Qualification Summary

As a Design Director, my aim is to create meaningful experiences that delight users and drive business success. I lead my team in crafting visually compelling designs that convey brand messaging effectively, using design thinking, user research, and strategic planning to ensure that every project is rooted in a deep understanding of user needs and business objectives. Through collaboration and a commitment to quality, I strive to deliver design solutions that exceed expectations.

• Walk in the shoes of the users to understand what capabilities their need and how they can change the way they work – “voice of the user” is heard
• React to changing needs by delivering new capabilities more quickly – more agile model
• Brought together existing and new capabilities in a familiar and more meaningful way – greater adoption
• Delight end-users by their experiences within the design ecosystem – improved satisfaction /engagement
• Strong ability to synthesize complex workflows and intersecting needs into effortless outcomes.

Professional Experience

Lockheed Martin | New York
Information Architect / User Experience Design Leader
August 2021 - Present

• Redesigned the e-commerce experience for Sikorsky/RMS360 to optimize the ordering process for aircraft parts and improve the customer journey. 

• Improved purchase flow and developed new user experiences to improve customer satisfaction, address customer support issues, and enable cross-selling and upselling to existing customers using user-centered design methodology.

• Leading design strategy and driving design excellence across the organization, championing user-centered design principles to deliver best-in-class experiences. 

• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to identify strategic opportunities and develop innovative design solutions to meet business objectives. 

• Establishing design systems, frameworks, and guidelines to ensure consistency and quality across all products and platforms. 

• Creating and implementing design processes and workflows to streamline design operations and increase efficiency. 

IBM Corporation
Office of CIO | Information Architect / User Experience Design Leader
October 2011 – August 2021

• Drove IBM's internal digital transformation by applying a human-centered design approach to create end-to-end user experiences across the customer journey.
• Partnered with product and technology stakeholders to prioritize and deliver critical products and features through an inclusive design process.
• Gathered UX requirements from stakeholders and business owners to inform and influence key product and operational initiatives that created meaningful business value.

Key Achievements:

• Led Agile development, execution, and communication of the Target Revenue Portal and Mobile work-flow solution. Generated 6,000 leads, resulting in over $120 million in revenue from 8,000 iOS mobile and web portal users.
• Filed an IBM patent for the "Cognitive Briefcase," a software construct that uses AI to learn user preferences for dynamic content and stores it in a convenient briefcase icon within a software solution.
• Designed and expanded the gamification of IBM's internal learning platform, "THINK ACADEMY," including "The Trivia Game," "Smart Starts Here!," and "Moonshot" Apollo 11 series. 400,000 IBM players participated across 11 languages.
• Launched the "Ask Me Anything" series with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty to improve transparency and corporate culture, resulting in a 67% increase in employee engagement and internal net promoter scores.
• Created "The Ring," a CMS platform for North American sellers to access weekly enablement information and presentation materials. 20,000+ users were able to subscribe to categories, receive notifications of new posts, and access replays.
• The mobile and web application "ISAP" was developed for IBM client leaders, aiming to aid them in formulating a 2-3 year strategy that identifies significant opportunities aligned with clients' objectives. The application is designed to enable long-term competitive advantage for both IBM and the clients. Through the app, sellers can access an interactive collaboration exchange process that involves IBM and the client.
• Designed the "Rep Locator" cognitive IOS + Android mobile app to provide Sales Rep profiles to all IBM clients worldwide, awarded gold for sales and customer service at the 2019 Stevie Awards.
• Integrated various data types into a single "Client Success Dashboard," allowing top 50 IBM executives to prioritize areas of growth for the company.
• Redesigned and automated the IBM Logo Request Tool to simplify the logo approval process, reducing the time to complete requests from days to hours.
• Led the Cisco Business Transformation Initiative to revolutionize the way clients interact with IBM by combining existing tools and business processes for contracts of Cisco device support.

Virtualbrands Interactive | New York, NY
Design Director / User Experience Design / Visual Design
October 2007 - October 2011

• Oversaw the complete design and development cycle of various user interface designs, including concept, information architecture, visual design, and interaction design.
• Redesigned the user interfaces, interaction flows, and information architecture of multiple enterprise-level websites and applications, greatly enhancing their overall user experience.
• Led a team of skilled Product Designers and UX Writers and worked collaboratively with other groups such as Product Design, Product Management, Engineering, and Product Marketing.
• Ensured a consistent style, voice, and tone were established throughout the design process.
• Enabled delivery of high-quality products that met the needs and expectations of clients and their end-users through effective collaboration with cross-functional teams.
  

