About Me.

My Journey

I started in advertising and brand design, winning Young Lotus awards for work that balanced emotion with business impact. I moved into product design, creating experiences for Paramount, Emirates Airlines, and Mary Kay. At IBM's Global Solution Center, I built a design practice from scratch - growing from solo designer to six-person team, advancing design maturity from Level 0 to Level 5, and influencing $2B+ in revenue. As Design Principal at IBM Research, I shape strategy for emerging technologies: AI, quantum computing, blockchain. I've designed behavior guidelines for five language models (IBM Granite, WatsonX, Claude, Llama, Watson Orchestrate) and created frameworks like the Human-AI Collaboration Spectrum that became product strategy. I've led 20+ global conference experiences translating complex tech into compelling narratives. My film "The Pondering Liminalist" won Best Short Film at Ottawa Film Festival in 2024. Film isn't separate from my design work, it teaches composition, pacing, storytelling, and emotional resonance that makes me a better product designer.

My Design Ethos

• Every complex thing is made of smaller little simpler things.

• A good designer needs to be a good human.

• If you can design one thing, you can design everything
  (Massimo Vignelli).

• Design champions failure.

• If we don't make things, we are nothing.

• Imagination can time-travel to the future, and data to the past.

• AI should extend human capability, not replace judgment.

• Constraint breeds creativity.

• Design without metrics is just opinion.

My Process

1. Detective - Understand the problem deeply before solving it.

2. Explorer - Explore multiple solutions, not just one.

3. Researcher - Prototype and validate assumptions before building.

4. Craftsman - Design with obsessive attention to detail.

5. Shephard - Collaborate closely through implementation.

6. Auditor - Measure impact and iterate continuously.

7. Visioneer - Be flexible, change, transform, redefine, repeat.

8. Manager - Ship, measure, learn, iterate, repeat.

My Leadership Approach

I lead by doing, not just directing, staying close to craft while operating at strategic altitude. I grow designers through weekly 1-on-1s, personalized learning plans, and safe spaces to fail and learn. I build trust through transparency, delegate authority (not just tasks), and create psychological safety where it's okay to ask questions and challenge assumptions. I measure what matters: business impact, product quality, and team health. I've mentored 30+ designers who are now thriving in leadership roles. Culture isn't what you say; it's what you do repeatedly.

My Thought Leadership

• I'm a polymath who sees patterns across disciplines.

• Most designers execute a strategy. I shape strategy through frameworks that become product roadmaps.

• I build teams while staying close to the work.

• I design how AI behaves, creating interaction patterns for five language models.

• I'm the designer who built a practice from 1 to 6, proved ROI at every step, won awards for both design and filmmaking, and brings perspectives from 20 years of making complex things simple.

Beyond the work

I live in Texas with my wife and son, surrounded by a village of extended family and friends who keep me grounded and inspired. They remind me daily that the best designs, whether products, films, or lives, are built through collaboration, care, and showing up for each other. My son teaches me to see the world with fresh eyes and ask "why" relentlessly, skills that serve me well in design. My wife and our community give me the space to explore quantum computing by day and metaphysical cinema by night, knowing that creativity requires both focus and support.

Design is about understanding human needs, and I'm fortunate to be surrounded by humans who remind me what truly matters.