Summary
Human-centered Design Leader, Innovation and Experience Strategist, and Futurist with a focus on Human-Technology Interaction. Accomplished in business, service, and design strategy around highly technical environments. I lead teams in translating research and client goals into optimal solutions through collaborative planning, development, and implementation - no mater the platform, device, or product. Skilled in the ability to connect with and understand people, guide thinking processes and workflows, and identify links between seemingly unrelated subjects. This is what I love to do.
Professional Experience
Principal Lead UX | Zillow | 11/2021 - present, Remote
Developing UX and human-centered design program within ShowingTime, a newly acquired product and team; Working to grow team and develop skillset of existing product design team
Leading design efforts for strategically key full redesign of core product experience. Instilling full scale rethink of understanding of user needs to design overall better product experience
Collaborating with design team through creation of a fully developed design system; Overall improvements to consistency, quality, accessibility, and ultimately smoother workflow and design process
Developed and launched renewed project process strategy to instill UX research and data-informed design decisions into process for ShowingTime; orchestration and adoption from Product Managers to Engineering teams
Director of Collaboration and Design Thinking | Dell Services / NTT DATA | 6/2016 - 10/2021, Plano, TX
Built an enterprise design thinking practice responsible for transforming NTT DATA Services into a design-infused organization, focusing on better solution strategy and delivery for clients, employees, and key stakeholders by instilling empathetic and agile thinking, and direction of innovation work through establishing global best practices and acceleration of work through facilitated labs
Developed, launched to market, and managed suite of offerings comprised of design thinking workshops and design sprints utilized across verticals for various stages of projects and for various business challenges. Also led creation of EX offerings centered around cross-platform enterprise collaboration
Launched and lead the NTT DATA Collaboration Center, which serves as a hub for client problem-solving, UX/CX best practices, and demonstration of innovation while supporting the corporate vision
Launched and managed design program for top tier financial services client. Lead multi-disciplined global design teams across multiple work streams; provided oversight, design direction, and overall client and relationship management. Immediate project successes led to extension and expansion of contract, scaling team to 33 designers, and additional $3.7M in revenue
Provided UX/CX research and design leadership and direction across all verticals in support of customer-centric context-driven solution recommendations that drive an enhanced user experience
Orchestrated and accelerated design thinking discovery, design, and strategy through collaborative workshops and work streams for internal and external stakeholders
Founder, Creative Director | FreeLisa Designs LLC & Banner Theory | 6/2005 - 6/2016, Dallas, TX
Provided creative leadership for complete design process including market research, visioning, concepting, design, and implementation of projects for clients
Manager of Creative Design | Perot Museum of Nature & Science | 8/2008 - 11/2014, Dallas, TX
Managed creative teams and functions while directing creative vision in developing multi-disciplinary creative work that supported visitor experiences and strategic plans within a fast-paced environment
QA Testing Director, Sr. Business Analyst | United Healthcare | 2/2006 - 2/2007, Plano, TX
Responsible for direction and development for QA testing phase of enterprise application; managed project research, documentation and expectation management between end-users and development team to identify gaps and opportunities for optimized CX
Applications Developer, Project Manager, Database Analyst | JP Morgan Chase | 6/2002 - 6/2005, Fort Worth, TX
Designed, developed, and improved new processes and services for applications in support of organizational evolution and opportunity; worked independently and in collaboration with system architects, programmers, database analysts, and stakeholders to resolve key project issues and challenges; managed and supported full project life cycle for new development projects in terms of aspirations, expectations, and follow-through
Systems Analyst | Deloitte Consulting | 12/2000 - 12/2001, Dallas, TX
Planned, developed, and implemented various projects in the telecom, energy, and retail industries; designed and implemented UI for web-based training portals
Education
BED Environmental Design, Emphasis On Computer Sciences & Visualization, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Mastering Design Thinking, MIT, 2019
Design Sprint Master, AJ & Smart / Jake Knapp, 2019
Design For Innovation Services, Politechnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, 2018
User Experience Design, Southern Methodist University, 2015
Skills
Leadership:
cross-functional and multi-location collaboration
strategic workshop facilitation
HCD/HTI evangelism
product strategy development
change management
workflow optimization and management
Research & Design:
design thinking methodology
persona and scenario development
journey mapping
user research
service blueprinting
business model development
value proposition modeling
sketching and storyboarding
wire framing
prototyping
design sprint process
Tools:
Adobe Creative Suite
Sketch, InVision, Zeplin, Figma
Visio, Prysm, Mural, HTML5
Life Motto:
Have fun. Be nice. Stay curious.