Amid the Noise is an independent research and systems design studio focused on trust-critical platforms, human-centered AI, and complex civic and enterprise systems. The work builds on thirty years of experience across user experience, data science, and systems strategy, with a deliberate emphasis on research-driven design and applied governance.

I design and lead independent research examining how intelligent systems behave at scale, where trust fractures under complexity, and how interaction design can preserve human agency in AI-mediated environments. This work combines public scholarship, practitioner interviews, applied systems analysis, and hands-on design engagement.

I operate as both architect and practitioner. I set strategic direction for experience architecture and step in directly when products require momentum, structural clarity, or decisive design leadership across product, engineering, and data teams.

My research centers on Collaborative AI, a discipline I helped define to address behavioral integrity in intelligent systems. The goal is to design AI that elevates human capability, preserves authentic voice, and behaves predictably in high-stakes contexts.

As part of this work, I developed the HARMONIC Framework, guiding teams in aligning AI behavior with user intent, organizational values, and system trust. The framework informs interaction models, product strategy, and responsible deployment practices, and underpins an active patent portfolio exploring trust-preserving AI architectures.

This research is being synthesized into a forthcoming book on human-centered AI, trust, and systems integrity, alongside continued public publication through Amid the Noise.

Focus Areas: Trust-critical UX for AI systems, interaction architecture for complex workflows, Collaborative AI design, research synthesis and field engagement, enterprise and regulated environments.

As Director of UX, I worked hands-on in design while guiding strategy for Dremio’s cloud-native data platform. My focus was transforming complex data workflows into intuitive solutions, balancing execution, team growth, and executive collaboration.

• Designed and prototyped enterprise-scale features for Fortune 500 clients, driving adoption and retention through clarity and usability.

» Conducted research and usability testing directly with customers, translating insights into product decisions.

» Built and mentored a high-performing UX team, while contributing designs and reviews alongside them.

» Partnered with executives to align UX priorities with product roadmaps, influencing funding and feature development.

» Delivered measurable outcomes: 25% increase in adoption, 30% faster onboarding, and higher task completion rates across core workflows.

» Developed scalable design systems and accessibility standards, launching component libraries that reduced cycle times and strengthened product consistency.

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Case studies available below: FactSet, NetApp, and TransUnion.

I had a pivotal role at the core of Automation Anywhere’s shift from deterministic bots to adaptive, AI-enhanced digital workers. My role combined hands-on UX design and prototyping with shaping product strategy across finance, logistics, and healthcare. The focus was on building trust-centric workflows that made AI explainable, scalable, and usable in mission-critical environments.

» Designed and tested human-in-the-loop workflows for AI-driven bot ecosystems, ensuring transparency and usability.

» Prototyped explainable AI (XAI) features, including trust calibration and progressive disclosure models for regulated industries.

» Optimized task-focused UX patterns that reduced manual interventions by 35% and improved enterprise efficiency.

» Built adaptive feedback loops and telemetry dashboards that enabled real-time learning and responsive bot performance.

» Contributed directly to cognitive UX design systems, while coaching teams on embedding explainability and trust into automation at scale.

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Case studies available below: ML-Enhanced Bots, AI vs Rules-Based Automation, Human-Centered Bot Handoff

I served as lead design thinker in Wells Fargo’s AI Enterprise Solutions group, embedding human-centered practices into 17 business lines. My role combined hands-on facilitation, framework design, and prototyping with executive alignment, ensuring machine learning and NLP capabilities translated into real-world impact across a highly regulated environment.

» Designed and facilitated AI opportunity-framing workshops across 17 business units.

» Built playbooks and pilot templates to scale human-centered AI practices across the enterprise.

» Prototyped and tested workflows that clarified AI explainability and usability for risk-aware teams.

» Unified executive sponsors, stakeholders, and data scientists by adapting design thinking to the institution’s engineering-led culture.

» Clarified the scientific method as a shared framework between product and data science teams, reducing misalignment in experimentation.

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During my tenure with Wells Fargo’s AI Enterprise Solutions group, I led a series of high-impact initiatives that applied design thinking to real-world machine learning and NLP challenges. Each project translated AI ambition into aligned, human-centered delivery, bridging regulatory, operational, and user trust gaps across 17 business units.

Directed UX strategy for the CA Accelerator, a venture incubator within CA Technologies designed to launch employee-led startups from concept to MVP. Built and led a cross-functional team of UX strategists, researchers, and engineers, delivering end-to-end experience design for 12 early-stage ventures simultaneously. Established Lean Startup frameworks, embedded human-centered research practices, and created a scalable UX operations model to reduce time-to-validation and elevate product-market clarity.

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• Delivered UX leadership across 12 early-stage software ventures with diverse tech stacks and user profiles

• Built and managed a cross-functional UX team embedded across incubated startups

• Operationalized Lean Startup, design sprints, and customer validation at the MVP level

• Developed repeatable UXOps frameworks for rapid prototyping, research intake, and usability scoring

• Facilitated team-wide immersion in emerging tech (CI/CD, ML, NLP) to align design with innovation

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As Director of UX for CA’s internal startup incubator, I led experience design across 12 parallel ventures—ranging from AI/NLP platforms to predictive DevOps tools. Each case study reflects a different frontier of applied UX: trust in automation, clarity in uncertainty, and repeatable design operations under startup-level pressure.