We can solve your business problems because our people are the most talented at and passionate about what they do. They know how to innovate and adapt. It’s key to thriving in an industry that reinvents itself daily.

Our People

Join Our Team » See Our Leaders »

Our people are the leaders others look to in the design and development communities. They’re sought-after speakers, widely-read and often-quoted publishers, and the first to provide actionable insight into creating the most effective enterprise applications across any industry.

David Tucker

David Tucker

Director of Research & Development Full Bio »

David Tucker serves as Director of Research & Development with Universal Mind. He is a software engineer with more than 12 years of experience in web and mobile design, working closely with Universal Mind's clients to develop an effective technical strategy as well as end-to-end experiences that span devices and technologies.

Francisco Inchauste

Francisco Inchauste

Creative Director Full Bio »

As Creative Director, Francisco Inchauste works to deliver solutions that balance beauty with function. He regularly shares his passion for design in major publications like like Smashing Magazine and Six Revisions. He also serves as Editor of Smashing Magazine’s UX Design section. He shares his passion for design on his renowned personal blog: www.getfinch.com.

Joe Johnston

Joe Johnston

Director of UX / Director of R&D Full Bio »

Director of UX and Director of R&D Joe Johnston specializes in consumer-grade enterprise applications, web apps, desktop, kiosks, and mobile and embedded devices. With 13 years of experience in design, he was creating great user experiences well before the term “UX” was created. Joe was UX Lead on the Digital Experience Framework for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Michael Nimer

Michael Nimer

Solutions Architect Full Bio »

Mike Nimer, Solutions Architect for Universal Mind, specializes in CQ5, Android, HTML5/JS, ColdFusion development, and social media integration. Previously, Mike was a member of the Adobe ColdFusion engineering team where he was responsible for HTML-to-PDF generation. A recognized thought leader, Mike speaks regularly at industry events, and has spoken annually at Adobe MAX since it was the Allaire DevCon in 1999.

Ben Clinkinbeard

Ben Clinkinbeard

Principal Architect Full Bio »

Ben Clinkinbeard, a self-taught web developer with an artistic background in digital design, serves as a Developer and Principal Architect for Universal Mind. He co-created the FlexMDI library for Adobe Flex (subsequently integrated into FlexLib), and now contributes to the Swiz framework, a lightweight IoC container for Adobe Flex. Recently, Ben has become engrossed in the JavaScript and Node.js worlds.

Kelly Downing

Kelly Downing

UX Specialist Full Bio »

Having begun her career in interior architecture, space planning and product/service design, Kelly brings her diverse design background to her role at Universal Mind. She received her master’s degree in Industrial Design and Design Management from the Savannah College of Art and Design and was previously at Newell Rubbermaid and EffectiveUI.
 

Douglas Knudsen

Douglas Knudsen

Senior Technical Architect Full Bio »

Douglas Knudsen, Senior Technical Architect, has a record of working with Fortune 500 companies as well as innovative start-ups. He specializes in working with Adobe products and also with surrounding database and server technologies like Oracle and Java. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies as well as startups including Nasdaq, Pearson Education, Nomee, Principal Financial, and TMobile, to name a few.

Holly Kozminski

Holly Kozminski

Delivery Manager Full Bio »

Holly makes understanding her clients and meeting their needs her highest priorities. She’s a certified Project Management 1 (PMI) and a Certified Scrum Master who brings more than 15 years of project management experience in the furniture and packaging industries to her role as Delivery Manager for Universal Mind.

Ryan Easton

Ryan Easton

Director of Technology Full Bio »

As Directory of Technology Ryan Easton has devoted 15+ years of leadership and problem solving skills to the practice of software development. Ryan has deep roots into the enterprise that began with Unix/Linux, Oracle, Perl, Shell, Awk, RegEx.. He then turned his attention to the web where he worked to master ColdFusion/JS/CSS/HTML. This eventually lead to Object Oriented principles and development with Java and Flex. His most recent focus has been on developing mobile first, multi device solutions utilizing HTML5, Sass, Less, Angular, Backbone, Bootstrap, Foundations, jQuery, grunt, jasmine.

Derik Lolli

Derik Lolli

Creative Director Full Bio »

Derik Lolli brings 13 years of immersion into all things web to his role as Creative Director at Universal Mind. While his passion for design has translated into numerous award winning websites, it’s the attention to functionality and how it merges with form that has driven his success.

