David Gomez-Rosado User Experience Design 5 Prado Street. Apt 202 San Francisco, CA 94123-1135 USA david@gomez-rosado.com http://gomez-rosado.com +1 206.388.6834 Messenger: dahveedgr@hotmail.com iChat, AOL, Skype, Yahoo: dahveedgr LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dahveedgr Portfolio: http://gomez-rosado.com/gomez-rosado-work.pdf Resume: http://gomez-rosado.com/resume Contact info as a .vcf card: http://gomez-rosado.com/david.vcf EXPERIENCE SUMMARY VP, User Experience Lithium Technologies, Inc. Emeryville, CA. Nov 08 - Mar 10 VP, User Experience Ask.com Oakland, CA. May 07 - Sep 08 User Experience Manager Microsoft Corporation Redmond, WA. Apr 05 - Apr 07 Creative Director, Founder Lobe Multimedia S.L. Madrid, Spain. Oct 02 - Apr 05 Chief Interface Officer IconMedialab Inc. Madrid, Spain. Dec 01 - Nov 02 Chief Creative Officer WhiteStone Technology Ltd. Singapore. Apr 01 - Nov 01 Creative Director Nike.com Nike Inc. Beaverton, OR. May 00 - Apr 01 Creative Director Apogee Networks Inc. Saddle Brook, NJ. Aug 98 - Apr 00 Creative Director iNautix Technologies Inc. Jersey City, NJ. Mar 97 - Aug 98 Senior Multimedia Designer Ark Studios Inc. Boston, MA. January 94 - March 97 EDUCATION SUMMARY Bachelor of Industrial Design Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI. 1991 - 1995 Bachelor of Fine Arts Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI. 1991 - 1994 COVER LETTER Throughout a 15-year UX career spanning opportunities in 3 continents, I have delivered in the following environments: - Consultancy ... as Chief Interface Officer at interactive consultancy firm IconMedialab, directing teams of up to 37 multi-disciplinary professionals across three cities (Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona) dealing with internal needs, project requirements, and doing client management and acquisition. - Corporate ... as Vice President, Creative Director or UX Manager for large multinationals (Microsoft, Nike, and what it is today Etrade) Building and managing their teams (35 and 15 on last two) as well as architecting their online strategy from scratch (e-commerce, web services, social networks). - Start-Up ... as Chief Creative Officer or Creative Director on several start-ups, helping put them on the map with business strategy, business plans, org, image, communication, promotion and early prototypes: WhiteStone Technology, Evident Software, Ylos, VisionLink, etc. - Studio ... as Designer on my early beginnings, or President of my own firms (US, Europe & Asia), building them from the ground up & procuring clients the size of Siemens, Lego, Camper, Telstra. Identifying & recruiting international talent, as well as personally creating final product. In terms of projects... I have enjoyed solving user experience and design challenges in: - Social networking, Social CRM - Web Apps - Interactive TV - CRM software - Search - 3G mobile services - Financial tools - Retail e-commerce - Brand Identity - Web presence - Marketing - Advertising - 3D animation - Industrial design - Widgets/Toolbars - Office Productivity I truly feel impassioned about the discipline of UX architecture, and take delight in adopting the end-to-end viewpoint when meeting complex UI-driven initiatives, especially if they are supported by the larger concept of brand experience and have technology constraints against to which stir-out a solution. Defining overarching themes and cross-functional benefits among interlinked services are my specialty My schooling in both Industrial Design and Fine Arts (two Bachelor degrees from RISD) plus former studies in Architecture, make me quite comfortable on the convergence of front-end technologies (hardware or software). I am able to see the potential on apparently disconnected solutions (new or old) and apply their fusion of benefits to any given problem. My approach is very hands-on, maintaining myself sharp on the trends, techniques, tools and technologies of the trade, and using such knowledge to anticipate changes and future ramifications in the industry. Extensive portfolio and references are available upon request. EXPERIENCE DETAIL Vice President, User Experience Lithium Technologies, Inc. Emeryville, CA November 2008 - March 2010 Developing enterprise communities, innovating on social CRM, reputation, community sentiment, socialization of content. Responsible for managing user experience for all of LithiumÕs products, ensuring consistency and improvement of their design throughout the suite line, including knowledge base, forums, ideas, blogs, user profiles, search, twitter integration, mobile, etc. Managing personnel involved with the discipline, and partnering with VP and C-level management to project LithiumÕs vision to its customer base. Art-direction of showcase clients. Lithium brand. Vice President, User Experience Ask.com Oakland, CA May 2007 - September 2008 Oversight and key contributions to the conceptual, visual (UI), and functional execution of Ask.com. Developing task and information architecture models that inform project objectives and bring innovative design solutions responding to user needs, technological progress and product requirements. Partnering with VP-level peers in analytics, product, engineering, QA, and marketing. Recruiting, directing and mentoring UX team as well as managing external agencies/contractors. User Experience Manager Microsoft Corporation Redmond, WA April 2005 - April 2007 Working on the User Experience Architecture for the entire network of Windows Live products and services. (Including Mail, Local, Search, Messenger, Spaces, Favorites, etc.) In charge of identifying user needs and requirements, the study of their behavior and forms of interaction, selection of technologies, platforms and standards, implementation of usability and design tactics... And well, anything that represents interface strategy on the diverse Internet initiatives of this multinational (including MSN, Hotmail, Messenger, etc). Architect and director of the Human Interface Guidelines for Windows Live. Top performance reviews. Commitment: Exceeded; Contribution: Outstanding. Owner, President, Creative Director Lobe Multimedia S.L. Madrid, Spain & Erlangen, Germany October 2002 - April 2005 Founder and director of this company dedicated to Communication Services. Covering the following offerings: Consulting, Interface, Brand, Web, Intranet, Extranet, B2B-B2C, CRM-Help Desk, Multimedia, Marketing Online, Interactive Games, Motion Graphics-3D, Graphic Design. Clients such as Siemens, Bankinter, Camper, etc. Chief Interface Officer IconMedialab Inc. Madrid & Barcelona, Spain. Lisbon, Portugal December 2001 - November 2002 Responsible of all creative resources for the region of Iberia (Madrid, Barcelona & Lisbon). Managing a team of 34 people in Design, HCI and Web Development. Directing the offerings of Interface. Developing projects from prototype stages to final implementation. Acquiring new clients. Establishing production processes. Contributing