I am a Designer by trade

But often describe myself as a Product Generalist

What drives me isn't the title -- it's the challenge of turning complex problems into clear, useful, and beautiful solutions.
My strength lies in connecting people and disciplines. Bridging design, product, and engineering to shape ideas into things that work.
Am I a designer? Absolutely. A strategist? Often. A mentor and team builder? Always. Can I code? Enough to prototype. What about research, systems, storytelling, or execution? All part of the craft.
I lead through clarity, creativity, and collaboration to build products, teams, and experiences that make a real impact.

At the end of the day, I like to build teams who like to build product.

My approach to building

Lessons learned that shape the way I work.

Building a product is rooted in storytelling. Every feature has characters, a setting, a theme. If you can't succinctly articulate the conflict, your audience will struggle with the resolution.
Building a strong team means shifting from the traditional "leader-follower" mindset toward a "leader-leader" approach. When everyone understands the goals and has the right tools, they can take ownership and make confident decisions.
Building a design system requires strong opinions, loosely held. A design system needs to be treated as a living entity that evolves and adapts to the need of the product and the end users. You can't be afraid to break some guardrails.

Good is better, better is best.

Think big, start small, learn fast. Design for enterprise software needs to consider the full range of possibilities. Big changes can be disruptive to users (and costly to implement) so they need to be broken down into actionable steps, strategically coordinated to build upon each other as new data and insights are learned.
I love to play devil's advocate during design reviews. Good ideas are made great when even the most obvious of details are challenged.
I believe in convention over cleverness. Every problem might have unique challenges, but it's highly likely familiar patterns already exist within the product that users have been trained on. Trust is built on familiarity.
"A problem well-stated is a problem half-sovled." This goes back to storytelling and putting words before pixels. Tell me you fully understand the problem and make it so easy for others to understand, then let's get to work.

Some for work, some for fun.

How can we bring data-driven management to product and engineering teams with a focus on optimization and gradual improvement without it feeling like we're just trying to squeeze every last man hour of the team?
When I listen to a podcast, why can't Siri present me direct links and videos and photos of whatever topic is being discussed? Someone please build this.
Business idea for anyone with ambition: Rent a warehouse, recreate the sets of television game shows from our childhood (Super Market Sweep, Shop til you Drop, etc), add a bar and close circuit tvs, and then host parties for groups to play against their friends and family. I want 20% ownership.

Here we go with job titles, again.

Senior Director, Product Design

@ Jama Software: Helping shape and roll out key projects, like making sure our platform is compliant across WCAG standards; Overseeing the creation of a React component library to replace outdated tools and make the user experience better across the board; Leading a collaborative team of designers and developers to bring ideas to life and keep things running smoothly. 2018-Now
Co-founder, Head of Product

@ Notion Data: Led design strategy and product development; wore all the hats that founders tend to wear. Acquired in 2018 by Jama Software. 2015-2018
Team Lead, User Experience

@ CrowdCompass / Cvent: First design hire at Crowdcompass; led design overhaul of product platform across iOS, Android, and web-based CMS tool. Acquired in 2012 by Cvent. 2011-2014
Senior Art Director

@ Central Coast Agency: First hire at boutique advertising agency; worked on national campaigns across all media. 2005-2011
Freelance Designer

@ Sproutwox, LLC: When time allows, I love to help startups any way I can. Feel free to reach out. Every now and then