Christian Saylor

Christian Saylor

Creative Director Full Bio »

As a designer, Christian bridges the gap between functionality and aesthetics, delivering beautiful, effective digital experiences for clients. A 15-year veteran of the interactive design community, Christian aims to engage users on a personal level, using design to meet them where they are and in ways they’re comfortable with, no matter the platform.

Poppy Kimball

Poppy Kimball

Delivery Manager Full Bio »

You couldn’t be in better care when you work with Poppy Kimball. Poppy is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), who brings more than 10 years of experience in designing, developing, managing, deploying and supporting highly scalable e-commerce and enterprise mission critical systems to her role as Delivery Manager for Universal Mind.

Tommy Rochette

Tommy Rochette

Senior Consultant Full Bio »

Tommy Rochette is a Senior Consultant for Universal Mind specializing in HTML5 and Javascript development. He is an expert at building rich Internet applications, using technologies like, Bootstrap, Foundation, jQuery, and Angular.js bridging the gap with enterprise application back-ends.

Brad Ruiter

Brad Ruiter

Director of UX Full Bio »

Brad comes to Universal Mind with more than 10 years experience in Web Development, Mobile Platform Development, and R&D in mobile and embedded spaces. Using his experience as a Global Business Analyst and R&D Analyst at companies like Merrell, Novell, and Amway, Brad is adept at connecting the dots between business processes and a useful and memorable user experience.

Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Director of Software Development Full Bio »

As a Director of Software Development at Universal Mind, Chris Scott works with consulting and product development firms to accomplish projects in enterprise publishing, education, loss prevention data mining, and telecom management. He speaks frequently at many of the major Adobe community conferences.

Marcus Birney

Marcus Birney

Full Bio »
Bonnie Van Volkinburg

Bonnie Van Volkinburg

UX Specialist Full Bio »

Bonnie Van Volkinburg, a seasoned Project Manager and Business Analyst for companies such as NYSE, Abbott Labs, Sprint, GM, AstraZeneca, Merck and Staples, excels at translating business goals into tangible features and functions through driving results from her teams. Bonnie has a vast skill-base ranging from creative management and client delivery to writing functional specifications and QA test cases.

Shelley Staten

Shelley Staten

Senior Delivery Manager Full Bio »

Shelley Staten specializes in helping organizations transition from project-driven, waterfall governance to agile and lean best practices.  She brings 13+ years of experience as an IT consultant to her leadership role at Universal Mind, a record of delivering successful software to clients, and draws from her experience in Big-6 consultancy to affect change.

Richard Gunther

Richard Gunther

Senior Delivery Manager Full Bio »

Richard possesses a rich background in engineering and technology that supports his expertise in user experience design. He currently manages the Growth Model program for multiple state education agencies along with numerous mobile app design and development projects at Universal Mind.

Joe Force

Joe Force

Lead UX Specialist Full Bio »

Joe Force, Lead UX Specialist for Universal Mind, proves himself time and again as a cutting-edge leader in the implementations of web-based systems across a variety of platforms.  He’s both served in senior management for global companies and has launched technology startups, demonstrating his deep understanding of the web’s role within both large and small organizations.

Michael Kleinpaste

Michael Kleinpaste

UX Designer Full Bio »

As a UX Designer and award-winning graphic designer, Michael appreciates how a simple user-centered experience belies the depth of research behind a successful product. He specializes in creating intuitive design solutions that not only handle the task at hand but also contribute to a bigger picture. His drive for exceptional visual and interaction design has compelled him to create engaging and immersive user experiences that drive repeat business.

Kellen Styler

Kellen Styler

Lead UX Technologist Full Bio »

Kellen Styler started playing with design and user experience when Flash 3 was released in 1998. Since then he has had more than a decade of experience in information architecture, interface design, and application development. His passions in all three areas have formed a bridge between traditional development and creative roles enabling him to provide a wealth of understanding across disciplines. He also brings several years of valuable experience with enterprise level solutions to the team.

Shane O’Donnell

Shane O’Donnell

UX Technologist Full Bio »

Shane O’Donnell has an impressive portfolio of UX work in rich Internet applications, mobile and embedded system designs. He possesses renowned attention to detail and a reputation for brilliantly execution of design intent. He graduated from the Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI where he earned a degree in Graphic Design.

