The User Centric Team

Jillian is the Administrative Assistant for the Chicago Usability Studio and ensures the office is prepared and organized for any client need that arises.

Jillian has worked in a wide range of office settings and has exceptional, creative problem solving skills with an extensive background in customer service.

Feel free to ask her where to eat and what to see while in Chicago!

Liz brings a background in research, design, and cognitive psychology to bear on the challenging problems in the field of usability. Her strong organizational skills and thoughtful design approach have contributed to her successes in the fields of eCommerce, advertising, and medical research.

She is a member of UPA and IxDA.

Whitney has a broad research background crossing multiple disciplines. She has conducted quantitative and qualitative research in cognitive psychology, social psychology, and linguistics. She has also utilized field and social media ethnographic methods in linguistic anthropology research.

Her thesis work explored the psychology of social identity and the impact of social context on the human experience. This research sparked her passion to continue learning about the way humans interact with the many components of their environment.

As members of the User Experience Alliance (UXalliance) we have over 300 of the world's leading usability consultants available. Visit our Global Services page to learn more about the UXalliance and our members.

Mariya has an academic background in experimental social psychology, primarily focused on decision-making. Prior to coming to User Centric she worked as a Consultant Ethnographer. She conducted ethnographic consumer research for a wide range of products and services, producing actionable insights into customers' shopping habits and advertising effectiveness.

As a Senior User Experience Specialist, Melinda successfully executes challenging projects with a positive approach while maintaining perseverance and poise. The camaraderie of the consultant team keeps her energetic and stimulated throughout each endeavor, and working with a range of clients and users as well as the continual exposure to new fields, keeps Melinda fascinated by user research. With experience presenting usability results to top C-Level executives, Melinda has also led a range of projects from international healthcare-related usability tests to user-centered interface design. Recent projects have included creating a handheld device interface for a large fast-food chain, designing movie rental kiosk screens, and redesigning paper statements received by millions of US customers.

Melinda has a solid human factors research foundation with past experience in various areas of human factors and ergonomics including office environment design, aviation human factors, and transportation safety research. She has published and presented research at various professional societies and has been an active board member of the Chicago Human Factors and Ergonomics Society since 2009, helping to coordinate local industry-focused lectures and networking events.

Whether it's assessing usability studio IT necessities, setting up cameras, or editing video, Krys' film background compliments his various technology and usability lab undertakings. He is always adapting to changing priorities, remains flexible, and brings a fresh perspective to create new user research environments.

Proficient in both qualitative and quantitative environments, Terika's focus is getting to the heart of how people engage in the world and the things in it. Her experience includes conducting surveys, focus groups, and in depth one-on-one interviews through a wide variety of professional and academic formats and methods. With extensive analytic and methodological skills in tow, she has conducted user experience testing, evaluated behavior change and effectiveness, analyzed resulting data, and crafted directional recommendations and design improvements. Thriving on new challenges, she has evaluated products from video games and accelerometers to websites and mobile applications to counseling and support services.

Yvette's background is in Human Factors and Human Systems Integration research. She leverages her experience to explore and analyze interactions between users and technology.

Since becoming a member of the User Centric team, Yvette has been a part of several user research projects involving medical devices, touch screen interfaces, enterprise systems, and websites. She has experience conducting both summative and formative usability tests, as well as moderating focus group sessions. Prior to joining the company, Yvette was involved in researching first responder performance to analyze cognitive and motor decrements over time. This data was used to augment a modeling software database for military applications.

Ali spent his early academic career as an MRI/NMR physicist and electronic engineer, at the University of Oxford and Dartmouth College, and then eventually as an Application Scientist with an equipment manufacturer, servicing clients around the world. Ali then got involved in computing, and eventually founded a UK-based web development company in 1999, with clients ranging from public sector, academia, and industry; from various parts of the world, including the Arabic speaking part, as he is fluent in Arabic.

His keen interest in making sure technology works well for people led him to undertake a psychology PhD, focused on how people experience technology. His ability to have a deep understanding in both the technical and psychological aspects of technology gives him a unique opportunity for contributing to both aspects of design, and to bridge the gap between the users and the technology. Ali uses his experience and expertise to conduct industrial user research and design, and is also currently Visiting Research Fellow in the Digital Research Centre at the University of Surrey, UK.

