As a seasoned designer with more than 25 years of strategic leadership experience in a wide variety of industries and settings, the focus and passion of my career remains the same — to build healthy teams, and help them bring highly impactful user-centered products and digital experiences to life.
Pivotal Labs / Manager, Design
2015–present
Pivotal Labs is the market leader for Lean software design consulting, specialized in Extreme Programming. Knowing those methods to be highly effective, I joined the consultancy to immerse myself at the project level and hone my Lean product expertise. My role with clients is to lead and coach every aspect of full-stack user-centered product design which includes research, product definition, concept ideation, user testing, experience/interaction design and visual execution. Additionally, I manage a cross-disciplinary group of staff designers, product managers, and software engineers.
GE Capital, Americas / Creative Director
2013–2015
GE Capital was embracing design as a core value for the first time in it’s long history. Seizing upon that rare opportunity I joined the company as design leader for the Americas. It was a deeply rewarding role that demanded strong leadership skills on many levels, among them being staff management, brand ownership, research, digital product consulting, platform strategy, and the design execution of all related digital solutions.
Fry Interactive / Creative Director
2006–2013
Fry was an industry leading e-commerce and retail experience design agency, and I was privileged to lead it’s Chicago design staff for seven years. The knowledge and insight gained was tremendous. I played a hands-on role within a department that took pride in producing highly effective communications and transactional design experiences. Additional responsibilities included client relations, sales, budgeting and operational department management.
TransUnion / Design Manager
2003–2006
Feeling the need to gain solid corporate experience, I joined TransUnion to develop an internal design department within the newly formed Marketing division. Most projects once outsourced to agencies are now planned, developed, and executed internally. My primary charge was to manage the design staff (Creative Design and User Experience), and also execute/direct the design of large, strategic initiatives across a variety of media (interactive, print, and physical environment).
Elevation / Design Director
2002–2003
Being a foundational member of this young company, I led the effort in establishing and executing the practice of design. My responsibilities ranged from the creation of websites, rich media, and identity projects through the management and maintenance of relationships with vendors and clients.
Giant Step / Web Designer to Design Director
1997–2001
I joined Giant Step as an entry level Web Designer and left as a Design Director four years later. Three primary things were expected from me: firstly, managing and executing client projects; secondly, managing and leading a team of designers in their career growth and creative efforts; and finally, continuously improving the agencies creative standards and process methodologies.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago / Designer
1994–1997
My experience at the MCA was a great challenge and tremendously rewarding, producing many award winning pieces that I am proud of to this day. Not only was I provided with a large quantity of work, but a great variety as well. Publications, exhibition and event collateral, invitations, posters, educational materials, street and exhibit signage are among the many projects I was responsible for.
University of Illinois, Chicago
BFA, majoring in Graphic Design
Graduated 1994
A strong desire to learn and grow coupled with being educated by some of Chicago’s groundbreaking designers such as John Massey, Philip Burton, and Michael Glass, helped make my experience at UIC rich and rewarding. The knowledge and skill I developed during my studies fostered a love for design and desire for excellence which has been carried throughout my professional life.
Accomplished in a wide variety of design and leadership roles, including but not limited to...
• Staff Mentorship
• Operational Management
• Customer Research
• Design Strategy
• Digital Product Development
• UX Direction
• Interaction Design
• User Testing
• Creative Direction
• Visual Design
• Art Direction
• Workshop Facilitation
• Brand Development
• Brand Management
• Photography
• Video
Equally strong on Mac and PC platforms, ample experience with Microsoft Office software. Proficient with common design related tools and programs, including but not limited to...
• Sketch
• Axure RP
• OmniGraffle
• Flinto
• Principle for Mac
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• Dreamweaver
• HTML
• CSS
• InDesign
• Acrobat
• Premiere
• After Effects
• Audition