to IconMedialab org structure & business strategy. Clients such as Telefonica, Mapfre, Oni, Camper, Preneal, Canal Isabel II, Real Fabrica de tapices, Grifols (Probitas Pharma), Q-Ellos, etc. Chief Creative Officer WhiteStone Technology Pte. Ltd. Singapore April 2001 - November 2001 Co-owner of the company and director of the innovative user experience behind Chisel and all of WhiteStone products. Responsible of standards in usability, interactivity and interface. Overseer of corporate identity, customer communication strategy and overall creative engine behind WhiteStone services. Creative Director Nike.com Nike Inc. Beaverton, OR May 2000 - April 2001 Responsible of the presence in the Internet for Nike, Inc. Including site design, global web identity, e-commerce efforts, brand initiatives, usability, information architecture, promotion & advertising. Built and managed a full in-house team of up to 27 people and a budget of US$ 5.1 M. Creative Director Apogee Networks Inc. Saddle Brook, NJ August 1998 - April 2000 Responsible for all the company's design needs: Interface & web design, user experience, product documentation, corporate identity, promotion and advertising. Creative Director Department Manager iNautix Technologies Inc. (now Etrade.com) Jersey City, NJ March 1997 - August 1998 Developed art department from the ground-up and specified resources, hired personnel and directed all company design services: Interface, web, promotional & corporate identity. Managed a staff of 10 designers & programmers. Senior Multimedia Designer Ark Studios Inc. Boston, MA January 1994 - March 1997 Responsible for all the company's design needs: Interface & web design, user experience, product documentation, corporate identity, promotion and advertising. Created many of the companies' award-winning edutainment products. Dealt directly with multiple clients and accounts. Responsible for this agency's Web and 3D animation practices. Clients such as Apple, MIT, Houghton Mifflin Interactive, Heinle & Heinle, etc. EDUCATION DETAIL Bachelor of Industrial Design (BID) Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI 1991 - 1995 - Bachelor of Industrial Design - 1995 IDSA Merit Award: School Winner and Representative for RISD on annual convention. Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI 1991 - 1994 - Bachelor of Fine Arts - RISD "Honor Student": Fall 1994, Fall 1993, Spring 1993, Spring 1992 - Columbia-Greene College "President's List": Spring 1991, Spring 1990, Fall 1989, Fall 1990 Dale Carnegie Leadership Training Dale Carnegie Bellevue, WA 1991 - 1995 - Reception of "Highest Award for Achievement" on graduation of the Spring 2006 Dale Carnegie Course. - Teacher Assistant on Winter 2006-2007. REFERENCES Emmanuel Biscay Chief Country Officer at NetGem S.A. ebi@netgem.com April 18, 2006 "David has a remarkable sense of what has to be done for a project and is capable of producing high standard level of work and deliver it on time. He is intuitive and precise at the same time. His expertise has been valuable for us. A real pleasure working with him." Jose Rubi-Gonzalo CTO at WhiteStone Technology jose.rubi-gonzalo@whitestonetechnology.com August 9, 2006 "David was a great asset for the company. His talent and skills are extraordinary. He has a great ability in understanding one's needs and the vision to present the perfect solution. He was able to transform the image of the company and give us that 'special something' we needed. His work was a true source of inspiration and motivation for everyone at the company." Necia Dallas Creative Director at IdentityMine, Inc. necia_d@comcast.net July 31, 2006 "David is singular, arriving at Nike in a comet of visionary excitement and manic, feverish workaholism. He's all vision & crazy talent. David, ever caffeinated, brought delight and purpose to a young and unseasoned department, with strong, brilliant opinions borne of an almost unparalleled gift of intuition and of his considerable hard-earned experience. I love David! Balaji Pitchaikani Chief Technology Officer at Nomadix balaji@pitchaikani.com July 18, 2006 "Dahveed is a smart and driven employee. His creative skills has transformed very many 'napkin drawings' to 'masterpieces'. He not only has the creative acumen but the technical understanding to blend technology with his creativity & deliver the right solution. It was a delight working with." Weilin Wu Vice President at Pershing LLC, BNY wwu@pershing.com October 15, 2006 "David is one of the most enthusiastic and energetic person I have ever worked with in my career. I have known him as not only a talented, accomplished designer, but also a natural leader. He has a talent and quality to translate creative drive into real problem solving solutions. David offers a fresh perspective and creative approach to projects. It is a real pleasure to work with David." David Clark Design Director & Owner at TandemSeven dclark@tandemseven.com October 13, 2006 "David is a top-notch designer who consistently delivered great projects at Ark Studios. Clients loved his creative solutions and comprehensive approach. In my view, David excels at resolving issues at multiple levels in his work. These range from business goals to brand expression and overall experience. David has a knack for bringing these critical elements together into an organic whole and regularly exceeded our client's expectations in the process." Jarred Tebo Senior Web Designer at Forbes.com jtebo@jtebo.com November 8, 2006 "David is a brilliant designer and an excellent mentor. He puts a great deal of effort into guiding his team members to do their best and giving them the greatest opportunities to create and implement their work. David excels at being able to communicate his vast knowledge of design and user experience with detail and an in-depth understanding to his clients in order to create excellent and exciting interfaces for software and the Web. David is always up to date with the latest news in design, information architecture, usability, and technology. David is a joy to work with and brings a passion for his work and life to everything he does." Deuce Cruse Practice Lead at IDEO dcruse@ideo.com September 9, 2006 "David was great to work with on a project that spanned several programs within the CDC. He worked hard to create and promote his work and the work of others within and outside of his organization. He has an great eye for detail and incredible enthusiasm for his work. It would be a pleasure to work with him again." Robert Greeley Senior Director at Siemens Corporation robert.greeley@siemens.com "Gomez-Rosado not only has provided us with a great quality of consultant work, but has also become 'one of us' during the process: Working and contributing as if the best interest for our company were genuinely the best for him as well. We recommend his highly personalized services to whomever needs to improve its own corporate image." Ferran Gimenez Prado Director at UOC Graduado Multimedia