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Objective

I’m looking to partner with a team where we translate ideas and opportunities into killer connected experiences that people love to use every day. I thrive in environments where both the ideas to create great products and the structure to get those products to market are treated as equal partners, and I look for opportunities and cultures where getting awesome experiences to market is everyone’s shared focus.

Profile

I've successfully moved between classic program management and creative leadership roles throughout my career, and I'm often referred to as the creative who understands how to build a product and drive a schedule. I'm well-matched to roles that require an ability to define product vision and bridge gaps between creative, technical, business and project management teams. Notable skills:

• Product vision, strategy and roadmap creation across multiple releases and versions, and the ability to take the vision to market
• Cross-platform interaction design spanning PC, Mobile and game console and a long track record of successfully driving vision to market
• User-centered product and feature design for global customers
• Agile and traditional waterfall product development environments
• Rapid prototyping and iterative development
• Cross-discipline people management (technical, creative and product management) and the ability to dive directly into the Adobe suite, Visio, OmniGraffle and other tools to help get the job done
• Extensive external studio and agency relationship experience in many different capacities

Experience

Microsoft Corporation
1/1997 - Present
Redmond, WA

Creative Director, Microsoft Studios

Lead Producer, Microsoft Studios

(5/2007 – present)

As Creative Director I led both internal and external Design teams through the first two versions of of Halo Waypoint, a multi-platform entertainment network for Halo fans spanning the Xbox console, PC and mobile devices. Waypoint was the first experience of its kind, blending exclusive original daily content with a player recognition system tied to events taking place within the Halo games. In the years since launch Waypoint has grown into a diversified global entertainment property, keeping millions of Halo fans attached to the franchise between major title releases.

I also served as the Lead Studio Producer for the strategy game Halo Wars -- a critical and commercial success, Halo Wars represented both a significant change in direction for the franchise and a major creative challenge to adapt the real-time strategy genre from the PC to the console. Working closely with a team of nearly 100 people at Ensemble studios, I managed creative and technical staff for the franchise, and Halo Wars netted over $120M USD world-wide in sales.

User Experience Manager, Windows

(11/2005– 5/2007)

I led the product design team through the v1 Windows and Windows Live integrated Family Safety features. Scope included responsibility for both technical and experience design for the suite of features tasked with helping families and kids stay safe while online and offline. Key innovations included customizable, roaming safety settings administered from any internet-connected computer, and an extensible platform architecture allowing 3rd party products to enhance the core offering from Microsoft and reaching a global audience of 40M+ consumers. Family Safety was a top-reviewed consumer feature for both Windows and Windows Live.

Group Design Manager, Microsoft Casual Games

(9/2002 – 11/2005)

I directed online product design for Microsoft Casual Games, the third most-visited online casual games site (at time of tenure) with millions of unique visitors each month. Responsible for both creative and technical staff in the development of features supporting multiple business models (advertising and sponsorships, downloadable game sales, online game subscriptions) accessed from the zone.com portal. Key accomplishments included exceeding registration, retention and revenue targets for each fiscal year of my tenure and sole authorship for a system of player rewards and recognition that increased average per-session time spent on the site by 30%.

Group Program Manager, Microsoft .NET

(1/1999 – 9/2002)

I led the product team tasked with building an online community and suite of collaboration features to support Microsoft’s v1 .NET platform and initiatives. Original vision author for the .NET Platform community brand (www.gotdotnet.com, retired in 2008), including the creation of Microsoft Workspaces, a distributed online development and project management tool and a key component of Microsoft’s early competitive response to the open source movement. GotDotNet began a community revolution throughout Microsoft’s product teams by paring an irreverent visual and editorial style with a rich set of unprecedented community and personalization features, and was used in Bill Gates’ 2003 Professional Developers Conference keynote as an example of Microsoft’s commitment to partnering with developer customers.

Design and Brand Manager, Data Access Group

(1/1997 – 1/1999)
Contract Web Producer (1/1997 – 9/1997)

Created the visual brand and online presence for Microsoft Data Access completely in-house and grew the web site approximately 300% faster than any other Web site in the division with the smallest team in the organization. Within 8 months of launch the site achieved the highest traffic and customer satisfaction rating of any site in the division. Key responsibilities involved business development/cross-promotion with major partners and vendors, working with press to increase brand penetration, driving the vision for new site features and content areas, and creating cross-partnering opportunities with Microsoft’s major online properties (MSDN and microsoft.com).

Starwave Corporation
11/1995 - 12/1996
Bellevue, WA

Assistant Advertising Designer

Created Web-based presentations for the advertising department, designed ad banners for a variety of Starwave's blue chip clients and partners, and provided comprehensive analysis of site-traffic (hits, impressions, users, transfer rates, etc.) for all of Starwave's online services and clients (ESPN, Mr. Showbiz, NASCAR, Outside Online, etc.).

Education

University of Washington, 1992-1996
Seattle, Washington
Philosophy