Dustin Butler

Dustin Butler

Senior Technical Architect Full Bio »

Dustin is a Scrum Master for Agile, holds the Flex Ace Certification, is a former Adobe Consultant, and credits his success to studying film, video and rich media at the Academy of Art. He's been working with Flex since its beta days. In 2005, he led the team that built one of the earliest enterprise-scale Flex applications for Dorado, an SaaS enterprise software provider, which enabled mortgage companies to cut the loan process from a month to 10 days. The Dorado project earned them the Adobe MAX Award in 2006.

Nate Lokers

Nate Lokers

UX Technologist Full Bio »

Nate Lokers applies 10 years of experience to exploring solutions for challenging development problems. He loves creating tools, domain specific languages, interpreters and compilers that allow him to be more expressive and effective in the developing of solutions. He holds a keen interest in exploratory programming, rapid prototyping, domain exploration, and user experience definition.

Zoe Bloch

Zoe Bloch

Delivery Manager Full Bio »

Zoe Bloch has more than a decade of experience in software development, product design, and IT management, spanning the health care, finance, and intellectual property industries, bringing a vast technical understanding to his role as a Delivery Manager.

Kevin Kazmierczak

Kevin Kazmierczak

Senior Technical Architect Full Bio »

Kevin Kazmierczak has a broad development background, having worked on backend systems, databases, and frontend systems, as well as specializing in Flash and iOS development. Since joining Universal Mind in 2007, he has led successful project teams for clients such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson Education, and Ben and Jerry’s.

Doug McCune

Doug McCune

Principal Software Engineer Full Bio »

Doug McCune is a passionate Flex developer, consultant, and community contributor. He has been developing Flex applications since 2004 and is currently a Principal Software Engineer at Universal Mind, where he specializes in geospatial data visualization.

Darron Schall

Darron Schall

Director of Software Engineering Full Bio »

Darron Schall, Director of Software Engineering, stands proudly on his ten-year track record of developing visually compelling and beautifully functioning applications. Darron's history of targeting the Flash Platform is well documented, touting many high profile successes both commercially and in open source. He is actively building upon this storied legacy in today's mobile iOS and Android world

Anthony McClure

Anthony McClure

Software Architect Full Bio »

As an Applications/Systems Developer/Analyst, Software Architect, Lead Instructor andCIO, Anthony's worked with everything from Main Frame/Legacy Systems to current application design and development. He's currently the server side Software Architect for Universal Mind’s SpatialKey product. He has extensive experience with server side technologies for GIS implementations and capabilities. 

Andrew Powell

Andrew Powell

Solutions Architect Full Bio »

As a desktop and web-based applications developer, Andrew Powell helps clients maximize the value of Adobe’s tool suite. He spent 10 years helping clients assess the full impact of Rich Enterprise Applications (REA) to meet their needs. With Universal Mind, he provides training, development, performance analysis and tuning, and incident resolution services across a wide array of technologies.

Angela Satterlee

Angela Satterlee

UX Designer Full Bio »

Angela brings an engaged, holistic perspective to her role as a graphic designer. Angela has experience in developing and managing branding, packaging, environmental graphics and advertising projects for companies including Crowe Horwath and Sun Bay. She's a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and the Ad Club, and is an adjunct professor at Kendall College of Art and Design.

Cliff Meyers

Cliff Meyers

Solutions Architect Full Bio »

Cliff brings more than thirteen years experience in application development to his role as Solutions Architect at Universal Mind. Since 2005 he has focused on enterprise Java development using technologies such as Spring and Hibernate, and front-end application development with HTML5, JavaScript and Adobe Flex.

Nate De Jager

Nate De Jager

Senior Technical Architect Full Bio »

Nate is an architect who builds some of the iOS apps people touch every day. He has over ten years experience crafting award winning mobile applications for the web, desktop, and a variety of devices. He has worked with companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Oracle, to push the limits and deliver memorable experiences into the hands of consumers.

Jay Mays

Jay Mays

Senior Client Executive Full Bio »

Jay Mays comes to Universal Mind with 16 years of business development, account management & sales experience in the digital space.

