# Lia Garvin > Ex-Google, Apple & Microsoft | I Help Companies Build Leaders People Want to Work For | Leadership & Manager Development | 3x Bestselling Author Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/liagarvin Most team problems aren't talent problems. They're clarity problems. Leaders get promoted without training. Ownership gets murky. Decisions pile up at the top. And the team that was supposed to free you starts needing more from you than ever. I spent a decade inside the rooms where the highest-performing teams on earth figured out how to work together - at Microsoft, Apple, and Google. I didn't just watch. I ran it. That's what I bring to you. What I found in those years wasn't complicated. The teams that worked had clarity: clear expectations, clear ownership, clear systems for how work got done. The teams that struggled were missing one or all three - and everyone was too busy or too overwhelmed to name it. I work with two kinds of clients. For corporate teams: leadership and manager development programs, strategic offsites, and keynotes that build the kind of leaders people actually want to work for. For small business owners: Fractional COO support, The Ops Playbook, and advisory work for founders who are done being the bottleneck. 3x bestselling author. TEDx speaker. Host of Real Talk: Leading Small Teams. Email hello@liagarvin.com to get started. ## Work Experience ### Founder | Leadership Advisor | Executive Offsites, Manager Development, & Keynote Speaker @ Lia Garvin Consulting Jan 2022 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Lia Garvin Consulting partners with companies to build leaders people want to work for. As organizations scale, strategy gets clearer but execution gets harder. Managers are promoted without training, accountability blurs, and founders and executives become decision hubs. Drawing on experience leading team operations at Google, Microsoft, and Apple, we help companies develop strong managers who drive clarity, ownership, and execution across their teams. WHAT WE DO Manager Development Programs Live and digital manager training built around The New Manager Playbook. We equip managers with practical tools for setting expectations, tracking work, making decisions, and leading with trust and accountability. Keynotes and Executive Offsites High impact sessions for leadership teams and company wide events focused on manager effectiveness, clarity, and leading through change. Leadership Advisory and Fractional COO Support We partner with executives and founders to strengthen operating rhythms, decision making, and team structure so leaders can step out of the day to day. RESULTS Our work has supported leaders across global organizations, helping companies improve retention, reduce burnout, and build teams that execute consistently during growth and change. Selected Clients Google • FIFA • Bank of America • DoorDash • Argonne National Laboratory • Marshall and Sterling liagarvin.com hello@liagarvin.com ### Business Advisor @ The NORTH by Female Founder Collective Jan 2023 – Present Advisor to female founders about topics including: - Business Planning - Leadership Development - Organizational Culture - People & Talent Management - Thought Leadership - Scaling Teams & Businesses ### Podcast Host @ Real Talk: Leading Small Teams Jan 2023 – Present | SF Bay Area Real Talk: Leading Small Teams is a weekly podcast for founders, business owners, and people managers who want to lead high-performing teams, without falling back into doing all the work themselves. Each week, I break down the real, everyday challenges of leading teams: accountability, delegation, communication, culture, performance, and everything in between. No corporate jargon. No beating around the bush. Just practical strategies you can use immediately. If you're asking questions like: How do I get my team to actually take ownership? Why do I have to repeat myself constantly? How do I delegate without things falling apart? How do I give feedback that actually moves the needle? How do I lead through change without losing people? What actually motivates employees today? You're in the right place. Real Talk is for: ✔ Founders & business owners scaling teams without burning people out ✔ Entrepreneurs balancing business strategy and people leadership ✔ Managers navigating constant change and wanting better results New episodes drop every Tuesday. Featured in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune. Ranked in the top 2% of podcasts globally. Learn more at liagarvin.com/podcast 📩 For guest inquiries, email hello@liagarvin.com with the subject line: Podcast Pitch ### Sr Team Operations Lead / Deputy Chief of Staff - Health@Google @ Google Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area Developed operational effectiveness strategy and drove team operations for Health@Google team. • Defined team operations strategy centered around clarity, transparency, and rigor to ensure people on the team understand what is expected of them and how to get things done. Included defining and driving the planning process & OKR tracking, QBRs, and progress tracking across initiatives • Develop and drive cross-team initiatives to remove silos and get program management team operating more cohesively and through a streamlined set of org-wide processes • Designed operating model for how the Health@Google team thinks about AI and partners