BIO

The practice of "Design Thinking" is no longer just for designers. In order to create products capable of meaningful impact, the entire organization must be empowered to think differently. This belief is one that I feel is critical in helping companies go from “good to great.”

Originally from Massachusetts, I currently reside in the Bay Area as the Director of Product Design at Affirm leading the Consumer + Mobile App experience team. Additionally, I serve on the Advisory Board for multiple startups (Throtl acquired by Clearlake Capital Group and BrickBuilt acquired by Dermbiont). With proven business results, I have designed and lead new innovative experiences at companies like eBay, Visa, Groupon, Intuit, FCB, GREY, BFG Communications, and General Motors. Additionally, I have an entrepreneurial background having founded and worked for multiple startups including Fetch Labs (acquired by Fuzzy Pet Health), Oak Labs (acquired by Zivelo), and Gwazu.

I have received recognition for my creative ideation and imaginative thought process from companies like Mars & Petco (Pet Project 2017 Semi-Finalist) and Nestle Purina (Pet Care Innovation Prize Winner). I love to share my expertise and passion for design by running workshops at major conferences like SXSW as well as the eCommerce Design Summit. I was once awarded the 2016 Fast Company Innovation by Design User Experience Award (Oak Labs) and have been selected as a semi-finalist for the Adobe Design Achievement Awards two years in a row.

RESUME / CV

Director of Product Design
Affirm
May 2022 - Present

Group Design Manager, QuickBooks Online
|
Group Design Manager, QuickBooks Live
Intuit
Oct 2019 - May 2022

Senior Manager of Product Design
Groupon
May 2018 - Oct 2019

Managing a talented group of product designers on the Discovery & Engagement team. The work produced by our team is highly visible across the Groupon customer experience as we continuously collaborate multi-stakeholder initiatives covering: Home, Explore / Browse, Merchandising, Personalization, Notifications, User Generated Content, Wishlist, On-boarding, Local Getaways, Bundles, and Groupon Interface Guidelines (Mobile) + UI Kit. Additionally, I have a secondary role working with our executive leadership team on new innovation and tap in to our design org at large for resource allocation on these strategic initiatives.

Co-Founder & CEO
Fetch Labs (Acquired by Fuzzy Pet Health)
Sept 2016 - May 2018

Bridging the gap between digital and physical worlds for pet parents and their pets. Offering affordable solutions to make all aspects of managing a pet’s life simple.

• Pet Care Innovation Prize - Winner, Nestle Purina, 2017

• Pet Project 2017 - Semi-Finalist, Mars & Petco, 2017

• Created the end to end experience for the Fetch My Pet iPhone app (ideation & strategy + vision, wireframes, prototypes, design systems / standards, user testing, UX specifications, visual design, collaborated with Business unit and Development teams to ensure design integrity)

• Directly managed both people and projects

• Sourced: Leadership Team, Advisors, IP Resources, Legal Resources, Outside Software & Hardware Engineering Services / Consultation, PR Consultant

• Designed & Built Company Website

• Formulated strategy reducing customer acquisition cost from $8 to $2 per customer

• Built social media influencer program with a network of over 300 pet industry influencers to drive reach for user growth

• Created tone of voice, managed and maintained all brand social media platforms 

• Conducted product research aiding delivery of study on customer needs and bluetooth density networks relating to beacon technology

• Engaged in new business developments and building relationships with Corporate, VCs and PE firms

• Aided in the research, selection and implementation of a full customer relationship management system

• Multiple patents pending

Director of UX & Design
Oak Labs (Acquired by Zivelo)
Sept 2015 - Sept 2016

Oak Labs partners with retailers to beautifully embed technology into brick-and-mortar stores and bring the best of online into the physical world. Our work is driven by a simple philosophy: experience and human interactions come first; tech comes second.

• Created the end to end experience for the Oak Mirror along with it's core functionality and features (ideation & strategy, wireframes, prototypes, user testing, UX specifications, visual design, collaborated with Business unit and Development teams to ensure design integrity)

• Key member in the team that helped create the overall Oak smart fitting room experience. A fitting room unlike any other with built in sensors knowing all items the customer has brought within. Upon entering, the Oak Mirror illuminates with a fully customizable touch interface. Meanwhile, the stores operating system allows a store associate to manage that customer's entire experience. From installing the Oak Mirrors, retailers have had on average 84% customer engagement, an average basket lift increase of 59%, customers experience 40% less time in the fitting room due to it's high efficiency, and brands are able to gather  new meaningful data they were never able to collect before

• Created the end to end experience for the Oak Stockroom. This new tool enabled brick and mortar retail associates to communicate and fulfill  customers needs / requests within fitting rooms virtually. The Oak Stockroom took the average fulfillment time of  6:15 minutes to 1:39 minutes

• Managed both people and projects directly and indirectly

Lead Designer
Visa
Feb 2014 - July 2015

• Lead Designer on the Digital Developed Markets team with a focus on new innovative experiences

