As a practitioner and leader in UX design research and strategy for 20 years, I have experience building practices and teams on both the product and agency side. I am passionate about driving product innovation through developing a deep and shared customer understanding and bringing vision and form to that understanding. I believe that people matter, that business needs can align with customer needs, and that great design will change the world.

I have always been fascinated by the intersection of people and technology. After studying sociology and design in Vancouver, Canada, I moved to Austin, Texas in 1998 to join a small UI design firm where I started designing for interactive TV and video. There my passions for generative user research, design strategy, and cross-team collaboration sprouted and I soon began defining and refining processes and techniques around these practices.

Over the past 20 years I have had the opportunity to work on some incredible projects in entertainment, telecom, transportation, healthcare and financial services and to establish new practices and develop strong UX teams at Yahoo!, projekt202 and IBM Design. I've held roles as a design principal, creative director, director of UX, design manager, director of design research and strategy, presented at industry conferences and been named on several patents and design awards. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, I led UX Strategy at Theresa Neil Strategy & Design, serving consumer and enterprise clients across a wide range of verticals. My current focus is to make significant impact on healthcare experience and to work on digital products and services that aim to improve people's lives.