About Me

From Graphic Design to UX Leadership

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My first role at a full-service advertising agency introduced me to web design and development—a challenge I embraced wholeheartedly. By mastering front-end development, I generated thousands in new revenue while saving hundreds of thousands in previously outsourced web development costs. When my creative director was deployed to Iraq, I stepped up to lead the art department, gaining invaluable experience in creative direction, sales, and production management.

Over the years, I’ve held pivotal roles at agencies, retail giants, and Fortune 500 companies, refining my expertise in UX, digital transformation, and strategic design. At PPG Industries, I built and led a global UX practice, training designers, facilitating design thinking workshops, and driving digital innovation. My work directly contributed to millions in online sales, operational efficiencies, and streamlined development processes.

Driving Business Impact Through Design

• E-commerce Success: Spearheaded a digital initiative that generated over $5.5M in sales in its first two years.
• Operational Efficiency: Led design efforts that saved 7 FTE annually, eliminated 2,000+ development hours per year in email marketing, and reduced engagement time by 37 hours per M&A financial transaction.
• Scalable Solutions: Established a design system that streamlined product development and improved consistency across platforms.

What I Bring to the Table

My experience spans B2B, fintech, retail, e-commerce, and enterprise organizations with revenues exceeding $14B. I excel at building relationships, leading cross-functional teams, and solving complex UX challenges. Whether I'm optimizing workflows, designing financial platforms, or enhancing customer experiences, my goal is always the same: to create intuitive, human-centered solutions that align with business objectives.

I’m currently freelancing and seeking my next opportunity—a senior-level or leadership product-design role where I can blend design expertise, strategy, and collaboration to drive meaningful digital experiences.

Download My Resume

Soft Skills and Leadership

• Stakeholder Management: Building trust and aligning diverse perspectives to achieve goals, even in challenging environments.
• Excellent Verbal and Written Communication: Clear, concise messaging tailored to cross-functional teams and executive leadership.
• Change Champion: Advocating for process improvements and fostering a culture of Agile adoption.
• Workshop Facilitation: Leading virtual and in-person workshops that align teams, solve problems, and drive actionable outcomes.
• Leadership and Management: 5 years of formal management experience and 20+ years in informal leadership roles.
• Driving Organizational Buy-In:
  • Secured buy-in for user research in environments previously resistant to its value.
  • Successfully received funding to staff a dedicated design system team.
  • Educated executives on the strategic value of design and design thinking, fostering executive support.
  • Helped mature development teams towards a more advanced Agile practice.
  • Enabled engineering and product owners to recognize the importance of usability testing, resulting in better product outcomes.

Jesse strongly embodies the values of Curiosity and Collaboration. He always prioritizes the end-user’s view, helping create better experiences. Jesse’ s attention to detail and customer-centric approach make him invaluable to any agile team, driving the creation of more accessible, intuitive applications.

Hard Skills

• Agile Scrum Expertise: 5+ years of experience and formal training.
• Proficient in Atlassian Suite (Jira & Confluence) and Azure DevOps: Skilled in managing Agile workflows, creating detailed project documentation, and facilitating cross-team collaboration through custom dashboards, user stories, and knowledge bases.
• Figma Expertise: Certified by Maven; advanced prototyping, variants, variables, and auto layout skills.
• HTML, CSS, and Accessibility (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)): 20+ years of hand-coding experience, including this portfolio.
• Adobe Creative Suite: Mastery of Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and InDesign.
• Prototyping Tools: Figma and HTML, with prior experience in Axure, XD, and Sketch.
• UX Research: Discovery interviews and usability testing. Experience with mutiple usability testing platforms including UserTesting.com, Userlytics, and UserZoom.
• Social Media Marketing: SEO, SEM, and Google Business Profile management.
• Whiteboarding Tools: Skilled with Miro and Mural for collaboration.

Education, Certifications, and Training

• Bachelor of Science, Graphic Design: Art Institute of Pittsburgh
• Design Thinking Certification: LUMA Institute (Human-Centered Design Workshop)
• UX Certificate (UX Research and UX Management): Nielsen Norman Group (Credential ID: 1029207)
• Figma Certification: Maven (Level Up with Figma)
• Product Management Basics Certification: Pendo.io
• Accessibility Best Practices: Bureau of Internet Accessibility
• Agile Software Development: LinkedIn Learning
• Leading with Innovation: LinkedIn Learning
• Lean Technology Strategy (Series): LinkedIn Learning
• Starting Your Business Transformation
• Building High-Performing Teams
• Moving Fast With Defined Constraints
• DevOps Foundations: Lean and Agile: LinkedIn Learning
• Lean Foundations: LinkedIn Learning
• UX Research Certifications: LinkedIn Learning
• UX Research for Agile Teams
• UX Research: Going Guerrilla
• UX Research: Lean Experimentation
• Design Thinking Series: LinkedIn Learning
• Implementing the Process
• Prototyping
• Understanding the Process
• Venture Design
• Learning Brainstorming: LinkedIn Learning
• Learning Design Research: LinkedIn Learning
• Learning Design Thinking: Lead Change in Your Organization: LinkedIn Learning
• Stay Competitive Using Design Thinking: LinkedIn Learning
• frog's FEMA Disaster Relief Innovation: LinkedIn Learning
• Agile at Work: Building Your Agile Team: LinkedIn Learning
• Aaron Draplin Takes On a Logo Design Challenge: LinkedIn Learning