HOW I WORK

Design leadership is an operating system, not a job title.

My approach to design leadership has been shaped by 20+ years of doing the work, making mistakes, building teams, fixing broken things, and systematizing what works.

Leading design teams

Build the conditions for great work

I believe the primary job of a design leader is to remove obstacles, create clarity, and build an environment where talented designers can do their best work. That means clear ownership, explicit expectations, and consistent feedback, delivered with care and directness in equal measure.

Performance with humanity

Psychological safety and high standards aren't in tension, they're complementary. The teams I've led know exactly what's expected, and they feel supported enough to take creative risks. I address gaps early and directly, because that's what genuine respect for someone's career looks like.

1:1s

Structured coaching cadence

Weekly 1:1s with explicit growth frameworks, not just status updates. I coach designers on career development, communication, and craft in equal measure.

Stretch

Strategic deployment

I deliberately position team members in roles that grow them, customer interviews for designers who need storytelling skills, strategy work for those ready for leadership.

Critiques

Feedback frameworks

I've introduced structured critique frameworks at every team I've led. Good critique is a learnable skill, not just "I like/don't like this."

Visibility

Organizational advocacy

I make my team's work visible to leadership. Design impact shouldn't be a mystery; I document and communicate it consistently.

Cross-functional partnership

Design as a strategic partner, not a service bureau

I've consistently advocated for design to participate in quarterly planning, roadmap discussions, and executive reviews, not just receive tickets after decisions are made. The shift from order-taking to strategy-setting is the most impactful organizational change I've made at every company.

Language of business outcomes

Effective partnership with Product and Engineering requires fluency in their language. I translate design decisions into business outcomes, quantify the cost of poor UX, and frame design work in terms of the metrics leadership cares about.

Embedded designers in sprint planning, story grooming, and retrospectives at Paylocity, breaking down silos and making design thinking accessible to non-designers

Co-led strategy reviews with GTM and Customer Success at Sprout Social, connecting customer pain points directly to roadmap decisions

Led cross-functional workshops with 15+ stakeholders at Verizon, reducing workflow redundancy by 20%

Design systems & quality

Systems thinking at organizational scale

I approach design systems as organizational infrastructure, not just component libraries. The question I ask isn't, "does this look consistent?" It's, "Does this system enable teams to move faster and maintain quality without me in the room?"

Accessibility as quality, not compliance

I've led accessibility initiatives at Paylocity that moved the org from reactive remediation to proactive embedded practice, building the business case with competitive benchmarking and delivering practical tools (like the Annotation Kit) that made accessible design the path of least resistance for every designer.

Storybook workflows

I've built and maintained the design-engineering handoff systems that reduce translation overhead and catch accessibility issues at the design stage rather than in engineering review.

AI in design practice

Hands-on, not just conceptual

I actively use AI tools in my design practice for research synthesis, rapid prototyping, competitive analysis, and workflow automation. I don't just manage AI adoption; I do it, and that credibility matters when coaching teams through adoption.

What I've applied AI to

Research synthesis: consolidating interview notes and identifying patterns across qualitative data at scale

Rapid prototyping: using AI-assisted tools to accelerate concept exploration without sacrificing design quality

Competitive analysis: faster benchmarking and pattern identification across competitor experiences

Workflow documentation: generating templates, frameworks, and playbooks from in-practice learnings

My philosophy on AI and design

AI augments design judgment; it doesn't replace it. The designers who will thrive are those who use AI to spend more time on the work that requires human creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking. My role is to help teams find that balance.

​​​Design leadership is an operating system, not a job title.