I make complex systems feel like they were always supposed to work this way.

Two layers deep

The work I'm most proud of often has two layers: the thing you can see, and the infrastructure underneath it.

At Nike, the applications were the visible layer — Apollo, Gemini, NBY Lab, Collections. The infrastructure underneath was a three-layer brand asset system built on Google Material Design, Nike Design Standards, and InVision DSM, with 70+ components spanning buttons, iconography, navigation, modals, and page layouts — adopted by 30+ teams across 50 applications.

At WebMD, the visible layer was the product portfolio serving 1,000+ enterprise clients. The infrastructure was a Core and Configurable component architecture that let each client apply their own brand identity to a standardized foundation.

That pattern — standard core, configurable brand expression, shared governance — is one I've built three times across my career, at increasing scale each time.

Seventeen years in healthcare

Before Nike and Amazon, I spent seventeen years designing healthcare products — at WebMD, Anthem/WellPoint, and Cambia Health. That work spans the full spectrum of healthcare UX: patient portals, the first-generation mobile personal health record for iOS and Android, EHR-adjacent clinical workflow tools, benefits administration, provider-facing applications, and healthcare cost and quality transparency platforms serving millions of users across Fortune 500 enterprises.

The Core and Configurable component architecture I built at WebMD — which let health plan clients apply their own brand identity to a standardized SaaS foundation — is the same structural pattern that underpins modern healthcare brand management platforms. I also led WCAG and Section 508 accessibility programs that were embedded directly into engineering acceptance criteria, not treated as post-launch audits.

The systems weren't ready then to surface the insights that could change behavior. I believe they are now. I'm actively returning to healthcare design through my current consulting work, including a multi-site clinic network rebrand and AI-assisted research methods that compress qualitative synthesis from weeks to days.

Two modes. Same altitude.

At Nike I operated in both modes simultaneously — directing teams of 5–8 designers on Gemini and Component Costing, while serving as the sole designer on Apollo and Nike By You. The role changed. The altitude didn't. In both cases I was defining system architecture, aligning executive stakeholders, and making decisions that shaped the work of multiple teams.

The work I'm most proud of often isn't visible in the products themselves — it's in the shared infrastructure underneath them. Design systems that let 30+ teams build consistently. Alignment work that let cross-functional teams agree on definitions before anyone wrote a line of code. Handoff documentation that let the work continue after I was gone. That kind of leverage is what I'm built for.

What I believe about this work

The design problem is almost always downstream of an alignment problem. The visual problem is almost always downstream of a systems problem. I've learned to start upstream — to ask what needs to be true before anything can be designed well — and to do that work even when it's slower, even when it's not what was asked for, because it's what makes the design stick.

I also believe internal tools deserve the same craft as consumer products. The people using them are working hard, often under real pressure, and they notice when their tools respect that. Some of the most meaningful work I've done has been for users nobody outside the company will ever see.

Beyond the work

I'm energized by big systems problems, thoughtful collaboration, and the quiet satisfaction of simplifying something that once felt overwhelming. I've found that most problems improve with structure, good people, and usually — bacon.

From the people who've been in the room