ABOUT ME
My career began with a heavy focus on worldwide research in Data Resiliency and has expanded to driving innovation for IBM's Watson IoT. Throughout this journey, I have enjoyed taking on many challenges to create new solutions for executives that meet the need for growing and maturing the practice of design. I enjoy the harder problems and challenges that push the boundaries and lead to innovation in the industry.
I love to travel and explore. Some of my best experiences in life have come from being open to sitting down and talking to people I don't know. Finding out about the local hangouts or events. Taking a chance, grabbing a taxi, and finding some of the hidden treasures that are out there. I love to find new wineries, good food, and live music. On the home front, I have four children, all have graduated from college and are starting their careers as young professionals. I'm always looking for something new to learn and participate in.
REFERENCES
June 2017 - January 2019
ANDREW THOMPSON
At IBM, the role of Design Director is not for the faint of heart. I’ve seen the spectrum, from your friendly neighborhood Design Director to the brutal Dictator of Design. Working under Deanna these past two years, I could tell she was something even better than the friendly neighborhood sort. Deanna deflected all unnecessary bureaucracy & processes while empowering each of our teams, & was an incredible mentor to boot.
In a place like IBM, where people put a big emphasis on the BM (that’s Business Machine, not the other thing you were thinking), Deanna always put the person first. You were never just a cog. Deanna made the role of manager & mentor seem effortless while simultaneously serving as a fierce user advocate, pushing our teams to expand the boundaries of each application.
There are few people in my career that I would jump at the opportunity to work with again, but Deanna is one of those few. If you’re in need of a business savvy, bridge-building domain expert who will elevate your design team, then Deanna belongs on your short list.
2008 to Current
WAYNE RILEY
I have worked with Deanna for many years on many different challenging projects. She is extremely talented in understanding the user needs and goals and turning that research into a user experience that delights the users. She has helped transform products that were not succeeding in the market into market leading products with her design skills. Deanna will not shy away from a challenge. She embraces the challenge, attacks it head-on, drives the team to achieve what is needed and takes ownership and pride in what gets produced.
2015 to Current
GORD DAVISON
I have had the privilege of working with Deanna for the past few years. I'm the profile-holding manager for her Watson IoT (Internet of Things) design team, whom she provides business direction to. Deanna is a passionate advocate of design, and --first and foremost-- worked closely with the Toronto design team to adopt effective Enterprise Design Thinking and other practices. She deeply understood the needs of different product teams and collaborated with each Watson IoT designer to help them achieve both personal and product goals. I was incredibly impressed with the attention to detail that Deanna demonstrated, and the degree to which she worked to understand the needs of each product, across a wide portfolio of products in Watson IoT. The Toronto Watson IoT designers were uniformly effusive in their praise of Deanna, and her willingness and enthusiasm to work with them so closely. Deanna also showed a great command of the business, and developed a design strategy that was realistic given the limited design resources and business realities in Watson IoT. She deserves credit for effectively harnessing the worldwide Watson IoT design team (which is spread across many different countries and time zones) in the service of that design strategy. It was a formidable challenge. On a personal note, working with Deanna was always a pleasure. She's honest and forthright, and a great collaborator. She's open-minded, and very keen to promote on-going skill development and growth among her designers. And in that sense, she certainly leads by example. Deanna is an excellent leader, who is empathetic to the needs of her designers and IBM customers, and sets an impeccable example for others to follow.
2015 to Current
XP CHEN
I worked with Deanna on Watson IoT Platform Services. Deanna isfully of energy and always looks for solutions. Her ability to stayfocused, simplify a real world challenge and come up with acreative design is very impressive.