About Cody
Come on in,
y'all!
I'm a design leader working toward Creative Director — building the products, teams, and AI-integrated processes that get us there.
About Cody
I'm a design leader working toward Creative Director — building the products, teams, and AI-integrated processes that get us there.
Background
Howdy! I'm a design leader based in Richmond, VA, focused on building user-centered products and the teams that ship them. I've spent my career moving from craft to strategy — and now I'm directing design across complex, multi-stakeholder engagements while building the skills that take leaders from execution to creative vision. I'm not interested in maintaining the status quo; I'm here to raise the bar.
The Human Stuff
When I'm not in meetings or mentoring designers, you'll find me diving into video games, debating sneaker drops, or breaking down zone defenses. I'm a new dad and have fully embraced this chapter — tucked-in t-shirts and all. I'm also a pet parent to two huskies and a cat; they keep me grounded and occasionally interrupt video calls.
Once upon a time, I dreamt of becoming a professional bowler like Norm Duke. That didn't pan out, but the focus, precision, and competitive drive stuck with me.
And translated directly into how I approach design leadership.What Sets Me Apart
What sets me apart is a diversified background in economics and sales. I don't just understand how to build great experiences — I understand how to articulate their business value. I'm as comfortable in a boardroom discussing ROI as I am in a design review discussing hierarchy and interaction patterns. That fluency makes me effective at aligning stakeholders, securing buy-in, and ensuring design decisions are made with business context — not just defended from outside it.
My foundation is classic double-diamond thinking, but my application has evolved — I focus less on personal craft and more on building systems, processes, and teams that consistently deliver user-centered outcomes. Before design, I was in sales advocating for technology adoption. My job wasn't pushing products — it was making them indispensable. That mindset still drives me.
How I Work
I've led design in both Waterfall and Agile environments and know how to partner with engineering and product to find the right process for the problem — not force a methodology where it doesn't fit.
AI is now central to how I work. And the real opportunity isn't individual efficiency — it's reshaping how teams operate. If you're thinking about how AI changes the design practice at an organizational level, that's a conversation I'm ready to have.
Outcome Wayfinding System
Used ChatGPT + Claude to architect a quiz with 45 unique CTA combinations for Wegovy.com — logic no spreadsheet could map cleanly.
Research Synthesis Speed
AI-accelerated synthesis from user research: content inventories, friction analysis, and thematic clustering at a pace that reshapes sprint planning.
Team Enablement Workshops
Led internal workshops at VML helping designers build AI into their own workflows — because the leverage is at the team level, not the individual.