Speakers

Patrick Anderson has over 25 years of experience in IT and Technology, specializing in cloud computing, cloud economics, data strategy and analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), program and project management, agile transformation, and organizational change management. He holds numerous certifications, including Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Agile Scrum Master, and Generative AI Solutions with Azure OpenAI Service
Patrick has impacted organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 30 companies and has extensive experience in the retail industry. Throughout his career, Patrick has formed alliances and channel teams focused on Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform. He has also authored four partner playbooks for starting a cloud alliance with Microsoft.

Patrick frequently presents on IT/Cloud Strategy, Cloud Cost Optimization (FinOps), and AI integration. He has been involved in various AI-related projects, including the development of AI policies and the implementation of Microsoft Copilot and Agentic AI solutions recently.

Yaqub Baiani is the Head of Consumer Digital Product & Design at 7-Eleven, Inc. Yaqub leads the digital ecosystem for all customer facing products including 7-Eleven App, 7NOW App, Speedway App, 7Rewards, SpeedyRewards, 7-Eleven Gold Pass, R&D, Mar-Tech & RMN, Digital Wallet, Mobile Checkout, Fuel Loyalty, Digital Operations and more. In his role, he is responsible for building and launching new digital experiences, features and capabilities for both customers as well as franchisees. Those experiences help to grow the overall member base, scan rate, merchandise sales, basket size, repeat customers and customer satisfaction.

Prior to joining 7-Eleven, Yaqub was Sr. Manager of Digital Product Management at Capital One where he led Machine Learning and the At-Home experience for the flagship product, Auto Navigator. Yaqub has an extensive background creating meaningful product experiences by leveraging human-centered design, customer back problem solving, journey mapping, blueprinting and digital innovation. Yaqub is enthusiastic in creating a truly best-in-class experience across 7-Eleven to really WOW customers.

Yaqub is an avid traveler, has a passion for JDM cars, and his favorite place to visit is Japan. Yaqub holds an MBA in Business Management and Operations Management from St. Edwards University in Austin, TX & a BA in Business and Chemistry from Austin College in Sherman, TX.

Chris is a Chicago-based multidisciplinary UX designer with more than a decade of working on digital products. Starting his career in writing, content strategy was his gateway to the wider world of user experience. He is passionate about understanding problems deeply, solving problems collaboratively, and fostering group learning through workshops and user research. He has worked in education, healthcare, and the grocery retail industry and holds an M.S. in Human Factors from Bentley University. As a past resident of Texas, he attended Big Design as his first UX conference in 2016, and he is excited to join its return as a presenter.

JD Charest is a Manager at Protiviti’s Business Process Transformation practice, where he focuses on delivering impactful Copilot and Azure Cloud solutions to clients, addressing emerging business needs with innovative strategies. With a strong background in AI Adoption, Cloud Migration, and Cloud optimization strategies, JD frequently speaks to organizations on these transformative topics.

His extensive experience spans working with various organizations across multiple sectors to deploy, maintain, and govern infrastructure effectively. JD’s expertise in these areas is further backed by a Master of Engineering in Cloud Computing Management from George Washington University. 

Justin is an internationally renowned design leader, author, and speaker from Chicago.

A perpetual student of design, Justin is ever-evolving in his craft and its infusion with the digital landscape. Medium-agnostic in approach, he leverages the same core set of values across practice (culture), process (craft), and product (output)—with the belief that “connection” is at the heart of it all.

He speaks internationally on culture and design, including keynotes at the UXPA International Conference, Midwest UX, and St. Louis Design Week. Justin is also the writer of the celebrated books “Creative Culture: Human-Centered Interaction, Design, & Inspiration” and “In Fulfillment: The Designer’s Journey,” a former VP of Design at CVS Health, and the founder of agency Anomali by Design.

You’ll find him often engaging with the AIGA’s speaking events, interviewed in Forbes magazine and Medium’s Forge publication, and penning articles for Aquent, CEO World Magazine, and A List Apart.

David Dewane is an architect, entrepreneur, and Chief Experience Officer (Physical Space) at geniant, dedicated to designing environments that promote human flourishing. With a background in ecologically and socially equitable design, David is advancing workplace experiences by applying innovative service design thinking to architectural spaces.

Liz’s experience spans Fortune 100 enterprises, startups, and consultancies. In each environment, she used her skills as a professional researcher to facilitate individuals, teams and organizations to a collective understanding of their key challenges, how to improve experiences, and leveraged individual’s unique strengths for collaboration that generated meaningful results.

At Cisco Systems, she built a design research practice and served as a leader on a 60-
person design team, influencing priorities, programs, and team culture. By prioritizing
for the organizational goals, she defined key results, expanded team capabilities by
hiring and retaining talent, and developed individuals from entry-level to senior
leaders and people managers.

