Design Leadership

My work in design leadership has centered on three things: building strong teams, using design to shape strategy, and creating close partnerships across product and engineering. Across startups and large technology companies, I have worked to make design both a creative discipline and a strategic one—helping teams align around vision, make better decisions, and build meaningful customer experiences.

Building Teams and Culture

A big part of my work has been building design teams and culture from the ground up. That includes hiring designers, shaping team vision, and creating the practices that help people do strong, thoughtful work. I have led visual designers, UX designers, and researchers in both small organizations and large enterprises, with an emphasis on critique, collaboration, and customer-centered thinking.

Shaping Strategy Through Design

I have long been interested in the role design can play in shaping strategy. At POP, I helped develop ideation exercises that moved clients beyond tactical problem-solving toward larger opportunity spaces. I brought that approach into later roles at Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, leading workshops and vision sessions that helped teams align around future product direction. Over time, I have developed a facilitation style that helps teams navigate ambiguity, align quickly, and move ideas forward.

Cross-Functional Leadership

Design leadership depends on strong partnerships with product management and engineering. Much of my work has focused on building trust, influencing peers, and creating shared ownership around product direction. That interest led me to complete a Masters in Design Management in 2017, where my thesis explored how design teams can be better integrated into technology organizations.

That research still shapes how I lead teams and how I think about design’s role in product development. I see collaboration between design, product, and engineering as a core part of building strong products and healthy organizations.