WORK EXPERIENCES

OPTIMAL DESIGN, A DELOITTE BUSINESS October 2018 - May 2025

Director of Industrial Design  

Lead, mentor, and inspire our Industrial Design team from early research efforts to developing beautiful and comprehensive visual design languages, strategies, products, and user experiences. I strive to provide manufacturable designs that offer a meaningful experience to the end user. My team works in tandem with our engineers to ensure that every deliverable is realistic, cost-effective, and ready for manufacture.

NEWELL BRANDS January 2018 - September 2018

Design Manager 

Responsible for building, nurturing and inspiring the Industrial Design and Engineering team on a daily basis; personally contributed to and oversaw the development of all projects within the Contigo, Bubba, Rubbermaid, and Coleman portfolio; worked directly with the Product Marketing Manager, Sr. Engineering Manager and Sourcing Manager to spark and create highly innovative market-winning solutions for this portfolio; drove innovation and delivered high quality development programs that were on time and on budget.

NEWELL BRANDS January 2016 - January 2018

Lead Industrial Designer

Closely collaborated with cross functional teams including: Program Management, Marketing, Brand, Research, Usability, Engineering, Supply Chain, and external Suppliers to lead design intent (leveraging input from the design team) from concept through mass production; aligned concepts to Visual Brand Language and Business goals, always focused on the end user; interpreted and translated complex technologies into simple and beautiful products and user experiences; managed all issues that impacted design, understanding and rationalizing feedback and issues that arose from the above teams; led by example and showed an exceptional eye for detail in the creation of world class product design and experiences.

IDEO September 2015 - January 2016

Industrial Design Expert in Residency

MOTOROLA MOBILITY June 2011 - September 2015

Design Lead - Wearables

Led a team of designers in the development of future programs; maintained design vision through manufacturing, worked daily with engineering and other cross-functional teams; visited with multiple suppliers across China to provide onsite production support; developed all production assets to clearly communicate CMF; communicated design & experiences via brainstorming, storyboarding, photo-realistic renderings, and 3D CAD.  

IA COLLABORATIVE     March 2010 - June 2011

Senior Designer

Led brainstorming sessions; created research stimuli (sketches, storyboard illustrations and rough 3D mock-ups); conducted research observations; and applied research findings to develop designs through 2D concept ideation, 3D surface modeling, and photo-realistic rendering. 

INSIGHT PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT     January 2001 - March 2010 

Senior Designer 

Led multiple fast-paced programs which involved all aspects of the design process:  strong client interaction; market and design research; brainstorming; scenario building and storyboarding; rapid 2D sketch visualization; 3D surface modeling; CMF exploration; physical model form development; and design for manufacturing. 

SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)     September 2007 - December 2007 

Part-time faculty

Co-taught Introduction to Designed Objects. Gave multiple sketching and design software demonstrations, developed challenging yet interesting projects, and guided students through in-class critiques. 

HASBRO, INC.     March 1999 - December 1999

Design Intern for Vehicles and Nerf Teams

Assisted two separate design teams with concept ideation, 2D computer rendering, and 2D graphic illustration.


EDUCATION

 

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI     1994 - 2001  

College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP)

B.S., Industrial Design

Mechanical Engineering major for 3 yrs.


SKILLS

Project + Design Management

Cross-functional Collaboration

Market + Design Research

Design for Manufacturing

Brainstorm/Innovation Planning

Storyboarding

Adobe Creative Suite - Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, XD

2D Sketching (Analog + Digital) - Corel Painter, Sketchbook Pro

3D Modeling - Rhinoceros, Solidworks (basic working knowledge), Alias Studio Tools

3D Rendering - Keyshot, Alias Studio Tools, V-Ray

Rapid Prototyping

CMF Exploration


RECOGNITION

2015 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) - Motorola Moto 360

2015 GSMA Global Mobile Award, Best Wearable Mobile Technology - Motorola Moto 360

2011 Red Dot Design Award - DibKit Diabetes Management System (concept)

2009 Medical Design Excellence Award (MDEA) - Hill-Rom Wound Surface Controller

2008 Medical Design Excellence Award (MDEA) - Xoran Technologies xCAT Computed Tomography Scanner

2007 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) - Sync Public Washing System (concept)

Multiple Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Awards

Multiple Design Patents

DaimlerChrysler Corporation Scholarship

DaimlerChrysler Sponsored Automotive Studio