Prior to joining Universal Mind, Jay was the VP of Business Development at Zed / 9 Squared where he built multi-million dollar relationships and established strong connections with companies like AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG. He has also worked in sales and biz dev for Clear Channel and MOZworld Entertainment where he specialized in monetizing interactive streaming media and live concert webcasts. Jay is a driven leader who uses his specialties in business development, content licensing, and strategic planning and execution to bring innovative ideas and success to his client solutions.

When he’s not working, you can find Jay producing live stand-up comedy shows, listening to 90’s grunge rock, or enjoying an afternoon cortadito. Jay resides in Miami where he enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter, and their 3 dogs.

Matt Kortering

Matt Kortering

UX Specialist Full Bio »

With his extensive background in customer procurement, Matt brings a unique perspective to Universal Mind.  His trademark problem-solving and collaboration abilities make him an invaluable resource as he partners with clients to create outstanding customer experiences.

Anna Geurink

Anna Geurink

UX Designer Full Bio »

Anna came to Universal Mind as an award winning graphic designer with a BA from Kendall College of Art and Design. Having worked as a graphic designer for both International Steward and Milk Creative Studios, Anna has experience in brand development, campaign development, packaging and is exceptionally talented at typography.

Ryan Canulla

Ryan Canulla

Technical Architect Full Bio »

As Technical Architect at Universal Mind, Ryan builds client-side enterprise applications in HTML5 as well as Apache Flex technologies. Prior to joining Universal Mind, Ryan worked for Digitas, delivering award-winning experiences to clients including P&G, Aflac, American Express, and Goodyear.

Peter Traeg

Peter Traeg

Solutions Architect Full Bio »

A solutions architect at Universal Mind and previous software architect for Eastman Kodak Company, Peter brings 25+ years experience in the web application development field and the business-consulting world to our clients. He regularly speaks in several development user groups on web and mobile application development technologies.

Courtny Cotten

Courtny Cotten

UX Designer Full Bio »

Courtny champions creation of modern and holistic user interfaces, advocating a constant sense for usability and user experience. His insights stem from a background in typography, infographics, and web design. He has extensive knowledge in executing best-in-class user experiences for a variety of technology platforms and business sectors. Courtny contributes to IndyUX and is a member of The Speak Easy.

John McRee

John McRee

Director of UX Full Bio »

As Director of UX at Universal Mind, John McRee specializes in design process management, digital strategy, user research, persona development, information architecture and interaction design. He’s also a master of user-centered design (UCD) methodologies, and has designed Web sites, CD-ROM-based experiences, shrink-wrapped desktop software and mobile applications.

Brian Connatser

Brian Connatser

Senior Consultant Full Bio »

As a Sr. Consultant for Universal Mind, Brian brings over 15 years of experience in web, application, and game design and development, systems architecture, and project management to his role. He specializes in a solutions agnostic approach to each project, quickly determining the best stack for the task at hand. Recently working with ObjC, HTML5, JavaScript, Sass, Haml, Ruby, Python, and NodeJS, he likes to stay on the cutting edge of new technology practices.

Tom Cornilliac

Tom Cornilliac

Technical Architect Full Bio »

Tom brings more than 15 years of consulting and software engineering experience to his role as Technical Architect at Universal Mind. He has extensive experience in both consulting and product development, working across private enterprise and government sectors.

Evan Ames

Evan Ames

UX Designer Full Bio »

As an award winning graphic designer, Evan comes to Universal Mind with a BFA in Graphic Design from Kendall College of Art and Design.  Creating clean and well thought out experiences are Evan's trademarks, which he attributes partly to his love for architecture and partly to his past focus on advertising.

Peter Bradley

Peter Bradley

Senior Delivery Manager Full Bio »

Peter brings over 15 years of technology experience as an engineer, product manager, and IT consultant to his role as Senior Delivery Manager at Universal Mind. Peter began his career in the Seattle area as a software development engineer in Microsoft's Internet Services Business Unit.

Pierre-Luc Babin

Pierre-Luc Babin

Senior Consultant Full Bio »

Pierre-Luc Babin is a Senior Consultant for Universal Mind specializing in Web application development, using technologies like HTML5, CSS3 (Sass), and JavaScript/jQuery. He is also a back-end developer using PHP and Ruby.

Vladimir Agafonkin

Vladimir Agafonkin

Principal Architect Full Bio »

Principal Architect, Vladimir Agafonkin, is a Master of Applied Mathematics who possesses deep expertise in front-end development and modern web technologies.  He created Leaflet, the most popular open source solution for publishing maps on the web today (used by Foursquare, Flickr, Craigslist and the Washington Post).