with engineering & research product teams, defining operating principles & strategic review process ### Chief of Staff / Sr UX Program Manager Lead - YouTube @ Google Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco Bay Area Drove design operations and management program management across YouTube Shorts, Live, TV and Community, including: • Managing overarching design process and operation across YouTube's most rapidly changing and highest profile verticals • Designing and facilitating custom workshops to drive higher performance on the team, including: onboarding, giving and receiving feedback, demystifying performance reviews, and manager trainings • Coach & advisor to design leads, ensuring they're showing up best as leaders to support the demands of high profile teams • Developed team-level processes to support specific cross functional needs; removing steps and simplifying processes so things could run more smoothly • Managed a team of 5 program managers, overseeing their work and career development ### Sr Team Operations Manager - AR/VR @ Google Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Bay Area Defined and drove strategic programs focused on creating a more inclusive, collaborative, and effective: • Designed and launched a team-wide program to operationalize team effectiveness by creating and facilitating custom workshops and trainings to help teams work better together, grounded a foundation in psychological safety and trust • Developed and facilitated org-wide manager development program, resulting in a measurable gain in how employees assess the effectiveness of their managers • Defined and led product inclusion efforts to incorporate an include lens to all aspects of the product development process • Coached managers on how to be more effective leaders and get more out of their teams • Mentored and coached program managers across Google in how to scale their impact more broadly • Managed org’s operational cadence, including: OKR setting, tracking, and reporting, ensuring we have clearly defined and measurable objectives that ladder up to the broader goals of the organization • Co-Chair of the Women@AR Employee Resource Group, creating opportunities for community building and leadership development for the women working on AR ### Diversity & Inclusion Program Manager - AR/VR @ Google Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area Lead of Diversity & Inclusion programming across Google AR/VR, defining and driving the strategy for all programming, and facilitating cross functional relationships within the team and broader Google: • Defined strategy and programming plan for all DEI initiatives on the team, including writing annual and quarterly goals, aligning volunteers to support the work efforts, and informing VP and senior leaders about the plan and how they can best engage with the work • Identified gaps in understanding of DEII themes and issues, and developing content to create a shared context, including trainings, toolkits, websites, resource libraries, etc. • Represented team’s DEI strategy within broader Google, building community with DEI Program • Managers (PgMs) in other product areas, speaking about our work in internal and external events • Mentored DEI PgMs new to the role, and advising managers on how to approach hiring for this role • Drove strategic interventions across Product Inclusion, to ensure that the team understands how to build inclusive products and measure the success ### UX Program Manager - AR/VR @ Google Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area UX Program Manager for the Daydream design team, overseeing visual design across AR/VR initiatives: • Developed and drove the best process for tracking projects and work in a way that designers could understand and utilize, and in formats that can be rolled up to project stakeholders • Developed master project tracker to collect non timeline specific details such as agencies used, stakeholder names, dependencies, actions; drove resourcing per project ensuring work best mapped to each designer’s skillsets • Developed cadence for internal reviews and reviews with project teams, working with stakeholders to determine the best frequency to connect and who to include, notes templates that can be added to by anyone in the meeting • Drove initiatives to foster stronger collaboration between design, product and engineering ### TEDx Speaker - "Your Decisions Aren't Wrong, Your Inner Critic Is" @ TEDxBocaRaton Jan 2022 – Jan 2022 | Boca Raton, Florida, United States Speaker at the TEDx Boca Raton 2022 event. My talk was selected by TED.com to promote on their channels, and was one of the highest viewed TEDx talks in April 2022, reaching 80k views in less than one month and almost 300k views total. ### Sr. Design Producer, Human Interface @ Apple Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Cupertino, CA Senior producer on Apple's highest profile design team, ensuring seamless execution of design process: • Drove production design operations, simplifying workflows and creating more transparency and alignment across products such as iPhoneX, Siri, Music, Watch, and iPad • Forged partnerships with engineering to ensure seamless integration of design deliverables • Managed resources and deliverables across competing timelines, load balancing, renegotiating timelines, and driving more accountability into processes • Facilitated