Anke brings a variety of skills and experiences to User Centric. She has extensive training in a variety of research methodologies with a focus on ethnographic methods. She has lived in both Germany and France for extensive periods of time, giving her an awareness of differences in perception and behavior across cultural bounds. Before joining User Centric, she spent time working in government, in education and on various editorial and translation projects.

Since joining User Centric, Anke has worked on usability studies ranging from video games to medical devices.

Barb handles all things accounting and happily acts as a general go-to person for the team.

As a User Experience Analyst, Carrie approaches every user interface and interaction design project using sound methodologies in her creative process. Carrie has a core background in industrial design, and has experience creating unique solutions for improving existing and developing new products and patient-specific instruments in the healthcare industry. Comfortable applying streamlined, analytical user-centered design techniques, she has a strong interest in graphic design, medical device usability, customizing products and developing concepts for future areas of business.

Catherine is at the heart of User Centric. Managing all project sourcing and human resources she knows the who, what and where of all consultants at all times. Contact Catherine via email (chwang@usercentric.com) or phone (630.320.3900) for sales or proposal inquiries.

Conor's background is in Human Factors and Human Systems Integration research. Conor has a strong interest in emotive computing, augmented reality, and haptic feedback.

Prior to joining User Centric he worked as a defense contractor to develop, evaluate, and verify multiple cutting edge human machine and human computer interfaces for the United States Navy.

Fernando has always been interested in walking between the paths of design and research; he believes that it is very important to keep the research and developing phases well in mind when designing and vice versa.

Prior to joining User Centric, he worked as a User Interface Designer at the National Information and Communication Technology of Australia on an electronic healthcare informatics tool. He also worked as a UX/UI Research Engineer at The Cognitive Systems Engineering Laboratory (CSEL) at The Ohio State University where his main focus was to evaluate lightweight communication tools to enhance performance in ad-hoc teams for the Office of Naval Research. His previous experience includes 4 years of R&D Project Management for Procter & Gamble and Emerson Network Power.

Courtney brings a wide range of experience and skills to the User Centric team. Courtney has experience in both structured and semi-structured interview methods, ethnography, survey design and statistics. Recently, Courtney held the role of lead researcher at a consulting firm in Chicago, where she worked on a project that examined the use of electronics (specifically mobile phones), as well as a long-term project on healthcare supply chain logistics in the operating room.

While at the University of Chicago, Courtney conducted an independent research study on the use and attitudes that surround the adoption of mobile technologies, and how these devices impact our interactions while in public/private space and the practice of social etiquette.

As a User Experience Specialist, Dave applies heuristic analysis and conceptual design to achieve a practical approach to user experience research. He incorporates user advocacy and business-oriented quality improvement in all qualitative research engagements.

Dave brings over 20 years practicing leading-edge user experience research in a wide range of business sectors. Dave has intrinsically sound judgment applicable to commercializing next-generation technology. He has led projects ranging from premarket, consumer-facing products and services, to a broad spectrum of business process software and web-based eCommerce solutions.

In 1994, Dave formed an Atlanta-based consulting practice, Usability Management, that later partnered with The Usability Group, LLC. Dave was also part of the planning team that created the Usability Professionals' Association, and was elected to the initial Board of Directors by the membership.

Heather discovered her passion for conducting research as an undergraduate at Northwestern University, where she managed a research lab which studied college students' Internet use. Her expertise lies in the realm of the Internet, new media, and communication technologies, and she has extensive training in social and behavioral research methods. Her innate curiosity about how people interact with technology led her to the field of user experience research, where she enjoys participating in every phase of the research process.

Heather has a diverse research background with extensive experience in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Her professional experience includes research in healthcare, social and cognitive psychology, and non-profit management. She is skilled in survey design, one-on-one interviewing, focus group interviewing, and statistical analysis.

