Resume

Design and Research Experience

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RXO/XPO Logistics, Inc., Charlotte, NC
Aug 2019 – Feb 2024, Principal UX Researcher/UX Strategist

Collaborates with company executives, built UX champion relationships with other leaders to understand their business goals, and strategized with product owners of Freight Optimizer to determine priorities. Created several research-led initiatives that business stakeholders have enthusiastically approved. Conducts usability testing training for non-UXers, which includes mentoring, and educational sessions.
    • Pioneering essential research trials and inviting internal employees to participate and share their work processes in Freight Optimizer.
    • Liaise with a design partner to create updates before presenting results and recommendations to top leaders.
    • Validate that the sales team would be capable of analyzing price contracts (e.g., Costco, Pepsi, Frito Lay) as lanes went to RFP.
    • Devise user experience goals to raise the bottom line, user experience standards, and performance metrics.
    • Confirms that the organization is meeting customers’ needs, staying ahead of the competition, and continuing to drive innovation company-wide.
    • Brainstorms with the executive team to develop efficient strategies and develop innovative and lucrative policies within the organization.
    • Produces “highlight reels” that demonstrate to the entire organization the results of departmental efforts and the resultant benefits, utilizing SharePoint spreadsheets, video presentations, and PowerPoint slides.
    • Cultivates vendor relationships and analyzes customer feedback to ensure the team is offering excellent service.
    • Restructured the entire research practice as a centralized function and designed a 5-year business/UX roadmap in collaboration with company leadership.

Bank of America, Charlotte, NC
2017 – 2018, UX Strategist / User Researcher / Information Architect (Consultant)

Selected to serve in a contractor role with TEKsystems, tasked with establishing a user experience research practice for Merrill Lynch, a subsidiary of Bank of America. Conducted comprehensive research for the UX Manager and leveraged expertise to educate the newly formed UX team. Defined CashPro App customer and user preferences based on foundational research.

    • Defined, through rigorous research, customers’ needs when using the CashPro app, which revealed three personas that warranted their own customized landing page.
    • Secured excellent customer and user satisfaction ratings and trust in Merrill Lynch, through improvements and upgrades made to the CashPro app, based on customer feedback.
    • Identified misconceptions in mobile app usability, which for most users became disruptive and unusable in the variety of environments it would be used, as well as implemented improvements to the AI external sales support app.
    • Created design system components using Sketch for the wholesale interactive services team.
    • Increased efficiency by 10% by creating a user interface and information architecture for an enterprise-wide compliance and regulatory application.
    • Boosted relationship managers’ productivity by 25% providing an interaction design and information architecture utilizing Sketch and Omnigraffle for a mobile AI tool.
    • Subject matter expert (SME) for UX, accessibility, and usability on multiple applications in progress for the wholesale teams.

Wells Fargo, Charlotte, NC
2015-2016, Sr. User Researcher / Moderator (Consultant)

Gained valuable, hands-on experience in tactical user research and identifying customer insights. Leveraged design background to create the task model chart for user personas. Utilized the user personas and gamification to train new UX contractors to correctly apply the user personas in initiatives. Expanded the role’s scope to include strategic discovery research.

      • Guided three project teams in usability of the Wells Fargo Wallet app, and held recurring monthly research sessions on how to identify user preferences on the new app. 
      • Managed and moderated usability studies on customer-facing bank products for desktop and mobile devices. 
      • Engaged with external research vendors and synthesized past research to guide new projects. 
      • Designed personal task model chart designs and consulted on a variety of quantitative and qualitative user testing processes with the customer experience (CX) team and retail LOBs.
      • Research process documents (PDF)

LPL Financial, Charlotte, NC
2014-2015, UX Researcher / Interaction Designer (Consultant)

    • Redesigning a customer-facing compliance web application for desktop and tablet experience
    • Interviewing end-users on current processes in existing application
    • Providing UX, accessibility, and usability subject-matter expertise on customer-facing and employee-facing applications during major rewrite

Bank of America, Charlotte, NC
2012 – 2014, UX Researcher / Sr. Interactive Designer (Consultant)

    • Interviewed end users on current processes for enhancements on existing application and the creation of brand new applications for the cybersecurity team
    • Created the user interface for an enterprise-wide internal web application following usability and user experience best practices
    • Created and performed usability testing on end users
    • Created UX documentation intranet
    • Provided UX, accessibility, and usability subject-matter expertise on multiple applications in progress for the Global Information Security (GIS) team

