Company:

Adobe

17 years of design-led product innovation and leadership

Design-led product innovation

Over the course of 17 years at Adobe, I gained experience in software product development from multiple perspectives. As a collaborative partner, I engaged with marketing, product management, product design, and design leaders to launch meaningful products. I worked in a variety of environments from being the sole designer on a product team to one of hundreds within a large centralized design organization.

After several years designing products such as Adobe Flash, Flex, and AIR, I noticed a trend: product teams tended to talk to the same customers each release, and often worked in silos without a broader perspective of the user's overarching needs. As such, I felt the company was potentially missing opportunities that nimble startups could seize.

I made a case for this belief to my VP of Design who agreed and funded my creation of a Customer Engagements team within the Adobe Design organization. There, for 10+ years, I hired, mentored, and managed a cross-disciplinary team of innovative designers, developers, researchers and producers. Together, we crafted unique, industry-changing solutions in partnership with major media companies. Our charter was to have our fingers on the pulse of industry and consumer trends, and to leverage a design-first approach to solve the creative problems of Adobe's most strategic partners. As a result, I managed relationships and led design thinking with companies such as: Samsung, the New York Times, Condé Nast, and Scripps Networks (HGTV, Food Network).

Some of the most impactful projects I led were focused on helping newspaper and magazine publishers adapt their creative workflows to produce digital versions of their offerings. Our close partnership with WIRED, the New Yorker, and Martha Stewart Living led to the design and development of the first digital magazine readers and content for iPads and tablet devices, revolutionizing the publishing industry. During this time, I scaled my team to support the effort to productize our initiative, leading to $50 million in annual recurring revenue within 3 years time.

Prior to working in the centralized Adobe Design organization, I was responsible for managing Macromedia’s flagship product, Flash, through three major releases (Flash 4, Flash 5 and Flash MX) during the height of its popularity. I led user advocacy and customer advisory board initiatives, drove the user experience, designed and wrote feature specifications, and spoke at industry events and to the press. Prior to product management, I began my career at Macromedia leading design for the macromedia.com website.

TITLE

Director of User Experience

17

years (1997-2002, 2005-2017)

5→50+

1000% Org Growth

SCOPE

Strategic Partner Engagement, Product Innovation, Product Design, User Research

SEGMENT

Consumers, Strategic Partners, Magazine & Newspaper Publishers

$50m+

ARR Revenue