• Highly involved with the end to end creation of Visa Checkout. Worked closely with cross discipline teams to align on product & business roadmap, design deliverables, understanding and solving complex issues. This project started out with a goal to build a digital product that could solve a pain point for both merchants and consumers. The challenge was to create a new, mobile-friendly payment method that could garner an 85% conversion rate – a percentage that both merchants and consumers agreed equated to success. Today, Visa Checkout has more than 1,400 financial institution partners, 300,000 large and small merchants globally and more than 17 million global online shoppers using the product to pay with their cards online, on any device, with just a few finger taps

• Helped create and document the Visa Checkout redesign framework and experience, which led to Visa's first UI pattern library. This led to the collaboration of internal design leaders establishing a full Visa Design System to be leveraged across Visa Digital Solutions

• Elevated innovation at Visa by creating new concepts/ideas, socializing them with cross functional teams and leaders to where those concepts/ideas made it on the product roadmap and/or patent application worthy

• Managed both people and projects directly and indirectly

• Multiple patents pending

Senior Interactive Designer
eBay Inc.
Sept 2011 - Feb 2014

• Focus on the end to end experience with new initiatives for eBay verticals (Motors, Electronics, Fashion) and global site features (ideation & strategy, wireframes, prototypes, user testing, UX specifications, visual design, collaborated with Business unit, UER and Development teams to ensure design integrity)

• Assisted in the visual creation for new future facing initiatives lead by the eBay PreVIZ group. Specializing in the process of solving business problems by visualizing them, PreVIZ enables better planning & execution of product experiences across the business units world-wide

• Won multiple internal Hackathon / Designathon events enabling the company to quickly solve customer pain-points and exploring new potential revenue drivers

• Conceptualized and designed the end to end experience for eBay Garage, world's largest online community of auto enthusiasts. Garnering over 500,000 user shared vehicles

• Conceptualized and designed the end to end experience for My Gadgets (an online portal to catalog, value and-one click sell your electronics gadgets on eBay) with a 8+ cross functional team from ground up

• Conceptualized and designed the end to end experience for eBay Live Auction marketplace platform which gives eBay shoppers direct access to inventory sold directly by traditional auction houses. In partnership with Sotheby's launching a premium auction experience for the eBay user-base

• Took part in the launch of eBay 3.0 (redesign), noted as the biggest set of changes eBay had made across the experience in over a decade

• Multiple patents pending

Co-Founder
Gwazu, Your Social Contest Dashboard.
2010-2011

• Gwazu, Your Social Contest Dashboard. An up to date news-feed reporting contests and sweepstakes occurring across Twitter and Facebook in one easy-to-use interface; users could "Browse, enter, win." - It was that simple!

• While only live for 8 months, Gwazu garnered over 55,000 user entered contests. The three co-founders of Gwazu.com disbanded for new opportunities that soon came their way

Senior Interactive Designer
BFG Communications
February 2010 - September 2011

BFG is a creative agency that builds iconic brands by transforming consumer insights into seamless storytelling.

Founded in 1995, BFG's team of 200+ share a unique culture that thrives among its headquarters in Hilton Head, SC, and major hubs in New York and Atlanta. As a big city agency by the beach, we are a rare find. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

In-House Freelance Designer Contractor
G2 / GREY Worldwide
October 2009 - December 2009

Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency, with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities — organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Grey Group’s international clients include: Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Heineken, Nokia, BAT, Diageo, Volkswagen, Novartis, Wyeth, Canon and 3M.

In-House Freelance Jr Designer/Art Director Contractor
Draft FCB
June 2009 – September 2009 (4 months)

Draftfcb is one of the largest global advertising agency networks with headquarters in both Chicago and New York. It is owned by Interpublic Group and was formed by the 2006 merger of Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) and Draft. Although the merger of the two agencies is fairly young, the origins of Draftfcb date back to 1873, with the opening of Lord & Thomas ad agency, which would later become Foote, Cone, & Belding.
 

Creative Design Intern
General Motors
May 2008 – August 2008 (4 months)
 

Campus Rep
Apple
January 2006 – November 2007 (1 year 11 months)
 

AWARDS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Invited to speak as well as be on panel at the London eCommerce Design Summit, 2018
Pet Care Innovation Prize - Winner, Nestle Purina, 2017
Pet Project 2017 - Semi-Finalist, Mars & Petco, 2017
Innovation by Design - User Experience Award, Fast Company, 2016
Patent Awarded @ Visa, 2014
Patents Awarded @ eBay Inc., 2012 & 2013
Invited to run a workshop session called "Life After College" at SXSW, 2011
Adobe Design Achievement Awards, Category: Package Design, Overpopulate, Semi-Finalist, 2009
Best of Ringling College of Art and Design, Judged gallery show - Overpopulate, 2009
Designsiteup.com Best Packaging / Self Mailer Design Feature 2009
Gallery 28 Art Show, Juried Exhibition, Ringling College of Art and Design, 2008
Behance.net Graphic Design Website, Featured Artist, 2008
Design China, Featured Artist, 2008
Adobe Design Achievement Awards, Category: Poster Design, Semi-Finalist, 2007
Adidas/Rockport Shoes Showcase Display Design Competition, Semi-Finalist, 2007