Michael McKay Resume Michael McKay, Menlo Park Ca, cell phone 650.714.0433 Summary I currently work as a UX Director for ebay s PayPal division in Silicon Valley. I have worked in the cross field between Design, Product Concept Definition and Engineering all of my career, predominantly at Amazon, Yahoo! and Nokia Inc. Here I worked as an intrapreneur, pioneering what I came to know as Design Thinking. Furthermore I successfully built and matured my own Management Consulting company, McKayExplore Ltd. I hold a Masters degree in Engineering systematic product creation and I have worked 15 years in Design, first as a concept maker, later as a design manager and innovation leader at senior level with breakouts as self driven consultant. I am a seasoned Manager with a solid approach to both delivery and strategy. I lead people, projects and processes. During my time in the industry, I have understood the essence of what brings successful innovation to market; that innovation happens when a strong, systematic approach to development is balanced with a highly disruptive creative process harnessed in cross functional teams. This is the baseline for me. Experience UX Director, ebay Inc/PayPal in the Bay Area Public Company; 10,001+ employees; EBAY; Internet industry When: Jan 2014 Present, San Jose, CA To drive a major change effort at corporate level elevating Design as a strategic pillar in the company. Build and mature the Design Process by integrating Agile methodologies with Lean UX and Customer Driven Innovation. Participate in the general Design Leadership Team to lead the 120+ Design organization. As part of the design culture assignment to collaborate with Workplace Resources to drive the creation of new Design Studios across the entire company. Studio Director, Amazon Digital Products UX Design in the Bay Area Public Company; 10,001+ employees; AMZN; Internet industry When: November 2012 Jan 2014, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and SF, CA To manage, build and operationalize the UX Studios, UX Strategy and Digital Products front end innovation strategy. Create the UX Labs innovation team. Adequately build out the organization in the Bay Area (20+ people). Build and mature the Design Producer role in the entire. Build relations between HW engineering, Industrial Design, Product Management, Engineering and UX Design. Participate in the general Design Leadership Team to lead the 80+ Design organization. Built an advanced UX Labs team with Design Studio based on company needs and current culture. Created and maintained the Design Producer role in the group. Lead this team to create a precedence for all of Amazon Design. Established new Studios in Sunnyvale and San Francisco. From this job, my main learning s have been: Michael McKay Executive Design Leader October 2013 1
The importance of forming alliances and drive cross organizational results. General Management is less visible yet a vital foundation for any design organization Leadership is about showing results and working hands on real problems while keeping an eye out for the future and preparing for the next steps while in flight. Michael McKay Executive Design Leader October 2013 2
Senior Director, Design Language at Yahoo! Design Public Company; 10,001+ employees; yhoo; Internet industry When: October 2011 November 2012 (1 yr, 1 month) Sunnyvale, CA To manage, build and operationalize a new approach to Design Language Systems. Creating a unified look and feel, consistent with the Yahoo! Brand. The system is highly operational in an agile, decentralized climate yet unified and enabling long term innovation. Create the Design Language Strategy. Oversee cross organizational acceptance and uptake. Build relations between Brand, Engineering, Product Management and Design. Drive the Design Academy learning process. Participate in the general Design Management Team to lead the 140+ Design organization. Built a 3 tier strategic Design Language System based on company needs and current culture. Created and maintained a new community of highly influential designers from the Global Y!Design Organization. Lead this team to create the new Creative Direction of Yahoo including a Design Positioning model. Established 3 cross organizational management processes for building and refining the Design Principles. Defined and socialized new structures for operational excellence within the Design Review process. From this job, my main learning s have been: The ability to form alliances and drive cross organizational politics. Driving a cross organizational process requires cultural change efforts, political momentum and internal marketing as well as best in class execution. Cultural Change is highly effective but difficult to present as a bottom line win. Leadership is about winning the trust of your people and showing agility in execution while constantly adjusting to the signals of the organization. Founder at McKay Explore Design and Consulting Entrepreneurial Startup May 2009 Present (3 years 2 months) McKay Explore Design and Consulting is a company started and driven by Michael McKay. The business model is to deliver on the identified need within product development organizations to use modern, collaborative methods to renew cultures and approaches to product development. The company s emphasis is on large to mid sized organizations. Founded the company. Developed the consulting products, company business strategy, marketing strategy. This also covered the partnership developments, both with larger consulting firms in the area and cloud based collaboration between several other smaller consultancies on the Scandinavian/Danish consulting scene. Michael was the lead consultant and manages a group of self- employed suppliers. Marketed the company from no clients to a stable client base covering design and strategy departments in the North European region. Stretching the coverage from the initial Telecom area into Consumer Electronics, Pharmaceuticals and Publishing industries. Lectured and ran courses. Built a creative studio out of an old factory in Copenhagen (still in operation). Managing a company as a self founded Entrepreneur Building a portfolio of clients Being lean about balancing product development, sales and implementation efforts Michael McKay Executive Design Leader October 2013 3
Outsourcing and partnerships Innovation Studio Manager (Cross Organizational Innovation) at Nokia 2006 May 2009 (3 years) Copenhagen Area, Denmark Devices Cross Functional Studio. Serving a large R&D organization ( 20.000 people in 10+ global sites). Defined and implemented a unifying innovation process in Nokia Devices, brought the different functions together. Pioneered the Cross Functional Innovation process at Nokia Devices. Pulled in talent from HW, SW and Mechanical engineering as well as Industrial and User Experience Design. Michael helped establish a management process to facilitate the strategic innovation. Introduced several new methods in this time frame including user driven innovation, lead user innovation, rapid prototyping, lean innovation and other key innovation processes. Furthermore Michael worked with the Innovation Culture in Nokia Devices by establishing grass roots innovation culture at Nokia, implementing a renewed process for innovation in the company, called i4. Formulating corporate level strategies, gaining political momentum and implementing these processes. Innovation Leadership: Implementing and developing world class innovation processes in a cross functional innovation environment International Speaker and spokesman and leading a field as recognized specialist (User Driven Innovation in Corporate Setting) Senior Industrial Design Manager at Nokia July 2004 July 2006 (2 years 1 month) Copenhagen Area, Denmark Establishing and operating a 8-10 person creative design team in a large R&D site. Established Nokia Design Copenhagen. Built a Design Studio. Hired a team of creative Industrial Designers. Established the Nokia Design Denmark team within Nokia Design Global. Managed and lead a team of creative people. Ensured quality. Bringing in international talent. Created Studio Environment in an engineering centric culture. Built partnerships among the site executive management to ensure long term success of team. Became a corporate spokesman for the Design Organization for Design Launches in Scandinavia and rest of Europe. Day to day general management of teams from budgeting to real estate development, hiring and trimming of teams. Leading a department at an R&D site. Building strategic partnerships with other leaders. Formulating long term strategic initiatives, pitching and implementing them. Rhetoric speaker skills and tactical press training. Michael McKay Executive Design Leader October 2013 4
Concept Creation Specialist at Nokia Design Center, California May 2001 July 2004 (3 years 3 months) Calabasas, California To create long term visionary concepts for the Devices Business Unit. Concept Creation Specialist at Nokia Design Center Calabasas. Collaborating with various creative disciplines such as user experience, industrial design, technical innovation teams. Developed concepts for all of Nokia Inc. Michaels role started as the liaison between the technical engineering teams and the creative industrial design teams. During the stay, Michael changed from a technical liaison into a creative concept lead. Upon return, Michael became the Design Manager for the new Nokia Design Copenhagen Office. Conceptualization of ideas into holistic product vision statements Driving divergent ideation processes. Leading Collaboration between many different groups of creative contributors. Strategic sell in of product concepts to Executive Leadership at company headquarters. Michael McKay Executive Design Leader October 2013 5
Product development design engineer at Nokia Inc. September 1997 May 2001 (3 years 9 months) Copenhagen Area, Denmark To do hands on development of high volume consumer electronic products for the world market. Implementing strong best- in- class mobile phone products to establish Nokia as the world leader in Telecom. Developed technologies and products for the tele communication industry. Created the core assembly part of the Nokia 3210 and lead the creative/conceptual development of the Nokia 3310 (best selling telecom device ever). Developed new processes for automating and scaling the R&D projects. Worked as Concept Chief Mechanics to drive a 15 person team to a successful product. To build world class products, a balance between individual contribution and collaboration is needed. Used 3D CAD extensively Core R&D techniques including DFA, DFM, DFMEA and DFQ Education 1996: Master Science, Mechanics, Technical University of Denmark - topic was systematic product creation, including user orientation and innovation (designed built an exhibit for a science museum with the topic of capturing and stimulating interest in Science and Technology) 2004: Nokia Leadership Training program: I was trained in a comprehensive people and leadership program when I became the manager of the Design Department in Nokia Copenhagen. Here a professional skill set for leading people and teams was given. Core skills: Situational Leadership II, management communication. 2006: www.180academy.com. Concept Maker Practitioner, a new school in Denmark built by leading consumer focused companies like Lego, Bang & Olufsen, Novo Nordisk and Nokia Denmark. Focusing on user driven radical innovation. Personal highlights 1971: Born by Danish/Jamaican parents. 1991: Tech and science explainer on Science Museum Experimentarium http://www.experimentarium.dk 1993: Short TV Tech and Science explainer career in Danish National children s Television 1997: Moved to Jamaica with wife and 1st child. Stayed 5 months but considered seriously. 2nd child born 1999, 3rd child born 2004. 2001-2004: worked and lived in Los Angeles, CA at the Nokia Design Center in Calabasas.. We had the two children with us, the oldest completeing his first 3 years of school). 2011- present: Moved to Silicon Valley to pursue another chapter in our American adventure. When not at work, I am active in nature, hike, roadbike and mountain bike. I am an avid skier and enjoy building stuff in my garage work shop sanctuary. Michael McKay Executive Design Leader October 2013 6