fgimenezp@uoc.edu "The work that Gomez-Rosado has generated for our academic activity is of great quality, the necessary level for our rigorous selection of pedagogical material... That is why we count on his experience in an official manner on the courses we provide." David Gutierrez Oliver Chief Executive Officer at Emobla Desarrollos S.L. davidgutierrez@cyomobiliario.com "Help from Gomez-Rosado represents the difference between getting skepticism or enthusiasm by our own clients. He has allowed us to communicate our business plan with confidence." Carlos Barros de Lis President at Tubbe y Asociados S.L. carlos.barrosdelis@tubbe.net "David has put all his personal best in our project, never skimping on effort and dedication. We are feeling quite satisfied. We emphasize his great technical and professional capacity, including imagination and design. We hope to continuously count with his services in the future." Beatriz Dominguez General Director at Arlit S.L. jvillena@arlitvelas.com "Gomez-Rosado built for us a multilingual content management system with which we are extremely happy. Right from the start he quickly adapted his method of work to our own rhythm. We recommend his services to any company that wishes to show their products in the internet." Jose Picon Rodriguez President at Picon & Asociados, Derecho e Informatica S.L. jose@piconyasociados.com "Lobe has met all our needs in an en efficient, pleasant and personalized manner. Always available when we have needed them and have resolved with confidence any problem exposed. It was a pleasure working with them. Is no surprise that we have hired them on three consecutive occasions to renovate our presence in the Web." Pablo Tapia Founder & President at Apogee Networks Inc. pablo@tapiagroup.com "The direction of Gomez-Rosado has helped us tremendously in bringing cohesion to our diverse offerings of products and services under one unified identity... He helped us be recognized by the marketplace, and what is most important, for us to recognize ourselves. Long later after his collaboration, the directions of his design applied to all our software products continue being of great help today." Antonio Galindo de la Vara President at Galican info@galicancasarural.com "We are thankful of the work Lobe has done for Galican. Our image has improved in quality and so has been perceived by our public. The promotional material has been sent to different points of Europe and we are being complimented because of its design. We will also count with you for future work such as the bed & breakfast hotel Galican will be building and we shall inaugurate soon." Josep Garcia Chief Executive Officer at Ylos Hispania S.L. josep@ylos.com "Gomez-Rosado gave a unified presence to our company during its early beginnings, providing us with a coherent line of brand and interfaces for our products, our marketing and our Web presence. All of those services proved to be of great value when the time came for us to launch in the market with a projection of solidity, quality and self-confidence." Santiago Vano Julia President at Comunycarse Consulting Network, S.L. svano@comunycarse.com "I am very satisfied with the corporate identity with which Gomez-Rosado has 'dressed us' with. Besides the point that I think it is helping us to stand-out in our trade, I have confirmed that the team of Lobe has poured as much passion in its development as if they were part of the Comunycarse family." Jesus Villena Owner Arlit S.L. jvillena@arlitvelas.com January 29, 2008 "From the moment that we contracted the services of Lobe Multimedia, the professional relationship was simply perfect. David captured from the first moment what our enterprise truly needed and implemented a solution in efficient and expedient form. He added as well contributions to the project of his own ideas that we thought to be on target and worthy of his great experience with new technologies in all the fields he masters. I recommended Lobe Multimedia to several companies for similar projects and they were also very satisfied. David is a great professional that knows how to listen to a client at the same time as contributing much. Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative." Erik Collier VP, Product Management at Ask.com erikc@ask.com September 06,, 2008 "David (Dahveed) is one of the most passionate and forward-thinking people I've ever had the privilege to work with. He is an exceptional manager with the rare ability to bring out the best in those that work for him through his creative energy and vision fused with an acute sense of detail and style." Rodney Edwards User Experience Manager at Microsoft rodneye@microsoft.com September 04, 2008 "David has the foresight and vision that sets him apart from other senior design executives. His passion is infectious, his vision is inspiring and his hands-on design work is of the highest caliber - a rare combination. In my experience, people want to work with and for David, he creates a working environment and team ethic that is fun, purposeful, challenging and a delight which is reflected in his design work." Javier Canada Crespi HCI Consultant at IconMedialab javier@terremoto.net September 5, 2008 "David's capabilities in the field of user experience and design are are out of question. It's his ability to take the best out of the professionals he manages what I appreciate the most. David injected dynamism in our team, we gained confidence and did a better work under his guidance. He was capable of dealing with many issues at a time, paying plenty of attention to a disperse and diverse team of professionals. As I grow and get more experienced I happen to value more and more what he did at IconMedialab back then. I hope we have future chances of working together." Jason Ralls Senior Web Designer at LEGO carlos.barrosdelis@tubbe.net September 6, 2008 "I have known David for the better part of fourteen years, and I can say his is truly a rare individual. It is rare to find a designer who is the "complete package" who can shift easily between management, business, and design -- David excels at all three (and more). I have seen him create several design teams from scratch who were not only productive, but happy and loyal. I have seen him build businesses from the ground up. Finally, and perhaps foremost, I have seen him delve into the most minute aspects of design out of both curiosity and a quest for perfection, and knock out amazing work. Amongst my colleges, the depth and breadth of David's skills are unmatched. However, I'm sure after you meet David, the main word that will pop up will be "passionate." David truly cares for his work, and cares for his people. He has the drive and guts to tackle big, v.1 projects that often get mired in indecision and internal politics, and create something great. By any standard that is a rare talent." Diana Furka Art Director at Ask.com diana.furka@ask.com September 4, 2008 "David 'Dahveed' Gomez-Rosado is an inspirational leader to anyone