David Tucker

Director of Research & Development Full Bio »

David Tucker serves as Director of Research & Development with Universal Mind. He is a software engineer with more than 12 years of experience in web and mobile design, working closely with Universal Mind's clients to develop an effective technical strategy as well as end-to-end experiences that span devices and technologies.

Our Story

Universal Mind was born from our reputation of delivering where others had failed.

Universal Mind started out of necessity, the result of our commitment to clients facing the broken promises of others. We met those clients face-to-face and got their jobs done before we’d even picked a name.

When we finally did select a company name, we were inspired by the song Universal Mind by The Doors. Quite simply, it resonates, because when you work with Universal Mind you don’t just work with one individual, or even with just the team that’s on your project. You get an entire company of people who pride themselves on sharing knowledge and making everyone better.

Many of our people were once employed by top companies, such as Adobe, IBM Global Services, Accenture, Cambridge Technology Partners, and Publicis Dialog. They come to Universal Mind and stay with us because we provide a work environment that most of our competitors don’t. We present our people with the best opportunities, treat them with respect, and keep the organization transparent at all levels. It’s just how we do business.

Since 2003, Universal Mind, Inc. has been building custom digital solutions for clients. With this experience as our foundation, we are experts at creating truly innovative applications with engaging user experiences for people …on any device they use. Solutions that leverage your business systems and combine them with the latest technologies and platforms around.

It’s all our way of building an organization where people love to work, with clients who love to work with us, and that’s respected in the industry.

Overheard on Twitter

@briankellyphoto: Editing videos for @universalmind... blown away at what goes into development and design of the best apps and digital solutions!

Overheard on Twitter

Congrats to UMs @WhatImpressesMe for winning @microsoft's Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP for 2013!

Overheard on Twitter

The people at @universalmind are maybe some of my favorite people on the planet. I love this company.

Overheard on Twitter

@universalmind contributed some of our best practices around #userresearch and #personas with our friends @forrester

Our Values

We are a strategic partner

We are a strategic partner

Whether they’re established players or fast-moving upstarts, our clients seek us out for the leading-edge innovation they need to inspire customer loyalty, boost revenues, and maximize business efficiencies. We form deep relationships based on mutual respect and a passion for excellence.

We’re obsessed with exceeding clients’ expectations so they see us as must-have partners for the long term. We make in-person interactions a priority, and we strive to delight our clients at every step, from investigation to concepts, iteration to final deployment, strategic planning to follow-up.

While we bring best practices to every engagement, we aren’t prima donnas. We’re pragmatic about playing by our clients’ rules and getting the job done according to their specifications.

We live and breathe technology and design

We live and breathe technology and design

Passion for the great experience that comes from the perfect combination of technology and design is in our DNA. We insist on great design and innovative execution in both our tools for work and our toys for play. (And really, is there a difference?)

We thrive on the continual change of NOW. We’re always testing, exploring, and tweaking the newest stuff, asking what-ifs and why-nots. We know that the best technology and user experience can help us discover breakthrough ways to help our clients get ahead.

We also know that today’s hot technology can quickly become tomorrow’s Betamax. And while we like to push technical boundaries to take our clients to the next level, we also ensure the solutions we deploy create real business value.

We are a team of true craftsmen

We are a team of true craftsmen

We hire the best, learn from the best, and do the best work. We love being surrounded by crazy-smart people at the top of their craft—true masters who constantly raise the bar for each other.

We love to share our expertise with the technology community. Our thought leaders speak at the conferences and write the books and blogs that help shape the future of digital experiences.

Despite our knowledge of technology and design, we aren’t know-it-alls. We’re team players and articulate communicators who connect beautifully with business people. We may be bold and outspoken, but arrogance is not our thing.

We thrive on responsible freedom

We thrive on responsible freedom

Eccentricities? No problem. Office politics? No thanks. We’ve created an environment in which each of us is evaluated based on the quality of our contributions—the code we write, the designs we create, and the client relationships we build—and not how we dress or how many meetings we attend.

Our workforce was virtual before virtual was cool. We believe in individuality and autonomy—not set hours or corporate face time. But we understand that with great freedom comes great responsibility to our clients and our company. We operate with few layers of management because our people are common-sense self-starters.

