“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” – Joseph Campbell

A naturally creative soul with over two decades of user-centered design and information architecture experience, Michael has become a well-known and much sought-after user-centered design professional. His broad educational background (anthropology, history and language studies) and work in healthcare, advertising and research has prepared him well for his success in this vocation.

Michael believes that the keys to solving challenges great and small that we face in the world today can be found by enabling people with well-designed tools to engage with knowledge in efficient and meaningful ways. To such efforts he brings a natural empathy for others, a willingness to truly listen, a developed capacity for discovering pattern in disarray and an appreciation that innovation is nourished by common sense. His desire is to work learn and teach among others who are equally inspired and committed to solve perplexing problems in in healthcare, governance, economics, the environment and education by designing simple, yet powerful, solutions – and have a little fun along the way.

Michael currently makes his home in Chevy Chase, MD, from where he commutes to Washington, DC, in his role as Sr. Technology Analyst at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. In his (increasingly rare!) free time, his interests in travel, photography and anthropology may find him in Cuba, Costa Rica or Bolivia, where has spent more than a decade immersed in ancient Incan ruins, alligator-rimmed Amazonic rivers and some of Santa Cruz de la Sierra’s hottest (literally) boliches. But, first and foremost, he enjoys spending time with his wife Karla (when she’s not abroad on legal missions with the IMF…), and sons Matteo and Nicolas.

Education: BA in Anthropology — California State University, Chico

Research: Contextual interviews, focus groups, heuristic analysis, mental models, storymapping, user journeys

Skills: Agile, Lean UX, design thinking, data governance, data visualization

Tools: Axure, Adobe Creative Suite, Tableau, Sencha

Languages: English and Spanish

Affiliations: Association of International Product Marketing & Management, Usability Professionals Association (DC Chapter), American Anthropological Association