PROFILE:

A design leader with extensive experience shaping large-scale consumer and enterprise platforms across ecommerce, telecommunications, gaming, media and Fintech. Proven track record of building high performing design organisations, leading digital transformation, and delivering commercially successful products at scale for brands including Amazon, Vodafone, Betfair, Capital One, Saint-Gobain and currently PokerStars. Experienced executive partner to product, technology, and commercial leaders, with a strong reputation for inclusive leadership and mentoring designers. A regular conference speaker in the UX and technology industry. 

  

KEY SKILLS:   

• Define and implement a digital user experience strategy across a company 

• Recruit, manage and mentor multidisciplinary teams across UK and International locations 

• Executive stakeholder influence & change leadership

• Research led design and experimentation using AB, MV testing, user research and data measurement

• Partner with product and development teams to launch new and improve existing products 

• Create prototypes and user journeys for user testing and demonstrating design concepts 

• Champion and implement accessibility WCAG standards and best practices  

• Build and maintain design systems and style guides for brand governance and efficiency

• Application of AI to enhance design, research and team effectiveness

• Agency, vendor & partner management

  

CAREER HISTORY: 

Current:  

Flutter Entertainment - PokerStars - Associate Director of Product Design  

January 2024 - Present

• Owned the end-to-end product design strategy for PokerStars 

• Managed a diverse, multi-skilled UX team to deliver large scale projects 

Built a design community and design leadership team, restructured the design team to run effectively and efficiently. Built the PokerStars design system and team to support the delivery of the PokerStars network working with Flutter international brands Betfair, Sisal and FanDuel. Lead a global research vision project to reimagine poker for 2030+. Member of the Lean in Women’s network and mentor for The Ethnic Future Leaders program.

  

Previous: 

Stark Building Materials - Director of User Experience 

December 2022 - December 2023  

• Led the UX strategy for Stark Building Materials UX 

• Brand guardian for Stark Building Materials UK 

At Stark I continued to lead the User Experience for Jewson.co.uk optimising existing and developing new features for their digital products and services for their customers and branch colleagues. A successful feature was the launch of online payments, taking £4.8 million in the first 5 months. As Stark Building Materials UK brand guardian I implemented the Stark rebrand project across multi-channels for all digital platforms and branches including the corporate and intranet websites. 

 

Saint-Gobain - Director of User Experience 

December 2018 - December 2022  

• Defined and embedded a unified UX strategy across Saint-Gobain UX 

• Built a high performing multi-skilled UX team 

Worked on a huge digital transformation program across the Saint-Gobain building distribution and manufacturing brands in the UK portfolio, transforming a traditional offline, B2B focused business into a digital one. Designed Jewson.co.uk, Graham and British Gypsum onto a new e-commerce platform, generated 15 million in revenue in its first year in 2020. A founding member of the Saint-Gobain Women’s network and a qualified Mental Health First Aider promoting well-being at work.  

  

 

Capital One - Digital Design Director   November 2016 – November 2018  

• Owned the digital design strategy across Capital One’s regulated financial products

• Managed a multi-skilled UX team to deliver large projects  

Built a highly skilled centralized UX team across London and Nottingham, integrated the Creative marketing design function into the design team with an annual cost saving of £1million. Redesigned the customer account area resulting in an increase of 10% of customers self-serving.   

  

 

DMG Media - Daily Mail Newspapers - Head of User Experience   March 2014 – October 2016  

• Defined a UX strategy across DMG’s portfolio of high traffic media and ecommerce products 

• Built and scaled a team of multi-disciplinary designers, introducing user research capability  Worked across a multitude of departments for DMG’s portfolio of ecommerce sites and apps. Key projects delivered were a new Mail Travel site which drove a 20% increase on online bookings and redesigned the Daily Mail Newspapers loyalty programme MyMail, acquiring 80,000 new users. Restructured the UX team introducing a user research function and supported this by building a usability lab.  

  

Betfair - Head of User Experience   

October 2010 - February 2014  

Lead the user experience across Belfair’s global and multi-channel sports and gaming products. Restructured the large user experience team to run more efficiently and effectively across 4 countries. Key projects included the award-winning iOS Sports app and Sports book acquiring 200,000 new customers within 3 months of launch in February 2013.

 

Vodafone.co.uk – Design Manager June 2009 - October 2010 

Managed and mentored a team of UX designers and content writers. Lead the UK site redesign and redesigned the online store experience to increase conversion by 5%. 

  

Man Investments - User Experience and Design Manager (Contract)  

January - March 2009  

Established a UX team in Switzerland to redesign the Man Investments website. 

  

Hutchison 3G - User Experience and Design Manager 

August 2007 - January 2009  

Owned the user experience across 3’s mobile products and built the user experience team. Redesigned 3’s mobile portal and website three.co.uk.

 

Amazon.com - European Design Manager 

October 2000 – July 2007 

Hired as Amazons first UK based designer. Built the European design team across France, Germany, and UK. Developed a consistent user experience across Amazon’s European web sites. 

 

Yell - Design and Online Brand Manager 

June 1987- October 2000  

Worked on the Yellow Pages book and the Yell.com website. Recruited and built the Yell design team. 

  

EDUCATION:  

Gloucestershire College of Higher Education, Faculty of Arts 1984 -1986  

STUDIED: B.A. Hons Fine Art specialising in Sculpture  

Harrow College of Higher Education, Faculty of Arts 1983 - 1984  

STUDIED: C.N.A.A. Diploma in Art Foundation passed with distinction  

QUALIFICATIONS: Swakeleys Girls Secondary School 1976 - 1983  

4 'A' Levels - English Literature, Art, History and Sociology and 11 '0' Levels  

  

INTERESTS:  

Involved in the UX industry both speaking at and arranging industry events. I mentor and coach designers. I enjoy travelling, visiting art galleries and theatre, my hobby is making ceramics. I’m also a keen runner.