identify opportunities, set strategy, prioritize work, test and iterate

Senior Manager UX

Best Buy • July 2012 - Feb 2013

  • Led and managed multi-disciplinary UX team in research, ideation and prototyping, execution and iteration of consumer-facing and employee-facing projects for Best Buy’s mobile platforms including mobile web, tablet web, and native apps

  • Increased app usage during Holiday 2012 shopping

  • Contributed to 102% increase YoY in mobile web and app sales

  • Grew team from 1 designer to 10 multi-disciplinary UXers

  • Developed and implemented User Experience career framework for all levels (entry level to executive)

Running My Own Agency

UX Leader, Strategist, Researcher, Designer

Toast Interactive • Jan 2007 - Jun 2017

  • Successful independent business owner

  • Managed multiple clients and projects of various sizes and scope for consumer-facing experiences and internal team member tools

  • Excellent communication skills and integrity

  • Experience in many industries: retail, financial services, healthcare, health insurance, pharmaceutical, wellness, government, CPG, small businesses, non profits, and education.

  • Leveraged design thinking process to research, define strategy and vision, co-create, prototype and test solutions for many Fortune 100 clients including Pfizer, General Mills, Life Time Fitness, UnitedHealthcare, Target, Wells Fargo, American Craft Council

  • Key Skills + Services:

    • User Experience Strategy

    • Research: Generative and Evaluative

    • Discovery + Ideation

    • Journey Mapping

    • Service Design

    • User Experience Design, Information Architecture + Interaction Design

    • Project Definition + Scoping

In-House Agency

UX Designer

Proximity Worldwide • Jan 2010 - May 2011

  • Collaborated closely with strategists, analysts, designers, copywriters and developers to build consensus around solutions to interface challenges.

  • Provided UX solutions and recommendations based on best practices, research and analytics.

  • Defined functionality, content, navigation and interaction modules through site maps, process flow charts, content matrices, wireframes, page description diagrams and other documentation.

  • Visually diagram complex and multi-channel programs to aid in the communication of ideas and concepts.

  • Created UX methodology to align with Proximity Minneapolis's current process.

  • Contributed UX that resulted in three successful new business relationships.

Senior Experience Planner

MRM Worldwide • Sep 2007 - Jan 2010

  • Led projects with Associate Creative Director to produce thoughtful, user-centric interactive experiences.

  • Conducted and reviewed competitive research, analysis and review user-insights to inform experience strategy, architecture and design.

  • Constructed flexible, user-centric experience strategies based on current content, future content needs, user needs and business needs.

  • Planned and executed experience strategy through Information Architecture documentation: site maps, wireframes, user flows, and interaction diagrams

  • Collaborated and consulted with designers, writers and developers through the entire lifecycle of a project to create the best experience for various interactive needs

  • Worked on-site with integrated agency-client team to improve communication and increase efficiencies

Information Architect

EatonGolden • Jan 2006 - Sep 2007

  • Created and presented detailed IA documentation such as site maps, interaction diagrams, and wireframes for web sites, CD-ROMs, and intranets based on key user and business objectives.

  • Conducted competitive and market research: competitive analysis, heuristic analysis, usability testing.

  • Created website strategy based on key user and business objectives that inform information architecture documentation.