Photo by Nick Bruno

Design leadership with heart, mind, and optimism

For 30 years, I have created successful relationships by connecting entrepreneurship, design education, and designers. My purpose is to help others discover their purpose, and to connect people with opportunity.

As Founder & CEO of PeopleWork Partners, I’m bringing a humane design lens to recruiting and leadership coaching. I’ve placed emerging leaders in roles at Target, Cisco, Netflix, OpenAI, Articulate, and other places you might not have heard of. Yet.

I consult with design teams on critique, culture, collaboration and ops practices — including early teams inside Sequoia Design Lab and Sutter Hill Ventures. I’ve held fractional leadership roles while recruiting for Bunsen Studio, and leading an integrated design team at MeetingPulse.

Previously, I was Chair of the Master of Interaction Design (MDes) program at California College of the Arts. I’ve taught, held workshops, given talks, and guest critiqued around the globe for 25 years. I’ve also led multiple chapters of AIGA, one of the oldest and largest networks in design.

Well before all of that, in 1997, I founded Schwadesign, a lean, holacratic design business, where I curated and led diverse teams for nearly 20 years. Together, our work was recognized by The Wall Street Journal, Rebrand.com, The Boston Globe, and other respected institutions.

My clients have included startups (iRobot, Regrello, Blend, Trinity Pharma), educational institutions (NYU, MIT, Harvard Medical School, Brown University), global enterprise (IBM, Salesforce, UBS, Wells Fargo, Accenture), cities (Providence, RI, and Bethesda, MD), non-profits (American Heart Association, Friends of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), and many more.

Every day I am driven by great pairings, trusting relationships, harmonious intersectionality, and very long bike rides.

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