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Hi. I’m Brian. A relentlessly curious product research & design leader. Scroll down to get to know me.

Testimonials

Human-Centered Leader

Until its acquisition, I was Head of Research and Design at StreamYard, a Hopin company. Previously, I helped build, scale, and lead the user research practice and team at Bumble. I’ve held positions at Etsy, Udacity, and Meetup. I designed and led a successful Product Discovery course for product managers and leaders and spent time as an entrepreneur, co-founding and directing an international experiential education company.

My Mission

To transform people and organizations by putting human needs at the heart of decision-making in order to deliver products people love.

Product Thinker

I believe that product thinking is the foundation of impactful product research and that it means more than just using “agile methodologies.” Properly applied, it requires a deep understanding of customers, the business, and product strategy across the end-to-end product development process combined with the ability to apply that mindset via cross-functional partnership and collaboration throughout problem and solution discovery and into delivery, which is where the magic happens when users experience—and the business captures—value.

Impact-Led UX Researcher & Strategic Partner

User research is more than just asking great questions and identifying impactful problems to solve. Its true power lies in enabling an organization to prioritize and execute on the most important opportunities, leveraging both qualitative and quantitative data. When we do that, the best measure of success isn’t research output but research impact.

User researchers drive the highest impact when operating as strategic partners. The partnership model best enables them to work proactively to create foundational understanding and empathy within a culture of continuous learning while providing their teams and companies with consistent signal to inform and direct each level of decision-making from strategic to tactical.

Builder

I deeply believe that the purpose of product research and discovery is to deliver tangible things that improve people’s lives. It is not about developing knowledge for its own sake.

You can try one of the things I made: Reflect Daily Habits. I built it to help people achieve positive long-term behavior change. Use it here or in a new tab.

Educator, Advisor, Speaker

I’ve guest lectured and spoken at schools like NYU and Fordham, advised at the University of Washington MHCI+D program, and helped launch Udacity’s in-person learning experience in NYC, serving as NYC School Director.

I designed, developed, and led a 5-week cohort-based course on Product Discovery for 100+ product leaders and practitioners and teach at La Nave Nodriza Design School in Madrid.

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You can typically find me in NYC or Spain :).