Prior to joining User Centric, Heather managed a clinical research program for a non-profit. She partnered with professionals in the medical and electrical communities to advance the treatment of electrical injury and to improve safety in the workplace. She is particularly interested in healthcare -focused research and finds contributing to studies that improve healthcare for patients and medical providers extremely rewarding.

Shailesh has a diverse background that allows him to offer a wide range of skills. Before arriving in the US in 2011, Shailesh was a Director of the largest User Experience consultancy in New Zealand. Most of his time was spent interacting with clients from a wide range of industries and helping them transform their organizations to deliver world-class customer experiences.

Shailesh enjoys being creative with methodologies, and taking on the challenge of multi-channel customer experiences. Having a commercial focus, Shailesh welcomes the challenge of coming up with pragmatic approaches that drive tangible business benefits for clients.

With a background in video analytics and independent film production Patrick is focused on utilizing image capture technologies to fuel user research. Prior to joining User Centric he designed and implemented video analytics systems for use in business practice improvement.

Pamela enthusiastically manages marketing strategy, public relations and social media for User Centric. Prior to joining User Centric, Pamela was a project manager and moderator for a market research consulting firm.

User Centric press inquiries: email pstoffregen@usercentric.com or call +1.630.320.3922.

Monica comes to User Centric with a wide range of skills including audience and market research, journalism, and audio production.

Prior to joining User Centric, Monica was Assistant General Manager and Programming Director for WRTE-FM in Chicago, where she developed bilingual, bicultural programming for the Latino market and developed training programs focused on teaching youth audio production, journalism and ways to incorporate new technologies in the development and research process of radio programming.

Since joining User Centric, Monica has worked on studies ranging from web interface interaction to medical devices.

Monica is a member of IAI, IxDA, ACM SIGCHI.

As a well-rounded User Experience Specialist, Kristin has several years of experience in the field and brings a multi-faceted perspective to each usability endeavor. Her credentials encompass a core background in computer science, an active involvement in multiple UX associations, and solid execution of usability and eye tracking research applications.

Leveraging her comprehensive problem solving skills, Kristin examines patterns of user performance to unravel deeper user experience challenges. She provides far-reaching knowledge comparing and testing out-of-box devices, software prototype packages, personalized web applications, and the mobile web. She has a solid history conducting usability studies, field observations, and interviews, and is comfortable moderating and improvising during test sessions. Kristin also has a keen interest for medical devices and healthcare software, specifically assistive technology and for children with disabilities.

She is a member of UPA, HFES and CHI, and a reviewer of conference papers.

Kate has a multidisciplinary background in the humanities, social science research, and multimedia design. She has conducted organizational feasibility studies for Internet2 in Texas, as well as research for a public technology access project at the Telecommunications & Information Policy Institute (TIPI).

Prior to joining User Centric, she designed websites and wrote web content for small press publishers and academic programs, and she spent several years in development and marketing for non-profit organizations. Kate has a special interest in ubiquitous computing and wearable computers, as well as the design of children's technology.

Kate is a member of UPA, IAI, and IxDA.

As an executive assistant, Jenny manages the administrative challenges of supporting User Centric. When she isn't busy scheduling travel arrangements for senior staff, Jenny taps into her excellent calendar management skills to coordinate usability test sessions between recruiters, consultants, clients, and participants.

Gene has 15 years experience as a user experience professional with strengths in interaction design, information architecture and usability. His clients have included Hallmark, Sears, Borders, Wilton, and Sallie Mae. He most recently was the human factors and user experience lead for a hemodynamics and electrophysiology cath lab recording solution at the angiography and x-ray division of Siemens Healthcare.

Jane Lea brings sound judgment and well-honed analytical skills to her credentials as a User Experience Specialist. With over 20 years experience as a curriculum specialist and special needs teacher, her psychology background and cognitive coaching methods have brought a fresh perspective to the user experience team.

Jane Lea combines her intrinsic leadership with her highly developed problem solving techniques to emphasize the importance of understanding user needs in all aspects of a project. With a keen passion for behavioral science and product development, Jane Lea particularly values the spontaneity of user experience research.

Since joining User Centric, she has conducted user experience research in the healthcare industry; usability research focused on ease of use, efficiency and effectiveness of interfaces; and planning and conducting usability studies, field observation, and interviews.

Rick first joined User Centric in 2003 when it was a five-person consultancy. After several years at User Centric, he left to work for a small software company as an interface designer but returned to User Centric because he "missed working on a variety of interfaces".

Rick has both an academic and industry background. He has over 25 years of experience in industry where he held technical and management positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Ameritech, and Infogix, over five years of experience in consulting with iXL (now Razorfish) and User Centric, and five years as a research fellow at the University of Pittsburgh. He holds several patents, and has written a number of journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers on a variety of topics including human factors, instruction, artificial intelligence, and cognitive psychology. Rick is currently an adjunct faculty member of DePaul University and North Central College, where he teaches courses on human-computer interaction and developmental psychology.

Kirsten's training in social science research methodologies includes ethnography, survey research design, and statistical analysis. She brings her experience in qualitative research and interviewing to User Centric, complimented by an editorial background that fostered strong writing and compositional skills. She is particularly interested in the contextual contributors to user experience, and enjoys going into the field to learn from users' everyday experiences, frustrations, and motivations.

Since joining User Centric, Kirsten has worked primarily with telecom clients on usability testing and attitudinal research.

Jackie has a background in Human Factors Engineering, which has embedded her with strong technical and design skills. With her research experience in healthcare and driving distraction, Jackie has a passion for preventing injuries by incorporating design and usability heuristics within interfaces and processes. Jackie is a complex problem solver with multidisciplinary experience in healthcare, education, athletics, automotive, public health, manufacturing, and human computer interaction.

As a marketing assistant, Erin's primary focus is executing User Centric's social media strategies in addition to marketing and public relations.

Heather's primary focus is the user research of small screen displays and handheld products. Much of her experience is with mobile phones and medical devices. She has investigated the user experience of these devices through usability tests, evaluations, hybrid focus groups, out-of-the-box studies, surveys, and longitudinal studies.

While with User Centric, she has managed many large-scale projects and conducted user research on a variety of products including mobile phones and accessories, handheld medical products, websites, software applications, and IVRs for industries such as telecommunications, medical, electronics, financial, and travel.

Heather is a member of HFES and UPA, has authored and coauthored various articles, and is a conference reviewer for both HFES and UPA.

Jared is proficient in gathering and analyzing qualitative data. He brings in experience from the fields of anthropology, sociology, and education.

His background in ethnographic methods has provided him with a wide range of skills that can be applied to user experience research and tries to incorporate culture into the analysis whenever it is applicable.

Since joining the User Centric team, Jared has been involved in studies related to digital cameras and televisions, medical devices, cell phones and other mobile devices, enterprise applications, storage management systems, and websites. Jared also enjoys getting his hands dirty in the name of research by going to where technology is actually used. Among other interesting things, Jared has been fortunate enough to ride along with cable repair technicians, watch physicians and medical staff interact with Electronic Health Records at their practices, and witness first-hand the immense multi-tasking and communication skills of fast food employees during a lunch-time rush.

Prior to joining User Centric, Ani's experience centered around interface design and user research for websites and web applications. One of her most notable past involvements was compiling results of a contextual inquiry study and producing design concepts for improving presidential campaign software. She also managed the web aspect of an award-wining startup that makes wireless communication devices coupled with a social networking component targeted to tween girls.

At User Centric, Ani has been part of numerous research and design projects spanning across many domains: medical, financial, travel, retail, and entertainment. She has usability tested different forms of interaction (medical devices, mobile devices, TV stations, computer systems). Her involvements range from small to large-scale user research projects of qualitative and quantitative nature as well as remote user research, such as card sorting and remote usability testing. In addition to research, Ani helps clients with interaction design for both web and mobile environments.

As a User Experience Specialist, Kirsten's methodical approach is perfectly suited for developing intriguing research projects, analyzing data, and designing unparalleled solutions. Equipped with core engineering credentials and an intuitive passion for problem solving, Kirsten's enthusiasm for research spans from usability testing to information architecture. Harnessing her exceptional analytical flair, Kirsten's strengths lie in facilitating, organizing and leading one-on-one usability studies and online surveys.

