It all started with a question:
“So… what now?”
I graduated from Brown University in 2011 with a degree in East Asian Studies*, but didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. So I decided to apply for internships in Hong Kong with communications firms so I could 1) use my degree in some way and 2) learn about many different industries and figure out what was most interesting to me.
* I focused on Chinese language and culture, and spent a total of two semesters in Beijing doing intensive language study. I wrote an honors thesis on Late Qing and Early Republican Legal Reform. Surprisingly, that subject hasn’t come up very often in my career.
My time in Hong Kong was formative. Not only was I exposed to many different industries, I also got the opportunity to support good causes through pro bono work (e.g. The Nature Conservatory, SPCA Hong Kong).
I took an internship with FleishmanHillard, a communications agency serving international clients. There I learned the basics of storytelling, crisis communications and content strategy. I had the privilege of supporting regional clients including Visa and Burberry through content creation and account management.
After a couple years, I moved to Razorfish, a digital agency specializing in marketing strategy and activation. As strategist, I worked with clients like ASUS, Melco Crown Entertainment and Invesco to design innovative customer experiences and define product marketing strategies.
After five years in Hong Kong, I needed a new challenge — one that would let me apply what I had learned to new, more strategic innovation challenges.
It was time to go home.
I joined the management and brand consultancy Prophet in 2016 and quickly established myself by applying design thinking tools in first-in-kind projects for the firm.
I led teams of designers, strategists and technologists to collaboratively solve customer problems for our clients, helping bring in $3M in new and follow-up business revenue, and helped establish the firm’s Experience & Innovation practice.
Key Responsibilities:
Account and Project Management
Innovation and Experience Strategy
Business, Product and Service Design
At Prophet, I found my passion working with experts from different domains to co-create new products, services and business models. Here I am working with a UX designer on a customer validation test for a new product we were rolling out for one of our banking clients.
Through my work, I attempt to communicate new ideas in ways that use best practices in business design and strategy to tell compelling, memorable stories. This image is from an internal blog post I wrote about how to answer the question: “Are you sure you’re solving the right problem?”
For most of my career, I worked at agencies or consultancies as an outsider. I felt I lacked a view of what it’s like to work “on the inside” as a change agent. I wanted a new challenge.
So, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I joined Swiss Re Corporate Solutions to help the organization innovate effectively.
As Head Innovation Accelerator, I have three primary responsibilities:
Oversee high priority innovation initiatives, bringing together diverse cross-functional teams to develop and deliver novel solutions to our business’ most important problems.
Develop and manager the corporate innovation strategy, ensuring our innovation efforts are mapped appropriately to our overall corporate strategy and track and report on our company’s overall innovation portfolio, helping our leaders make informed investment decisions.
Drive capability and cultural transformation, equipping innovators with the right design tools and methods to deliver meaningful value and supporting internal marketing highlighting our innovation successes.
All of my work involves working with stakeholders and customers from across the globe to apply design thinking and innovation best practices to important business problems. I am Swiss Re’s go-to leader for any strategic design assignment and have delivered significant commercial results in my time with the company.
Outside of the office, I’m driven by curiosity.
I love drawing. You will often spot me sketching pictures in the margins of my notebook.
During the pandemic, I took up woodworking. I love the process of coming up with ideas and building completely custom pieces of furniture. Pictured here is a solid oak boardgame table I designed and built myself.
My son, Isaac, challenges me to view the world through a completely new lens. Design requires that we view the world with "childlike wonder." And Isaac lets me do that daily.