Innovator / Designer / Leader

I turn complex operations into simple, shippable products that clients love 😍.

Painter-turned product/UX leader partnering with executives and PE teams to research customers, spot opportunities ✨ , build the offering (brand included), and launch with measurable outcomes 🏆 . I stay hands-on in design tools and with AI-assisted research. Known for moving fast, communicating clearly, and leaving teams stronger than I found them. 💪🏻

Professional Insights

Serve first, set high bars, make learning visible, credit the team, own the outcomes.

    • Pattern-finding in messy, regulated domains

    • Rapid discovery → testable prototypes → confident bets

    • Clear writing & executive storytelling that align stakeholders

    • Design systems and GTM enablement that actually get used

    • Hands-on with AI to speed research and synthesis

    • Product strategy

    • UX leadership

    • Research & synthesis

    • Design systems

    • Brand/experience alignment

    • GTM enablement

    • Energizing collaborator; raises the bar without drama

    • Comfortable leading teams or shipping independently

    • Process and deliverables evolve with evidence, not habit

    • Coach and mentor by example—craft reviews, pairing, playbooks

    • Customer-obsessed: who/why/what/when/where drives every decision

Clients

Recent Focus

Livingston
International

Joined to represent UX/design quality with external vendors for a major new product aimed at small businesses. This expanded into coaching, product innovation, program management, and customer research.

ROLE: IC + Initiative Lead • SCOPE: Research, strategy, and enablement

  • Design + UX oversight

    • Go to in-house consultant on all product deliverables.

    • Worked very closely with product, development and agencies to ensure world-class delivery.

  • Enterprise Personas

    • Partnered across all lines of business to produce extensive customer research

    • Produced six core personas aligning with executive leadership team

    • Rolled out a company-wide enablement program to drive adoption and proficiency focusing initially on sales, marketing, and product.

    • Outcomes: Single source of truth, team empowerment, clearer prioritization, and faster alignment from discovery to GTM. High praise from executive leadership.

Spotlight Projects

Happy Clients

  • Charlie is one of the most creative forces I’ve had the pleasure of working with. He’s amazingly talented at the intersection of customer and data with a tenacity for execution. Charlie’s a great team leader, collaborator and partner. Charlie has consistently delivered high value, competitively advantageous projects on time and on budget no matter the industry or company, which as a client sponsor I’ve really appreciated. Truly a gem to work with.

    Emily Ashworth, Operating Partner, Platinum Equity

  • Charlie knows what he's talking about but is a very willing collaborator. He listens and is able to present his opinions, ideas, guidance and direction in a congenial, easy-to-digest manner. On a project that is as deeply personal to an organization as its intranet, consultants who can become one of the internal team quickly and easily are prized. Charlie managed it

    Caroline Siemers, Communications, ActivisionBlizzard

  • Charlie is a gifted UX expert and site designer, focused on the perspective and experience of the user in all design projects, and insightful and personable in dealing with clients. He has lead projects for me at both OppenheimerFunds and Monster with exceptional results.

    Diane Frankenfield, SVP Marketing, OppenheimerFunds 

  • Charlie was a great colleague and I enjoyed working with him very much. He has a deep passion for user interface design and his work always showed a great attention to detail. Charlie is a trusted and reliable friend and colleague with whom I hope to work with again.

    Michael Menard, Program Manager, LivingSocial

  • Charlie's extensive experience and skills in a range of user-experience design disciplines made him an invaluable asset to our design team. He's incredibly upbeat and has an engaging persona that allows him to easily and effectively build relationships with team members and partners. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with him closely during his time at Bank of America.

     Dan Schwartz, SVP, User Experience, Bank of America

  • I found collaboration time with Charlie to be some of the most valuable of my career. He has an uncanny knack of considering multiple perspectives when solving a problem, but still staying on track to deliver what is best for the project and the team. He is flexible to what the situation dictates while still holding to core objects and keeping the product on track. I also found him willing and eager to take on challenges and responsibilities that were often outside his mandate, but still vital to the success of our project.

    Sean Lanning, Lead Software Engineer, Livingston International