entrenched in the User Experience world and perhaps the most motivating team leader a group of creative professionals could have. An eye for creativity, exceptional attention to detail, and appreciation for careful craftsmanship serve to support and underscore the efforts of his team. It's a preternatural quality in the Bay Area, really. David's leadership is based on principles of "best practices" which will not only shape the thinking of a design team, but an entire organization. He is ideally suited to the role of being the backbone of a team and managing people passionate about shaping cohesive product-oriented UI design as well as creative/art direction mixed brimming with signature style. I have never witnessed a bigger proponent for solid and sound UX design. Humble, smart, and a visionary. It has been an immense pleasure to work with such a rockstar professional." Miles Orkin VP, Development Operations at American Cancer Society miles.orkin@cancer.org September 4, 2008 "During my time as a colleague of David's, and since that time as professional acquaintances, David has consistently impressed me with his skill, insight and intense drive to produce quality, innovative interface work. He is an excellent manager, a tireless thinker, and a fantastic bridge builder. He is adept at building consensus around compelling user experience solutions between disparate and multifaceted business groups in a company, and equally great at building creative, productive, and cohesive design teams. David is a guaranteed star on any team and I recommend him highly." Doug Leeds Chief Strategy Officer at Ask.com doug.leeds@ask.com September 4, 2008 "David has been a great asset to Ask.com. By contributing his deep experience in the UX discipline, he helped me and other leaders at Ask conceptualize and drive key products to completion while navigating through all manner of dependencies and complexities. He also built a legacy of talented designers, UX processes, and standards of quality that will benefit us long into the future. Recently, David was key in the re-imagination of Dictionary.com, leading a creative team that gave shape to, evangelized, and ultimately executed my vision of a completely new user experience. I would count on David's expertise anytime, anywhere." Hisun Kim User Experience Program Manager at Microsoft hisunk@microsoft.com September 5, 2008 "I worked with Dahveed about 2 years in Microsoft's Windows Live group. The team he led was responsible for laying out the UI frameworks and guidelines for all Windows Live products including Hotmail, Messenger, Spaces and Live search. Dahveed, with his close attention to details and inspirational designer personality, was the best design manager I knew so far, from whom I learned and got inspired a lot. Later he moved on to the Ask.com. And his design outcome of Ask.com UI made us proud that we once worked with him." Otty Soemitro Senior UI Designer at Ask.com otty.soemitro@ask.com September 3, 2008 "Dahveed's attention to detail, enthusiasm for excellence and cool mentoring vibe makes him the one of the best boss I've had the chance to work with in my career. Dahveed also has a positive and contagious work ethics, all in the best possible meaning of the word. I feed off Dahveed's creative energy and I can confidently say that he is a great role model for creative people such a myself." Dennis Luo Group Manager at Intel dennis_luo@yahoo.com September 7, 2008 "I've known David for over 14 years- and got the chance to collaborate again most recently as business colleagues at Microsoft. I've found David highly competent and very thorough in his approach and process. He's a talented designer, open minded manager, and will hit the ground running in any size organization." Conrad Chu Design Director at Ask.com conrad.chu@ask.com September 5, 2008 "Dahveed is a brilliant designer and mentor with the experience to funnel it to building a team, inspiring user experience design, and most of all, supporting business priorities. I have personally found his mentorship to be invaluable, and have been challenged by his advocacy for innovation and cross-company collaboration. Dahveed is the best you can find and his passion for design is simply contagious." Joaquin Marquez Correa Director of User Experience at The Cocktail S.L. joaquin@jmarquez.com September 8,, 2008 "David is a very creative and talented designer and also a high inspirational boss. When we worked together, he was always opened to new ideas and willing to innovate with new and exciting solutions to our customers problems." George Vanous Web Producer and Entrepreneur george@fromanywhere.com September 9, 2008 "David has been an excellent colleague and mentor at Microsoft and Ask.com. At both companies, we worked together on several projects, from component-based shared controls to internal tools for managing images. David is friendly and responsible and I welcome the opportunity to work with him again!" Hauke Gentzkow UX Design Manager at Zillow.com haukeg@hotmail.com September 8, 2008 "David is an incredibly creative and talented designer who brings his best to every project he tackles. I had the benefit of working for David at Microsoft on the Windows Live initial development work. I found his leadership direct and focused and his attitude always positive. His ability to solve for large design problems and provide clear solutions was a key to our overall success. I would highly recommend David for any large scale design initiatives, he is truly a pleasure to work with!" Paulo Alexandre Azevedo de Oliveira Senior Art Director at Continuum paulo@azevedo-oliveira.com September 9, 2008 "I consider the period that I've worked for and with David to be the one were I fully understood and committed myself to Design. In all my years as a professional I never knew someone more passionate, dedicated and educated to the art and also to the business of Communication. David's view of a project is always accompanied by a meticulous attention to detail and a contagious passion that makes you believe that there is no such thing as a "project that is not that important". As a colleague he opened my vision on Design and its ramifications and impressed me with is undeniable driven to learn. And as a boss, he taught me never to settle on the average while helping me believe in my own abilities far beyond my own beliefs. It was definitely a turning point for me and David is with no doubt and extremely valuable asset for any company or project." Marcelo Garrido Owner at Amable Ltda. garridopalma@gmail.com September 9, 2008 "David is a professional who has high skills. In his work as a experience designer is remarkable their creative abilities and technical management of tools and concepts of design. In his work as leader of projects demonstrates high management planning tools, initiative, ability to anticipate and very good interpersonal relationships. David is an excellent candidates for leadership positions." Jim Horne Development