PDF (Resume) | PDF (Academic CV)
Relevant Experience
Lead Experience Researcher
Verizon Connect
• Leads research strategy for particular areas of the product, and works proactively with cross-functional leaders in these areas to develop strategic research roadmaps.
• Helps the cross-functional team in these areas of the product become experts on our users, the jobs they need to complete, and their valued outcomes.
• Plans and conducts strategic research in these product areas to ensure stakeholders understand the right problems to solve for customers.
• Identifies and plans for tactical research to investigate optimal solutions during the design process.
• Uses research insights to establish product-market fit (e.g., Lean Product Playbook) and prioritize research opportunities in a fast-paced and rapidly changing environment.
• Supports designers and other team members to conduct their own usability testing and customer conversations as part of democratization of research efforts.
• Empowers fellow researchers to break out of silos, to socialize research across Verizon Connect, and raise the bar on quality of research work.
Senior UX Researcher
Verizon Connect
• Grow, support, and evolve user experience research efforts while disseminating, using, and educating on best practices
• Manage multiple research vendors/partners for recruiting, data analysis, and completion of research.
• Plan/conduct user research and communicate results throughout Verizon Connect.
• Develop framework/methodologies for research to understand users, customers, and stakeholders.
• Partner with Verizon marketing, product, design, and development teams to prioritize research opportunities in a fast-paced and rapidly changing environment.
User Experience Designer
Advanced Systems Design (Remote)
• Developed high-quality graphics for proposal support and intuitive/user friendly graphic user interface designs for customers on multiple projects.
• Illustrated design ideas using process flows that adhered to business goals, objectives, and requirements.
• Prepared and presented rough drafts to internal teams and key stakeholders.
Lead User Experience Researcher
MaxRewards (Atlanta)
• Directed survey development as well as interview instrument in order to gather mission-critical intelligence for premium feature design and success.
• Managed recruitment efforts by assigning team members to specific user groups and also interviewed users and deployed snowball sampling and increasing reliability of data collection efforts.
• Facilitated and managed design studio sessions that included affinity mapping and visualization activities among UX team members resulting in minimally viable product design.
• Created medium-fidelity and high-fidelity clickable prototypes that were deployed in user testing.
• Managed and executed user testing from recruiting to recording clickthroughs and gathering user insights to inform future iterations of premium feature design.
• Managed team communications among UX team and business and development operations to ensure on-time delivery of agreed upon research artifacts.
Limited-Term Assistant Professor & Lecturer
Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University
• Created user-centered undergraduate and graduate curriculums that aligned assessment protocols with learning outcomes.
• Managed, assessed, and mentored 300–400 team members per year.
• Established KPIs and milestones for team within world-class research institution.
• Trained junior researchers in mixed research methodologies and how to manage the scope of their multi-year research projects.
• Created, maintained, and executed cutting-edge interdisciplinary research programs resulting in 11 highly-visible peer-reviewed and edited journal articles and popular press publications.
• Regularly invited to present research findings at local, regional, national, and international venues.
• Organized 15 research-based workshops, symposia, and exhibitions across North America and Europe.
Co-founder
continent. (Remote)
• Collaboratively-led a team of designers through a year-long design process with cross-functional teams for the Swiss exhibition at the London Design Biennale 2018.
• Used contextual inquiry methods to create experiential publishing spaces, printed objects, and novel multimedia experiences.
• Launched media-agnostic publication platform, recruited and managed editorial staff and advisory board, chief marketing officer and bottle-washer.
• Established KPIs and north star strategic leadership for team.
• Forged B2B partnerships with international institutions and venues.
Circulation Manager
Art Papers (Atlanta)
• Used database skills to query, analyze, and clean up proprietary database resulting in reduced shipping costs.
• Coordinated communications and reporting activities with US Postal Service to negotiate metering and decrease costs associated with circulation operations.
• Created social media strategy that incorporated expansion to multiple social media channels, increasing photo and video content, programming, development, and circulation campaigns that increased social media engagement 25% on average annually for three years.
• Formalized internship program and intern recruiting efforts with executive and editorial leadership resulting in increased capacity and productivity for editorial, circulation, and programming teams.
• Created market research program by recruiting and managing a team interns to assist with cold-calling, contextual inquiry, and sales-oriented mapping activities resulting in an average of 15% increased distribution income annually over two years.
Awards
“Perfect 10 Award,” HOW Design Magazine
Best of Collegiate Design, College Media Association
Distinguished Scholar, Sarah Larson Lecture Series in the Humanities, Perimeter College, Georgia State University
Teaching Excellence, Department of Career Planning and Developmental Kennesaw State University
Certifications
Certificate in Leadership Principles, Harvard Business School Online
Quality Matters Certification, Building an Online Course; College of Humanities and Social Sciences Office of Distance Education, Kennesaw State University
Certificate of Completion, User Experience Design Immersive, General Assembly
Education
PhD, Philosophy, Art & Critical Thought (summa cum laude)
The European Graduate School
Saas-Fee, Switzerland
MA, Communications (with honors)
The European Graduate School
BS, Sociology
Kennesaw State University
Recent Clients
and Collaborators
- World Economic Forum
- International Storytelling Center
- ProHelvetia
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt
- Centre Suisse Culturel
- Emory University Center for Ethics