Download my resume here as PDF.

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

User experience isn’t simply a digital discipline; it’s a business discipline. I’m a strategic thinker and UX pro seeking an organization that needs a leader who can translate business strategies into intuitive experiences that motivate and inspire target audiences.

EXPERTISE

  • Digital Business Strategy
  • UX Research, Strategy & Usability
  • Information Architecture/UX Design
  • Cross-Channel Marketing Strategies
  • Globalization & Localization Strategies
  • Knowledge Management

KEY CATEGORIES

  • Kids, tween and teens
  • Post-secondary education
  • Engineering and high-tech industries
  • Global manufacturing
  • Distributed sales networks

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Atomic Playpen (11/09 – Present):
Director of Strategy and User Experience

Joined the senior management team of a mid-size, full-service agency responsible for a spectrum of consumer and b-to-b accounts such as Jack Links, Pentair, Ecolab and United Health Group. Brought in to strengthen sales and build new strategy and UX team within the agency.

  • Key results: Helped the agency become the digital AOR for Jack Link’s brands and established the global digital strategy for Pentair – a leader in water engineering and sustainable water solutions around the world.
  • Leadership communication: Responsible for meeting regularly with the C-level officers of our client organizations to sell in the agency’s ideas, understand their evolving business landscape, and insure that we continue to meet their business goals.
  • Team leadership and direction: Built the UX and strategy team from scratch to include 5 direct reports and 15 dotted line reports. Provide creative direction to design and copy teams and work with development to ensure the integrity of creative concepts is maintained all the way through site build.
  • UX design: Directed the creation and delivery of information architecture and UX process including personas, use cases, wireframes, site maps, and task flows for PC, tablet, mobile and responsive design experiences.
  • Responsive design: Led the agency’s approach and methodology to responsive design including documentation, creative process and direction of overall creative deliverables.
  • Strategic planning, research, and analysis: Led discovery projects to help clients better understand their audiences, brands, and industries. Led in-depth research including surveys, focus groups, field studies, interviews, and usability testing. Used research to drive the creation of multi-channel, web-centric creative that truly targeted audience needs. Directed all SEO, PPC, and Social Media strategies designed to build awareness and generate ongoing traffic/leads/sales to meet client objectives.
  • Business development: Worked directly with agency partners to identify and pitch new business.

Popular Front (12/05 – 10/09):
Vice President of Experience; Director of Strategy

Part of the senior management team of a leading web-centric agency. Clients included Target, Hasbro, General Mills, Argosy University, Art Institutes, National City Bank and H&R Block.

  • Key results: Helped grow the agency from a $1MM local shop to an $8MM national agency. Created the UX and strategy disciplines and workflows.
  • Leadership communication: Led senior leadership of global companies such as Hasbro and General Mills through workshops to define their creative strategy and pitch cutting-edge solutions that would gain audience and drive brand awareness.
  • Team leadership and direction: Built the UX team from scratch to a team of 12 direct and 20 indirect reports. Directed the creative teams through large, complex projects in an agile environment. Worked with the Creative Directors to insure the agency’s vision and quality were conveyed in every concept and prototype.
  • Strategic planning, research, and analysis: Led the ROI-based process to define audiences, benchmark industries, develop quantifiable business objectives and establish effective workflow. Directed all research including focus groups, usability testing, survey, shadowing, and audience segmentation models.  Led internal and client-facing activities to distill research and analysis into key insights.
  • UX design: Directed the creation and delivery of wireframes, personas, page diagrams, site maps and other UX documents used to build consensus and drive execution.
  • Business development: Helped lead pitches, RFPs responses and development of SOWs.
  • Client management: Helped manage client relationships with senior and middle management.

Target Corporation (2/03 – 12/05):
Manager, Interactive Marketing

Founding member of the Interactive Marketing Group responsible for extending target.com’s brand and reach through integrated, interactive marketing campaigns.

