Experience

VP, Head of Experience Strategy, Capital One, New York, New York
January 2019 – Present

Leading horizontal team that supports a centralized 700+ person design organization across consumer, commercial, and internal experiences. Responsible for setting design maturity and quality standards and leading strategic design challenges to address at-scale business needs. Accountable for Equity by Design, design tools and risk, pro bono projects, Design Development Program for new grads, and Design Internship Program. 

VP, Head of Design, Financial Services, Capital One, Dallas, Texas
May 2016 – December 2018

Leading a 55-person design team across multiple lending businesses. Responsible for building, developing, and advancing design capabilities, establishing a transformative customer experience culture and practice throughout the organization, and managing a $10 million budget, as well as:

  • Recruiting and developing top design talent, including senior directors to lead businesses
  • Introducing end-to-end service design and CX frameworks and tools into the business operating system
  • Providing design training and customer experience coaching for leaders across the division
  • Driving design pattern and design system component use and processes
  • Articulating forward point of view on impact of industry changes on business direction
  • Ongoing development and articulation of capabilities, processes, skills, tools, and methods required to support evolving design needs within the division and instilling a customer-centric culture and make to think/test to learn mindset
  • Managing external vendor engagements to meet business needs and objectives
  • Supporting community engagement and the visibility and notoriety of Capital One and Capital One’s design team
  • Displaying thought leadership through teaching, speaking, and training at local, national, and international events
  • Supporting development and direction of the larger Capital One design team through interaction an engagement with the senior leadership team

Senior Design Director, Adaptive Path @ Capital One, San Francisco, Calif.
October 2014 – May 2016
Adaptive Path was acquired by Capital One in October 2014.

  • Established new service design engagement models between Adaptive Path and Capital One lines of business and design teams
  • Directed design teams and provided consulting and training to various Capital One businesses, including Capital One Cafes, Small Business, Investing, and Mortgages
  • Built 12-person design team, including hiring a director, for Capital One’s home loans business
  • Continued to direct Adaptive Path’s Service Experience Conference

Design Director, Adaptive Path, San Francisco, Calif.
August 2011 – October 2014
Provided design leadership and development of the service design offering. Led and directed project teams. Managed and mentored designers. Developed and maintained strong relationships with clients. Scoped projects and ensured quality deliverables that exceeded client expectations. Facilitating executive teams. Speaking at global events. Teaching and training through workshops. Managing internship program.

  • Led and directed three-year service design project that increased customer satisfaction, reduced service cycle times, and established service changes estimated to save more than $40 million
  • Established and directed Adaptive Path’s Service Experience Conference
  • Trained more than 600 people worldwide in core service design methodology through Adaptive Path’s teaching events and trainings

Interaction and Service Designer, Adaptive Path, San Francisco, Calif.
April 2010 – August 2011
Led strategic multi-platform media visioning project for international telecom client. Provided strategic direction and consulting for Canadian financial services company. Established strategy and guided design and launch of tablet, mobile, and web photo-sharing startup.

Senior Designer Nokia, San Francisco, Calif.
August 2008 – April 2010
As part of Nokia Design, brought a service design and interaction design mindset to projects aimed at defining new services, experiences, and business opportunities. Subject areas included social networking, health care, commerce, augmented reality, voice UI, and product interaction.

Interaction Designer Intern Adaptive Path, San Francisco, Calif.
May – August 2007
Performed design research and concept generation for an eight-week project focused on the diabetic experience.

Consultant, Founder Yum Yum Web, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mar. 2005 – Sept. 2007
Designer for several projects and ongoing maintenance for clients, including the International Transplant Nurses Society and the Manchester Bidwell Corporation.

Web Development Specialist University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Aug. 2003 – June 2006
Lead developer for the university’s web team. Built pitt.edu, School of Engineering, and 20+ other sites. Generated content maps, page description diagrams, and wireframes to support user-centered design.

Web Developer, Editor EEI Communications, Alexandria, Va.
Feb. 2002 – Jan. 2004
Contract developer for various websites, including American Institute of Architects, and editor for outsourcing contracts, primarily for Computer Sciences Corporation.

Freelance Web Designer
Sept. 2001 – Mar. 2005

Web Producer Rocketworks, Gaithersburg, Md.
Mar. 1999 – Sept. 2001
Managed two-person team, created and managed content, and performed front-end development for Internet startup.

Reporter Exchange/Monitor Publications, Washington, D.C.
Sept. 1998 – Jan. 1999
Wrote for Weapons Complex Monitor, a weekly newsletter devoted to providing intelligence and inside information on D&D cleanup and waste management within the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Weapons Complex.

Reporter United Press International, Washington, D.C.
June – Sept. 1998
Wrote wire stories for the Washington editor, including the Monica Lewinsky hearings.

Education

Master of Design Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.
2006 – 2008

English Writing University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
1993 – 1996

Teaching

Instructor Souther Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
January – February 2018, May 2017 – June 2017
Taught a Customer Experience Design course, introducing students to core tools and methods of service design.

Instructor Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Aug. 2007 – May 2008
Taught Basic Interaction (Spring 2008) to HCI undergraduates. Taught Intro to Design Computing (Fall 2007), a required course for IxD graduate students.