Connect II Meet, Inc. | Cambridge, MA
Managing Director / Head of Product Development
January 2005 – February 2007

As the Managing Director and Head of Product Development for Connect II Meet, I had the following key responsibilities:

• Designed and developed C2M, a web-based video conferencing application that enables interactive video communication and presentation during planned and collaborative meetings over public or private networks.
• Managed corporate governance, operations, business development, sales, marketing, and design.
  
• Led and mentored teams through the design process, from start to finish, encouraging innovation, creative thinking, and new solutions.
• Ensured the design vision supported the product strategy and actively aligned the team efforts to achieve business objectives.
• Founded and managed a consulting division that provided services such as strategic planning and product design, user needs assessment, user interface design, usability evaluation, and e-communications.

GPI, Inc. | New York, NY
Head of Product Development
August 2003 – January 2005

As the Managing Director and Head of Product Development for GPI, I had the following key responsibilities:

• Built managed a design team of 20+ people in Vancouver, Washington, and New York City, and grew a large in-house creative team to replace outsourced agencies.
• Developed relationships with creative advertising agencies, wrote strategic creative briefs, developed project schedules, and project managed creative elements from inception to completion to fulfill marketing requests from internal partners using provided resources.
• Conceived, led the development, and launched an enterprise CRM web application for Papa Murphy's franchise business using user-centric techniques that integrated marketing, design and print production, and logistics.
• The platform saved over a million dollars per year by eliminating operational cost overruns.

Bayerische Hypo Und Vereins Bank | New York, NY
Director / Management Consultant
January 2000 – February 2003

As the Managing Director for Bayerische Hypo und Vereins Bank, I had the following key responsibilities:

• Directed UX design and HVB branding for hvbmarkets.com, an online FX currency trade online commerce platform.
• Coordinated efforts across multiple products with product marketing and engineering, contributing to the successful expansion of the HVB product offering.
• Led the development of a number of web-based solutions, including a recorded interactive global video conferencing system that enabled global investment partners to connect and report confidential financial results to the bank's treasury.
• Collaborated with marketing and engineering on the implementation of agile processes, tools, and methodologies for gathering qualitative and quantitative product usage.
• Worked closely with CIO teams to understand their business challenges in order to define and drive the functional requirements for technology solutions to meet the business need.Independently operated and reported to the head of treasury to assist CIO teams in understanding their business challenges and defining the functional requirements for technology solutions.
• Provided research, strategic planning, and marketing direction for the FX currency trade online commerce platform hvbmarkets.com, directing creative and brand marketing.
• Assisted in increasing the proportion of digital transactions from 18% to 50%, resulting in millions of dollars in cost savings (via call deflection) and a measurable incremental lift in trial subscription conversion.
• Outsourced a variety of web-based solutions, including a recorded interactive global video conferencing system that enabled global investment partners to share confidential financial results with the bank's treasury.

Skills

Management - Proposal Development,  Solution Development,  Workflow Development, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Product Development
Design - Design Analysis Design and Implementation, Design Verification, User Needs Interpretation, Design Systems, UI frameworks, Transactional Workflows, Data Visualization, Search Patterns, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, User Interface Design - Information Architecture - Design Leadership, Creative Direction, Visual Design
Process - Lean UX, Agile, Kanban, JIRA, Agile/Scrum/Waterfall, Project Management
Research - Contextual Inquiry, Usability Testing, Persona Development, Design Thinking, Digital A/B Testing, Stakeholder Interviews, Heuristic Evaluations, Competitive Analysis, Analytics Review, Surveys, Usability Testing
Measurements - IBM Cognos Analytics, IBM Watson Analytics
Toolkit - Adobe CS, Adobe XD, Overflow, Sketch, Figma, Axure, InVision Studio, Flinto, InVision, xCode, PaintCode, GitHub, Dundas BI, IBM Watson Ai

Education

Hornsey School of Art / Middlesex University, London, England - BA (HONS) Information Design

Awarded a BA Honors Degree for completing a program that combined graphic design, typography, and communication design with information design.

Newham College of Technology, London, England - Associate Degree – Graphic Design

Completed an Associate Degree Diploma program that provided a solid foundation in graphic design, covering design principles, typography.

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