A pdf version of my Resume, My LinkedIn
Read about my leadership philosophy and more about me.
You can skip ahead to Education
Work Experience
Lead UX Researcher
Renaissance Learning | November 2023 – Present
Lead all aspects of research for Nearpod products mentoring others who also need research completed for their roles.
- Conduct usability and foundational research
- Deliver impactful research findings to designers, product managers, and executives
- Educate others and evangelize UX research function
- Mentor others on research methods and other aspects of research
- Evaluate research tools for team usage
- Influence product strategy via research outcomes
UX Research Manager
Indeed | October 2021-March 2023
Thanks to my coaching skills and expertise I was asked to form and manage the Rapid Research Team, a fast-paced internal UX Research Agency of 6 UX Researchers.
- Coached the team through 110+ studies in 17 months
- Served and prioritized the UX Research needs of of 25+ design, product, and marketing teams
- Consulted with decision makers and other UX managers to determine research needs then determined the appropriate methods/approaches to best serve those needs
- Reviewed and gave extensive feedback on research plans, moderation guides, and research reports for nearly every study conducted
- Trained the team on using a variety of UX Research tools such as: basic statistical analysis of smaller-scale data, Reduct, Usertesting.com, Dovetail, Miro, and others
- Organized trainings on various subjects for the team and larger research community such as diary studies and research synthesis
- Collaborated to create a summer mentorship program across entire research organization (100+ researchers)
- Created a model for technical apprenticeships throughout the organization
- Personally providing coaching, mentorship, and skill growth to team
- Screened 500+ candidates, interviewed 50+, and hired 12 associate researchers (6 researchers at any given time)
- Met DI&B hiring goals for the team
Sr. UX Researcher
Indeed | Oct 2020-Oct 2021
Head of research for Revenue Systems worked on high-impact payment system, and increased credit decision making system speed by a factor of 5.
- Conducted end-to-end UX Research from planning to data collection and analysis, to research activation/socialization
- Used both generative and evaluative (usability) research methods
- Collaborated closely with product managers, data scientists, UX designers, developers, and technical program managers to create a consistent user journey for internal tools
- Conducted moderated and unmoderated studies
- Mentored other researchers in my area
UX Research Manager
Macmillan Learning | Feb 2018 – Oct 2020
Creating and growing the research team as well as the Research Operations, as well as increasing quality and rigor in research across the entire UX team.
- Led a team to conduct a large end-to-end usability study of the flagship product with 50 participants using both qualitative and quantitative methods
- Implemented UX quality checks via regular testing of all major product releases
- Set up two research labs for conducting in-person as well as remote research with users
- Created an observation space for research and publicized research being conducted thereby increasing the organization’s customer-centricity
- Worked with executives decision makers in several areas to scope and execute research projects that were high impact to the organization
- Created research operations function and hired research coordinator
- Responsible for UX Research tools and budgets, made decisions on which tools were to be used by the team
- Mentored researchers and designers on how to conduct high-quality research
Sr. UX Researcher
State Farm | Feb 2014 – Jan 2018
Led several teams to understand and improve customer experience of StateFarm.com and mobile applications.
- Led all claims-related research for over a year overseeing 6 other researchers
- Lead UX Research on a high-impact, highly visible project internal tool for agents overseeing 4 other researchers
- Worked in Agile environments (both Scrum and SAFe)
- Conducted user studies, usability studies, interviews, and other research methods including moderated and unmoderated research
- Worked with outside research vendors to conduct research for teams including RFP, research scoping, and overseeing reports to organization
Researcher
Philips Research | Apr 2009 – July 2013
Employed a variety of qualitative research methods to study how people interact with technology and each other. This was alongside my PhD research as part of an EU-funded, prestigious Marie Curie fellowship.
- Conducted dozens of interviews across the organization
- Employed ethnographic research methods of research teams
- Studied how R&D can impact user experiences
- Conducted in-person UX Research in various lab settings as well as field studies
Principal Researcher
The Experience Institute | 2007 – 2018
A UX strategy and research consulting company I formed and ran for over a decade with clients both small (1 person) and large (1000+).
- Consulted on UX Strategy and Research by assessing the user experience and suggesting ux approaches, research, and design work that could be done to improve the user experience
- Evangelized UX methods and user-centered design in organizations in order to increase human-centricity
- Conducted full-spectrum, end-to-end research as well as targeted research studies in order to improve product experiences
- Worked consistently with business owners, executives, and decision makers to help them understand UX & UX Research and how it could improve their organization
Education
Marie Curie Doctoral Research Fellow
2009-2014 | TU Delft
Doctoral research studying research teams to better understand communication in Research & Innovation. Completed but did not defend dissertation.
MS Human-Computer Interaction Design
2008 | IU Bloomington
Research and Design focus including methods and design studio culture.
BA Philosophy | 2003
Brigham Young University
Coursework in philosophy of language and communication as well as Linguistics/Cultural Anthropology.