Integrity means everything. Our staff may have diverse workplaces, but each one of us cares deeply about satisfying our clients and doing the right thing.

We are lavish yet lean

We are lavish yet lean

We splurge on the latest and greatest tech: software, hardware, devices, and education that helps us work better, faster, and cheaper.

Our love of technology means we’re often the first to discover and implement innovative solutions that boost productivity and reduce costs. (Hello SaaS, goodbye servers and file cabinets.)

We’re vigilant about minimizing bureaucracy and freeing our people from unnecessary process, and find there is no real substitute for good common sense.

We are here to have fun

We are here to have fun

We take what we do seriously, but we know that life’s too short to take ourselves too seriously. We have fun every day.

Stiffs beware. From terrifically clever to terribly lowbrow, humor is a key part of our culture. But whether our jokes are in good taste or bad, we’re always respectful of others.

We’re all passionate, but when discussions heat up we use jokes and sarcasm to cut the tension. No grudges allowed.

Management Team

  • Brett Cortese

    Brett Cortese

    President and CEO

    Brett Cortese is the President and CEO of Universal Mind. He is responsible for the company’s strategic business priorities and technical investments to ensure Universal Mind meets the needs of its clients in the competitive digital landscape. Brett oversees all the core areas of the company including technology development, user experience, and solutions delivery. As the solutions strategy expert at Universal Mind, he provides strategic insights for customers across all vertical markets as they undertake new mobile initiatives.

    Brett co-founded Universal Mind in 2003 as a systems integrator for large companies. As enterprises began exploring ways to offer mobile and digital experiences at the onset of the mobile revolution, Brett saw a new opportunity for the company. He hired the industry’s most creative talent to form a new breed of agency, offering the stellar design services of a leading interactive agency combined with the deep technical expertise the firm has provided since inception. It is Brett’s vision to help clients extend their brands through consistent digital experiences that span multiple touch points by leveraging their existing technical investments on the back end.

    Previously, Brett was a senior level consultant at Macromedia where he helped Fortune 500 companies overcome legacy system and implementation issues to realize the benefits of new innovative technologies. His success in this role laid the groundwork for creating Universal Mind.

    Today, Universal Mind’s customers include FedEx, Amway, Adobe, EnerNOC, and Oracle. Under Brett’s leadership, Universal Mind realized extraordinary growth and twice earned the distinction of being included in Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies.

  • Tom Link
  • Brian O’Connor

    Brian O’Connor

    Executive Vice President, Technology

    As EVP of Technology, Brian O’Connor sets technology direction and strategy for our client initiatives, with an emphasis on multiple device strategy and technology integration. Brian’s experience across multiple platforms and development technologies in web and mobile/tablet arenas make him uniquely qualified to manage Universal Mind’s technology team of more than 75 developers worldwide.

    With 16+ years of consulting experience across multiple disciplines and technologies, Brian possesses a significant background in Insurance & Financial Services solutions that demand high availability and real-time messaging performance. He has driven business innovation with Flex, AIR, LCDS, and BlazeDS solutions as well as in the Voice XML space.

    Before joining Universal Mind, Brian worked with Adobe/Macromedia Consulting, focused on delivering large-scale enterprise applications. He served as the Wireless Technology Officer at Breakaway Solutions. And he was Enterprise Architect at Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, where he concentrated on J2EE development for all core web-based solutions.

    Brian spends most of his day sitting in front of his MacBook Pro and five tablets ensuring that our clients are prepared for this mobile evolution.

  • Erik Loehfelm

    Erik Loehfelm

    Executive Vice President, User Experience

    Erik Loehfelm is the Executive VP of User Experience at Universal Mind. In this role, Erik oversees design teams and UX studios across the country which develop cutting edge immersive user experiences for clients across various verticals.

    With a deep knowledge of the ways humans interact with technologies, Erik ensures user experience is about elegant design, usability, performant development and physical context and how these elements come together to create a holistic experience for people. Erik oversees interaction design, user testing, UI design, and vision prototyping at Universal Mind and determines where the company should make investments to deliver highly immersive experiences for its customers.

    Erik has more than 18 years of experience in design. He began his career in New York and became an award-winning editorial designer and studio owner, transitioning his focus from print to web design in the mid 90’s. Erik is also an adjunct professor at the Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

    Erik earned his B.S. in Aviation at The Ohio State University in the early 90’s. Taking his inspiration from nature, he enjoys the outdoors with his wife and four daughters. He credits his teamwork and leadership skills to over 25 years as a volleyball player and coach.

