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Resume

Experience

2015 - 2024

Customer Experience Research & Marketing Insights

Zappos

Las Vegas, NV

  • Managed sizable research budget, vendors, and contractors

  • Facilitated the actioning on insights from the Voice of the Customer (VOC) program

  • Collaborated with Advanced Analytics to identify an improvement opportunity of

  • $1.4M per week from one part of the shopping funnel based on VOC insights

  • Conducted strategic customer surveys whose insights informed key business decisions

  • Explored innovative approaches in text analytics and non-verbal measures of emotion which involved the use of AI

  • Conducted the very first Psychographic Market Segmentation at Zappos, followed by several additional segmentation projects; quantified the potential value of key segments to the tune of hundredths of millions of dollars

  • Established and led the Customer Experience Outcomes (CXO) survey program, identifying areas for UX improvements along the customer journey on a quarterly basis

  • Created and led Brand Awareness and Sentiment tracking surveys; insights were regularly used in QBR reviews with Amazon

  • Conducted extensive customer research on the Zappos Loyalty Program

2014 - 2015

UX Research Manager

Zappos

Las Vegas, NV

  • Managed a sizeable research budget as well as contacrots and vendors

  • Created and led Voice of the Customer program across the whole Zappos customer experience for over 9 years; grew customer comments database from 0 to over 800,000 comments to be analyzed using AI

  • Mentored research team to enhance skills and knowledge in user experience research while cultivating an agile mindset

  • Collaborated to break down silos between the User Research, Market Research, and Analytics groups

  • Generated insights to inform business strategy decisions

  • Conducted hands-on work and coordinated team efforts in various research methodologies including usability, market segmentation research, persona creation, field research, contextual inquiry, longitudinal research, mental model, and card-sorting research

2014 - 2014

UX Manager (Interim)

The ACTIVE Network

San Diego, CA

  • Interviewed UX candidates to assess qualifications and fit for team

  • Onboarded new hires and facilitated training sessions for team members

  • Led team meetings to discuss project updates, challenges, and goals

  • Coordinated collaboration with domestic and overseas teams to ensure seamless workflow and communication.

2011 - 2014

Principal User Researcher

The ACTIVE Network

San Diego, CA

  • Conducted strategic and tactical consumer research across diverse markets and product lines

  • Planned research initiatives spanning the full customer journey within an Agile software development framework

  • Collaborated with Market Research to define consumer segmentation strategies

  • Executed cognitive modeling to inform user experience design decisions

  • Conducted iterative usability research to enhance product usability

  • Performed benchmark usability research to improve user experience

2004 - 2011

Staff Experience Design Researcher

Intuit

San Diego, CA

  • Spearheaded research on the role of emotions in creating compelling customer experiences

  • Enabled cross-functional teams to gather timely customer feedback and define research objectives

  • Led discovery and innovation customer research in concept stages, including field research

  • Conducted iterative and evaluative customer research in development and post-release stages

  • Advocated for non-verbal measures of users' emotional experience with products

  • Championed a design mindset within product teams

2001 - 2004

Senior Usability Specialist

State Farm Insurance

Bloomington, IL

  • Led planning and execution of Usability studies, collaborating with project teams to define goals, specify user groups, select appropriate methodologies, collect and analyze data, and create reports with recommended design changes

  • Organized and facilitated Focus group and Survey research to gather insights from users

  • Conducted qualitative and quantitative research on Usability-related topics

  • Coordinated partnerships with universities for basic and applied Usability research initiatives

  • Advised senior management on the application of Social Psychological research to business challenges

Education

1994 - 2000

Clark University

PhD - Experimental Social Psychology

Worcester, MA

  • Areas of interest: Emotions; Perceptual processes; Experimental design

  • Conducted extensive literature search

  • Conducted focus groups

  • Set up and managed a Social Psychophysiological laboratory

  • Designed and conducted experiments

  • Designed questionnaires

  • Analyzed data, wrote research articles, and presented at professional meetings

  • Supervised undergraduate research

1991 - 1994

Cornell University

BA - Social Psychology

Ithaca, NY

  • Areas of study:

    • Sensation

    • Perception

    • Individual Differences

    • Emotions

    • Statistics

Skills

Professional Skills

Research Methods

Usability Testing

SPSS

Market Segmentation Research

Persona Creation

Insights Generation

Voice of the Customer

In-depth Interviews

Ethnography

Storytelling and Presentation

Survey Creation

Team Leadership

CX Strategy

Thought Leadership

Publications

2022

Forget the Customer, See the Person 

A business guide to deeper customer empathy in uncertain times and beyond

Amazon

2018

Patent: US 9,870,588 B1

METHODS SYSTEMS AND ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE FOR ADAPTING A FINANCE PROGRAM TO A USER OF THE FINANCE PROGRAM

United States

Patent Office

2007

Usability Testing with Real Data

Journal of User Experience

2005

Iterative Usability Testing as Continuous Feedback 

A Control Systems Perspective

Journal of

Usability Studies

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