partnerships with and collaboration opportunities with partner design teams including Music and App Store • Developed strategic cross-studio initiatives to streamline timelines and optimize time spent in reviews and meetings ### Sr. Design Program Manager, HoloLens @ Microsoft Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Redmond, WA Sr. program manager supporting end to end design team composed of UX, Visual, Motion, and 3D Technical Artists: • Shipped v1 of HoloLens Mixed Reality head mounted device • Partnered with design leads to define vision for AR/VR • Developed and drive processes for design planning and ideation, and practices for translating ideation into actionable feature plans • Represented design team, processes, and deliverables to leadership and partners • Facilitated product planning process across design, program management, and engineering • Continued with responsibilities listed below ### Design Program Manager, HoloLens @ Microsoft Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | Redmond, WA Drove design problems from experience outcome to product features to interaction tasks to asset deliverables for the HoloLens Design team: • Team, project, and status communication to internal team, stakeholders, and HoloLens leadership • Onboarded team onto Visual Studio Online for task and bug tracking so that team could track deliverables in lock step with engineering • Partnered with PM leads on creating processes to drive more alignment between design and engineering • Managed interaction & visual design pipeline including master design schedule and asset deliverables for HoloLens • Partnered closely with engineering and PM to ensure designs are to spec, represented the design vision, and can be successfully implemented • Managed design deliverables for demos and presentations in large scale events such as //Build Conference • Managed design handoffs and materials within design and to dev partners • Managed vendor resource budget for HoloLens product including forecasting, resource balancing, and reporting • Drove collaboration between HoloLens Design & other partner design groups – processes, best practices, tools • Drove culture building initiatives to facilitate collaboration across the team ### Chief of Staff / Business Manager, Bing @ Microsoft Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | Bellevue, WA • Drove budget coordination and collection process, and track monthly OPEX budget/headcount/MBR for Bing • Drove all org communications on behalf of the VP to ensure seamless communication downstream • Spearheaded time-savings initiatives for our org including meetings best practices and shifting executive meetings to Skype-only when possible; defined best practices for working with remote teams • Drove weekly Search Leadership Team Checkpoint meeting; attending all of the initiative Shiprooms each week to collect the inputs, collecting special topic content, managing the agenda, driving closure of actions • Drove collaboration of business managers across teams to create best practices for org operations, budget and people programs • Designed and managed all internal and external communications and presentations for CVP of Bing (videos, presentations, speaking engagement, org announcements) • Drove executive demos end to end including writing demo script and determining demo flow; managing visual and prototype designers; securing, setting up, testing, & running hardware ### Project Manager @ CharacterSF Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco, CA Managed design resourcing, budget, timelines and vendor relationships for projects ranging from brand identity development to packaging design to retail fixture installation for world renowned lifestyle brands: • Planed, managed, and coordinated production on lifestyle and product photo shoot • Developed and manage social media strategy and engagement plan for internal Character brand • Created innovative and intuitive tools and reports for tracking project timelines and budgets in Excel and InDesign • Brainstormed with creative teams on brand positioning and creative strategies • Liaised between clients and design team to ensure that the clients'​ business needs are being addressed through the highest quality of creative work ### Project Manager @ Duarte Design Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | Mountain View, CA • Managed budgets, timelines, and resource workflows across simultaneously across 15-project portfolio with competing timelines and resources; oversaw team of five graphic designers and annual team revenue of $2 million • Managed onsite production event for Scripps Network Upfronts presentations utilized by C-Level network executives; responsible for schedule management, workflow, asset collection, and design quality control for seven brands • Onsite and offsite project management event support for main-stage presentations for: CES, YouTube Upfronts, Google I/O, VidCon • Designed and implemented innovative project tracking materials utilizing advanced formatting techniques in Excel to facilitate project schedule and budget for multiple projects and across multiple teams • Served as the subject matter expert and point person for all client communication and correspondence; ensuring design team implementing feedback has clearly defined goals and workflow and is accurately executing the needs of the client ### Senior Technology