Now, as an experienced leader, certified professional coach credentialed by the International Coach Federation, and professional researcher, Liz works with individuals at companies such as Google, Amazon, Cisco, Ford, and USAA to build confident leaders and compassionate cultures that enable teams to do their best work. 

Jess DuVerneay is a Principal Consultant at RESPEC with a focus on product strategy, design, and user experience/user interface (UX/UI). She leads user experience research, strategy, information architecture (IA), UX design, and UI design. Leading organizations and teams that turn strategy into logical, useful, human-centered products is her favorite thing to do. 

Jess has worked with clients and led project teams in complex and diverse domains, including municipalities, federal government, research institutions and national labs, higher education, private industry, and healthcare. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the field, led the first World IA Day, co-chaired the 2015 IA Summit, and speaks/teaches at UX/IA conferences. She prides herself on being humorous, smart, organized, dependable, and down-to-earth.

Greg Hunter is a Director at Protiviti in our Digital Solutions Group helping clients build digital strategies that drive profitable revenue growth across the digital ecosystem. Greg is an accomplished and seasoned marketing and advertising executive and client leader who brings a unique blend of client-side (Microsoft), platform, agency, and media experience (Razorfish, Wunderman Thompson, and Google). He’s growth minded and creative with extensive experience developing strategies that drive results and revenue streams. Proven ability in leading, developing, and building high-performing teams driven toward lasting client relationships, award-winning client successes, customer and brand experiences. 

Ben is a seasoned marketing professional with over 20 years’ experience in the financing industry. His proven ability to comprehend complex products and develop strategies for execution and adoption, have led to a successful career in digital marketing.

Ben is the Chief Marketing Officer at GM Financial, the captive automotive financing company for General Motors. Ben utilizes his ability to listen and understand the unique challenges within the industry to develop B2C and C2C strategies that put the customer first.

Ben joined GM Financial in 2015 to lead and develop our digital Product Management capabilities. After forming the team, his responsibilities expanded to include Product Marketing, supporting Dealer Services, CX and Servicing, leads and direct mail programs, OCA, social media, and paid media.  Over the course of his time at the company, Ben has built a reputation as a trusted and respected leader both within Marketing and across the organization.

Prior to joining GM Financial, Ben held numerous marketing and product roles at LendingTree, Wells Fargo and Ally, where he led product and marketing strategy across mortgage, deposits, automotive and social media areas.

Ben is happily married and has a young daughter who keeps him busy during his time away from work.  Ben and his family reside in Dallas, TX.

Nate Jones is a curious and enthusiastic creative leader dedicated to making exceptional work and inspiring fellow creatives to embrace new adventures. With a strong belief that most problems can be solved through great design, Nate combines research, craft, open collaboration, and boundless creativity to drive meaningful impact. His creative career spans disciplines across graphic and brand design, film and television production, motion graphics, illustration, entertainment, and UX Design. He has helped shape brands and drive growth for clients such as Cavender’s and Deloitte, while contributing to and leading teams at Pizza Hut, Capital One, Fidelity Charitable, and Sabre. Nate is passionate about mentoring others, fostering creative growth, and building high-performing teams that deliver outstanding results.

Warren Kabuchi is a Senior Consultant at Protiviti, specializing in Cloud and AI solutions. With a B.S. in Data Science from the University of North Texas, he brings technical expertise in Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, data analytics, DevOps, and machine learning. Warren has led impactful projects across marketing, manufacturing, energy, and supply chain sectors, including developing a information retrieval applications, building secure Azure infrastructure, and driving cloud cost optimization strategies. He holds certifications from AWS, Microsoft, and DeepLearning.AI, and is passionate about using AI to solve real-world problems.

Mike Linneman leads AT&T’s product design team shaping the future of consumer experiences across 5G wireless, multi-gig fiber internet, and beyond. His team’s work supports over 120 million wireless customers and 30 million fiber-enabled households—products that collectively drive 80% of AT&T’s earnings (EBITDA).

In addition to enhancing current products and services, Mike’s team pioneers net-new products and businesses projected to generate over $1 billion in unplanned revenue and operate like startups within the enterprise.

By always collaborating closely with product, marketing, technology, and operations to deliver human-centered solutions that exceed customer expectations—his team ensures design plays a strategic role in product strategy and ensuring business outcomes.

Jennifer Keene-Moore is a UX Product Lead at United Airlines. She has worked in the telecom industry, banking and finally the travel industry. She has been interested in the changing needs of users as they age and spoke at Big D in 2018 on Designing for Grannie.

Preston McCauley is an AI, UX, and immersive technologies expert with over 25 years of experience designing human-centered AI systems that enhance creativity, productivity, and user engagement. As the author of “”Generative AI for Everyone: A Practical Guidebook,”” he specializes in making AI approachable and demonstrating how professionals in nearly any field can integrate AI as a creative companion to enhance their work.

With deep expertise in generative AI, large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP), and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR), Preston has developed AI-powered solutions for research, fraud detection, usability testing automation, and adaptive learning across industries ranging from healthcare to enterprise design. He has led AI-driven innovations in product development, spatial computing, and data-driven decision-making, helping organizations translate cutting-edge technology into real-world applications. As a leader, he excels in scaling AI teams, developing transformative products, and designing intelligent systems that enhance human potential.

Hannah Moeliono is a product and service designer at JP Morgan Chase, focused on designing human-centered solutions that make a positive impact. A recent graduate of the University of North Texas, she has experience in financial services and B2B SaaS.

Lauren Parr is a UX Principal working in the Healthcare industry for Baylor, Scott White and prior to that for Stellus RX. She is a strategist with strong skills in service design. She is particularly good at finding insight in chaotic systems.

Neelam Prasla is a Senior Manager based out of the Dallas Protiviti office. She has a background in software

implementations and streamlining client operations. In previous roles, Neelam has worked on projects

for enterprise and midsize organizations, helping clients onboard onto new or updated software to help

clients accomplish their business goals and objectives. Recently, Neelam has been involved in developing persona-based models to foster and expand Copilot adoption within organizations.

Gillian Salerno-Rebic is the Co-Founder of north & forman, and serves as a Board Advisor & Marketing Strategist for WEVO. She is an accomplished professional with over 10 years of experience in Design Thinking, UX research, and management consulting. She has developed deep expertise in optimization, strategy and process design, product and space design, interviewing, ethnographic research, data analysis, and storytelling. Gillian’s mission is to shape human experiences that change lives by leveraging Design Thinking frameworks, qualitative insights, and quantitative data. She has managed insight generation for website redesigns, process improvements, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, among others. A seasoned storyteller, Gillian excels at synthesizing and presenting complex concepts and solutions to diverse audiences and stakeholders. She is passionate about empowering and developing teams and individuals, acting as a ‘player coach,’ and collaborating with both internal and external partners to deliver user-centered outcomes.

Libby Spencer-Johnston is the Senior UX Manager for AI, Enterprise, and Research Operations at United Airlines. Her career in user experience began with a journalism degree and a knack for web design and development, leading her to roles with a range of organizations-from start-ups at Chicago’s 1871 incubator to enterprise work at Allstate and United Airlines. Libby’s research background sparked her passion for understanding and communicating user empathy and behavior, which now informs her work across the employee ecosystem at United. She leverages her strengths in process examination and problem-solving to address underlying challenges and improve experiences at scale. Libby’s unconventional path to UX has shaped a career that is both a profession and a passion, allowing her to drive impactful, user-centered outcomes through collaboration, empathy, and strategic insight.

Andy Vitale has a track record of fostering design excellence and shaping teams into organizational powerhouses that develop design into a competitive advantage. Most recently, Andy served as Chief Design Officer at Constant Contact, where he led the design organization of the digital marketing and automation platform. He was previously the EVP, Design at Rocket Companies, the nation’s premier mortgage lender; and GVP, Head of Design at Truist, one of the largest banks in the U.S.

Renowned for his authentic and inspiring talks on design leadership, design maturity, and responsible design, Andy has spoken at over 100 global events, including SXSW, Adobe MAX, and the AIGA Conference. He holds a Master’s Degree in User Experience Design from Kent State University. Andy is a Founding Member of the Design Executive Council and an advisory board member for Kent State University and University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Dana Walter is a seasoned UX leader with a passion for empowering teams and delivering impactful user experiences. She began her career pioneering early e-commerce at JCPenney.com, then joined Travelocity in its infancy, where she spent 13 years in roles of increasing responsibility. Dana was later recruited to Citi to rebuild their UX practice after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, growing the team from four to fifty. She returned to Sabre, where she now leads UX in the core Travel Solutions group, partnering with business units to drive innovation and user-centered design. Dana is known for her ability to spot UX opportunities in everyday life and is most fulfilled by supporting her team’s growth and removing roadblocks. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband and family, and attending concerts together.

Alex Weishaupl is a founding member and managing director of experience design at Protiviti Digital, where he empowers businesses with the insights and tools to understand, engage, and lead their audiences in an ever-evolving culture. Alex and his team of creative misfits and product mavens have helped some of the world’s most innovative companies build deeper connections with their users by designing and reinventing engaging brand experiences, empowering connected services, and impactful digital products. A born-and-raised New Yorker, Alex has been shaping experiences since the dot-com boom—and he’s got the digital scars to prove it.