About Me
I'm a UX design leader with over 15 years of experience guiding design teams at enterprise technology companies large and small. I build empowered, empathetic design teams that solve real user problems.
Career
Cisco
Managed 10 designers and researchers, led a project unifying 20+ subsidiary sales teams into a single Salesforce platform for cloud software subscription sales.
Syniti
Built the company's first UX team from scratch, oversaw legacy software migration to cloud, and implemented discovery-driven design processes.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Led UX vision and strategy as part of the design team for the Helion virtual private cloud suite.
Apptio
Expanded design team from 2 to 9 members during the company's 6x growth period.
Philosophy
I emphasize six key principles:
- Design is a team sport — The best work emerges from diverse perspectives
- Outcomes over outputs — Drive measurable results, not just deliverables
- Strong opinions, held loosely — Defend expertise while remaining adaptable
- Be better today than you were yesterday — Growth mindset and determination for doing it better
- Continuous improvement — "It's good enough for now; we're iterating"
- Do the work — Balance philosophy with hands-on execution and practical application.
Speaking
I speak at conferences like SXSW, WebVisions, and LavaCon on design leadership, team building, and UX strategy. See my talks and podcast appearances.
Personal
A native Oklahoman, I hold a degree from the University of Colorado in environmental studies. Outside of work, I enjoy gardening, preserving foods through pickling and jam-making, and being regularly disappointed by the Seattle Mariners. I live in Seattle with my author spouse and graphic designer son.