My Story
I founded the design function at Benevity and spent seven years building the craft, systems, and leadership that helped take the company to a $1.3B valuation. I build teams, shape strategy, and make complex enterprise products feel intuitive.
B2C SAAS
DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
DESIGN SYSTEMS
PRODUCT STRATEGY
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
16x
TEAM BUILT FROM 1
$1.3B
VALUATION REACHED
13yr
ENTERPRISE DESIGN
Leadership approach
Design is a strategic act, not a finishing touch
01 · BUILD FLAT, BUILD TRUST
Small design teams serving large organizations need ownership at every level. Too many titles and hierarchies diffuse the sense of individual responsibility that makes design excellent in smaller organizations. I keep teams flat until the organization is mature enough to hear and act on a senior design voice.
02 · SYSTEMS ARE SOCIAL BEFORE THEY ARE TECHNICAL
A design system is only as strong as the relationships that maintain it. Engineering must see and feel the benefits. Designers should feel liberated, not constrained. The Figma files come later.
03 · CLARITY EARNS TRUST
In enterprise products, users don’t just need things to work: they need to feel like they work. Every interaction is a trust transaction. Great design in complex environments means removing doubt, not just adding polish.
04 · LEADERSHIP LEAVES A LEGACY
Alumni from the team I built at Benevity have gone on to senior roles at Dropbox, Shopify, the BC Government, and Jane App. That’s the real measure of what the work produced.
“My real impact has been in developing designers, influencing product direction, and building the operational maturity that lets teams move fast without breaking trust.”
— Jim Olson
FIVE STORIES OF STRATEGIC IMPACT
01
Building a Design Function from Nothing→
How I turned a single contractor into a 16-person design organization with research, systems, and craft at its core while helping Benevity grow to a $1.3B valuation. Read the story →
02
Skyline: The Design System as Social Contract→
Building Benevity’s design system required as much organizational change as it did design engineering. Read the story →
03
Missions: Doubling Adoption→
Shifting to smaller content releases, more often, drove 100% year-over-year growth in the newest addition to the Benevity platform. Read the story →
04
The Inspiration Engine: Becoming the Authority→
Leading content discovery and launch platform that reached 65% of Benevity’s clients monthly within three months and reinforced the company as the centre of gravity for corporate social impact . Read the story →
05
AbeBooks: Restraint Unlocks Ambition→
Many had tried and failed before me. The breakthrough wasn’t a bolder vision, it was a more precise one. How restraint unlocked what ambition couldn’t. Read the story →
Experience
2022–2024
Director, Product — Inspiration Engine
Benevity
2015–2022
Director, Product Design
Benevity
2014–2015
Senior UX Designer
AbeBooks (Amazon Subsidiary)
2006–2014
Independent Designer & Developer
AWITC — Royal BC Museum & others
Let’s build something people believe in.