L O A D I N G

Microsoft

Principal Design Manager

Microsoft Teams and Skype product group
December 2016 – Present

Over the past eight years, I have been at the forefront in the Teams Core working on the Teams Platform. My role has been pivotal in shaping the AI Marketplace for Teams, M365, and Copilot agents. I have spearheaded the release and maintenance of the Teams UI Kit, Teams App Templates, and the M365 UI Kit, empowering developer and design communities to build innovative apps for the Teams Platform. The UI Kits are available on Figma Community.

My responsibilities have also extended to managing the Teams app bar, app installation, app discovery, app management, competitor analysis, prototypes, UX flows, research, user studies, user interviews, customer consultations, stakeholder presentations, and more. I have also managed the admin experiences with Teams Admin Center, enabling admins to manage the Teams product for their organizations. Part of my charter has also been the Teams Developer Platform, enabling developers to publish and certify apps within the Teams ecosystem.

My team has been instrumental in driving the success of the Teams product and beyond

Principal Designer

Microsoft Cloud
June 2015 – Dec 2016

I was part of Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure and Operations (MCIO), where I created compelling experiences that powered Microsoft Azure. I designed and shipped cutting-edge experiences that impacted our data center management, operations, supply chain, capacity, and forecasts. These tools enabled Microsoft product teams to understand costs, forecast capacity, and utilize cloud resources effectively, significantly impacting Microsoft's cloud deployments. In addition to my work in Microsoft Cloud, I made substantial contributions to Windows UX in the Operating Systems Group Design (OSG). I created user experiences across Microsoft IoT (Internet of Things), the Universal App Store, and the Xbox Game Ingestion and Distribution portals

Senior UX Designer

Microsoft IT
May 2013 – June 2015

During my tenure with Microsoft HR, I played a pivotal role in the success of several v1 products, earning recognition and awards from HR and IT leadership. I was honored with the FY14 Q2 Microsoft IT Excellence Award for "Delight the Customer," the FY15 Q1 Microsoft IT Excellence Award for "Delight the Customer," and the FY15 Q1 Microsoft IT Excellence Award for "Connect the Company." I provided design direction for new internal HR products such as ManageRewards, Promotions, Connect, Benefits, and Total Rewards.

I collaborated with core functional teams both locally and internationally, and created and managed the modern UX Style-guide (CFIT UX Style-guide for HR). Partnering with business program owners and other stakeholders, I gathered requirements and helped define the products. I was hands-on during all phases of the UX design process, including wireframes, mock-ups, redlines, research, prototypes, and production-ready designs. I collaborated with research, accessibility, and design integrators to create key production-quality prototypes. Additionally, I managed third-party vendors and participated in the hiring process

Cisco Systems

Senior Manager User Experience

Consumer Product Group
June 2010 – May 2013

• Hands-on UX manager of Cisco Consumer Products Design Group (Linksys, WebEx, and TelePresence)
• Collaborated with other functional teams (product management, engineering, and QA) to design next-generation web, mobile, and rich client applications that shape the future of collaboration. These interfaces solve complex interactions with elegance and simplicity
• Created intuitive and engaging user experiences for different high-end consumer products like Linksys Smart Wi-Fi, Cisco Lego, and Cisco Connected Home
• Managed a team of Cisco designers, including overseeing hiring, career guidance, scheduling, promotions, HR issues, training, and development
• Worked closely with product management to ensure high standards of usability, accessibility, usefulness, consistency, and clarity in design for our web and mobile products
• Produced layouts, user interface elements, wireframes, design specifications, and documentation (style-guides) for desktop, web, and mobile environments that benefit internal developers as well as third-party developers
• Designed cross-platform mobile applications like Linksys Smart Wi-Fi, Cisco Connect Express, and Cisco WebEx Mobile
• Led the design launch of Linksys Smart Wi-Fi ecosystem that engages hundreds of thousands of users on a daily basis and Linksys Developer Community ecosystem
• Conducted usability studies to analyze and incorporate user feedback into the design process
• Provided SDK documentation support
• Created graphics and icons used by marketing in packaging, web, and mobile app stores
• Created working prototypes used at tradeshows like CES and CTIA

