Who I am
I’m a Design Operations leader with a knack for guiding teams through challenges and change. I’ve helped build a design org from scratch, stepped up as Interim Head of Design during a leadership shuffle, and steered a team through a bank collapse and acquisition by focusing on our people and our culture.
My mission? Create human-centered organizations where designers thrive and deliver impactful experiences that drive business value. My secret sauce is a blend of design strategy, business acumen, humor and a dash of military discipline (thanks, US Navy!). I’m all about connecting the dots between design, business, and user experience, and fostering trust and collaboration along the way.
Before diving into the world of business and design, I led major social impact projects, served on nonprofit boards and spent five years in the US Navy.
When I’m away from my computer, I can be found outside hiking, rucking, swimming, playing tourist in my own city, or plowing through my ever expanding TV and movie watch list.
Education
MBA, Design Strategy
California College of the Arts
BA, Political Science
UC Berkeley
Experience
Silicon Valley Bank
As Director of Design Operations, I’ve helped lead our team through growth, change, and crisis (a bank collapse). I lead and manage our budget, resourcing, hiring, communications, vendors and have helped to define and evolve our team strategy and culture.
As Interim Head of Product Design, I successfully led a 50+ person product design team during an organizational and leadership transition for 6 months and served on SVB’s Product Leadership team reporting directly to the Chief Product Officer.
As Interim Director of Product Design for SVB Go, I led a team of 12 product designers during our Director’s 5 month parental leave where I partnered with product, tech and design to improve processes, communication and collaboration.
2020 - Present
Uber Eats
Managed design operations systems, tools, and practices for several design teams whose work impacted millions of users.
2020
Capital One & Adaptive Path
Project managed a major homepage and navigation redesign and the first web design system at Capital One that resulted in millions of dollars to the business. I also co-invented an algorithm-based web component that allows users to view personalized financial product recommendations. US Patent: US-11507735-B2, issued 11/22/22.
As part of the capitalone.com and Adaptive Path teams, I managed the design team’s work, budget, hiring, vendors, team culture and coordinated user research, artifacts,and executive presentations.
2017 - 2020
Nonprofits
As a nonprofit leader across several organizations, I: led a $30M education initiative to improve student and family outcomes; coordinated a national coalition of policy experts to advocate for social and economic equity; conducted research and published reports on social and economic policy.
2007 - 2015
US Navy
In the military, I was a highly trained medic and board certified laboratory technician in a hospital and combat zone.
2000 - 2005