Manager at Microsoft jim@jimhorne.com September 8, 2008 "David is an inspirational leader and an innovative designer. He has incredible energy and drive and the self-confidence to take on large cross-team problems. Much of his success comes from his ability to work well with and inspire the respect of artists, executives, and engineers. I enthusiastically recommend him." Nikki Kloeppel Performance Consultant & Trainer at Dale Carnegie Training necia_d@comcast.net February 9, 2007 "I've worked with David for over a year on an almost weekly basis in our Leadership Training for Microsoft employees. He demonstrated exceptional interpersonal awareness, influence, communication, confidence and leadership and was voted by his 35 MSFT peers as the highest award for achievement. Because of his success, I asked him back as a peer mentor to coach and facilitate another team. He is well liked and respected and I highly recommend him for any position." Rene Schuchter Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft renes@totalgiving.net September 10, 2008 "David is a rare individual with whom I've been able to have meaningful discussions about the art and science of craftsmanship in the context of delivering world class software. While I was an engineer on the Windows Live team David provided critical user experience leadership and direction, both in-person and through a Human Interface Guidelines web and print publication, for the functionality, look and feel of a broad scope of Windows Live resources that our team worked to implement. I would feel fortunate and grateful to have that kind of clarity on any future project and would value working with David again." Michael Ferguson UX Directo at iCurrent, Inc. 2019mferguson@sbcglobal.net September 11, 2008 "David is unequivocally one of the most admirable and inspiring people I've worked with. His leadership manifests itself in many ways: keeping business and customer goals solidly balanced, nurturing and directing multiple skill sets and temperaments, and delivering detailed and innovative design. There's no business I can think of that would not benefit from his contribution." Jennifer Fleming Sr. UI Designer at TasteBook jfleming@gmail.com September 10, 2008 "David was very driven and dedicated to building a team at Ask. He brought fresh design insight and ideas to the team, and was a pleasure to be around and gain inspiration from. Victor Zambrano User Experience Architect at Syrup vzambrano@gmail.com September 11, 2008 "I had the opportunity to work with David for a pitch for Paramount Comedy Spain. David is a bold, energetic and extremely professional person. His committing to his work is total and wholesome, and he is always in pursue of the best and most adequate proposal. His experience gives him a high level of understanding of mostly any design problem while having a keen eye on detail and not leaving anything to chance. His approach is holistic and he deals with projects like they were his own. Personally he has always been receptive and open to new ideas. He lets people do their best, and hires the best ones. Working with David, both as a colleague and a client, is always an experience you want to repeat." Ernesto Alegre Creative Director at Profero ernesto@highface.com September 10, 2008 "I have had the opportunity to know David Gomez-Rosado through Iconmedialab, and it has been, without a doubt, a great experience professionally. I would define him as a well-balanced, well-rounded professional, capable of generating creative flow as well as capturing and directing it to achieve an incredible end result. David is motivated and motivating, inspired and inspiring; very few times have I found a person in my professional life so capable of covering all aspects of direction, be it organizational or structural, that a creative sphere involves. In summary, when under the direction of David Gomez-Rosado, one feels that something really extraordinary can be developed." Gary Goodrich Program Manager at Microsoft popforce@hotmail.com September 23, 2008 "David is an individual of unique talent & vision. I've seen him inspire and educate other to find & promote User Experience solutions in five countries. For David, it is not simply a vocation but, a passion. In a business where is it easy to take path of least resistance, David puts himself in the place of the end-user and finds creative solutions that are well-reasoned, intuitive and cutting-edge. He is always willing to walk though scenarios, or listen to other ideas. With him you don't just get someone who will make pretty pictures or find you UX solutions. You get a person who will explain to you why a particular solution was chosen, why others were not, and look at the long-term UX business solutions. In a business (software) where too many people look out for number one, David has always shown integrity and honesty. It was a pleasure to work with him." Eze Vidra Senior Product Manager at Ask.com ezevidra@gmail.com September 10, 2008 "It is with great pleasure that I recommend David; I had the opportunity to work with David while he was the UX Manager at Ask.com. An excellent leader and mentor, David grew the UX team from a group of 3 designers suffering from high attrition to a cohesive group of 12 designers - possibly the most motivated group in the company. On the creative side, David's ideas were always fresh and out of the box - but he's also receptive to and open for feedback. David brings diverse experience and unique talent, that made a real difference in each one of the projects we collaborated on. Whether it's a product architecture map, hand made sketch or high resolution mock, David always delivered on time with the highest results. As a manager, David has a unique ability to recruit talent and to then train and motivate designers." Daniel Read Chief Product Officer, Ask.com danielread@gmail.com September 20, 2008 "David is an outstanding design leader. He has unbridled passion for design in all its forms, and possesses the skills needed to create highly innovative products. He is a strong team builder, quickly nurturing and motivating people with an energetic style. His wide range of experience with blue chip brands and products including Nike, Microsoft and Ask.com give him a unique perspective on how design can drive business goals in organizations. David inspires people across many different disciplines, and is a pleasure to work with." Christopher Janney Owner, PhenomenArts, Inc info@galicancasarural.com September 6, 2008 "David was excellent at providing clear drawings and details for some of our abstract concepts. Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert." Paul Gilliham Director, Customer Marketing at Lithium gilliham_p@yahoo.com March 1, 2010 "David has an amazing eye for spectacular design - high fidelity imagery and composition that not only is easy to consume but makes informational sense. He was a breath of fresh air to work with, an infectious enthusiasm and sense of humour which help make projects enjoyable to work through. If you are looking for design that pushes the boundaries, engages people, is legible and makes people say 'wow', all in one package, then I can't think of another person to recommend. I would certainly work with David again should the opportunity arise." Amir Bahadori Senior User Experience Designer at Microsoft amirb@microsoft.com March 9, 2010 "David's passion for design is infectious. He inspires his teams and peers with his unrelenting drive for innovation, quality and his staggering knowledge of best practices in the field. It is no wonder he was approached to lead the creation of Microsoft's first Human Interface Guidelines document and one that is still referenced to this day by designers across the company. He has a rare ability to balance both his attention to detail and a bird's eye view of the entire product for maximum consistency. Above all, he is a great collaborator and welcomes the ideas of others - which is why everyone I know loves to work with him." Phillip Soffer VP, Product Development at Lithium philip.soffer@lithium.com March 24, 2010 "David is one of the most blazingly talented people I've ever worked with, and if his talent were all he had to offer, it would be quite enough. But David combines his design talent with a passion for new ideas and technologies, an infectious positive energy, a keen intellect, a love of mentorship, and a drive to get things done. This combination makes him a great person to work with at the conceptual stage, but also someone who can prosecute designs to the finest level of detail. Some of my fondest moments at Lithium were spent working with David in pen and ink, as he breathed life into my most embryonic product ideas. I once saw him do this with a room full of customers firing off suggestions all at once. People literally gasped at the results. It was a bravura performance. I hope I"ll be able to work with David again. It has always been a privilege." Lyle Fong Co-Founder and CEO at Lithium lyle@lithium.com March 1, 2010 "David is one of the most amazing UX designer and leader I've had the privilege of working with. He's a rockstar, but yet humble and great to work with at the same time. Look forward to the opportunity to work with David again in the future." Kim McCrea Wilton Usability Kead at Microsoft kimm@microsoft.com March 26, 2010 "David has unending passion and energy. He is passionate about users and their experience. He has great ideas, works well with everyone, invites there ideas and works collaboratively. He is fun to work with and fun to be around. I would gladly work with him again." Miguel Rosado Boulet Group Manager Online Video at Telstra Media mrosadoboulet@gmail.com September 11, 2008 "I had the pleasure to work with David in this exciting IPTV Set-Top Box project for the Spanish market. David brings a wealth of marketing, technical and usability experience in the field of information architecture. His professionalism and mastery of his trade combined with his unique level of creativity and lateral thinking make him very unique resource. I would recommend him without hesitation." Kenneth Grobe Content Product Manager at Ask.com ken@kengrobe.com February 10, 2010 "I"ve found few people I enjoy working with more than I did Dahveed when he was VP of UX at Ask.com. He"s a guy who knows how to build teams, how to get them excited about design, and how to bring every bit of his experience (15 yrs" 20") from places like Nike & Microsoft into play. Maybe most important---and I say this as someone who"s been both a leader and follower"I don"t know if I"ve met a person in his position who"s as willing to roll up his sleeves and pitch in. That takes a familiarity, dedication, and straight-up team spirit that I"ve found in few leaders. Some people say you need a lot of ego to head up departments or entire companies. David is an proof that you don"t"because he does it with smarts, chops, a wealth of experience, and just enough empathy to inspire his teams to give their all." Iain Grant VP of Business Development at Lithium iain@rivierapartners.com February 18, 2010 "David is a truly exceptional talent in the area of user design and experience. Specifically, at Lithium David was able to create for my team ground breaking analytic reports that were able to summarize in a highly intuitive and graphical way, extremely complex underlying data and relationships. David also developed customer facing training and support products that differentiated us from our competition. Occasionally you get to work with someone who's skills are so natural and frankly awe inspiring - David is that peson." Michael Wu, PhD Principal Scientist at Lithium michael.wu@lithium.com February 10, 2010 "David is a brilliant web/graphic designer. One of the best I've ever seen. Let me give you a little context; perhaps you would come to the same conclusion yourself. As the principal scientist at Lithium, I conduct researches and produces analytics reports that have copious amount of complex data with many deep insights from very elaborate analyses. David and I work on the final visualization of these reports. David"s design accentuates the important points of the report, but at the same time guides the inquisitive readers through the more involved part of the report. He is able to take the abstract insight from the numbers that I"ve crunched out and visualized it in a captivatingly interesting way that is easy to digest and understand by scientist and business executives alike. I am so glad to have David as a design resource on this project; otherwise my reports would be totally impenetrable to the common. Aside from being able to deliver visually stunning results in a timely fashion, David is also a very passionate artist who loves what he does and cares much for his team members. I often see him take his team to lunch and discuss the latest and greatest in the design world. Furthermore, David often willingly puts in the extra hours to give his designs the final touches that turn them from being great to just breathtaking. I know this for a fact, because he and I are among the few devotees at Lithium who would stay late, often past 10pm, to polish our final product. And once he got so entranced in work that he forgot time, missed his last bus, and had to ask me to give him a ride to the BART station. His passion for design and commitment to always give his best is rarely seen nowadays. So, if you are looking for a world class designer, I wouldn't think twice about David. I'd recommend him sincerely and whole heartedly without any reservation." Jim Safka Chief Executive Officer at Ask.com jim.safka@me.com January 2, 2009 "David was excellent at Ask.com. He built a tremendous creative team that continues to deliver. I am very thankful to him for the work he did for us." Lyle Fong Co-Founder and CEO at Lithium Technologies lyle@lithium.com March 1, 2010 "David is one of the most amazing UX designer and leader I've had the privilege