Hi, I’m Sara

I’m a UX design leader with 12+ years of experience working on high-impact issues in complex industries like government & healthcare.

Currently, I help millions of Veterans manage their healthcare online as a senior designer for the VA's patient-facing health portal. I was previously part of the VA's Design System Governance Team responsible for ensuring a high-bar for experience quality, accessibility, and consistency.

I've worked with the GSA on expanding search.gov & helped the International Trade Administration spin up a 0-to-1 product that got early stage trade leads in front of U.S. businesses as fast as possible.

In a former life, I managed large-scale digital collections for cultural heritage institutions.

Areas of focus:

Design leadership

  • Strategic planning

  • Problem framing

  • Connecting with stakeholders early and often

  • Workshop and meeting facilitation

  • Breaking down siloes + aligning teams

  • Connecting dots

UX design

  • Wireframes + prototyping

  • Focus on holistic user journey

  • Generative + evaluative research

  • Visioning north star experiences

  • Information architecture

  • Omnichannel design

  • Service design + blueprints

Ops + governance

  • Design systems

  • Systems thinking

  • Component and pattern design

  • API logic modeling

  • Planning for scale

  • Developing standards

  • Documentation

About me:

The way for UX to lead is always through research. I like to help teams zoom out and focus on problem framing. Once we’re aligned on needs, problems, or user expectations, we can prioritize discovery and design ideas that will lead to outcomes that matter.

I have a bias toward ruthlessly simple, accessible, and human experiences that lower the cognitive load of decision making & enable more people to access products and services they need.

I live with my family in Nashville, Tennessee. I enjoy art, gardening, visiting museums, and digging holes in the backyard with my two little kids.

Upcoming talks: