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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.