Kirsten has a diverse history of projects in areas ranging from e-commerce and consumer facing websites, to skincare products and handheld devices. Above all, Kirsten enjoys tackling UX challenges related to healthcare and health information technology, particularly projects that directly impact both patients and healthcare providers. Her healthcare endeavors include user experience research for personal health records and electronic health records and usability testing of various medical devices.

Paxton has a strong background in user research, interface design and computer science. He is particularly interested in cutting-edge touch, motion, and augmented reality user interfaces.

Prior to joining User Centric, he developed and tested applications for a budding social networking service, designed and managed several academic websites, and helped a small business implement technologies to increase month-end efficiency, sales, and collaboration.

Since joining User Centric, Paxton has been involved in a wide range of projects including medical devices, touch screen interfaces and interactive web applications.

Piya taps into her computer science background to fuel her passion for user experience research and user-centered design. Her unwavering concentration allows her to understand user interaction with various technologies and simultaneously address a client's business objectives.

Comfortable with managing global research and design projects, she strives to uncover device limitations, and challenges herself to help people overcome user frustration. Piya specializes in performing expert evaluations and applying insight from user experience research to improve workflows and practical design applications.

Leading a close-knit team of consultants, she works across multiple sectors, including mobile devices, touch screen interfaces, consumer electronics, websites, ERP applications and call center applications. Piya's main interests, mobile technology, e-learning environments and navigation systems, keep her on her toes throughout every user experience venture.

She is a member of the UPA and HFES.

Korey's background is in research design, methodology, and analysis. He is particularly interested in the usability of user authentication mechanisms, and is the co-inventor of a patent-pending graphical user authentication mechanism.

Prior to joining the company, Korey was an intern for the Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) team of DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology North America where he evaluated driver distraction, navigation systems, and icon design.

With User Centric, Korey has worked with clients in a variety of industries on projects related to medical packaging, mobile device UI, IVR design, and website / web application UI design. He has experience conducting and analyzing summative usability tests as well as focus groups and tests of a more qualitative nature.

Korey is an active member of HFES and has published and presented several papers at HFES conferences.

Martin's interests lie in both UI design and user research within the retail and consumer goods industries.

He brings much experience in interviewing techniques to the arena of user research, along with extensive training and consulting experience in research methodology and quantitative analysis.

Since joining the team, Martin has conducted user research on consumer electronics, retail and financial web applications, and e-commerce websites. His recent work has concentrated around IA, UI design, and rapid prototyping for large scale web applications.

Martin is a member of many professional organizations, including APA, ACM CHI, and IXDA.

As a Senior User Experience Specialist, Jess has designed, managed, and moderated large-scale and international usability studies, including user testing, card sorting, focus groups, expert evaluations, and eye tracking projects.

Drawing on her diverse experience, Jess has conducted mobile consumer research, website information architecture, and usability testing with touch screen interfaces, smart phone applications, and healthcare devices. She has managed a variety of usability evaluations and applied interaction design methodology across multiple industries, including healthcare, e-commerce, mobile device and software, non-profit, travel, energy, and media/communications.

Jess also has a strong interest in operational efficiency and extensive knowledge of database, CRM, and project management software. She has initiated, planned and executed several programs to increase User Centric's efficiency and effectiveness. Her favorites include User Centric's knowledge management system, auto-magic Excel workbooks, and organizing days for staff (e.g. build a chair day, create office art day, Habitat for Humanity day, etc.)

Todd comes to User Centric with a wide range of skills including user research, multimedia design and production, and technology education.

He has spent extensive time working for community development and education projects in West Africa and Southeast Asia. This gives him a unique perspective on how designs are perceived in emerging markets and the implications of western design beyond the intended user.

Since joining User Centric Todd has worked on projects ranging from a needs assessment of medical devices in India, to redesigning mobile-optimized automobile websites, to testing classroom software for K-12 students.

As one of the company's founders, Gavin has been instrumental in shaping User Centric as the premier firm in the industry.

Gavin's 20 years of experience in corporate and academic environments have given him a strong foundation in user-centered design and evaluation. In addition to managing the company, he holds particular expertise in mobile technology, healthcare, and global research projects.