Project Analyst @ Bank of America Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Chicago, IL • Partnered with a team of infrastructure engineers to manage the cross-country hardware migration for Bank of America’s global derivatives & FX data center • Designed/created diagrams of hardware interconnectivity and infographics depicting details of the migration • Coordinated & facilitated meetings between third party vendors and development teams • Created start to finish implementation plan including fail-back scenarios, test procedures, and minute by minute task lists • Created bi-weekly status dashboard distributed to executive stakeholders • Continued to drive global budget for 2012 ### Business Analyst @ Bank of America Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 | Chicago, IL • Assisted Managing Director of Global Derivatives & FX Back Office Technology in coordinating and facilitating 2011 Budget process; managed data collection and consolidation of estimates into central master spreadsheet; created Budget presentations for executive stakeholders • Created visual materials, presentations, original logos, use cases, and flow diagrams displaying system connectivity and moving from current to target state technology; utilized advanced Excel and PowerPoint formatting skills to create sophisticated graphics, tables, and diagrams • Managed project timelines and documentation for technology initiatives; communicated timelines and interdependencies across departments and to stakeholder audiences; managed and maintained Sharepoint sites • Drove strategic planning efforts including: Analysis of Total Cost of Application metrics and determining strategic cost savings opportunities; analyzing trade volume and technological system performance metrics to shape planning and decision making around our future technological roadmap • Designed PowerPoint templates Excel table formats to be used by tech project managers to communicate information more clearly and consistently • Created template for and manage weekly stakeholder dashboard and report tracking all technology projects in Global Back Office Technology; designed, created, and managed monthly project timeline report for distribution to upper management ### Civil Rights Analysis Intern @ U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Jan 2007 – Jan 2007 • Recruited attorneys, professors, and political officials for State Advisory Committees • Prepared briefing regarding Rhode Island school system, and Citizen’s Guide to Civil Rights for Connecticut and Virginia • Assisted in planning and coordinating USCCR national briefing in Honolulu regarding the Senator Akaka Bill ### Development Associate @ CELLspace Jan 2006 – Jan 2007 • Researched and drafted proposals successfully procuring over $500,000 in funding. • Designed all promotional and marketing materials to announce events, classes, and news about the organization to the local community. • Assisted the Director of Recreation with the design and distribution of quarterly class brochures; Obtained local Advertisers to be represented in class brochures as a fundraising strategy for the organization. • Maintained day-to-day bookkeeping and organizational financial systems (Quickbooks, payroll, etc.) for staff of 15 full time employees, 50 youth workers, 25 outside vendors- entering invoices and weekly bank deposits, tracking payments, writing checks, retrieving financial statements and reports as requested by the Executive Director and in preparation for the Board of Directors. • Created GED curriculum and taught GED preparation courses in Spanish and English; taught yoga and meditation techniques in Spanish to monolingual youth soccer team. ### Associate Producer @ Publishers Media Group Jan 2005 – Jan 2006 •Developed start to finish captioning system to create a bilingual subtitle and closed captioning option for all educational DVDs; this included hiring and monitoring all talent involved in the process (transcribers, timecoders, translators) as well as monitoring the project timeline to guarantee a timely delivery to the video editor •Scheduled talent for production shoots, served as liaison for the company with talent prospects, airline companies, hotels, vendors, etc.; acted as point-person for all of the talent’s needs; managed set-up and all preparation needs for video shoots •Managed client intake; answered phones; ordered production materials and supplies • Supervised language translation activities and quality control for all Spanish translation services offered by the company •Arranged all aspects of production travel, company trips and industry conferences for the production team (setting up meetings, travel, accommodations, registration, etc.) •Set up phone conferences when needed; kept track of the production calendar, organizing production materials (i.e. treatments, demo reels, casting tapes, research), and fielding inquiries to the company ## Education ### BA in Sociology UCLA ### MA in Media Studies New College of California ### Certificate in Organizational Leadership Harvard Business School ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/liagarvin - Portfolio: https://www.liagarvin.com - Portfolio: https://calendly.com/liagarvin/scaleup-strategy --- Source: https://flows.cv/liagarvin JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/liagarvin/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13