Strategic leadership experience
Xero Business Products. VP Design, 26% YoY revenue growth across four countries
DNA Design. Experience Director, $250K+ programmes across financial services and government
MOO Print. Head of Experience Design during $70M revenue growth
Google AdWords EMEA. $60M+ client portfolio, platform growth during $3.2B to $21B expansion, 6x growth
My background.
I bring 20+ years of leadership experience in product, user research, strategic design, and operations to purpose-driven organisations that prioritise human impact. My passion lies in collaborating with thoughtful teams committed to meaningful work.
My career spans executive design roles for products serving millions of global users, agency leadership winning $250K+ business programmes, and core team contributions to products generating $1B in revenue. I've developed expertise across financial services technology, education, retail, and government sectors.
Having navigated both successes and setbacks, I approach challenges with pragmatism, positivity, and productivity. I've witnessed firsthand how building patient partnerships with senior leaders drives exceptional outcomes, learning invaluable lessons from remarkable colleagues and clients throughout my journey.
Team building is my specialty. I've built and led inclusive, engaged, influential, and commercially-minded design and research teams of up to 30 professionals, consistently delivering outstanding results. Simply put: I make teams hum.
I hold right-to-work authorisation across New Zealand, Australia, the EU, and the UK.
For a glimpse of my client history and project portfolio, see below. I welcome conversations about my work samples — please do say hello to discuss how my expertise might benefit your team.
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Industries I've worked in
Financial services SaaS, content streaming and TV, broadcast news production, premium e-commerce, energy utilities, national and local government, sustainable business, tourism, talent marketplaces, professional services, consumer education, B2B learning and development, disaster preparedness, primary industries, NGOs, talent acquisition tech
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For these organisations
Financial services and fintech
For organisations navigating regulatory change, international compliance, or digital transformation
Xero, ASB, BNZMedia, technology and e-commerce
For platforms scaling internationally or managing complex user ecosystems during growth
Xero, Google, TVNZ, Freeview, MOO, GAP Inc, Fisher and Paykel, Dubai Future Foundation, 1NewsGovernment and public services
For agencies improving citizen services or coordinating across complex stakeholder groups
Dubai Future Foundation, Auckland Council, Ara Poutama Aotearoa, Hīkina Whakatutuki, Tourism New Zealand, Wellington Regional Development Agency, KiwiRail, Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga Ministry of Housing and Urban DevelopmentConservation, citizen science and NGOs
For non-profits and sustainability
Relationships Australia WA, Tiaki Tāmaki Makaurau Conservation Auckland, Habitat Tuateawa, Disaster Emergency Preparedness and Prevention, Action against Hunger (UK)Energy and utilities
For providers managing infrastructure transformation and customer experience
Mercury Energy, Trustpower, Flick ElectricOther sectors
Pearson Education, Gallagher Animal Management, Oh My Jobs -
In these countries & markets
Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Canada, Ireland, Portugal, most of the EU, China, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Colombia and the UK
My Experience.
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Oct’23 — date
Through my independent practice, I collaborate with organisations on fractional product and design leadership, strategic foresight initiatives, and research programmes. I also work alongside emerging leaders to develop their strategic thinking and leadership capabilities.
Currently working with teams at DNA Design in Aotearoa New Zealand, and A Frame Beyond in Australia, supporting their product strategy and design research efforts.
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Principal, Design Operations (Remote)
2022 - 2023, Aotearoa New Zealand
Fixed-term role supporting SVP leaders of the design team of 200+ across the US, CA, NZ, AU and UK.
VP / GM Design (Remote)
2020 - 2022, Aotearoa New Zealand
Responsible for a team of 30, in org of 180
Design executive accountable for Xero Payroll, Xero Me and all apps and services across the Connected Workplaces Division. Sitting on the leadership team with the SVP / EGM Product.
About Xero — Enterprise, ~5000 employees, xero.com
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2017 - 2020, Aotearoa New Zealand
Responsible for a team of 8.
Leading a team of talented, award-winning designers and director-level practitioners across all aspects of Design practice and UX excellence.
C-suite client engagement and decision support, helping the leadership teams of some of NZ’s largest, most complex organisations move from insight to action. We delivered new insights on their customers and designed approaches to better service those customers — and in the process, to win new ones.
Won and retained work programmes worth $250K+ across commercial and public sector clients. These included Tourism NZ, TVNZ, every leading NZ Bank, and many government ministries, including Business and Justice.
About DNA Design — Agency, 50 employees, dna.co.nz
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2016 - 2017, London, UK
Hands-on design research and product proposition development for global clients, including user testing with participants in China, Portugal and Colombia for Pearson Education; leading product research and design for an NGO working in disaster resilience; and as design research lead for GAP.
About Reason — Agency, <50 employees, reason.co
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2013 - 2016, London, UK
Responsible for team of 20 including freelancers.
Led and scaled the UX and UI Design function at Webby award-winning print-on-demand scale-up business — an e-commerce rocket with a global customer base of small to medium businesses and freelancers. Led manager and individual contributor Researchers and Designers working in and across product teams, supporting customer journeys across retail, IoT, SaaS, and ‘prosumer’ apps.
About MOO — Enterprise, 500 employees, moo.com
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2010 - 2011, London UK
Establishing a European base for a high-growth US SaaS start-up in the ad tech space, which went on to be a market leader.
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2004 - 2008, Dublin, London, New York, San Francisco
UX / Product role, representing customers in the design process for AdWords, accounting for 98% of Google’s revenues. Prior, I managed Google’s commercial relationship with a portfolio of ad agencies, driving US$60M+ in annual revenues.
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University College London, 2012.
Theory and practice, including cognitive psychology, applied ergonomics, evaluation methods and design practice.
Thesis in analysing body movement patterns produced during laughter, intended to support research into making avatars easier to interact with in future. Know my way around a motion capture machine too, as a result.
Finalist for CHI 2012 Student Design Entry.
Several publications on laughter generation, recording and coding.
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University of Limerick, 2003
Spanish and French, with modules on language, culture, society as well as localisation, HCI and computer programming languages that now feel very dated.