  • Key results: Helped build the Interactive Marketing Group from three to 120+ people. Managed a $12 MM interactive budget. Two projects were included on the Ad Age Top Ten lists and two projects were nominated for Webbies. Created the most successful online interactive campaign on Yahoo in ‘04.
  • Marketing planning: Worked with senior marketing executives of various merchandising lines (soft lines and hard lines) to develop integrated online and offline branding and marketing strategies. The goal was to build target.com traffic while supporting in-store initiatives.
  • Content strategy: Developed business strategy and editorial direction for content-oriented experiences. Negotiated partnerships with Time Warner, Simon & Schuster, AOL, Game Spot and IMDB.
  • Information architecture: Directed UX and IA disciplines and helped create first process and document templates for target.com’s internal group.
  • Consultant, special projects: Key strategist on projects for non-profits Target supports. Sat on the board of advisers for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (Smithsonian Institute). Consulted on the launch of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Web strategy.

Perspective Soup (7/98 – 10/03):
Founder, Information Architect, Strategist

Developed and managed a national consultancy business that helped leading U.S. companies and their clients communicate and market more effectively via the Web and other channels.

  • Key results: Developed “trailblazer” strategy and information architecture for 3M’s international portal that communicated all key corporate information to employees and sales forces in 60 countries. Developed the Web strategy, structure, and content management workflows for Target Corporation’s intranet.
  • Strategy & planning: Led business requirements gathering. Developed Web and traditional marketing strategies, workflows, processes, etc.
  • Information architecture: Developed comprehensive wireframes, site maps, taxonomies, use cases, and personas for Web sites and software user interfaces that insured an intuitive user experience.
  • Content analysis, strategy and creation: Assessed, developed and wrote impactful content strategies.
  • Partial client list: Worked with corporations such as 3M, Target, Ryobi Tools, and Deluxe as well as agencies such as Fuel Creative (Greenville, SC), Larsen, and Popular Front.

Intel Corporation – Internet Business Solutions (IBS) Group (1/01 – 11/01):
Sr. Information Architect and Web Business Strategist (Contract)

International consultancy group that developed Web-enabled business solutions.

  • Key results: IBS group was the most successful 2001 new business venture at Intel. Created cutting-edge information architecture for Univision Broadcasting’s Latin American portal. Led an international IA and strategy team that brought the Wai Gao Chao Free Trade Zone (Shanghai, China) online.
  • Information architecture: Built taxonomies, workflows, and content management processes for deep data experiences. Created IA documentation including wireframes, task models, user flows and other documentation.
  • Usability testing: Worked with human factors engineers to develop effective usability methodology including surveys, card sorts, interviews, ethnographies, paper prototype testing, and HTML test prototypes.
  • Business requirements: Led comprehensive requirements gathering process. Developed and presented all strategic documentation.
  • Trending and research: Provided analysis of 5- and 10-year consumer trend data and developed new product prototypes for future Intel consumer offerings.

Pacifiq Technologies/AV Avenue.com: (4/99 – 1/01):
Director of Marketing

One of the founding members of an application service provider and Web publishing start-up that provided database marketing services to resellers and manufacturers in the audiovisual industry.

  • Key results: Played a leading role in developing the company’s business model and growing Pacifiq a 48-employee company with revenue of $1.8 million in 2000. Helped sell the company to the largest trade association in the AV industry in 2001.
  • Sales strategy and support: Directed lead generation efforts, oversaw corporate CRM software initiative, and directed development of all sales support and collateral materials. Part of corporate pitch team to clients, prospects and stockholders.
  • Integrated marketing strategy: Developed, directed, and tracked ROI of $2 million + marketing budget that included online, direct, telemarketing, display advertising, event marketing and collateral marketing.
  • Information architecture and product development: Led design and development of software UI.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Lakewood Publications (3/96 – 2/99): Director of Marketing, Presentations Technology Magazine
  • G.R. Barron & Company (10/93 – 2/95): Senior Account Executive/Senior Copywriter
  • Deluxe Corporation  (6/90 – 10/93): Senior Copywriter, Production Manager

ACTIVITIES

Member: Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA), AdFed Minnesota
Speaker: Globalocity International eCommerce Conference, FlashBelt Conference, AdFed

EDUCATION

  • BA in English with Minor Degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics
  • University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, 1985 – 1989
  • University of Nottingham at Nottingham, England, 1987 – 1988