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Cathie Toshach

Experience Design Leader and Team Builder

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Résumé

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Experience

Director, User Experience, HBO 2016-2019

Led, mentored, and developed a multi-disciplinary team of 40 designers, researchers, writers, and prototypers supporting video streaming products HBO GO, HBO NOW, and MAX GO as well as HBO.com and internal content delivery tools.

  • Anticipated, advocated for, and steered multiple product modernization efforts, including new content organization and interaction models across mobile, web, and connected televisions.
  • Co-led product roadmap, goals, success metrics, and processes for a 300+ person cross-functional group as part of a portfolio leadership team.
  • Worked closely with executive and cross-departmental leadership to ensure delivery against strategic initiatives.
  • Launched an annual internal design conference focused on team development, skills training, and community building.
  • Established lean processes and standards that set expectations and accountability mechanisms while affording flexibility and experimentation.
  • Developed forward-thinking experience principles that provided guideposts for delivering a differentiated product experience.
  • Drove a global research and stakeholder engagement initiative in Latin America and Europe.

Experience Design Lead, HBO 2014 – 2016

Led the web application design for HBO GO and HBO NOW.

  • Redesigned and launched the web application for HBO NOW, delivering HBO to customers without a cable package for the first time ever.
  • Worked closely with Engineering and Product to create a new experience for live events that factored in real-time video ingestion and delivery.
  • Led UX for iOS in-app mobile registration and purchase flows.

User Experience Designer, Microsoft 2012 – 2014

Explored and delivered both incremental improvements and novel features to increase user engagement for Bing.

  • Shipped Bing Boards, the first human-curated content on Bing, bringing rich imagery and a human perspective to the first page of search results.
  • Partnered with Engineering to develop a new system of scenarios that delivered bite-sized actions on search results pages.
  • Worked closely with cross-functional partners to ideate, flight, and ship numerous optimization experiments.

Senior Interaction Designer, POP 2008 – 2012

Worked with clients, including Disney, Microsoft, and Toyota, to develop informed and strategic solutions for mobile, web, and emerging platforms to meet business and user objectives.

  • Created research-driven behavioral personas and customer journeys to inform multi-channel and multi-phased product development plans.
  • Designed a flexible mobile framework that allowed multiple brands to leverage the same application across different markets.
  • Collaborated closely with Technical Analyst and QA to develop new, consolidated functional specification documentation.

Education

Director Leadership Program
HBO
New York, 2017

MSI, Human-Computer Interaction
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, 2007

Bachelor of Arts
Columbia College
Chicago, 2001


Community

Hopper x1 Seattle Committee
2019

Grace Hopper Committee, HBO
2016-2017

IXDA Seattle Local Lead
2009 – 2014

Seattle Design Festival
2012 – 2014

PS-SIGCHI Co-Chair
2012-2013


Public Speaking

Grace Hopper Conference
Design for Failure, A Framework for Feature Release and Recovery
Orlando, 2017

VUIX Conference
Transformation Takes Time, The Evolution of HBO’s Digital Product Experience Design
London, 2016

Altitude Summit
Emotion is in the Details, Designing for Desire and Delight
San Francisco, 2013

University of Washington, HCDE418
Prototyping Case Studies
Seattle, 2013

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© 2023 · Cathie Toshach

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