Great leaders connect strategy to outcomes.
Evidence validates the path to impact.
Work i do
I lead design-driven, evidence-based product strategy rooted in human needs. I synthesize experience strategy, product design, and quantitative data to help teams ship high-impact solutions across energy, payments, healthcare, retail, and the public sector.
Bringing the Grid to the Table
A missed disconnection notice isn’t a UX gap. It’s a customer finding out the power’s off when the lights don’t come on.
231 observations triaged, 132 held under real production volume across five vendor teams.
Design Lead · 2.5 years, 5 vendor teams, no direct reporting line
Energy & Utilities
Making Payments Make Sense
A cashier guessing which fields depend on which isn’t friction. On a platform touching over 130 million merchants, it’s a lost transaction.
Federated governance model and decision tree, still running, replaced a bottlenecked centralized system.
Design Lead · 3-month module engagement, 2-year design system engagement
Financial Services / Payments
The Loop Healthcare Forgot to Build
Patient and provider needs don’t stay mapped. They keep moving the moment the experience actually improves.
92 provider feature requests scored across 14 organizations, the two highest-ranked anchoring the redesigned IA.
Creative Lead · Two engagements, 9 + 8 months, six states
Managed Healthcare
Tuned Without the Customer
Replacing blind trial-and-error audio tuning with a validated visual reference, built from 50 engineer workshops with no direct customer access.
Semiconductor Technology
Predicting on Borrowed Time
Unifying workforce forecasting across 5 disconnected systems into one shared interface, tested through 4 iterations against historical resourcing data.
Energy & Oil Services
Translating Frustration Into Funding
Tracing 118 qualitative pain points to 3 funded requirements, turning known frustration into a nine-month approved engagement.
Telecommunications
Off-Price On-Target with UX
Overview
A global off-price retailer’s European and U.S. buying operations ran on disconnected tools and inconsistent processes, contributing to a 25% swing in order cycle time. As Design Lead, I directed two connected applications, a desktop tool for buyer administrators and a tablet app for buyers negotiating directly with vendors, grounding every decision in workflows mapped from four distinct user roles across time zones. Iterative usability testing against those personas indicated a 35% increase in key attribute capture efficiency, and the research repository built alongside it became the seed for the client’s first formal Research Ops function.
Global Retail / Buying Operations
A 35% gain in attribute-capture efficiency, earned through persona-driven usability testing across a global buying team.
A Pitch Before the Contract
Overview
A national hospitality and resort brand needed a sharper point of view before a possible new loyalty and digital experience partnership could move forward. I led research across brand positioning, competitive loyalty programs, customer segments, and journey touchpoints, then synthesized it into a set of concept directions the team brought back to the client. The result reframed an open-ended opportunity into a concrete, research-backed pitch.
Hospitality / Loyalty Strategy (Pursuit)
Turning an open-ended opportunity into a research-backed pitch, before any deal was signed.
The System Behind the Response
Overview
A municipal health department needed a faster, more complete way to share health data with the labs, clinics, and hospitals that fed its public health reporting. This data ran through spreadsheets, email, and fax, with no shared record of who was even connected. Better data sharing wasn’t just an operational fix; it was the foundation for how the department could respond to a health crisis and deploy medical resources across the city. I led a 4-week discovery effort, facilitating stakeholder workshops with 42 department stakeholders and curating the resulting roadmap. From there, I served as delivery lead for the engagement’s developer and analyst resources and directed a three-person offshore design team through the 10-week build of the department’s first digital partner portal.
Public Sector / Civic Health Systems
Led a 42-stakeholder discovery and a 3-person offshore design team to build a municipal health department’s first digital partner portal.
HOW I INSPIRE
organizations, initiatives,
and programs
cross-functional teams across multiple time zones
Over the past decade, I’ve fostered the growth of design teams—from early career to senior ICs and managers—by centering their work on evidence-based approaches. I lead and empower cross-functional teams to deliver with quality and high user value. This experience spans multiple industries, where I have led design teams to ship experiences that hold up under real production volume.
“Durable experiences happen when design leadership aligns delivery, people, and systems around a decision the evidence can defend.”
— My motto
STUDENT MENTORSHIP
Since 2022, I’ve been honored to mentor graduating students from Prairie View A&M, guiding their transition to advanced studies or the professional world. These mentorships focus on cultivating their professional presence and empowering them to identify and seize opportunities in their evolving careers. It’s a privilege to invest in the next generation’s growth and equip them for success.
At the University of Washington, I lead a mentorship program for early college business students and guide fellow business professionals on the mentorship team. Drawing from my experience across diverse organizations, I foster thought-provoking discussions on business models and strategies for career advancement. Whether its preparing students for internships or supporting peers in pursuing promotions, I cultivate the growth of emerging and established professionals in key aspects of leadership.
what PEOPLE say
“…What is worth mentioning, is that DeAndre not only provided knowledge in the UX domain but has been part of the team and helped in delivering the final product… He brings a lot of fresh and good energy to the room…”
Barbara Okrasa
(UX/UI Designer @ Avanade)
”DeAndre was a delight to work with. Personable, efficient, and responsive. Working in UX between stakeholders those are critical skills. DeAndre has this in droves.”
James Ervin
(Sr. Tools Architect @ Cirrus Logic)
”DeAndre is a gifted mentor and designer… Not only did he care deeply about the personal growth of each of his team members, but he also sought to grow overall UX maturity by transitioning the team into a DesignOps model…”
Sally Todd
(Sr. UX Design Engineer @ Visa)
”DeAndre was an invaluable member of our team… He was integral in helping us set up our personalization strategy for both our public and authenticated web sites…”
Lisa Forlenza
(Marketing Director @ Duke Energy)
COMPANIES I WORK with
I create impactful solutions that resonate with people, backed by research and driven by a passion for thoughtful design.