TIAA-CREF, Charlotte, NC
2011 – 2012, Sr. Interactive Designer / Information Architect (Consultant)

    • Lead UX on CMS migration to FatWire
    • Lead UX on user interface design for some customer-facing web products
    • Lead UX on creating the UX intranet

American Airlines / Fenway Group, Fort Worth, TX
2007 – 2011, Sr. Interactive Designer / Information Architect and UX Consultant

    • Improved touchscreen interface design for user experience and accessibility on the check-in kiosks
    • Established and maintain user experience best practices through heuristic analysis
      and usability testing
    • Introduced application-wide consistency across kiosk application by creating templated layouts, design patterns, style guides and wireframes for Flex/Agile development team during Internationalization efforts and a Flex rewrite
    • Created and maintain UX intranet complete with interactive UML process flows (by use case and high-level overview) and wireframe prototypes that are now used for training new agents and referenced by business units for strategic corporate planning

The Creative Group / Art Squad, Dallas, TX
2006 – 2007, Freelance Graphic Designer

    • Created an interactive multimedia commercial real estate presentation for Cushman & Wakefield‘s sales department covering downtown Dallas
    • Freelance projects for multiple clients, including: Home Interiors, PowerPact, Square One, Tenet Healthcare, The Urban Alternative, Tribal DDB

Dent Zone International,Inc / PDR LINX, Dallas, TX
2005 – 2006, Manager of Corporate Design (Creative Director)

    • Designed and managed trade show booth at a mid-sized event at NACE 2005
    • Created print and multimedia materials for trade shows and recruiting events
    • Redesigned and developed the interface for all of the company’s websites with tighter branding between Dent Zone and its subsidiaries

Fairfield Residential, LLC, Grand Prairie, Texas
2004 – 2005, Graphic and Web Designer

    • Maintained 150 apartment properties’ websites and marketing collateral
    • Redesigned promotional sites to coordinate with marketing campaigns

Aquent Partners, Dallas, Texas / San Diego, California / Charlotte, NC
1995 – 2000, 2006 – 2007, 2015 – 2016

    • Some clients have been: CCN, Creative Solutions Ad Agency, Enterpulse, Ernst & Young, LLP., Interact Simulations, Intuit, Jems Communications, KPMG Pete Marwick (Palo Alto & Dallas locations), Mary Kay, Inc., Miller Freeman Publishing, NAMM (Natl Assoc. of Music Making), Pier 1 imports, Inc., Proxima Multimedia, QuickSilver Interactive, Sally’s Beauty, Scripps Clinic (expanded project descriptions)

Freelance Work
2001 – present

    • Clients and projects include: The Contemporary (Dallas Visual Arts Center), DigitalFish Technologies, inc., Romazone

Canopus Corporation, San Jose, California
2001, Creative Director – International Division

    • Lead successful overhaul of the company’s existing website to increase daily hits to over 100k
    • Re-branded the website, packaging and collateral for consistent product branding in international markets, creating coattails from successful products to new products
    • Created packaging design for localization in international markets, saving money
      and ease of compliance with translation requirements in several countries

Digital Lighthouse Corp / Bonafide Development Resources, San Diego, California
2000 – 2001, Senior Graphic Designer

Design Projects have included:
    • Interactive touchscreen user interface design
    • Internationalization of a software application
    • Web animations & graphics
    • Web page design & concepts
    • Multimedia presentations for trade shows
    • Medical research presentations and medical journal cover
    • Catalogs-multiple product mix versions
    • Print and on-screen presentations for consulting firms
    • Interactive mini-catalog for distribution on CD-ROM
    • Packaging for U.S. and International markets
    • Ad agency experience on several national and international accounts
    • Trade show booth graphics, directories, signage, and collateral
    • Corporate identity and re-branding packages

Education

University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas
Bachelor of Fine Art

Additional Training

2018 Scaled Agile (SAFe)

2009 American Airlines — Agile Training

2007 Human Factors Intl. — Usability Testing training

1999-2001 San Diego Community College, San Diego, CA -Advanced training in web design, development and multimedia software

Skills

  • Heuristic analysis, usability testing
  • Iterative design, Agile development, information architecture
  • Coordinate with clients, vendors and developers
  • Creative problem solving
  • Teamwork and mentoring, vendor management

Application and Programming Languages

Software
    • Adobe: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks
    • Axure, Visio, Sketch, Omnigraffle
Programming languages
    • HTML5
    • WordPress
    • Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and CSS3