Create direction.
Strong teams know what they are solving, why it matters, and what success means. I connect customer needs, business outcomes, technical realities, and risk into a frame people can act on.
HOW I LEAD
Make the decision clear. Build the team to carry it forward.
Frame the right problem.
Make tradeoffs visible.
Commit and learn together.
I’m a product design leader with more than 20 years across financial services, enterprise collaboration, native mobile products, design systems, and architecture.
I help teams turn complexity into direction: clarify the outcome, expose assumptions and constraints, compare meaningful alternatives, and create the commitment needed to move. Leadership is not having every answer. It is improving how a team reaches answers together—and helping people grow capable of making the next decision without you.
Raise decision quality.
A decision improves when the frame, alternatives, information, values, reasoning, and commitment are visible. The goal is not certainty—it is a sound choice with a clear rationale and a way to learn.
Build teams that can disagree well.
Trust makes critique useful. I keep feedback focused on the work, grounded in goals and evidence, and separate from the worth of the person who made it. With trust, critique becomes collaboration.
Develop ownership.
I coach designers and product partners to tell stronger stories, make rationale visible, and lead decisions themselves. Clear priorities and lightweight operating systems should release talent—not constrain it.
EXPERIENCE
From buildings to product ecosystems.
2018–2026USAA
Product design strategy, personalization, messaging, native mobile, and design operations.
2012–2018Polycom
Global UX strategy, unified UI, enterprise design systems, research, and patented collaboration experiences.
2004–2011Andersson Wise Architects
Complex multidisciplinary projects from concept through construction.
2003University of Texas at Austin
Bachelor of Architecture · Design distinction.
PEER PERSPECTIVE
Leadership seen through the people doing the work.
Partners describe the qualities I try to build into teams: clarity, trust, strategic perspective, shared ownership, and momentum.
