About Me Projects Resume Contact Me

About Me

Welcome to my site! I currently live in Broomfield, CO, where I work remotely as a User Experience Manager for Flexera, a leading provider of IT management software. Until the September 2018 acquisition, I worked for RightScale, the leading cloud management SaaS platform. 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.

My professional philosophy

  • 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 manager 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 am comfortable wearing many hats, and being an active contributor to design, user research, analytics, and front-end development.

What I look for

In order to do my best work, I prefer an environment where:

  • Each team member is intrinsically motivated to do great work, and everyone celebrates each person’s individual success as well as the team’s success.
  • Each person’s ideas are carefully considered, but everyone is also comfortable moving past them if they aren’t the best direction for a product.
  • Management, IT, HR, and internal administrators believe in enabling each employee to do their best work, not putting up barriers to long-term success in return for short-term savings.
  • 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.
  • Best-in-class tools are embraced. High-end hardware and easy-to-use software both improve workplace morale and increase productivity.
  • The culture is remote-friendly, focused on recruiting the best people and embracing tools and processes that support remote collaboration.
  • Regardless of background, anyone can succeed, diversity is celebrated, and harassment is not tolerated in any form.

On the lighter side

Over the years, I have cultivated a variety of hobbies:

  • Like many Colorado residents, I enjoy the outdoors.
    • In the summer, you will find me hiking, biking, and camping 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 (fantasy, mystery, and sci-fi being my favorite genres).
  • I have a large collection of board games and participate in several gaming meetups.
  • I love theater, and have a membership with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
  • I am engaged with current events and non-profit causes; in another life I would likely have studied law.
  • I’m involved with several local UX meetups, including serving as a mentor for Hexagon UX.