About Me

Welcome to my site! I currently live in the Denver-Boulder metro of Colorado, where I recently worked remotely as the Director of Product Design for RxVantage, the leading platform for connecting medical practitioners with life science companies. Previous to that I worked at leading startups Very Good Security and RightScale (Flexera post-acquisition). I began at RightScale in 2010, and during my time there I evangelized user-centered design throughout the company and grew a team of talented designers and researchers who made RightScale the leading cloud management platform as measured by top analysts Gartner and Forrester. I specialize in building out cross-functional design and research processes and growing and mentoring other designers as well as actively designing and conducting research for leading SaaS products at growth-stage companies.

My professional philosophy

  • As a hybrid leader and individual contributor, I am comfortable leading a team, working with executives on design strategy, creating designs in Figma, conducting user research, monitoring analytics, and even writing code when necessary.
  • Whether it is designing a complex new product, building a team of talented designers, or hiking to the highest peak in Colorado, I set lofty goals and push myself to complete them.
  • I love mentoring aspiring professionals and seeing them grow in their career.
  • I believe that a key role for any leader is to create a comfortable space free from unnecessary distractions and stressors so that each employee can do their best possible work to create products that customers love.
  • I am a strong supporter of Lean principles, and I work to cultivate an environment where cross-functional teams of developers, designers, and product managers collaborate closely together to move stories forward rather than throwing deliverables over a siloed wall.
  • I believe in establishing KPIs for projects early and gathering the necessary data to measure success.
  • I believe that Design plays an active role in product strategy and deserves a seat the table.

The environment I work to cultivate

  • Each team member is intrinsically motivated to do great work, and everyone celebrates both individual and team successes.
  • Each person’s ideas are carefully considered, but everyone is also comfortable moving past them if they aren’t the best solution to meet business objectives, solve user problems, or fit within technical constraints.
  • Good design is a core aspect of the culture, and decision makers believe that a poor user experience is a barrier to release rather than something to be ignored.
  • Success is driven by outcomes, not outputs, and the definition of done includes measures of success.
  • Regardless of background, anyone can succeed, diversity is celebrated, and harassment is not tolerated in any form.

On the lighter side

  • I previously organized the Santa Barbara UX meetup and founded the Santa Barbara UX Book Club. Today, I support a number of local UX meetups at different levels, including the Denver UX Meetup, the Denver UX Book Club, the Boulder UX/UI meetup, the Boulder UX Research Meetup, where I have led volunteer teams projects for local nonprofits.
  • Like many Colorado residents, I enjoy the outdoors.
    • In the summer, you will find me hiking, biking, camping, and taking photos in the mountains.
    • In the winter I may be skiing, snowshoeing, or curled up with a book in front of a fire.
  • I’m an avid reader of both nonfiction and fiction, particularly fantasy, science fiction, and mysteries.
  • I have a large collection of board games and participate in several gaming meetups.
  • I love theater, and have a broadway membership at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.