In short
A passionate human centred designer (digital, UX/UI, and graphic) with years of international industry experience in Ireland, Holland, and New Zealand.
A full-stack web developer with a wide range of know-how in current tools and methodologies. Curious, continually learning and evolving, with strong AI fluency.
A good communicator, well organised, driven, with strong management and problem-solving skills.
A Kiwi, father, dog owner, with a full NZ drivers license.
Education
2003—2004
Masters of Design specialising in Type and Media
Full-time – postgraduate course in type design and typography at the Royal Academy of Art [KABK] in The Hague, Netherlands.
1993—1996
Bachelor of Media Arts majoring in Graphic Design
The BMA was a four-year full-time interdisciplinary degree, at the Waikato Polytechnic. The course encouraged collaborative study across many disciplines including painting, film and video, photography and multimedia studies.
2018—2018
Kura Po – Te Reo Maori
An evening Unitec course introducing Te Reo Maori at an intermediate level. Enriching and fun.
Technical skills
Figma, Miro, Adobe Creative Suite, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, Django, Docker, Nginx, Shopify, Wordpress, Wagtail CMS, CLI, Claude Code, Cursor, SQL databases, GitHub, Jira, and Agile.
Full-time
2023 until present
Product design lead at Xero
Leading design for a key AI agent and establishing foundational design patterns for Xero’s agentic experiences. Designing and researching a full platform solution for embedding third-party apps inside of Xero. Driving Figma capability uplift across design.
2020 — 2023
Product design manager at Xero
Building hybrid teams. Inspiring and leading designers. Bringing together cross-functional experts. Joining the dots. Removing barriers and nurturing a healthy team culture.
Highlights: running company-wide hackathons involving >200 designers across the globe. Experimenting with team structures: black ops team; Xero’s first multi-portfolio design team; seconding part-time designers from other teams; and contractors. Being a grad manager.
2018 — 2020
Product designer at Xero
Championing the user with human-centred UX/UI solutions and expert design direction, driving success for the Ecosystem team.
2015 — 2018
Creative and developer at Mount Deluxe
Lead on a variety of projects from start-ups to large corporate clients. Art direction, direct client liaison and project management. Responsible for all web development – full stack.
2007 — 2014
Creative, developer, and owner at Betsy
Formed Betsy as a design consultancy. A diverse range of commercial and self-initiated design and development projects in print and web, coupled with client liaising and business admin.
2005 — 2007
Designer at Typography and Other Serious Matters — Netherlands
Primarily worked with two large clients as a book designer on technically and statistically rich government publications. Coupled with a secondary website design, and development role.
2000 — 2003
Designer at Language — Ireland
Involved publication design, identity and brand development, web dev and consultation; design, pitch and print quotation; photographic direction.
Freelance
2008 — 2014
Creative and Digital Strategist at Port
Brought in to work on specific projects, campaigns, concept developments and studio pitches. Worked on projects for the likes of Auckland City Council, Auckland Transport, and NZTA.
2012 — 2016
Standup comedian
Not my day job, but I started working professionally after winning the Best new New Zealand comedian of 2013. Did ~140 shows during this period including, Sky City Theatre, International Comedy Festival and the Outspoken Festival in Wanaka.
2007 — 2013
Design Lecturer at AUT
Taught design to students of all years in the Department of Art and Design. 2007–2009, 2012 and 2013.
2009 — 2011
Design Lecturer at The University of Auckland
Taught third year fine art students with an interest in design and introduced first years to design based thinking.
2002
Lecturer at IADT — Ireland
Planned, wrote and delivered the 10 week Autumn School night class – Advanced Macintosh; Made an online portal for students to access all lesson plans, class notes and related documentation.