Most design orgs are being handed AI mandates before they've built the governance to use them responsibly.

I Turn Sticky Notes Into Strategy & Teams Into Forces of Nature

Where AI-first strategy meets human accountability.

UX Director & Design Leadership Strategist

The Receipts

Because "I'm a team player" doesn't cut it at this level

23+

Designers Who Don't Hate Mondays

Led across 3 companies

85%

UX Design Team Retention

spanning the globe

40%

Faster Cross-Team Collaboration

Actual time saved

1→3

User Experience Maturity raised

Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader 2026

What People Say

One of the best managers I have ever had the pleasure to work with. She is an excellent listener, a straight shooter, and a strategic thinker with an eye for creating and operationalizing great process.

I always felt heard, respected, and protected from any politics. She brings the team together and holds them accountable, all with a sense of humor that's hard to find. Any place that snatches Amber up is lucky to have her.

Amber either knows it, or she can quickly figure it out. In the end, she's about results.

Things I'm Unreasonably Proud Of

Strategic work that actually moved needles (and changed minds)

AI-ERA DESIGNOPS

98 Skills, 100% Design System coverage

Encoded Design System as an AI-readable Skills library so AI-generated UI follows design standards by default.

STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATION

Level 1 to Level 3 of the N/N Scale

Grew the design system, established DesignOps practice, contributed to Gartner Magic Quadrant

Built a distributed team spanning the globe from Spain to Portland, Oregon

Pattern library to full component system with a 7-person UX org

Transforming UX Hiring

Rewrote and reorganized hiring practices for the UX teams at Paychex & Logility

"Give me a stack of post-its and a handful of sharpies, and I can change hearts and minds."

What I Do Best

The trifecta of director-level UX leadership

AI-Era DesignOps Practice

Building the governance layer that keeps humans responsible for AI-driven decisions.

Building & Scaling Teams

From hiring and onboarding to mentorship and retention, I build teams that stick around and level up.

Strategic Design Leadership

Aligning design with business goals, building roadmaps, and making sure UX has a seat at the table.

Recent Thinking

writing about UX leadership and scaling design

Think we'd work well together?

Let's grab a coffee and see if our chaos is compatible.