Atigeo

Senior UX Architect

AI Platform - xPatterns
July 2009 – July 2010

• Assisted with overall architecture and design of web and mobile UI/UX
• Designed compelling user interfaces that are consistent across all products (web and mobile)
• Created visual interfaces from concept to finished for consumer portals like Lifepass.com, Atigeo.com, MyPageo.com, and Geogive.com
• Conducted focus group studies on UI and usability
• Worked with different functional groups such as business development and marketing, ensuring products are learnable, usable, useful, and aesthetically pleasing with a consistent look and feel
• Involved in product life-cycles creating new rich innovative features

Action Engine

Creative Director

Product & Marketing
August 2004 – July 2009

• Responsible for designing and developing all aspects of the company’s corporate and product image • Managed a team of designers and outside vendors to create cutting-edge designs that were delivered on time and on budget
• Collaborated with a variety of cross-functional teams including the executive, marketing, sales, and development organizations
• Conceptualized and designed the creative visual materials to quickly assist sales teams in delivering interactive presentations and proof-of-concept materials for a wide variety of prospective clients including Yahoo, Google, MySpace, Nokia, Qualcomm, Infospace, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, Time Warner, Walt Disney, FOX Sports, CBS, NBC, Capitol Records, Universal Music, Viacom, and Discovery Communications
• Developed user interface designs that balanced both usability and visual appeal for mobile applications running on a wide variety of mobile environments and operating systems: iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, MIDP, BREW, and RIM
• Worked directly with customer design teams to develop several consumer products in the market, including SpongeBob SquarePants iPhone application, MTV Mobile, VH1 Watch and Discuss Live Chat, AOL Mobile, TiVo Mobile, MSNBC Mobile, Sports Illustrated Mobile, Golf.com Mobile, and Dow Jones Mobile (The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and MarketWatch)

In addition, I managed the corporate image branding, collateral, tradeshows, print...etc. Provided creative direction to our marketing and sales leadership teams.

U.S. Department of Defense

Senior Visual Designer

Army Online Courseware Development
2001 – 2004

• Led a team of skilled graphic designers who produced state-of-the-art e-learning training courses for the U.S. Military
• Articulated ideas and designs without defensiveness, corresponding with client requests and government needs
• Used Adobe Flash, Photoshop, and Illustrator prototypes as tools to advocate and demonstrate alternative design solutions and propose new features to improve user interaction
• Worked closely with the development, quality assurance, and program management teams to implement quality into the courseware

Click2Learn

Lead Graphic Designer

eLearning Product Line
2000 – 2001

• Worked in the Strategic Marketing Department providing support for corporate branding and designing e-learning courseware for major corporate clients
• Created the design standards and navigation system for medium-large size projects and implemented new technical tools to enhance design work for the entire team
• Worked closely with executive management to inspire the development of innovative design solutions that met key business strategy and customer satisfaction goals
• Proactively addressed and solved difficult technical challenges that arose with new innovative design solutions
• Advocated and enforced consistency across documentation and design materials, including creation and use of Flash or static graphic templates, navigation, and usability features

Microsoft

Graphic Designer (contractor)

Microsoft Encarta
September 1998 – January 2000

• Designed new advertisement concepts for print media and the web while working under tight deadlines • Maintained product website, including integrating server-side programming, screen shots, branding prototypes, design metrics, icon development, and Flash user interfaces

Skills

Figma


Sketch


Adobe XD


Photoshop


Illustrator


In Design


Animate (Flash)
Dreamweaver


Premier Pro


HTML


CSS


Midjourney - Discord AI


Dall-E AI


Visual Studio Code

Awards

  • 2016 - Best Enterprise Experience - Microsoft Cloud
  • 2015 - Delight the customer - Microsoft IT
  • 2015 - Connect the company - Microsoft IT
  • 2014 - Delight the customer - Microsoft IT
  • 2013 - Delight the customer - Microsoft IT
  • 2009 - North America Best Interactive Media Handheld Device Application Design (VH1 Watch and Discuss App) - Promax/Broadcast Design Association

Education

  • Art Institute of Seattle - Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Graphic Design
  • Bellevue College - Advanced Multimedia Certificate
  • Adobe Training - Advanced Photoshop and CameraRaw Certificate
  • Microsoft InterTest Training School - Advanced Photoshop, Flash, and Web Development
  • Mesmer Studios Seattle - 3D Modeling in Maya, 3D Scanning, and Animation Certificate

Languages

  • Romanian - Fluent
  • Italian - Fluent
  • French - Beginner

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