I'm an accomplished Product Design Manager with over 7 years of experience leading cross-functional design projects, developing scalable systems, and implementing human-centered design solutions. I'm known for transforming complex challenges into intuitive, data-driven user experiences, aligning teams around impactful UX strategies, and building cohesive, accessible products. Skilled in leveraging analytics, prototyping, and technical collaboration to drive design outcomes that meet both user needs and business goals.
I probably spent more than six hours designing the face for that hover interaction with the monogram above just because I didn't want the monogram to go to waste when I retired the associated brand identity.
I'm a sentimental guy.
My story begins in a tiny Midwestern city where I grew up, the son of a bug man. To the outsider, the vibe the city gives is, "I used to be somebody," but I saw the raw creative potential inside a place that's ignored because of the size of its population. Raised on equal helpings of punk rock and public school, my first encounter with design was watching my mom DIY my dad’s first company logo using graphic pens, white-out, and a ruler. That moment sparked a passion for design that would shape my future.
It shocked no one when I began rebelling against the dissonance between investing in the failing promises of higher education and the wealth of information freely available on the internet. I found liberation in the fact that my college professors couldn't teach me anything valuable about the internet, yet I was using HTML and CSS to freelance sites for bands and music venues to pay for school. This foundation in the arts and entertainment industry allowed me to experiment on my own, learning best practices and sharing my knowledge freely. It was during this time that I discovered design could be more than a hobby; it could be a career.
That career started as an Interactive Art Director at a modest marketing agency that specialized in contact-center and early digital and paid less than $30K / year to start. My first assignment would be to design and maintain the top trade show directory on the internet, Events in America.
After getting the opportunity to design web solutions involving online chat and call-center technologies supporting recruitment campaigns for the Army Reserve Medical Corps and Military Sealift Command, I was hooked on Human-Centered Design and Omni-channel Marketing Technology.
My career has pulled me through various twists and turns—from working in marketing agencies as a founding UX practice director to launching a software startup and becoming a patent inventor. Each role has enriched my understanding and expertise, allowing me to make significant contributions to each organization I have been a part of.
I found myself with a decade and a half with of experience in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Design, specialized in model training interfaces. I acquired these super powers by designing intuitive, user-centric tools that seamlessly integrate into existing workflows, ensuring high annotation accuracy and efficiency.
I've had the opportunity to lead UX design and develop an early understanding of machine learning while collaborating with cross-disciplinary, distributed teams to create scalable, accessible solutions that drive the success of ML models.
My most recent product experience spans North America, Europe, and Russia, with startups and high-profile tech partners including Express Scripts, Edward Jones, Cisco, Graphiant, the US Department of Defense, Pacific Gas & Electric, the National Geospatial Agency, the Military Sealift Command, and Allstate.
Currently, I am doing good work with Good Citizens, where I can share my commitment to innovation, user satisfaction, and continuous improvement, making me a trusted partner in the face of relentless change.