of working with. He's a rockstar, but yet humble and great to work with at the same time. Look forward to the opportunity to work with David again in the future." Sean X Cummings Partner at SXC Marketing sean.cummings@me.com January 18, 2010 "I can highly recommend David. I worked with him in cross functional groups at Ask.com and he was able to listen to our marketing requests and have his team develop great design that was both functional and beautiful." Scott Dodds Sr. Customer Success Manager at Zuberance, Inc. kamikyo@gmail.com January 7, 2010 "David is not just a leader and true visionary in user experience design, but an excellent teacher and partner as well. As a colleague and internal client at Lithium Technologies, I saw David transform the brand of that company through both a willingness to push the boundaries of design, while still balancing the needs of the business and the users to accomplish their goals. To do this, he built an amazing team of designers, forged strong relationships with key business and customer stakeholders, and through it all maintained a willingness to listen and understand the true needs of his clients that resulted in not just amazing and impactful designs, but designs that worked. Enthusiastic, passionate, dedicated and appreciative of others, David is a game-changer for any organization looking to take their users' experience to the next level." Kenneth Jamora Senior User Interface Developer at Lithium contact@kennethjamora.com February 7, 2010 "David is a one-of-a-kind individual. In addition to his astute creative abilities, David's understanding of usability and users is unparalleled. His knack for researching and dissecting products is amazing...as he's become my first source for iPhone app information. As far as a manager, David listens and makes himself available for feedback and review of my work. David is an asset to any company and eats, sleeps, and breathes all things design." Jared Cunningham Visual Designer, Lithium Technologies jdubbs01@gmail.com February 8, 2010 "David"s level of creativity, knowledge, and passion for visual and UX design is unmatched. With this level knowledge, he has the ability to create clean, cutting edge design that hits all objectives and creates a natural and enjoyable experience for the user. I have had the pleasure to work under David and it has been such a rewarding experience. He is always approachable, whether it"s for feedback, help, or just to brainstorm ideas. He"s driven our team to meet our goals under very tight deadlines with a very high level of refinement all while having a great time. He is an extremely valuable asset to have behind you through any situation and it"s a privilege to learn from such a smart and creative individual." Phillip Bensaid Associate Creative Director, Frog Design phillip@invisiblecity.com January 6, 2010 "David is a born leader. Intensely curious, deeply thoughtful and fanatically driven, he has the rare ability to infect others with his passion and his boundless enthusiasm for design. Great work is always the result of falling under his watchful eye. I had the opportunity to work with David as a client of Frog Design, he impressed me deeply with his success at pushing through dramatic, large-scale change at an organization not known for it: Microsoft. He is a keen thinker always ready to challenge any assumption but also is an optimistic and positive person who nurtures the best in others with care and consideration." Chudo Loo Sr. User Interface Designer at Lithium chudo76@gmail.com February 9, 2010 "From day one, David has impressed and inspired our team with his leadership, appetite for anything design related, and ability to detect a misaligned pixel from yards away. Not only does he lead by example, he does so while being accessible, and creating an overall atmosphere of mutual effort and respect. Whereas most at David's standing would merely prescribe, he is one to offer explanation and reasoning for his decisions, and share fluently the learning of his abundant experience. His instinct on what makes good design is always backed by a logical and consistent philosophy. I feel very fortunate to have been able to work with David." Phillip Madanire Business Strategist at Ogilvy Worldwide pmadanire@gmail.com December 7, 2009 "David is a true global business strategy player. He also even understands different cultures "Asia, Africa, North America, Latin American and all Europe. He brings rare insight and input to the growth of a business. David is constant resource for other professionals including me. In addition to training his coworkers he trains many other professionals worldwide. He is one of the shining stars in the online channel strategy. He is excels in eBusiness, including strategy, marketing, creativity, user experience, sales and technology." Mike Savage CEO at Mymacdude.com mklsvg@comcast.net January 7, 2010 "David is a man of the times. He is intelligent and witty with a must-do attitude along with the knowledge and skills to back it up. He is able to think 2-3 thoughts ahead of the rest. He is a consummate professional with a friendly demeanor and an ethical approach to his work and life. It was great to see how he managed his team with respect and open communication. I would heartily recommend him to my friends and clients." Lisa Morgan Producer, writer, strategist, Nike, Inc. lisacmorgan@gmail.com January 7, 2010 "I tackled numerous major projects with David at Nike and he was consistently adept at hitting tight deadlines without sacrificing creative integrity -- a seemingly impossible task at a large company such as Nike. David was also a great mentor, helping me to develop the skills needed to create multiple innovative campaigns. His attention to detail while never losing site of the big picture is truly amazing. Most importantly, however, David has a great sense of humor, which helped to keep us all sane in the dark moments and laughing our heads off the rest of the time." Kristin Boden-MacKay Technical Webmaster, Nike.com at Nike kbm13@mac.com January 12, 2010 "David entered the nike.com scene just as we were struggling to find our voice; nike.com was launched and we had some crazy features going on, but David brought creative vision, indeed a voice, to nike.com that was mature, well-crafted and years ahead of the 'net. David was also key in building and shaping the team that would lead nike.com out of it's schizophrenic "marketing/advertising/gaming" zone into it"s unique full on e-commerce, global interactive presence. David - along with being a creative genius, is well versed in the technology and business aspects of the interactive space. Grab him if you can." Jessica Ragaza Sciorra Managing Consultant at RitaSue Siegel Resources jessica@sciorra.com March 31, 2009 "I first came to know David when interviewing him for the position of Director of User Experience for Ask.com. In short order, it was apparent that he was the ideal candidate. From his resume, his pedigree " with senior design roles at the likes of Nike and Microsoft and a leadership role at IconMedialab " and the scope of his experience, both geographically and product type-wise, were hard to match. During the interview process, at which time I was assessing him against other potential candidates, he shined. His commercial successes to that point spoke to his creativity and visual talent, business savvy, use of user-centered process to innovate, brand understanding, ability to work at a gulpingly fast pace, cross-functional influencing skills, and team leadership abilities. I had come to know him better on a personal level while he was progressing at Ask.com, where he was quickly elevated to VP. He is passionate and ambitious and at the same time sensitive to the needs and desires of others. David is a great find, and I recommend him highly Gregory A. Perez Senior User Experience Designer at Microsoft greg@live.com February 16, 2010 "I had the opportunity to work with David for a pitch for Paramount Comedy Spain. David is a bold, energetic and extremely professional person. His committing to his work is total and wholesome, and he is always in pursue of the best and most adequate proposal. His experience gives him a high level of understanding of mostly any design problem while having a keen eye on detail and not leaving anything to chance. His approach is holistic and he deals with projects like they were his own. Personally he has always been receptive and open to new ideas. He lets people do their best, and hires the best ones. Working with David, both as a colleague and a client, is always an experience you want to repeat." Neil Beam Director of Enterprise Programs at Lithium neilbeam@gmail.com December 17, 2009 "It is a pleasure to recommend David. I would work with him anytime given the opportunity. I would hire him if he was interested in working where I work. His design fundamentals are top notch and his ability to convey these principals to a team unfamiliar with the minutia of these concepts is unparalleled. David draws upon both formal training and deep experience to immediately add value to the company he works. He raised the quality of output for Lithium as a whole; the quantity of work this man produces is incredible. He truly loves what he does and it shows. I had the please of working with David on two strategically important projects. The first was the foundation of a new analytics department and the first product output from that group. David designed the framework for presenting data to customers in a manner that maximizes the information conveyed while minimizing clutter and confusion. He branded the product, unified the key concepts like terms, definitions, presentation consistency and finally streamlined a process to take raw data into a finished output. The second project was the development of a new service offering from our consulting group. David aggregated the reporting and presentation output from a typical consulting engagement into a 16 page report. From cover-to-cover the report drew together disparate themes into a central conclusion. David's ability to guide a conversation and elicit what is important to a customer was central to the success of this project. Finally, I saw David's work incorporated into every aspect of Lithium's output. From a redesign of presentation materials and marketing collateral to changes in the Lithium branding and product itself in the form of public online communities. Design conscious customers with very specific requirements such as Jawbone, Palm, LeapFrog and others all benefited from David's skills." Jonathan Fong UX Designer at Ask.com jonfong@yahoo.com May 19, 2010 "Dahveed could have been, to date, my greatest manager ever. On the skill set side, he definitely has the background and experience to lead and build a great design team. On the personality side, he has exactly what it takes to keep his underlings fearful and respectful, yet WANT to pump out excellent work. For myself, it takes exactly the right mix of respect, skill, mentoring to keep me looking up to a manager. And Dahveed had it. On top of being a leader and a great mentor, he also returned respect for the people who worked FOR him. No other manager I know or ever heard of, set an alarm clock to 5:30pm and made his team leave exactly at that time. He has a great balance of work and life that he impresses upon his team. His consideration for others can be spoken out of that alarm clock alone. I learned a lot from Dahveed in the time we had together. He knew how to push me just the right amount to get me working at my optimal pace. He inspired me well enough to push my own SELF to learn and design better. He had an eye for pixel perfect design and would congratulate you fully if youÕve attained it. In summary, I would not pass up an opportunity to work for Dahveed again. He made me a better designer in the time I worked for him, and I know he could make me even better if I had even more time with him as my manager/director." HONORS & AWARDS - '08- Ask.com in numerous recognitions (http://sp.ask.com/en/docs/about/awards.shtml) - '07- Webware 100 awards for Live.com (http://www.webware.com/html/ww/2007.html) - '03- I Remember the Towers website in "Deep Sites. Intelligent Innovation in Contemporary Web Design" - '01- Nike website in "Web Designs that Work" - '01- Nike of Nike Portable Sport Audio DJ in ID Magazine's Interactive Media Design Review - '01- Billing World Magazine Excellence Award "Best Billing Financial Software" for NetCountant - '01- COMNET New Product Achievement Award for NetCountant - '01- Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award for NetCountant - '00- Communications ASP Product Of The Year Award for NetCountant - '00- Distinguished Award by Multimedia Grandprix for Star Festival - '98- Numerous critical acclaims in Boston Globe, Time, The Times, Billboard, etc. for Harmonix's Juke - '98- Data Communications and LAN Times Editors BEST OF SHOW AWARD WINNER fo NetCountant - '97- PC Computing Magazine 'a-list' for DLJdirect - '97- PC Computing Magazine 'MVP finalist' for DLJdirect - '97- Boston MacWorld Expo 'Best of Show' award for Star Festival - '97- ID Magazine's Interactive Media Design Review ACTIVITIES - Creative Director for the non-profit Revista Faz (interaction design and user-experience Spanish magazine) - Think tank member for the non-profit E-Rev Team at American Cancer Society (user-acquisition and fundraising) - Instructor for UOC's Interactive Marketing class, Yale's and RISD's Web Design workshops (past) - UX Consultant for selected CEOs (past) - NYC Samaritans Suicide Hotline counselor volunteer (past) TECHNICAL - All graphic and image/photo software there is - All web design software there is - DHTML & CSS, and tweak most non-compiled script languages - Most project-management, planning and office software (client or online) - Mac, PC... and if I flashback hard: MS-DOS & UNIX - Woodworking and metal work - Fluent in English & Spanish