I lead like an executive with a visionary mindset.

 

I know how to lead creatives because I’ve been one.

I create inclusion and raise others up. I introduce crucial conversations as a means of personal and contributor performance feedback. I offer mentoring, networking, advancement, and scaffolding to my staff. I believe in and respect my employees’ skillsets, and abilities unless proven otherwise. I am transparent about how I work, and my expectations of others. I am outcome driven. I seek opportunities for direct reports, and recommend them for advancement. I get to know each individual and align the team for exceptional work through shared experiences that build trust and rapport.

Ultimately, the greatest hour I can spend with my teams is not doing project work, but the work of relationship building.

Trilogy

At Trilogy, I was chosen by one of the co-founders to serve as the acting Director of the Trilogy/Ford joint venture. This included leading local and international development teams, as well as directing and managing graphic designers, content writers, and agency relationships for Trilogy’s clients.

Direct reports, including contractors ~10

M3 Design

At M3 Design, I was the Director of Design Strategy and Research. I managed the Design Research team (~5), including research interns, and led other disciplines, such as leadership, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, industrial designers, and sales in best in class processes and practices, including customer experience strategy, research, design thinking, and innovation methods. My international clients, in which I led strategic programs and associated knowledge transfer, included Dexis/Gendex, a subsidiary of the Danaher Corporation, as well as Stryker.

Direct Reports ~5, Mentorship and Staff Development ~40, Mentorship and Training External ~40

BMC Software

As the Director of User Experience at BMC Software, an international IT company, I was hired by the AVP of UX to help grow and train the entire organization in user experience, this included but was not limited to hundreds of developers, US and international, as well as a remote team of UX designers. I managed design consultant agency partners, led developers, and helped craft international UX training for staff.

Direct Reports, including contractors ~10, Mentorship and Staff Development (~companywide)

frogdesign

During my ten-year tenure at frogdesign, a global innovation consulting firm, I managed projects, client relations, and worked cross-office for clients such as AT&T, Disney, HP, Thomson Financial, GE, Samsung, Google, and Nokia, among others.

I led the approach, and training of creating and managing large scale design systems for companies like Sun Microsystems, i2 Technologies, and HP, which included the internationalization of design components, training international communities of developers in design languages and research, and the design of corporate design centers to unify global companies in their design and customer experience.

I helped create, grow, and formalize frog’s innovation process across the company, including its Innovation Toolkit used by companies such as GE. I served as the Austin office research lead, helping create, grow, and formalize design research across the company. I served as the Austin office healthcare lead, working with my counterparts in Europe to grow the healthcare business. I was instrumental and led the development of the Experience Strategy offering at frog, working with global leads from other studios for a unified, international approach.

I was instrumental in business development working across studios to support BD efforts in approach, pitch, and close helping the company secure millions in revenue. I provided business development support for frog during its Flextronics, KKR, and Aricent ownership. I collaborated with internal and external developers. I was a designated frog speaker, and a writer for various international publications.

I managed teams of 5 - 10 designers and developers at any given time, but influenced many more with cross-office staff development and mentoring.

argodesign

During my eight years at argodesign, a global innovation consulting startup, I was hired as the first Creative Director by Mark Rolston, frog's former CCO. Described as “the sizzle,” I was instrumental in business development for argo frequently crafting the program approach and pitch decks and assets, as well as closing deals through my BD acumen and experience, which helped the company secure millions in revenue during the course of my career. I personally brought in and secured The New York Times as a client, and more recently, a million dollar contract with an airline client. Most of the projects I led created repeat clients such as Thermo Fisher, Singular Genomics, Northwestern Mutual, United Rentals, and Southwest Airlines. In 2018, argo was sold to DXC, a global IT consulting firm, and as a part of that sale, I was on a short list of leaders that was offered compensation to remain.

In my original Creative Director role, and then in my role as Head of Insights and Applied Innovation, I helped secure and led client experience programs or accounts with Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Northwestern Mutual, TrueCar, and Sam’s Club, for example, and served as the executive partner and advisor for clients like Southwest Airlines, Thermo Fisher, and The New York Times, as well as startups, such as Sano, acquired by One Drop.

I continued as a healthcare lead at argo, while also leading the entire organization's development and training in best in class practices for workshop creation and facilitation, among other topics, such as research. Additionally, I was asked to create the annual “future of argo” collaborative working session at the annual Creative Summit for 90 creatives, which included a review of past summit workshops, an audit of the current post-pandemic work culture, a survey, and, taking those responses, the creation and facilitation of workshop inputs for 12 working teams with a final report for the partners and C-suite.

I managed teams of 5 - 10 cross-office designers at any given time, but I have influenced many more with cross-office staff development and mentoring.

Publicis Sapient

During my time at Publicis Sapient as Vice President, Customer Experience Innovation, I managed other leaders typically at the Group Creative or Senior levels. I also provided immediate value and was called a catalyst and game changer by industry executives. In very short sprints, I was able to pull business, experience design, and technical lenses to craft pitches for clients (mostly in the retail and CPG space) like Tricon Residential, Oral B, Under Armour, NEIMAN MARCUS, Disney, Sephora, and an undisclosed cabinet manufacturer. The unifying vision of the future expressed for one client was so moving, it enabled Publicis Sapient to skip the RFP process entirely and closed a 1M contract within five days of seeing the future vision.

I managed three leaders (Senior Manager level); I also served as the CPG Experience lead, and led Experience teams of 4 to 5, on average, across projects.

Colleague, Client and Class Instruction

In the last twenty years, I have taught clients, colleagues, and direct reports the process of personal and team innovation, design improvisation, the art of storytelling, the value of individual and team recognition, rethinking how we resource individuals and teams, maximizing group exchange, designing creative cultures, creative problem solving, career pathing for rising creative directors, and coaching for creatives, to name a few.

Not only do I have internal influence within my organizations, but I have also consistently trained client staff over the years. Additionally, I have taught senior level students (~20) at the University of Texas (in a class called Think By Making). I have also advised a number of startups looking for a competitive advantage, and I have volunteered my time to help grow young entrepreneurs.