Community Engagement

Principal, Management Team – 2012 to present
Service Design Network

Co-chair
Service Design Network Conference – San Francisco 2011

Planning Board
Service Design Network Conference – Cambridge 2010

Editor
Touchpoint: the Journal of Service Design, 2009

Planning Board, MC
Service Design Network Conference – Madeira, Portugal 2009

Planning Board, MC
Service Design Network Conference – Amsterdam 2008

Director
Emergence Conference – Exploring the Boundaries of Service Design 2007

Patents

Method and apparatus for monitoring adherence to prescribed regimens
US 20120066140 A1
A social service platform to monitor adherence to prescribed regimens.

Diabetes Management System
US 20090221890 A1
In one embodiment, a diabetes management system comprises a glucose monitoring system, a pump system, and a remote device.

Remote control device for a diabetes management system
US D623753 S1

Soft shell for a diabetes management system
US D633200 S1

Speaking Engagements

Service Design Show
Design Leadership
February 2022

SCADstyle
Good for Business: Designing for Humans
March 2021

Brand Week Instanbul
Experience Transformation through Service Design
November 2020

UX London
May 2019, London

Front End of Innovation
May 2019, Boston

Web a Quebec
April 2019, Quebec City

UX Days Tokyo
So You Want to be a Service Designer (talk)
Service Design Crash Course (workshop)
March 16-18, 2018, Tokyo, Japan

Service Design Network Conference
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Give Service Design Away
November 2-3, 2017, Madrid, Spain

Service Experience Conference
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Give Service Design Away
October 23-24, 2017, San Francisco

Productized Conference 
Keynote Speaker, So You Want to be a Service Designer
October 21, 2016, Lisbon, Portugal

UXI London
Service Design & Interaction Design (workshops)
September, 2016, London, UK

Service Design Network Conference Japan
Keynote Speaker
January 23, 2016, Tokyo, Japan

Service Experience Conference 2015
Master of Ceremonies
November 16-17, 2015, San Francisco

Service Design Network Conference Taiwan
Keynote Speaker
October 23, 2015, Taipei, Taiwan

International Design Congress
Panel Moderator
October 19-20, 2015, Gwangju, Korea

UXI Denver
Service Design & Interaction Design (workshops)
October 7-8, 2015, Denver

Service Design Network Conference
Panel Moderator
October 2-3, 2015, New York

UXI Dublin
Service Design & Interaction Design (workshops)
May 13-16, 2014, Dublin, Ireland

IxDA Dublin
5 Things I Wish I Knew – A Service Design Journey
May 12, 2014, Dublin, Ireland

Service Experience Conference
5 Things I Wish I Knew – A Service Design Journey
October 3-4, 2013, San Francisco

UX Week 2013
Designing for Multi-touchpoint Service Experiences
August 20-23, 2013, San Francisco

UXI Berlin
Service Design (workshop)
April 17, 2013, Berlin, Germany

Managing Experience Conference 2013
Designing for Multi-touchpoint Service Experiences
March 3-4, 2013, San Francisco

Service Design Network Conference – Paris
Pollinating Business Culture with SX
October 31, 2012, Paris, France

UXI Atlanta
Service Design (workshop)
October 17, 2012, Atlanta, Georgia

UX Week 2012
Service Storming and Dragon Lines
August 22-23, 2012, San Francisco

UX Lisbon 2012
Mapping the Journey: Experience Beyond the Screen
May 17, 2012, Lisbon, Portugal

Think + Drink @AECOM
Feel It, Tell It, Make It:
Shaping service experience by design
May 10, 2010, San Francisco

UXI Amsterdam
Service Design (workshop)
April 26, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

San Francisco’s Global Service Jam challenge
Co-host and Judge
February 24–26, 2012, San Francisco, California

Design by Fire 2011
Interaction Design Beyond Screens
This is Service Design (workshop)
 Utrecht, Netherlands

UX Week 2011
This is Service Design (workshop)
 San Francisco

SIGUX Seoul
Interaction Design Beyond Screens
July 21, 2011, Seoul, Korea

Computer-Human Interaction Forum of Oregon (CHIFOO)
Interaction Design in a Service Economy
May 4, 2011, Portland, Oregon

SIGUX Seoul
The State of Service Design
April 15, 2011, Seoul, Korea

San Francisco’s Global Service Jam challenge
Co-host and Facilitator
March 11–13, 2011, San Francisco, California

MX 2011
Why Service Design Isn’t User Experience Design
March 5, 2011, San Francisco, California

Service Design Network Conference 2010 – Berlin
Selling Service Design
 Berlin, Germany

SIGUX Seoul
From Product to Services
September 4, 2010, Seoul, Korea

UX Week 2010
From Products to Services: A Service Design Crash Course
August 26, 2010, San Francisco, California

Interaction 10
Service Design: an Interaction Design Perspective
February 5, 2010, Savannah, Georgia

SexTech 2009
Designing a Mobile Service to Improve Youth Adherence to HIV Medication
March 22, 2009, San Francisco, California

Service Design Network Conference 2009
Learning from Failure (workshop)

Service Design Network Conference 2008
Don‘t get out of range – Service Design in mobile communication (workshop)
November 26, 2008, Amsterdam, Netherlands