Education
Bachelor of Industrial Design - With Distinction, Carleton University, Ottawa Canada, 1989.
Master of Arts – Industrial Ecology, Antioch University, Yellow Springs OH, 2001.
Work
DesignPost 2023 -
Principal
Design Leadership Consulting, Creative Leadership Mentor, Fractional CXO & Angel Investor.
University of Washington 2023 -
Part-time Lecturer, Global Innovation Exchange
Teaching the Visual, Industrial And Interaction Design Studio in the Master of Science in Technology Innovation program
Amazon 2014 - 2023
Director of Amazon Design Excellence & Devices Design Strategy
Dual role leading strategy and planning for the Devices Design Group, to establish the operational rigor for effective innovation management and customer-driven portfolio planning; additionally led the Amazon Design community teams establishing the foundational programs for design and designers to thrive across Amazon businesses.
Director of Design, Amazon Physical Stores.
Built and led the design teams responsible for developing the end to end CX and brand personality of Amazon Fresh Stores - the first truly hybrid, online/offline grocery offering. This includes development of the Dash Cart, a smart shopping cart that recognizes items as you shop, and skips the checkout line and leadership of UX, ID, and Design Research across Amazon Physical Stores - Fresh, Go, Books, and 4-star, and new concept development.
Director of Design, Prime Video.
Led a global, multi-disciplinary team to launch new content experiences such as 3P Channels, Live, and Indy content across mobile, web, and living-room clients. Spearheaded a program to develop rigorous CX quality metrics, quantify the relationship of customer satisfaction and engagement behavior, and elevate CX investments on the constrained roadmap. Drove the first comprehensive cross client, cross platform CX improvement initiative since AV launched.
Director of Design, Kindle Content.
Built and Led the Design organization for the Kindle Content Ecosystem - covering the enterprise experiences for Authors and Publishers, and the consumer experiences for Shoppers and Readers. We crafted a vision of a unified Kindle experience from content creation, publishing, discovery, through to consumption, and began the journey to move the CX toward that vision.
BlackBerry. 2011 - 2014
Senior Vice President, Design & Planning.
Led the Industrial Design, User Experience and Portfolio Planning teams. I joined to build and lead a unified ID & UX Planning function and created a two-year roadmap. This grew to the role of leading the overall integrated Design organization. By creating a company wide innovation startup framework this team put customer led insights at the forefront of product planning, shipped significant device and UX innovations, and received international recognition for the results.
DesignPost. 2009 - 2011
Founder
Startup incubated a social consumer insights technology and business aimed at empowering consumers with their own data.
Microsoft. 2007- 2009
Partner, UX Director.
Led and grew the core Windows Phone 7 design, research and AD teams while re-planning the user experience architecture. Led the combined Zune and Media Center UX teams in the Entertainment and Devices organization.
Motorola Solutions. (Symbol Technologies) 1998-2007
Vice President, Innovation & Design.
Built and led central design organizations of Innovation Planning, Design Research, Advanced Product Development, and Industrial & Interaction Design. Responsible for strategic planning, customer intelligence, innovation, and design execution. Drove new start-up directions for the company in the areas of health care devices, self-service and mobile shopping solutions. Active on executive committees responsible for shaping new business strategy, business planning, marketing operations, new ventures, product lifecycle management, and innovation.
NCR Corporation. 1989 -1998
Manager, Consulting Design Group.
Led the integrated team of Industrial, Environmental, and Interaction Designers supporting NCR’s Retail, Financial, & Computing business units where we pioneered self-service retail and banking technology into physical environments such as grocery stores, and public spaces. Founded the Interaction Design practice, and grew this team into an innovative service organization of research, design, and human factors specialists.
Activities:
Adjunct Research Professor, Carleton University, 2009 - 2014
Board of Advisors, Design Impact, 2010 - 2013
Director at Large, Industrial Designers Society of America, 2009-2012
Executive Editor, Innovation. Journal of the Industrial Designers Society of America. 2010 – 2012.
IDEA Design Excellence Awards Jury. Jury Chair 2008, Juror 2006. BusinessWeek/IDSA,
Innovation Index. Funded IDSA to create a public index of archived Innovation periodicals.
Education and Business Advisory Board. Stony Brook, NY. 2003 – 2005
ROI: The Innovation Equation. NY. Planned, moderated, and cosponsored IDSA. 2006
IDSA- “Design About” on Innovation, Conference Chair, Guggenheim Museum, NY. 2001
Recognition:
Academy of Fellows: Industrial Designers Society of America, 2021
United States Patent Office: Over 60 US Patents
Red Dot ‘Best of the Best’ Design Award: BlackBerry Passport 2015
Red Dot Design Award: BlackBerry Z10 2012, Q5, Q10 and Z30 2014
IDEA Awards: 2 Gold, 7 Silver, 8 Bronze. BusinessWeek/IDSA,
IF Design Award: Product Design, Symbol LS1900, 2002, Motorola MC17, 2008
Good Design Award: Chicago Athenaeum: Symbol LS1900, 2001, Motorola MC17, 2008
World Technology Award for Design: World Technology Network:, Nominee, 2001
Smithsonian-Cooper Hewitt Nation Design Award: Nominee, 2001
Chrysler Design Award: Nominee, 2000
AT&T Champions of the Environment: Champion Award. 1995
R&D Award: -'The 7731's Ecologically Responsible Design', NCR 1992
George Lynn Memorial Scholarship: Medical Design, Carleton University, 1989