Designer Executive, 
​Adjunct Professor

 2019 Design Thinkers Conference 

Currently, I teach as an Adjunct Professor of Design at the University of Minnesota. I also keep a design studio, The Makery Group, working with startups to the scaled Fortune 500.  

Previously, I was the Vice President of User Experience Design for Shutterstock in New York City and a Design Manager for Expedia in Seattle.

I've won several industry awards (Webby, UX Mag) and a frequent speaker at tech and design conferences (Design Thinkers, BITCon). 
​
I'm working on a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D), earned a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from St. Thomas University and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) at Gettysburg College. 

Connect on LinkedIn

UX/UI Case Studies

​Webby Award Winner for Use of AI in User Experience Design

Shutterstock

As the Vice President of Product Design & User Experience, I led a 25 person Product Design Organization that shaped overall company design and innovation strategy for Shutterstock digital experiences.

This included new feature development, UI/UX innovations, eCommerce strategy, internationalization and translation services, and design and front end architecture.

UI CASE STUDY

Expedia

At Expedia, I was the lead designer and manager of teams who directed the delivery, quality, and success of the user experience for the Flights, Packages, and Things to Do products.

​This encompassed the entire
lifecycle, including optimization and innovation with new features, for our 100 million+ user base across 120 countries, accounting for billions of searches and tens of millions of transactions. 

uX case study

Expedia Flights Redesign Featured in FastCo Design

Teaching & Talks

Free UX Class for High Schools

To help keep our high school students engaged and learning during COVID-19, I constructed a free and fun online design class to help introduce students to UX Design. 

view class

Recent Op-Ed on Education

"In a time of seemingly intractable polarities, the tragic gap of where we are and where we need to build more equity in education is closer than we think."

read my Op-ed

Academic Work

I am an Adjunct Professor of Design at the University of Minnesota. I teach an industry-focused User Experience Design elective. I'm also (slowly!) working towards a Doctor of Education (Ed.D) concentrated on a nascent academic discipline, Learning Experience (LX). As an extension of my teaching, I often speak at national technology and design conferences, including Design Thinkers & BITCon. 

Outside of my academic work, I am passionate about the expansion of design education in high schools - I believe that learning design can be a transformative form of learning for visual and project-based learners. What's more, such learning opportunities can serve as an on-ramp to exciting design and technology career pathways for students across socio-economic backgrounds. 

teaching

#OutofOffice