Prior to co-founding User Centric, Gavin was president of an Internet start-up, principal at a web development company, a member of Ameritech's Human Factors group, and Director at another user experience research consulting firm. He is a frequent presenter at national conferences and the inventor of several patents.

Gavin is an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University. He teaches a graduate-level class on Usability Evaluation Methods. He is also a lecturer on faculty at Management Center Innsbruck where he teaches on advanced HCI for their masters program. Gavin recently joined Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine as an adjunct faculty member.

As User Centric's first point of contact, Dena cheerfully assists clients and consultants, wearing many hats to make sure testing runs smoothly.

As Managing Director and co-owner, Bob has helped the firm grow from a small four person user research consultancy to one of the largest firms of its kind in the world, conducting more than 140 projects a year. He holds several patents, and has written dozens of professional and academic papers. In 1996, Bob authored and released the Ameritech Graphical User Interface Standards and Design Guidelines which are still influential in both their form and content. Bob developed an interest in improving user performance in high-workload environments. He spent several years researching, designing, and testing enterprise applications for dozens of contact centers including several Fortune 50 companies.

More recently, Bob has become influential in how usability is applied to health information technologies. He has authored several papers on usability criteria in the EHR selection process. Most recently he has co-authored a document that focuses on usability testing and evaluation of EHR systems. Part of a federal effort, led by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), the NIST Guide to the Processes Approach for Improving the Usability of Electronic Health Records(NISTIR 7741) serves as guidance for EHR vendors on how they can approach usability and how to report usability test findings. He has also conducted research and published several studies on the usability of and factors affecting adoption of PHRs. A member of the National Research Council’s Committee on the Role of Human Factors in Home Healthcare and Co-director of the Program on Usability Enhancement in Health Information Technology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Bob has been actively involved in developing usability criteria for these systems and is often called on to lend his expertise on the usability of this technology.

Bob is the editor of the Handbook of Global User Research (2010) published by Morgan Kaufman, serves as CEO of User Experience Ltd., the first foreign-owned user research firm in Beijing, China, and was one of the driving forces behind the formation of the UXalliance. He has been invited to speak on user experience and user research at national and international conferences in North America, Europe and Asia.

In more than 20 years of professional experience, Bob has held technical and management positions at Bellcore, Ameritech, Belgacom, Universal Access, and User Centric.

Responsible for establishing the eye tracking practice at User Centric, Aga has been focusing on integrating eye movement analysis into traditional UX research to obtain actionable insights used to improve products and make business decisions. Aga has more than ten years experience with various types of eye trackers that she has used to conduct studies with software applications, websites, instructional material, pharmaceutical labels, and product packaging.

Aga is currently writing the first how-to book about eye tracking for UX practitioners, Eye Tracking the User Experience, A Practical Guide, to be published by Rosenfeld Media in 2012. She is also a Co-Managing Editor of UPA's User Experience magazine and an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University, where she teaches a graduate-level class on usability evaluation methods.

As a visual designer, Kerrie looks to improve on the usability of applications and products from a graphics perspective, involving color, contrast, placement and style.

She's most interested in constantly evolving User Centric's work to compete with the most modern aspects of software and web design. Kerrie is also interested in incorporating movement through graphics and animation to create interactive environments that are easy to use.

Before joining the User Centric team, she worked for Lucent Technologies doing interface design and standardizing icons and software. She was also with Human Factors International for 6 years as a Visual Designer. While with User Centric, Kerrie has worked on projects for various companies involving Web sites, interactive table examples and package design.

Jeff makes the impossible possible when it comes to setting up test labs. Utilizing his wide range of IT experience and applying it to the user research environment, his tech support always exceeds client and consultant expectations.

Mike has been both a developer and a designer, and is proficient in reducing the tension that can develop between designers' ideas and developers' practicalities.

Prior to joining User Centric, he worked with Time Warner Cable in software development, co-owned and managed a Web design firm, and designed a podcasting Web service and recording software.

While working with User Centric he was one of the creators of several patented concepts, and has created designs for Web sites, applications, and packaging for various enterprise companies.