  • Julie Liberatore

    Julie Liberatore

    Executive Vice President, Delivery Management

    Unique in her multi-disciplinary consulting background, Julie Liberatore’s 12 year track record of delivery management brings the best of Big-6 foundational best practices together with the dynamic, design-driven world of rich Internet applications. Julie’s blue-chip resume includes KPMG Consulting/BearingPoint, Arthur Andersen and four years in the RIA space with Adobe Systems and Universal Mind.

    From a delivery innovation perspective, Julie has been a pioneer in melding the UX process with Agile development to drive innovation into the enterprise. Julie was the senior project management lead for Adobe Consulting NA, and as Director of Delivery for Universal Mind, is leading our project management team in cultivating and driving best practices to ensure delivery excellence in everything we do.

  • Dan Bentz

    Dan Bentz

    Vice President, Solutions Strategy

    Dan Bentz heads up our Solutions Strategy practice, helping clients convert complex ideas into strategic customer experiences. Dan is an indomitable strategist, with the ability to analyze and advance solutions—the more complicated and involved, the better—particularly in regard to organizational design and structure. He also works with our clients on solutions strategy considerations such as innovation pipeline design and implementation, process analysis/creation/improvement, physical experience exploration, critical thinking methodologies, and much more to help clients define their hardware and applications strategies.

    Dan brings more than 17 years of experience in program management, experience mapping, and process analysis from companies including Haworth, Honeywell, and International Paper as well as managing global collaboration projects for the US Navy. He also has a Masters in Organization Leadership and a BS in Organizational Management, both focused on organizational strategy, design, functionality, change, and alignment.

    Besides being wicked-smart, Dan has never met a bad joke he didn’t immediately foist upon unsuspecting coworkers. And, while not an actual Elvis impersonator, he has played one on TV. In his spare time, Dan exercises his strategic expertise in the off-season by attempting to design the perfect fantasy football team to dominate his league.

  • Tammie Helm

    Tammie Helm

    Executive Vice President, Client Engagement

    As EVP of Client Engagement, Tammie is responsible for the face of Universal Mind, overseeing the experience of our clients across all touch points, including marketing and communications both externally and internally to our consulting teams.

    Tammie grew up in the technology industry with more than 18 years experience marketing products and services for world-class companies such as Netscape, HP, The Wall Street Journal, and Adobe. She has a unique blend of management, creative, and analytical skills, combined with a passionate advocacy for the customer experience in everything she has done. With a breadth of expertise in integrated marketing program strategy and execution across diverse communications vehicles, she believes customer experience is what truly defines the brand.

  • Matt Kollmorgen

    Matt Kollmorgen

    Senior Vice President, Global Sales

    Matt Kollmorgen brings a wealth of industry experience in creating and fostering progressive client relationships. As a SVP Global Sales, Matt heads the team which forges the vital link between Universal Mind and our clients. A highly creative and conceptual leader, Matt is committed to exceeding expectations for successful client engagements and championing Universal Mind’s multidisciplinary service approach.

    Prior to Universal Mind, Matt was Vice President of Digital Media Solutions for ClearStory Systems, and Director of Marketing Technologies for Aquent. Matt started his prolific career as a music producer for Red Dog Music.

  • Blaine Cheshire

    Blaine Cheshire

    Chief Financial Officer

    As CFO, Blaine Cheshire directs all financial activities for Universal Mind. With more than 12 years of financial operations and management experience in the technology sector, Blaine is responsible for the development and implementation of long-term financial initiatives for the company, including monitoring and coordinating all functional activities and policies related to finance, accounting, and analysis.

    Prior to Universal Mind, Blaine was the General Manager USA for Zed Worldwide, a global leader in mobile entertainment applications and mobile content distribution. Blaine has also held corporate finance positions at Promotech Research and Level 3 Communications in addition to public accounting experience with KPMG.

    In his free time, Blaine enjoys counting beans. All kinds of beans – red, black, pinto, kidney, even lima beans. He especially loves the challenge of counting refried beans.

Affiliates

  • Society of Digital Agencies
  • CXPA
  • Adobe Agency Partner 2012
  • Adobe Solution Partner