EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

I lead with questions, not assumptions—and I build teams that do the same. With deep experience in enterprise environments, I guide research organizations to influence decisions at scale and drive alignment across product and business. I believe research is only as valuable as the way it’s delivered—clear and compelling communication is essential to de-risking decisions and shaping strategy. I foster high-performing, empowered teams and bring systems thinking, strategic alignment, and organizational clarity to the work of translating insight into action.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Best Buy

Director, Experience Research - Jul 2024 - Present

  • Lead and manage a leadership team of an associate director, senior managers, and lead individual contributors to cultivate a thoughtful, intentional, and collaborative research practice focused on delivering value at scale

  • Set vision and standard for research excellence, with an emphasis on craft and effective delivery of data and insights for an organization of 22+ individual contributors and managers

  • Shape and operationalize research strategy across multiple workstreams, aligning efforts to business and product priorities while advocating for the role of insight in long-range planning

  • Build cross-functional partnerships between, analytics, market insights, design, product, and business to enable holistic understanding and integrated learning across the organization

  • Champion research infrastructure that supports scaling with quality, including approaches to measurement, storytelling, and insight delivery

  • Guide career growth and leadership development across the team, fostering a culture of empowerment, accountability, and curiosity

Associate Director, Experience Research - Feb 2023 - Jul 2024

  • Led and managed a team of 15+ researchers to qualitative and quantitative product research to create and deliver human-centered experiences for ecommerce products

  • Coached and developed leadership skill sets for managers and individual contributors navigating complex and matrixed corporate environments

  • Assessed and implemented organizational design best practices to achieve impact and build a high-performing research team

  • Develop processes, standards, tooling requirements, and ways of working to enable fast, flexible, and impactful research findings that can support product strategy at every stage of development

Senior Manager, User Experience Research - Aug 2020 - Feb 2023

  • Lead and manage a growing team of 7+ researchers to conduct discovery and evaluative product research to create and deliver human-centered experiences

  • Coached researchers to develop skills in conducting research, navigating complex environments, and delivering findings in easy-to-understand narratives to increase impact 

  • Designed, developed, and advocated for strategies and services that focus on human needs

  • Built and implemented a foundational experience metrics strategy to create user feedback loops within employee and customer products

Senior Researcher - Jan 2020 - Aug 2020

  • Scoped and conducted primary and secondary research using mixed methodologies

  • Collaborated with cross functional partners, design, and product teams to integrate and foster empathy for the employee and customer experiences

Project High Hopes - Inspire U.S.

Director of Research and Strategic Development - June 2015 - Jan 2020

  • Managed a staff of 15+ individuals across 11 states to create high-impact programs

  • Conducted qualitative and quantitative research to test, learn, and innovate to improve efficiency and to inform the creation of national organizational voter registration strategy

  • Built collaborative partnerships with cross-sector agencies to create high-impact initiatives

SELECT INITIATIVES AND IMPACT

Scaled Research Impact and Delivery

Grew annual study output from 40 to 100+ by introducing lighter-lift methods, consistent cadence programs, and clearer prioritization for a team of 15 ICs and 6 managers. Built a discovery practice to inform and de-risk decisions, and inform discovery and definition stages of the design practice. Sharpened an evaluative practice focused on usability, refinement, and measurement.

Established Research Planning & Prioritization Framework

Created a flexible intake and planning model to align research efforts with product maturity, business needs, and strategic bets—enabling teams to focus on the right work at the right time. 

Redefined a Career Competency Model 

Led the development of a shared competency model and rolled it out through training and facilitation for managers and individual contributors —giving teams a clearer sense of what good looks like and how to grow.

Advanced Tooling & Systems for Research

Developed a forward-looking approach to research tooling in partnership with other insights teams to lay  groundwork for scalable, cross-functional research infrastructure.

Leadership Development through Experiential Learning
Created hands-on opportunities for leads and managers to develop adaptive leadership skills through applied challenges—prioritizing reflection and coaching to build confidence, conflict management,  and alignment-building skills in complex environments.

EDUCATION

Master of Arts - Higher Education  

University of Denver; Denver, CO

Capstone Research: Privilege, Equity, and Identity in Service Learning

Bachelor of Science - Public Administration • Minors: Psychology, Criminal Justice           

University of Wisconsin - La Crosse; La Crosse, WI

Capstone Research: Assessing the Civic Impact of the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse