We believe that evidence is the most powerful design tool.

Abe Poultridge is a UX designer at Blink. He strives to understand complex problem spaces and design elegant, human-centered solutions. He is also a fan of design systems' ability to boost team productivity, catalyze consensus and optimize delivery to clients.

Prior to Blink, Abe helped design tools to help local governments better understand their communities’ economic and industrial makeup. He has also spent time freelancing as an illustrator and animator. Abe graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in interaction design.

Outside of work, Abe enjoys biking around the city, making art, playing music, trying to combine leftovers into new dishes.

Aelgyrr Sonstegard is a Principal Conversation Designer at Blink. He designs Virtual Assistants (both voice and chatbot) for companies large and small, with names you know and names you've never heard of. 

Before joining Blink, Aelgyrr has worked at several places including Microsoft, Oracle, General Magic, Nuance, Interactive Intelligence, Intervoice, and Voxai. 

Away from work, Aelgyrr shares his life with his ultra-friendly Corgi "Tally", and enjoys composing / performing music, getting together with friends, and seeing brand new sights and places!

Alexi Glines is a director of project management at Blink who loves working with clients and team members to solve problems. She especially enjoys finding ways to become more efficient and improve processes.

Prior to Blink, Alexi cut her teeth in project management working for a web development agency which specialized in e-commerce sites. She also worked in digital marketing managing omnichannel marketing projects for clients across industries, including Fortune 100 companies.

Outside of Blink, she enjoys baking (and is currently trying to perfect her sourdough loaf), going to concerts, road trips, and finding the best americano in town.

Alison (Ali) Yearsley is a Senior Staff Attorney for Blink. She advises Blink on all legal matters, including commercial transactions, data protection, global privacy, and employment.

Ali has a background in litigation. She holds a BA in History from the University of Washington and JD from Seattle University.

When Ali isn't working, she's either exploring rain forests, mountains, and deserts on her e-bike or kiteboarding and hanging out on the beach with family and friends.

Allison Perlis is a UX designer in Blink's Seattle studio, creating experiences that unite business goals with user delight.

Before Blink she worked as a brand and interaction designer in higher education, creating brand identities, design systems, motion designs, and more. She is a double devil, with a B.S. from ASU's graphic design school and an M.S. from their graphic information technology program.

When she’s not working, she collects (but rarely implements) cookbooks, watches a lot of movies and gets halfway through craft projects.

As a visual designer at Blink’s San Francisco office, Andrew crafts modern digital experiences that make people's lives both easier and more enjoyable.

His breadth of experience ranges from creating next-gen interfaces for mobile and web, developing product direction and strategy, offering brand guidance, as well as producing interactive prototypes and motion studies. He has helped design products for companies such as Visa, Samsung, Microsoft, and T-Mobile.

Before having lived in the Bay Area, he grew up in San Marcos, CA and received his BFA in graphic design & marketing with a minor in computer science from California State University, San Bernardino. He now lives in San Francisco, CA where he and his boyfriend binge trash TV with their Instagram-“famous” cat. Meow

Anfernee Antonio is a survey programmer at Insight Space. Prior to Blink, they studied and worked in their home country of the Philippines. Coincidentally, they worked for another company called InSites where they assisted coworkers in a technical role in data management and acquisition.

Outside of Blink, Anfernee enjoys their time inside and creative activities. For fun, they work on writing and music projects with friends. Since picking up the skills as a high school stage crew, they are also a costumer and cosplayer.

As a design director at Blink, Ángel is committed to creating rapport between client’s, their community and the Blink community by using design as a tool for facilitation and creation. Ángel fosters creativity and designs the conditions for collaboration and authenticity. He contributes as a thought leader, mentor, strategist, systems thinker and more.

For over 17 years, Ángel has designed at the intersections of human rights issues, complex social systems, and educational activism. He has an expertise of infusing projects with an inclusive approach to equity, inclusive design methodologies, and cultural responsive education in digital products.

Outside of Blink, Ángel enjoys time with friends and family. Always out for social outings and adventures. He loves to explore new cities and get lost into new things and experiences. He loves new experiences and spaces of innovation.

Anne Vande Creek is a seasoned and accomplished leader in client services, business development, and strategy in design services across industry verticals. Anne has over 20 years of experience in creative and strategic design organizations supporting the technology industry and leading consumer brands. She is recognized for her leadership across a broad range of disciplines and for her success in determining strategies, teams, and approaches to account management.

Most recently, Anne has been involved in digital transformation, developing approaches and processes for the reimagining of complex systems, applications, and customer and user experiences in all phases of the product lifecycle for healthcare, finance, technology, retail, IoT, AR/VR, and emerging technologies.

Anne’s areas of expertise include business development; client and account services; strategic planning; process and approach development; user research; UX framework, design systems, and design management; complex systems design strategy; and new product design and development.

Atulya Chaganty is an interdisciplinary UX Designer. She loves design problems that are like the annoying tangled ball of Christmas tree lights: knotty, complex, with lots of ins and outs that she can unravel into warm, shiny joy.

Before becoming a hardcore designer, Atulya studied english, communications & culture, and law & society at Clark University. She was on a path to law school before realizing it meant she couldn’t wear bedazzled shoes and bright crazy patterns. She shifted gears and went to the Rhode Island School of Design for her Master in Industrial Design where she focused on systems thinking and social impact projects. Prior to Blink, Atulya worked on projects from end-to-end for NASA, Reebok, NIKE, T-Mobile, Boeing, The Washington State Department of Transportation as well as many other social impact projects at varying scales.

Outside of Blink, you’ll most likely find Atulya wandering the library, crafting away on the living room floor, or playing tennis and laughing with other humans at her local court.

Ben is currently the head of design at Blink UX and heads up Blink’s Boston studio. He leads a team of multidisciplinary designers, strategists, and researchers on design system and brand projects with ambitious partners including Amazon, eBay, Microsoft, and NASA. Ben is also a part-time lecturer at Northeastern University teaching design process.

With over a decade of design and creative leadership experience, Ben’s strengths encompass championing a human-centered design process with collaboration at the core, transforming concepts into product vision, and designing at the delta of interaction, visual, and motion design.

Prior to Blink, Ben was creative director at Tectonic leading a team of hybrid designers on envisioning projects for Bang & Olufsen, Conservation International, HBO, and Rhapsody. Prior to Tectonic, he worked on future concepts at Microsoft’s Envisioning Lab and as an exhibit designer at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle.

Ben has an MFA in design from the University of Washington in Seattle where he studied and practiced graphic design, design theory, data visualization, and exhibit design while developing an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving. When given the chance, he’ll gladly talk about design workshops, grid systems, typography, and Murphy beds.

Brandon Sapp is a UX researcher at Blink. Brandon takes a strategic and empathetic approach to collaborating with clients and teammates in uncovering complex user needs. He is ever-curious about how technology can foster connection and discover on both a societal and interpersonal level.

Prior to Blink, Brandon received his M.S. from the University of Michigan School of Information where he specialized in conducting research with a focus on anti-racism, accessibility, and social networking. There, Brandon discovered his passion for understanding and advocating for mis/underrepresented people groups in the user-centered design process.

Outside of Blink, you can find Brandon working on his amateur videography skills, perfecting his favorite meals, or exploring all of the beauty and nature the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

Brian is an IT generalist at Blink. He is passionate about providing a top-notch technology experience while fostering digital literacy along the way.

He loves all things code, music, and computers. Between tuning up his gaming pc, or checking out the latest newfangled language on the market, it’s safe to say his interests are wide and far.

Previously, Brian worked on a small team at the REI Helpdesk where he processed tickets for ~15,000 customers. This experience made for a challenging, but rewarding environment that taught him the importance of triage, patience, and kindness under pressure.

Before he moved to the PNW, Brian graduated from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance with a degree in Music Composition.

When he’s not at Blink, Brian loves spending time with his wife, serenading his dogs with his latest cello noodlings, and camping in the woods whenever he gets the chance. If you catch him out on the trail, ask him for a cup of coffee. He’ll definitely (probably) have extra.

Brian Leach is a UX designer at Blink with experience in a wide range of industries such as healthcare, bio-tech, AI, and consumer products. He loves unpacking complex problems and helping multidisciplinary teams push towards simple, and delightful solutions.

Prior to Blink, Brian was an early designer at health technology startup, Cohere Health, where he helped build and refine a novel suite of products that leverage AI to align providers and health plans around the best possible patient care. Before Cohere, Brian worked at Whipsaw Design both as a UX Designer and an Industrial Designer, developing products and design strategies for companies such as Samsung, Uber, Fluidigm, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and many others.

Brian is an obsessive learner, and is know for his dedication to becoming mediocre at many hobbies, but rarely an expert in any of them. Some of his latest obsessions outside of work have been: dog training (with his young labrador, Sadie), learning to sail small boats, skiing, endurance running, cycling, and fly fishing.

Brigitt Rains is a highly skilled and outgoing head of operations with more than 17 years of experience in a range of industries. Brigitt’s work features a wide selection of project experience, from web, mobile, graphic, game design, and development to custom SharePoint applications, video, and print production. Clients include Disney, Nickelodeon, Fremantle Media, MTV, WB, Viacom, and CBC, along with Mattel, Fisher-Price, Microsoft, Xbox, and the Clinton Foundation. She has spoken on the topic of UX and project management at the Hive design and technology conference.

Operations wrangler by day, musician by night, she’s usually preparing for her next gig at the local honky-tonk juke joint. She’s also fanatic about vintage motorcycles and snowboarding. In her spare time, you’ll find her at the monthly motorcycle rallies or high on top of the mountain searching for her next steepest or deepest adventure.

Brittany Johnson is passionate about people and technology. Her goal is to improve people’s lives by delivering insights that help create human-centered products, services, and experiences.

Brittany has been in UX for the past decade. Most recently, she worked in the education industry to help teams build personalized learning and career pathways for an international audience.

Outside of work you might catch Brittany on a run, at the dog beach with her two pups, adventuring with her wife and daughter, or trying out the new local coffee and kombucha shops.

As Blink’s VP of solutions, Byron Baker is a design leader with 20 years of experience in design consulting with a focus on strategic product envisioning. He has worked with teams at Microsoft, REI, Mastercard, Apple, GE and Tableau to seek out what’s possible and bring it to life.

Byron has presented at several conferences on the benefits of UX design and was a part-time faculty member at the iSchool department at the University of Washington. He holds a BFA with a focus on photography and visual communication from the University of Washington.

Byron is a self-acknowledged adrenaline junkie and is raising two more in his likeness. When not standing at his desk chair he can be found going downhill fast in the mountains surrounding Seattle. 
 

Caryn Arredondo is a UX designer at Blink San Francisco. She enjoys solving complex problems for users and handcrafting random stuff such as silkscreen posters just for fun.

She grew up in Mexico and moved to the United States to study visual design. Prior to working at Blink, she worked in advertising and design for various firms in Denver and London. After arriving in San Francisco, she added UX/UI design to her design palette.

A traveler at heart, she now lives and hikes in the Redwood Hills of Oakland, CA, with her freckly Aussie dog Mishka and her son Ander.

Cathy Bahn is a project manager at Blink ready to jump in and help out with anything.

Cathy has experience with large and small technology companies as well enumerating for the 2020 Census. She believes technology should be driven by users, ensures partnerships are trustworthy, and advocates for community.

Outside of Blink, Cathy is most likely reading, watching TV, cooking or baking, or walking with her best companion, Emma, a chocolate lab.

Chris Mueller is a design director who loves solving complex problems just as much as he loves making things that are utterly pointless.

He grew up in Scottsdale, AZ and studied computer science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. After a few years in the wild, he realized he was more interested in making cool stuff than analyzing algorithms, so he pivoted to design with a master's in human-computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon. Before Blink, Chris was leading design and research projects at NASA and Redshift Digital.

Outside of work, you can find Chris at a show, in the woodshop, or getting his heart broken by the Arizona Cardinals.

Christian Stewart is a principal motion designer in Blink’s Seattle studio. He loves creating dynamic prototypes and motion studies to help make designs feel alive.

Over a 16 year career, Christian has taken on many roles requiring a diverse design-centric skillset, ranging from book layout to branding to motion systems design. Prior to Blink, Christian has had a long career as a freelance designer/animator, working alongside agencies on a wide range of video and motion projects for Amazon, eBay, Tableau, Hasbro, Microsoft, and more. Christian’s previous full-time role was as a senior UX motion designer at Amazon.

Outside of the (home) office, you can find Christian walking through the forest with his spouse and two sons, drinking coffee, attending Sounders games, and playing the occasional rocket league match.

Christine Kim is a senior project accountant at Blink. She is a well organized, detail-oriented, multi-tasker with a proven ability to achieve. She enjoys working with coworkers and customers at all levels.

She brings her 10 years of accounting experience and knowledge of several accounting softwares in various industries including publishing and insurance.

Christine loves exploring foods and art. In her spare time, she likes to explore cultural events, concerts, hiking or other outdoor sports, and visiting new countries on her bucket list.

Cole Williams is a visual designer at the Blink San Diego studio. A transplant from the Pacific Northwest, he enjoys design systems, stretching his digital illustrations skills, and has an ongoing passion for learning, creating, and exploring.

Prior to Blink, Cole worked as a visual designer at a content design agency where he got to work within a variety of design disciplines from crafting brand identities and designing interactive experiences to conveying complex information with easy to grasp data visualization.

With parents that were international educators, he grew up in Shanghai, China, and had the opportunity to travel the world with his family from a young age. Growing up with this worldly view gave him an understanding of the importance of considering other countries, cultures, and a variety of people when creating any sort of design. Outside of work, he has a love for music and film, enjoys hiking the outdoors, and can be seen buying products based on their pretty packaging.

Dan Pepper works with our design teams and clients to craft engagements that solve complex problems with inspired design. He's also responsible for positioning Blink's services in ways that connect our core capabilities with new market opportunities.

His career spans over 30 years in creative service entrepreneurship. Most recently, he was a partner at Tectonic (acquired by Blink in 2018), leading client engagement and managing business and finance. Dan has also owned a broadcast post-production studio and launched digital media-related companies, including legalforms.com, stockphotography.com, stockfootage.com, and soundeffects.com.

Dan has two sons, lives in Seattle, and loves international travel, hiking, fishing, restoring vintage cars and boats, and entertaining friends and family with home-cooked meals featuring locally harvested ingredients.

Dave Kennedy is a principal researcher with a background in product marketing, advertising, communications, branded content and tech. He is a strategically creative minded person with over 10 years of experience working with the creative and technical staff of several local, national, international advertising agencies, technology companies, and game developers such as AMP, Publicis, DDB, Microsoft, and Cranium while pursuing his creative endeavors in photography and filmmaking.

As a UX researcher, Dave is passionate about collaborative research, participatory design, and applying research and design thinking toward creating thoughtful products and environments. He sees curiosity, empathy and the ability to uncover insights as the key to creating meaningful experiences that work.

Dave has a Master of Science in Human Centered Design and an MFA in interdisciplinary arts from the University of Washington. When not at work, Dave exhibits his artworks both locally and internationally. His works have been published globally in such magazines as Art21 and Numéro Cinq and exhibited at such venues as the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Photo Center Northwest, Bellevue Arts Museum, Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center, Escuela de Belle Arte in Spain, Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society Museum, Studio la Città in Italy, and the Seattle Art Museum's Gallery.

Elodie Kwan is a UX/visual designer at Blink’s San Francisco studio. Fascinated by the human experience, she enjoys deep diving into the why behind design and crafting elegant yet functional designs, well-suited for the predictably irrational humans we all are.

In her past professional life, Elodie was building out business operations infrastructure at early-stage startups experiencing rapid growth. Her work led her to calling Spain and Kenya her home for a few years before she ultimately returned back to the United States.

Craving more Technicolor and creativity in her professional life, Elodie made the pivot from business operations to design and has loved every minute since. She is happiest working on digital design because of how it sits at the intersection of two things that fascinate her most in this world: technology and human behavior.

Outside of Blink, you'll find Elodie traveling the world and eating any and all foods, climbing every rock and mountain she comes across, advocating for mental health access in marginalized communities, and wandering out into the night in search of the perfect astrophotography conditions.

Fiona McGuigan is a senior resourcing specialist at Blink. Along with the rest of the resourcing team, Fiona focuses on strategically assembling optimal teams to ensure successful projects for our clients.

Prior to Blink, Fiona was director of UX design & research apprenticeship programs at the School of Visual Concepts, where she launched and oversaw the educational component of these programs for large tech companies. As a creative professional, she has deep expertise in administration, operations, stakeholder management, and professional development. In all of her work, she aims to connect with people, understand their motivations, and create something that deserves to exist.

Fiona’s background is in fine art, and her practice has naturally expanded from maker-of-objects to creating experiences and exploring ideas in the real and digital world. When not in her studio, you can find her either volunteering for one of her favorite art organizations, running an artist residency, or biking around the PNW with her sketchbook.

Gargi Patel is a project manager at Insight Space, where she oversees the day-to-day management and recruitment of participants for multiple research studies. She earnestly works with clients as well as her fellow team members to ensure successful projects from start to finish.

She has over 10 years of experience supporting various arts, media, education, and small-business organizations. She possesses a great passion for knowledge, quality work, and helping others succeed. She holds a B.S. in recording industry management and an MBA from Middle Tennessee State University, where she first developed an interest in market research.

Originally from Arkansas, Gargi is proud to now call Seattle home. In her spare time, she is involved in the city’s vibrant music community, serves as VP of Education for her local Toastmasters club, and enjoys exploring Seattle’s unique neighborhoods and gorgeous city parks.

Geoff Harrison leads Blink as the chief experience officer. He focuses developing strategies to achieve the company’s vision.

Prior to this role, Geoff led the Blink design team as the chief design officer. He was instrumental in building a full-service product design consulting practice, uniting the firm’s research expertise with strategy, design, and development. Most importantly, he created growth opportunities for talented practitioners and a culture for them to thrive in.

Geoff is involved in Blink’s most prominent accounts and makes sure that Blink is adapting clients' CX needs by developing new
engagement models and business strategies. He regularly talks about creating customer-led organizations and CX strategy on podcasts and at design conferences.

Prior to Blink, Geoff founded geoffco, a product design studio, and was the creative director at Modern Digital Seattle. He holds a bachelor's degree in graphic design and mass media management from Miami University in Ohio and a graduate certificate in user-centered design from the University of Washington.

Outside of Blink, Geoff heads the board of the Seattle Tennis and Education Foundation, an after-school program for underserved youth. You can also find him in our Northwest mountains trying to keep up with his 3 teenage boys skiing, hiking and climbing. More reasonably, he enjoys cooking and finding great places to eat with his wife.

Grey Brooks is the VP of Finance at Blink.

Grey has over thirty years of accounting and finance experience, including four years at Arthur Andersen. Grey has worked in numerous industries including defense contracting, financial services, government auditing, and professional services.

Grey has a BA degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, an MBA from California State University, Northridge and became a CPA in 1997. Outside of work, Grey likes to spend time running, traveling and exploring Washington with his wife, Jeannie.

Heidi Adkisson is a principal designer. She has been leading complex projects since Blink's inception, delivering strategy and design for hundreds of clients, including ISB, Garden City Group, NASA, Moen, and Providence.

Heidi has over 20 years of software development experience working with large-scale system implementations. Her experience includes requirements analysis and interactive design, working with established companies, such as AT&T Wireless and Microsoft.

Heidi has a master's degree in human-centered design and engineering and an MBA from the University of Washington. She has a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Colorado State University and an associate degree in web/multimedia design from the Art Institute of Seattle. Heidi is a member of ACM SIGCHI and Puget Sound SIGCHI.

Jason is the Chief Operating Officer and EVP of Finance of Blink, bridging business operations with practice areas in ways that allow Blink to make the biggest impact possible for our clients, and in the world.

With training in finance, innovation, and design thinking, Jason started his career in secondary battery technologies and software product management for streaming video and IoT applications. Prior to joining Blink, he helped launch multiple enterprise software products, including a smart city platform aimed at activating human safety and sustainability initiatives for the city of Denver. Most recently, he was Chief Product Officer at Panasonic, where he led teams working on the intersection of AI and connected home.

Jason’s education includes the University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University, and The London School of Economics, all building on his business and finance MBA from Pepperdine University.

Outside of running Blink, Jason can be found with family and friends, or working on his kick serve.

Jean Diaz is a senior IT generalist at Blink. He helps resolve any IT issues Blinkers may have such as hardware, software, and provisioning, as well as assisting in A/V needs for labs.

Prior to Blink, Jean worked at Apple in Austin, TX. He provided procedural and technical support to Apple retail store personnel worldwide.

Outside of Blink, Jean enjoys German cars, video games, photography, and exploring his new home town.

As an account manager, Jen is responsible for the overall management and long-term
strategic direction Blink provides to Meta clients. She leads client engagement and account cohesion by collaborating the efforts of both internal and external teams.

Prior to Blink, Jen led nationally recognized, evidence-driven campaigns for the State of Utah's opioid public awareness and prevention efforts. She also piloted award-winning campaigns for the Utah Office of Tourism.

Jen has managed long-term client relationships with Topgolf, AT&T Wireless, Microsoft and Amtrak.Jen lives in Park City Utah with her husband. Outside of Blink, she enjoys skiing, mountain biking, coaching youth and female cyclists, and golfing with friends. To fuel these adventures, she loves cooking, wine and seeking out new restaurants.

Jenifer Beery is a senior recruiter at Blink, where she helps connect people to their passions. She is driven by creating the best candidate experience possible and helping to build strong creative teams.

Prior to Blink, Jenifer worked as a global talent and onboarding specialist at Crocs, where she revamped the onboarding process and built a stellar internship program. Jenifer also has a varied background in project management in residential/multifamily operations and nonprofit theater. Jenifer is a PNW native, with a BA in Theater Arts from the University of Puget Sound.

Outside of Blink, Jenifer can be found sculpting Rice Krispies for parties, experimenting with DIY projects around the house, or curled up with a cat and a good book. She loves to explore new cities and museums while traveling, getting out of the house for a new play or film, and cheering on the Seattle Kraken with her husband.

Jenna Clark is the HR generalist at Blink. With equal passion for employment law as company culture, she loves being a resource for Blinkers and a part of making Blink an awesome place to work. She cares deeply about creating a workplace where all voices are heard and everyone has the power and opportunity to be their best.

She is a certified California Professional in Human Resources (PHRca) and received her Bachelors degree in Art History from SDSU. Jenna initially cut her HR teeth as a manager at the Landmark Theatre in Hillcrest, and then spent her years before Blink doing HR and other administrative work for local nonprofits.

When not working, Jenna can be found wrangling her guinea pig and two rabbits, taking long walks to enjoy North Park architecture, critiquing chocolate croissants, and waiting for Nick Cave's next album.

As a design director at Blink, Jill creates thoughtful experiences that solve practical problems while sparking joy and connection.

With a background in visual art and writing, and a past life as a nonprofit director, Jill’s interest in storytelling and social impact led her to a career in human centered design. In her most recent role, she worked as a creative director, where she led a multidisciplinary creative team to create accessible, high-impact brand and digital experiences for nonprofit and government agencies. Jill is passionate about design’s potential to positively influence culture and our quality of life, and to serve as a vehicle for social change.

Jill lives on the southernmost reaches of the Puget Sound next to a pretty little oyster farm. When she’s not working at Blink, Jill loves making pottery, talking about books and life in general, procrastibaking, and taking beach walks with her husband and adventure kitty, Linus.

Jill Heinrich is the sales enablement lead on Blink’s marketing team. She is passionate about combining go-to-market strategies with business goals, and applying them to create solutions to grow targeted content, sales tools, and build organizational platforms to allow Blink to grow.

Prior to her time at Blink, Jill implemented an enablement platform for over 2,000 sellers, led a team of sales subject matter experts to invest in new markets for industry disruption, and honed her content skills by working as a producer and video editor. Jill has worked with a variety of clients including Meta, AECOM, Yelp, Asana, GoDaddy, and Make-A-Wish.

Outside of Blink, you can find Jill reading any fiction book, working on a new painting, or floating the rivers and lakes in the Lone Star State with her husband Jacob, and their pup, Leila.

Joanna Moore is the staff accountant at Blink’s Seattle studio. She brings over eight years of account management and customer service experience to this role. Joanna is dedicated to going above and beyond, whether it is for customers and clients, or for the members of her team. She is always willing to lend a hand no matter how small the task. She loves working around such bright and creative minds and is inspired by Blinkers every day.

Joanna was previously the Studio Host in our Seattle studio and is excited to share her expertise with the finance team.

When not at work, Joanna can be found being active in the great Pacific Northwest outdoors. She loves walking her dog, camping, biking, and boating in the summer and snowboarding in the winter. She also enjoys downtime indoors, cooking, and trying out new recipes.

Joe Welinske is Blink's accessibility director and also the program manager for Blink's annual conference ConveyUX.

As accessibility director, Joe is charged with bringing innovation and training about supporting disabilities into every client project and to every staff member. Joe has taught accessibility at the University of Washington and he is the co-organizer of the Seattle Area Accessibility & Inclusive Design meetup. From the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP), Joe is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC).

Since 2013, ConveyUX has been Seattle's annual conference for user experience professionals. Joe Welinske has been the program manager since its inception. Joe leads the speaker selection process and ensures an enjoyable educational and networking experience for the attendees.

In addition to his work at Blink, Joe teaches at the University of Washington. Joe holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Illinois an M.S. in adult instructional management from Loyola University and is certified as a DHS Trusted Tester.

Julio Murillo is a senior neuro-linguistic designer at Blink located in Omaha, Nebraska. He enjoys crafting natural language understanding (NLU) training models to enhance machine learning understanding for conversational AI.

Julio graduated from the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Mexico with a bachelor's degree in computer science. Before Blink, Julio worked for Kore.ai and other companies providing NLU engineering and strategic planning services for financial, insurance, medical and IT industries.

Outside of Blink, Julio enjoys visiting new places with his wife, Lily, and his dog, Ty. Julio loves playing golf (too much) and is always looking for good Mexican food.

Karen is the Co-founder of Blink and former CEO. She now acts as an advisor to the company, with a long history of execution in combination with innovative, big picture thinking.

Karen’s leadership philosophy is founded in Blink’s design principles, starting with research, then prototyping and gathering feedback to stay relevant, fluid, and guide the company.

In support of Blink’s mission, to enrich people’s lives, Blink is a positive, values-driven environment for both employees and clients, with a high standard of excellence. To measure and maintain Blink’s culture, Karen implemented a cultural framework, with six pillars to ensure employees leave at the end of the day feeling valued, and ready to create a bigger impact in the world around them.

Karen began her career studying fine arts in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She holds a degree in fine arts from the University of Victoria and is a graduate of the Information Technology & Multimedia program at Capilano University in Vancouver. Karen is currently working on her Ph.D. in the values-driven leadership program at the Benedictine University, IL.

Through her work at Blink, Karen was a winner of the 2016 Enterprising Women of the Year award and a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015. In 2016, Blink was listed on Forbes Magazine’s Best 25 Small Companies in America list.

Karen writes a column for Forbes.com on the Entrepreneurs channel discussing many topics including how UX is Revolutionizing Business. A 2020 biography talks about her leadership through chaos, in Seattle’s tech authority, Geekwire. in 2016, Karen was featured in a small-business commercial for MetLife, which aired internationally over two years.

In 2023 Karen was appointed to The National Women’s Business Council. A non-partisan federal advisory to the President, the U.S. Congress, and to the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration on policy issues of importance to women business owners and entrepreneurs.

Karen is a member of the Small Giants Community, the International Leadership Association (ILA), and is the Executive Director for the nonprofit organization she founded in 2014, Girls Can Do. GCD is an event series for girls with the mission to inspire a generation of possibility thinkers and ignite a vision for equal opportunity. In 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama gave a keynote video address, and Karen received a thank you letter from President Obama for her work with girls.

Karen speaks at conferences and loves to talk to groups of entrepreneurs and students whenever she can such as Seattle’s Franklin High School and the Canadian League of Innovators. In June 2019, she spoke on the keynote panel at the global Women and Leadership conference, and she is often a guest on radio and podcasts. In August 2019, she was interviewed on “Patricia Kathleen Talks with Female Entrepreneurs" a mentoring podcast, and appeared later that month on Startup Grind San Diego. In 2017, Karen was interviewed on Sirius radio’s Mind Your Business, by the Wharton School of Business. In 2020, Karen became a regular member of the weekly podcast called “The 21 Hats” sharing candid business experiences with entrepreneurs.

Karen lives in Seattle, Washington, and was born and raised in Victoria, Canada. She loves to trail run, garden, backcountry ski, kitesurf, and hang out with her amazing daughter.

LinkedIn bio and Twitter @karenclarkcole.

Karen Wang is a UX researcher at Blink who specializes in empathetic perspective-taking. Her passion lies within studying the nuances of exceptional user-centered design, particularly through co-creation methodologies.

Prior to Blink, Karen spearheaded the Rolling Research program for the Facebook Groups team as a contract researcher. She also received her master’s in human factors in information design from Bentley University in Boston.

Outside of Blink, Karen is a yoga and mindfulness instructor and podcast host for “The LifeofKare Podcast”. She values personal well-being and lowering the global carbon footprint. You can find her at an electronic music event, tasting local craft beers, or practicing handstands at the beach.

Kate Pollasch is a project manager at Blink who is always ready to problem-solve and clear the way for a smooth collaborative experience. She thrives building strong client relations and supporting her team in achieving quality deliverables.

Prior to Blink, Kate Pollasch worked in the commercial visual art and design world as a curator and creative project manager. Working for over a decade in the visual arts, Pollasch knows the ebbs and flows of the creative process and how to support makers while also meeting clients’ needs.

Outside of Blink, Kate is the co-founder of a virtual art gallery focused on small editions of contemporary art. Kate can also be found hiking up a mountain, fly fishing, or going on a long trail run with her best four-legged running partner, Luna. Any opportunity to get outdoors is the goal!

Kate is a research director for Blink's Seattle studio.

Over the past decade, Kate has worked as a product manager for companies like Trulia.com, Zillow.com and Rover.com. There she realized that delivering insights that create improved human-centered products, services and experiences is her true passion.

When Kate isn’t in the research labs, you will find her in the mountains climbing or skiing. She also loves reading, cooking, creating amazing costumes, snuggling with her chihuahua Yahtzee, and playing Beat Saber.

Kelly is the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) and Co-Founder of Blink. He focuses on the future of Blink’s tools, services, and methods while also working on projects with unique challenges. He is passionate about making our daily interactions with technology more innovative, intuitive, and rewarding.

Over Blink’s 20 year history, he has worked with hundreds of clients, from tech-sector heavy hitters like Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, to startups, and non-profits. He enjoys working on cutting-edge projects in data visualization, healthcare, and the IT spaces. He feels lucky to have contributed to some of the largest and most successful product launches in history.

Kelly has been a featured on the topic of UX and innovation at dozens of conferences, courses, and events, including presentations at San Diego Design Week ("The Future Meets the Drive-Thru") in 2020, multiple guest lecturer appointments at the University of Washington, and keynote lectures at Convey UX and Seattle Interactive Conference.

In 2019, Kelly was awarded the Myron L. White Award by the University of Washington’s Human-Centered Design & Engineering department for his service to the organization. In 2011, he was featured as “Geek of the Week” from GeekWire magazine. His work has been recognized with a number of awards including several IDSA IDEA awards for design excellence. Always eager to share his passion for design and technology with others, he volunteers his time as an instructor and external advisor for programs at Lake Washington Institute of Technology and the University of Washington.

In 2016, Blink made Forbes Magazine's Best Small Companies list and has won the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Washington’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies award in 2015 and 2012, Seattle Business Tech Impact Silver Award in 2015, and was listed on Inc. Magazine’s Top 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America list in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

Kelly holds a degree in industrial design from Arizona State University and a Master's from the Illinois Tech's Institute of Design in Chicago. Prior to co-founding Blink UX, Kelly led user-centered design teams at E-Lab, Personal Health Connections, and Bowne. You can read Kelly’s full LinkedIn bio, read his blog, and follow him on Twitter @kfranznick.

Kendall Dargitz is an account manager at Blink. In that role, she helps build and grow accounts through strategic partnerships and opportunities. With over five years of experience in account and project management, she knows what it takes to create and maintain long-term, successful relationships. She gets excited about discovering creative solutions to business challenges, and loves the partnerships that develop throughout the process.

Kendall graduated from San Diego State University with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in psychology. After college, Kendall worked at startups and agencies supporting clients on a variety of business initiatives, from software development, branding, and marketing to custom eLearning products. Her natural curiosity in the driving forces behind human behavior is what drew her to the UX field.

After 13 years in San Diego, she packed up her flip-flops and moved to Seattle with her husband Erik. In her downtime, she enjoys exploring hikes around the PNW, taking long walks with her dog Lucy, and being the slowest skier down the mountain.

Kevin Burzynski is head of client relations at Blink. In that role, he helps find and assess opportunities with clients to achieve business goals through better user experience.

A southern California native, Kevin graduated from Vanguard University with a B.A. in psychology. After college, Kevin worked as a behavioral consultant with Autism Intervention and Resources. Kevin moved into the UX field because he loves helping people solve their problems.

His hobbies include photography and fatherhood. Kevin enjoys the outdoors and can often be found exploring hiking trails around San Diego on the weekend with his family.

Kirsten “Kiki” Helland is Blink’s lab operations manager. She thrives on creating personal, positive and memorable moments for those around her and finding new and creative ways to face the challenges of the day.

Kiki graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a BFA in theatre and minors in psychology, Old Testament literature and WWII history. Her thirst for knowledge has led her in many different directions, but her passion for people has remained constant.

When she’s not at Blink, you can find Kiki making music and performing with her friends (give her a Goog) or planning her next Disneyland vacation.

Kim Truong is a project manager at Blink Seattle. She loves working with others to troubleshoot problems and is never one to back down from a challenge. She was previously a studio host and IT support in our Seattle studio and is excited to use her diverse experiences to streamline communication between the different teams on her projects.

Kim was raised in Sacramento and moved to Los Angeles where she studied at UCLA to get her B.S. in physiological sciences. While studying there, she spent most of her time volunteering with a non-profit organization to provide free health services to the local Vietnamese and Hispanic communities.

Outside of Blink, Kim enjoys developing her photography skills around the globe, playing online games with her friends, and spending time with her feisty cat, Ebi.

Kristen Althizer is a UX researcher at Blink who is naturally inquisitive and loves creative problem-solving. The thing that brings her the most joy in her work is an “Aha!” moment when interesting insights jump out from the data. She loves collaboration and learning from everyone around her including teammates, stakeholders, and most importantly, users.

Kristen holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a master’s degree in applied anthropology from CSU Long Beach where she received training in qualitative research methods and theory. While in school, she conducted an ethnography of a grassroots Cambodian cultural organization, an evaluation for a homeless services program for the City of Long Beach, and a study about the lives of Etsy sellers. Prior to Blink, Kristen worked for nearly four years as a researcher at a non-profit organization, Committee for Children, developing K-12 social-emotional learning programs. For most of her tenure, she worked on a product team that brought an innovative educator professional development program to market, which aimed to reduce educator stress and burnout. Providing a much-needed program to our hardworking and resilient educators is easily one of her proudest professional accomplishments.

Outside of Blink, Kristen enjoys snuggling with her big, orange kitty, getting lost in a novel, nurturing her ever-growing indoor plant collection, and knitting socks.

Kristen McCloud is a UX designer at Blink. She loves to craft both intuitive and delightful experiences that help to solve a larger problem at hand. Her favorite part about design is its cross-functional nature and being able to work with diverse groups of people while learning something new from each project.

Prior to Blink, Kristen worked as a designer at a telecommunications company focused on increasing accessibility to the internet around the world. There, she worked on end-to-end web and mobile experiences with a focus on interaction design. Before her foray into design, Kristen worked as a senior editor for a digital lifestyle publication and eventually learned front-end code, leading her to discover her love of design.

Outside of Blink, Kristen enjoys discovering new restaurants and drawing inspiration for at-home cooking, listening to music/podcasts outside in the sun, and looking for the new ways to stay active without getting bored (the latest is tennis).

Kristina Knaus is the VP of HR at Blink. She spends her day wearing several hats including team planning and recruitment strategy, employee development and training, and diversity, inclusion, and belonging. She loves working in a place where she is surrounded each day with smart, kind, and passionate people.

Kristina is a certified SHRM HR professional and has a deep interest in culture and people. She finds joy in creating an equitable and inclusive environment for employees to learn, grow, and thrive within. She works to build meaningful relationships with each and every Blinker and strives to lead with openness, empathy, and kindness in all her work.

In her spare time, Kristina can usually be found reading, planning her next trip, or eating at a yummy local establishment.

Lad Decker is the vice president of research and specializes in foundational research, mental models, and thinking-styles. She is endlessly fascinated with human nature and how we look at the same thing differently. Lad enjoys leading UX practitioners and managers as a coach-mentor informed by over twenty-five years of experience with a broad range of clients and industries conducting research, strategy, and design.

Some of Lad's favorite clients are newly learning to master UX themselves to ambitiously lead positive change in the world. She believes that creating humane experiences with technology is the key responsibility of UX leaders.

As a way to deliberately step away from technology to the analog world, Lad is also an artist and painter studying human conflict, inspired by her interests in international relations, great-power competition, and the Cold War.

As head of design, Laura Blanchard is instrumental in defining product and design strategy for complex product ecosystems. This is Laura’s second time around as a Blinker. Her clients include NASA, Amazon, Moen, Intel, and Providence Health and Services.

Laura’s career spans almost 30 years across photography, radio, printed publication, product development, and user experience design. Laura specializes in getting high-quality interactive experiences designed and out the door while keeping teams energized and having fun. She is passionate about every project she delivers and is always up for a challenge.

Laura’s early career in Chicago was characterized by training corporate executives to use the computer by day and pioneering new forms of digital media for the underground music scene by night. When not working, Laura enjoys keeping up with pop culture, eating and making delicious food, and going on adventures with her family.

Lauren is a director of client relations and partner at Blink. With over a decade of business management, marketing, and sales experience, she has a deep understanding of how to craft successful, long-term engagements with clients. She can often be found onsite with clients brainstorming their next project together. Her area of expertise is helping craft engagements that integrate research into design outcomes and using innovative methods to answer hard questions.

She attended Georgia Southern University before moving to Seattle in 2003 and holds a B.A. in business administration from the University of Washington. After sixteen years in Seattle and ten years at Blink, Lauren relocated to Austin, Texas in 2018 and heads up business development for the Blink Austin office.

She has an amazing husband, two sons and two dogs that keep her on her toes, loves collecting old books, playing tennis, and has a weakness for home-cooked Southern food.

Lea Martin is a UX researcher at Blink who is endlessly curious and loves connecting with people to uncover the why behind experiences, habits, and rituals. She leverages her creative background and analytical mindset to strengthen collaboration between design and research.

Prior to Blink, Lea worked as an industrial designer and researcher at a start-up developing ergonomically focused wireless headphones. From there, she worked at Microsoft as a UX research contractor supporting product development for education and family safety.

Outside of Blink, you can find Lea learning and creating. Most frequently this is through exploring new recipes, sewing apparel, and making home goods out of wood and ceramics. As an avid podcast listener, she is constantly championing her favorite series and curating lists of recommendations.

Lilly Murphy is a visual designer at Blink. She loves being surrounded by so many design thinkers and learning something new from them everyday. She is passionate about problem solving, and using design to bring moments of joy to peoples' lives.

Lilly received her Bachelors of Design in Visual Communication Design from the University of Washington. Before coming to Blink she worked with several small companies helping them build out their brands and visual design systems.

Outside of Blink you can find her listening to podcasts while walking around the city, watching live music while enjoying good food, and playing cards with friends and family!

Linda Wagener, Blink’s Chief Culture Officer, has over 35 years of experience in organizational leadership, consultation, training, and research. She is an expert in the areas of organizational culture, leadership, and team dynamics. Linda is committed to building resilient work cultures that enhance employee engagement and productivity.

A Minnesota native, Linda received her doctorate in psychology at Clark University. Linda’s work on resilience has been published in various scholarly journals. She was an academic psychologist for 25 years before co-founding Marigold Associates, an organizational consultancy.

One of Linda’s commitments is to provide training and counseling on resilience and trauma to international aid workers who are living and working in fragile and hostile contexts. Linda enjoys travel, movies, books, skiing, and hiking. Linda is executive producer of the documentary, “Once There Was a War,” which examines the capacity of young people to flourish in Bosnia, Central Asia, and Iraq.

Lisa Vaughn-Olstad is the director or recruiting for Blink’s Embedded efforts. Connecting creative talent to great career opportunities has been a highlight to Lisa’s professional life. It is highly rewarding as Lisa likes connecting the dots, making matches, and being inspired by creative deliverables.

Prior to Blink, Lisa’s career included agency recruitment for Fortune 500 tech firms, and film special effects coordination. Working with creative and marketing talent for over 20 years, Lisa has great insights into project and team workflows and how operations can be optimized.

Outside of Blink, Lisa can be found at Zumba, on long walks with dog Nola, getting lost in good fiction, volunteering in the arts, and watching movies with her family.

Logan Quinn is a UX designer at Blink. He is obsessed with understanding complex problems and searching for their solutions. He enjoys taking on design challenges in a variety of problem spaces and loves impactful solutions capable of educating and altering behavior long after the experience has ended.

Prior to joining the Blink team, he worked with a startup focused on tackling waste disposal education as well as engaging in other freelance opportunities. Logan graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in interaction design.

When he’s not in the office you can usually find Logan bent over a piano trying to get his hands to play in unison, puzzling out a difficult rock climbing route, or playing the occasional video game.

Louis Rakovich is a visual designer at Blink. With an academic background in the social sciences and a creative background in writing and photography, he views design as the ultimate meeting point between the conceptual, the visual and the social. He holds a BA in economics and business from Tel Aviv University and an MFA in graphic design from Rhode Island School of Design. He’s passionate about the cultivation of immersive, multi-dimensional experiences, and about the spiritual role of technology within the broader human condition.

Prior to joining Blink, Louis has worked with The Carney Institute for Brain Science, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab.

He loves cinema, art, spontaneous road trips, and all things strange and enchanting.

Lynsey Lacher is the employee experience manager at Blink's flagship studio in Seattle. She is passionate about implementing strategies to improve employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Lynsey is responsible for enhancing the overall employee journey within the organization. She works in collaboration with HR, leadership, and other departments to develop and implement employee-centric practices.

Lynsey started at Blink in 2019 as a studio manager and later as a studio experience manager. In those roles, she focused on hospitality, workplace design, and building authentic workplace culture. As the studio experience manager, she worked in conjunction with Blink's studio managers, studio hosts and general managers to promote and support a cohesive and consistent level of service and expression of brand values across all Blink studios.

Prior to Blink, Lynsey worked at Catalyst Workplace Activation, a certified Herman Miller dealership, for over five years. Lynsey practically grew up at Catalyst as her father was one of its co-founders over 40 years ago. In her prior role, Lynsey was the client services coordinator for Catalyst’s downtown location, The Loft. There she hosted and facilitated events for hundreds of industry influencers and partners, customers and prospective clients.

A Seattle native, Lynsey is happiest by the water and loves spending summers boating in the San Juan Islands with her family.

Maggie Taylor is a resourcing specialist at Blink. Along with the rest of the resourcing team, Maggie works on strategically establishing our practitioner teams to provide the best results to all of Blink’s clients. She enjoys solving complex problems and developing creative systems and solutions.

She brings with her a bachelor’s degree in business administration, as well as a particular love for systems creation, and an interest in the impact of technology on humans. Maggie most recently worked in real estate and property management, managing systems, tracking, and vendors for an engineering team. In addition, she brings previous experience in partnerships and app ideation in various other settings.

In her spare time, you can find Maggie reading as many books as she can, cooking meals for friends and family, picking up random hobbies, and doing her best to see as much of the world as possible.

Mao Otsuki is a UX designer at Blink. She is passionate about seeing life from different perspectives and creating shared moments of happiness and understanding.

Mao grew up in Japan and moved to Boston to study communication design at MassArt where she found her passion in UX design. Prior to Blink during her time at MassArt, Mao worked as a UX designer at a start-up that focused on creating a collaborative platform for creatives. Previously, she also worked as a design intern at Image Conscious Studios and DraftKings.

Outside of her work at Blink, Mao enjoys k-pop and hula dance, cooking/eating different types of food, and watching romantic reality TV shows.

Marissa Devine leads the resourcing discipline at Blink. She focuses on the strategic assembly of optimal teams to ensure successful projects for our clients. With a long history in project management for the design industry, Marissa brings the operational rigor and commitment to creative culture needed to facilitate effective process development.

Marissa’s background in humanities and project management has fostered a profound passion for understanding the nature of belief, communication and team dynamics as well as a desire to develop innovative systems to manage such behaviors in the workplace. She has academic degrees in philosophy, religion, English literature, and project management, PMP certification as well as more than a decade of experience leading projects for design giants such as Teague. She is also a regular lecturer at the School of Visual Concepts in Project Management for Design.

When not delving deep into the world of operations at Blink, Marissa can be found kayaking around Lake Washington, practicing yoga, attending the opera or dancing to her favorite T-Rex record.

Mark is the IT director and our resident photographer. He is responsible for all of Blink's technology as well as our security.

Prior to joining Blink, Mark worked as a photojournalist, art director for Getty Images, technologist in various industries, and taught computer graphics and photography. You can see a collection of his photography work here.

Mark earned a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from Ohio State University. He is a global traveler and loves telling stories through pictures.

Matt Kissick is a design director, based in Vancouver. He loves a good design challenge and an even better design system. From print to products to architecture, he tries to surround himself with all things design.

Matt received his Bachelor of Design in Industrial Design at OCAD University in Toronto before transitioning into the digital world of UX design.

He's since gotten to work with some great companies, including NASA, Amazon, Kaiser Permanente, T-Mobile, Atari and Edelman Financial Engines which won Best in Fintech at the 2020 SF Design Week.

When you find him away from his computer he's stopping pucks, exploring the city, hiking the local mountains or diving into a sci-fi novel.

Matt St Pierre is a research director at Blink based in South Carolina. He aims to ensure that research meets a high standard and provides the client with critical insights that support product development efforts. He has always been driven to gain a deeper understanding of how the mind and by extension people interact with technologies new and old. He enjoys immersing himself in complex problems to better understand the human experience within the space.

Matt holds a Ph.D. in human factors psychology from Clemson University, as well as a master's degree in industrial organizational psychology. His educational endeavors were all in pursuit of observing and gaining a better understanding of people and how they perceive and interact with technology and within complex systems and environments.

Matt has been performing some form of behavioral research for more than a decade. Prior to joining Blink, Matt worked in human factors engineering and strategic roles on projects for the Navy, Air Force, Department of Energy, TSA, and other government agencies as well as UX and human factors research roles in healthcare and with General Electric.

When Matt isn’t working, he’s probably looking for or binging on new music. He also plays guitar, enjoys hiking, getting outside, and spending time with his two cats and family.

McKayl is the content manager on Blink's marketing team based out of our Seattle studio.

McKayl uses her words to bring Blink's brand voice to life and to tell the stories of the passionate employees and the meaningful projects at Blink. She enjoys writing, tracking content performance analytics, and learning about new industries and topics. McKayl's passion for content creation and editorial calendars can be traced back to her time at the University of Minnesota where she studied journalism and strategic communication. After graduation in 2017, she started her own social media management company and continues to help brands build a strong presence across social platforms.

Outside of work, you can find McKayl brushing up on her guitar skills, studying personal finance, trying new recipes, downhill skiing, and going on long hikes.

Megan Doll is a UX researcher. Her lifelong fascination with how humans make meaning and assign value drew her to UX.

Megan studied French and Italian literature at the University of Minnesota and received her MA in cultural reporting and criticism from New York University. She has worked as a freelance writer, editor, teacher, and yoga studio owner.

An urban enthusiast, Megan is a living brochure for Minneapolis, New York, and Seattle. She feels most like herself when she is reading a book, standing on her hands, and/or drinking coffee.

Michael Havran is a project manager for Insight Space.

He graduated with a B.A. in Communications from The University of Texas at San Antonio. Initially based in our San Diego office, he now calls Austin, Texas home.

He loves gaming, movies, and falling asleep to audiobooks. Much of his free time is dedicated to exploring Austin looking for a new adventure with his husband and two dogs.

Mike Weinstein is a principal designer at the Blink Boston studio. He joined Blink with the Tectonic team, where he worked to create design systems for brands and digital experiences.

Before working at Blink, Mike spent time as a lead designer at several startups, an interactive designer for an advertising agency, and a freelancer. His work includes UX and visual design, front-end web development, prototyping, logo design, and illustration. He graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, MA with a degree in graphic design.

Outside of work Mike enjoys traveling, playing basketball, binge-watching Netflix series, and challenging himself with self-initiated design projects.

Nic Minard (he/they) is the Head of Marketing and Sales Enablement at Blink UX. He leads a talented team to deliver innovative campaigns and strategies that build community, deepen Blink's relationships with clients, and ensure client success. Nic also leads Business Development intake, meeting with every new client that reaches out to Blink.

For the last few years, Nic worked as both an agency leader and a product design operations leader at companies like Rivian, Splunk, and Cisco where he led teams to execute complex design programs, organizational and business management, and cross-functional partnerships and collaboration.

Outside of work, Nic loves spending time with friends and family and volunteers as a board member for nonprofit organizations.

Nicole Jarvis is a project manager at Blink. She develops specialized recruiting expertise within Blink to more effectively recruit users for research studies. Nicole is also responsible for the coordination of external recruiting partners.

Nicole graduated with a B.A. in public relations from Central Washington University. After graduating she moved to sunny San Diego, where she gained her skills and knowledge at a market research recruiting facility, Plaza Research.

In her spare time, she can be found cheering on her favorite sports teams, rocking out at a concert, or sipping on a vanilla latte at the local coffee shop.

Nik Chandwani is a project coordinator who loves working to connect with professionals and build professional relationships when they can.

Before Insight Space, Nik worked within the audio community with foley and radio, as well as an outreach coordinator with Advantage Solutions, and tournament organization for That's Not Safe. Nik's efforts developed a strong business liaison position for radio and esports events. Other projects with consumer-facing tools helped them discover a passion for the user, and so they followed that passion into the field of UX.

In their spare time, Nik likes to run esports events, do photography, and compete in Magic: The Gathering.

Pam Bohline is a research director at Blink. She is passionate about people, processes, and products. She focuses on business purposes (WHY) and connects them with consumer and user needs through various research methods (HOW, WHAT).

Prior to Blink, Pam worked in different industries such as retail, banking, insurance, hospitals, and cable and telecommunications. In her last role as the manager of the experience research team at Charter Communications, she mentored junior researchers, built a team from zero to six, developed a research first approach to different projects, democratized research, and changed business mindsets to position research as a top practice and the base for human-centered design.

Outside of Blink, Pam enjoys hiking with her family and dogs on the multiple trails in the Colorado mountains, traveling to wine country, and learning about winemaking and tasting.

Paul is an award-winning user-experience leader always aspiring to maximize return on investment through human-centered design. At Blink, Paul defines approaches for experience research, strategy, and design of technology-based business solutions where user experience is paramount to success. His capabilities and experience span B2C, B2B, and B2E solutions across a broad spectrum of industries, from banking and insurance through to consumer-packaged goods and eCommerce.

Paul has spent his career leading teams in the reinvention of customer and employee experience through the integration of process, technology, systems, and organizations to optimize productivity, engagement, and loyalty. Paul also serves as an educator at the University of Toronto, sharing the pragmatics of applied human factors with the next generation of industrial engineers and UX specialists.

When not at work, Paul might be playing his favorite tunes from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s on piano or guitar. Or enjoying a workout on the soccer field, ice rink, gym, or outdoors pretty much anywhere in the great white north.

Philip Llanos is an NLU design director at Blink. He leverages state-of-the-art, Natural Language Processing (NLP) to build helpful, delightful, and natural conversational AI experiences. He specializes in NLP strategy and creating natural language understanding (NLU) for AI assistants. Philip focuses on intent classification, entity extraction, data preparation, prompt engineering, and sentiment analysis.

Prior to Blink, Philip worked at Kore.ai where he focused on voice and text-based conversational interfaces, consulting, and building NLUs. His clients include many fortune 500 companies who he created AI assistants for with a plethora of capabilities and over 90% accuracy.

Outside of Blink, Philip enjoys spending time with family and friends who live across the United States and world. He frequents his home country, Trinidad and Tobago, and enjoys traveling, music, architecture, and the great outdoors. He also likes to stay abreast of the latest in science and tech.

Rachel Clayton is a payroll specialist at Blink. She brings over 16 years of experience in HR, AR, AP, Payroll, Benefits Administration, Staff Accounting, customer service, call centers, office management, contracts, political and legislative, and PAC accounting. Rachel started out as a makeup artist at Gene Juarez Salons and Spas and worked her way up to directing the Team Artistic for makeup. She later became an educator at the Advance Training Salon and did product development for the department. Her previous employers include Model Linen, Haney Trucks, Lee and Eastes Tank Lines, Drive Shop, and the Aerospace Machinists Union.

In her spare time, Rachel loves traveling, reading, collecting comic books, gardening, singing, makeup artistry, fashion, and spending time with her family.

Rich Roberge (he/him) is a director of client relations for Blink. He's responsible for building business through strategic client relationships.

With close to 30 years of sales and business development experience with multiple companies and industries, Rich has proven expertise in leading all aspects of the business development funnel including building client relationships, successfully launching client projects, and managing sales/biz dev teams. Because of his diverse background, Rich has a solid working knowledge of both basic and complex, technical projects.

Rich's experience includes working in the advertising industry, startups, medical device & healthcare, and digital product development. Rich has worked with a variety of clients including Walmart, Amazon, Cardinal Health, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, and Meta (when they were still called The Facebook). Rich's attributes his success working with clients throughout his career to following the mantra, "...is it easy to do business with us?"

In Rich's downtime, he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, watching movies, playing golf, skiing, and traveling (often to parts of the world that have good golf and skiing).

Rose Schneider is a UX researcher who loves figuring out creative solutions to tricky problems. She thrives in the intersection of stories and data, combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies to empathize with and understand users.

Before joining Blink, Rose spent a decade conducting research on human cognition and learning. She received a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from UC San Diego where she led domestic and international research projects on early language and mathematical development. Through her academic research Rose became increasingly interested in the power of digital environments and experiences to shape outcomes for children and adults. This prompted her to pursue a career in UX, where she leverages research to create accessible, inclusive, and engaging experiences that improve users' lives.

Outside of Blink, Rose can likely be found teaching yoga, playing disc golf, hiking with her husband and pup, or hunting for her next big thrift store come up.

Rukiya is the resourcing specialist at Blink. She brings with her a bachelors in psychology and studies in Christian theology and counseling, as well as 20+ years of administrative and customer service experience. She’s passionate about Blink’s culture and takes every opportunity to contribute; including heavy involvement with the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work.

Prior to Blink, Rukiya’s journey included life as a cell service rep at AT&T, an administrative assistant with the American Cancer Society, and an IT business analyst at Florida Blue before her love for people drew her to resourcing.

Outside of work, Rukiya loves to volunteer - especially where children and learning are involved - and has volunteered as a ReadingPal with United Way and as a Sunday school teacher at the Church of Jacksonville. She also loves the arts and is sure to be found at an Alvin Ailey dance performance, a concert at one of Seattle’s many intimate venues, or at a paint and sip night.

Sandra is a principal researcher who is fascinated by people and their stories. She is deeply invested in helping companies improve people’s work and personal lives through evidence-driven design.

Before joining Blink, Sandra spent over a decade working with start-ups and multinational technology companies; her focus was building useful and powerful enterprise tools and engaging consumer experiences in the digital music and live event ticketing space.

Outside of work, you might find Sandra working in her garden, at a live show, or searching for dog friendly brunch spots with her husband and kids.

As a principal project manager, Sarah Miller, is in charge of supporting project teams by removing roadblocks, monitoring and updating schedules, and tracking budgets. She owns the project's start and close processes and supports the research and recruiting teams. Sarah’s clients include Amazon, Capital One, Microsoft, and Starbucks

Sarah joined Blink with a background in administrative support, event planning, and lean workplace organization. She graduated with a B.A. in public relations from Illinois State University before moving to Seattle in 2007. Prior to joining Blink, she worked for six years at Safeco Insurance as both an executive assistant to two vice presidents and as a business analyst.

In her free time, Sarah likes to work on side projects with Pike Place Fish; a company she owns with her husband. She also enjoys going on adventures with her hound dog, cooking and taking vacations to exotic, far-off destinations such as Thailand or Decatur, Illinois.

Sarah Russell is the Seattle studio manager at Blink. She is committed to creating a supportive and uplifting environment for all guests who come into our studio office. She takes pride in upholding the studio culture with confidence, enthusiasm, and coffee.

Prior to Blink, Sarah was and still is a performing artist. She has performed professionally as an actor for the past 10 years. She’s worked with many Seattle theaters including The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle Rep, and ACT.

When she’s not at Blink, Sarah likes to spend time with friends and family, dine out, and binge watch a good tv show.

Scott Lambridis is Chief Design Officer at Blink. He's responsible for growing the design practice, maintaining a healthy culture for the team to do its best work, and ensuring Blink design work meets a high standard of excellence. He also guides strategy on key accounts across a variety of industries.

Prior to Blink, Scott built a UX team at Eveo, where he helped design dozens of mobile and desktop applications for doctors, patients, and healthcare reps with many of the most successful healthcare organizations. Scott earned a degree in neurobiology from the University of Virginia. He loves complex problems and has worked in a wide range of creative industries, providing leadership on projects through cooperation, communication, organization, judgment, and imagination. This has consistently resulted in award-winning solutions and long-term relationships.

Scott is also a practiced public speaker, having given talks on design leadership, customer-centered thinking, emerging technologies, and DEI practices to a variety of audiences, including design and business leaders, practitioners, product teams, Salesforce developers, and even retail storeowners.

Outside of Blink, Scott is an award-winning novelist and short story writer, with an MFA from San Francisco State University, and he has published stories in the Chicago Review, Slice, and other journals. He recently sold the farm he owned with his wife and daughter in the Tahoe foothills with 400 olive trees to relocate to the PNW, and would gladly share stories of farm life follies with anyone interested.

Serena Down is head of research operations at Blink who loves finding themes that make up the narrative of our experience, whether it is in user research and design or in her past life in television production and e-learning.

Serena’s educational background is in anthropology and she holds a master's degree from Stanford University in documentary film. Her first job in UX was over twenty years ago when she was hired to put her anthropology degree to use by doing user interviews for a Seattle start up.

When not at work, Serena enjoys biking, gardening, sketching and swimming.

Shannon Chin is a director of project management at Blink SF. She joined Blink via the acquisition of Redshift in 2018.

Shannon was born and raised in San Francisco, CA and attended Boston University for her BS in business. Prior to working at Redshift, Shannon has worked on digital marketing and advertising campaigns and projects for clients including Google, Nike, Visa and Levi's.

In her free time, she loves going to shows around the bay area, eating Japanese food, and boxing.

Shindy is the chief revenue officer at Blink. She is primarily focused on company sales and marketing strategies in support of Blink’s mission, to enrich people’s lives. She has a long history of working in global organizations across marketing, go-to-market and sales.

American and Canadian-born, Shindy received her MBA from the University of Oregon and her BA in Pacific and Asian Studies and Japanese from the University of Victoria. She is fluent in Japanese, Punjabi and Hindi.

Shindy lives in the greater Seattle area with her husband, two teenage boys and fluffy Samoyed. She spends the winter months with her two son’s during ski season and enjoys glamping in the summer.

Shiroq is a UX researcher at Blink’s Boston studio. UX has pushed her to think critically about the solutions we put out into the world. As a researcher, her goal is to delve deeper into pressing questions and uncover possible futures. She connects people and ideas through narratives to illustrate research findings, develop practical insights, and inspire action.

Prior to joining Blink, Shiroq was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) conducting user research with family caregivers and persons with disabilities. She received a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Leeds where she explored the design and development of tangible user interfaces (TUIs) for visualizing complex genetic information.

Outside Blink, you can find Shiroq hiking with her pup and husband, playing chess at Harvard Square, or searching for dog-friendly spaces and restaurants.

Stephanie Tang Waldrop is a visual designer at Blink where she loves designing elegantly crafted and delightful digital experiences.

Prior to Blink, she worked at IDEO, a global design consultancy, where she was a studio manager in its Play Lab and had a hand in project management and business operations. Most importantly, she learned the value of collaboration and making a positive impact through user-centered design. She also has previous experience developing brand identities for start-ups. She earned her Master of Design at the University of Washington, where she focused on visual communication design and design research.

Outside of work, you'll find Stephanie rock climbing, wrangling her two kids, and enjoying the little things.

Summer Williams is a visual communications designer at Blink. She helps to bring the Blink brand to life through visual storytelling.

Prior to Blink, Summer has worked as a designer for growing brands in CPG, tech, and startups. She’s experienced in creating visual content across digital and print channels, maintaining and evolving brand systems, and building processes for design teams within organizations. She earned her degree at San Diego State University where she studied both graphic design and entrepreneurship - a perfect intersection of design thinking principles.

Outside of Blink, Summer enjoys attending creative events in San Diego, reading, yoga, camping, walking, roadtrippin’, watching films, writing poems, and buying (more) plants.

Sylvain is a principal researcher in San Francisco. He loves meeting research participants to learn more about a specific problem, topic or industry, and how to positively impact these.

Before Blink, Sylvain spent many years in several different roles at Logitech, climbing the quality engineering ladder before managing wide-scale beta tests for consumer electronics and IoT devices. This was where he discovered his consumer-advocate side, and embarked onto the captivating path of UX research. In an even more distant life, he was a chef in several different restaurants in Switzerland, where he was born.

Outside work, you'll find him researching the next place he'd like to visit, binge consuming TV shows or his latest favorite musician, petting random dogs, perfecting his tiramisu recipe, and exploring San Francisco's nightlife.

Tasha Doerschel is an account manager for Insight Space, the qualitative research recruiting division of Blink. She ensures that Insight Space projects go smoothly for clients, researchers, and participants.

Tasha graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in sociology and worked for Seattle Parks and Recreation for twenty years before relocating to Austin. She went back to school and earned a degree in hospitality and tourism, which she uses today as a freelance travel agent.

Outside of Blink, Tasha is an avid hiker and beer enthusiast. She is involved with the Victory Brew Hiking Club and is developing a non-profit organization that takes youth on therapeutic hikes. Tasha is also involved in the music community, volunteering with the Melodic Caring Project. A dedicated Seattle Seahawks season ticket holder, outside of work, Tasha can be found at games or enjoying the outdoors.

Teresa Liu Park is a UX researcher who loves working collaboratively with clients to ask the right questions. She enjoys having a holistic approach to research and considering how the research fits into the bigger picture.

In her past life, Teresa studied engineering and worked in data analysis in the healthcare industry. Some of her work involved building business cases for corporate initiatives, giving her an appreciation for the intersection of business and analytics. Other projects with consumer-facing tools helped her discover a passion for the user, and so she followed that passion into the field of UX.

In her spare time, Teresa can often be found traveling to see family and friends, looking for delicious cheap eats, and trying to become more of a Seattleite by exploring the outdoors.

Tom Satwicz is the chief research officer at Blink's Seattle studio. He's responsible for ensuring our research projects meet a high standard of excellence. Through mentorship and project direction he helps client teams gain empathy for their customers, users, and anyone that may encounter their product or service. He's particularly interested in creating technologies that will provide a meaningful impact on people's lives. Tom has worked with a range of organizations from established tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon to non-profits like Committee for Children.

Tom is a graduate of the Ph.D. program in Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Washington and was previously a faculty member at the University of Georgia’s College of Education. There he conducted ethnographic studies of how young people learn to use digital media and how technology is integrated into educational settings.

Outside of Blink, Tom enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, and hanging out in West Seattle.

Tommy is a research technician at Blink. He is responsible for managing the A/V needs of the lab spaces. His goal is to produce high-quality video content while providing exemplary IT support.

Prior to joining Blink, Tommy worked as an audio and lighting engineer for concerts, commencements, festivals, and corporate events.

Outside of Blink, Tommy enjoys hiking, playing soccer, jamming with friends on the guitar, and going on long walks with his dog Winston.

Tulsi Desai is a principal researcher at Blink who loves applying her systems-thinking perspective from mechanical engineering and manufacturing to understand how people use products and services.

After graduating from Duke University with a B.S. in mechanical engineering, she spent five years as a manufacturing engineer leading product quality and systems design improvements in the energy sector. Driven by the belief that human-centered design should be applied across all stakeholders - including those responsible for assembling products - she went back to school, earning her M.S. in design Impact from Stanford University. There, she spent a year researching end-of-career transitions, designing a service that proposes an alternative to retirement.

Outside of Blink, you can find her choreographing a Bollywood dance, designing games, or purchasing a new kitchen appliance to optimize how to cook the perfect meal.

Tyler Caro is a UX researcher in Blink’s Seattle office who specializes in mixed methods research.

Prior to Blink, Tyler led collaborative innovation efforts focusing on new digital product development in the financial services industry, and drove content and marketing strategy for agriculture based nonprofits as a consultant. Tyler holds degrees in both physics and applied mathematics, and in a past life, worked in a university funded theoretical condensed matter physics lab developing simulations.

Outside of Blink Tyler can be found running with his dog, acting as a senior contributor with the University of Texas San Antonio’s AI Lab, and desperately searching for PNW’s best chimichanga.

Zachary Porter is a visual designer out of Blink’s Boston office who loves to create beautiful and intuitive designs that solve complex problems. He also enjoys other mediums of design such as animation and branding. His first introduction to the arts began in his high school's darkroom after seeing a photo develop in front of his eyes for the first time. After that, he was hooked.

Prior to Blink, Zachary attended American University initially to study film before eventually finding love for design. With his newfound passion, he received a BA in interactive design along with minors in computer science and communication. He has had the opportunity to work for multiple design agencies including most recently working as the lead UI/UX designer at Sprout Studios.

Outside of Blink, you can most certainly find him either at Fenway watching a game, at home watching the game, or listening to a podcast about said game. It’s safe to say; he loves baseball. Other hobbies and interests of his include: baking, live music, small coding projects, random trivia, space stuff, and playing tennis.