Advises design leaders and executives across multiple client organizations, connecting strategic capability needs to hands-on upskilling toward AI-native workflows. Trains and evolves design directors through original field research and an industry-wide webinar series. Leads Outwitly's own design team.

Digital experience, product leadership & operational strategy at 350-year-old retailer Hudson's Bay, restructuring siloed, technology-stack pods into journey-aligned teams. Upskilled and cross-trained a lean 3-person team to operate multi-disciplinarily, shipping a full site transformation in a single quarter — outproducing the prior production team of 11.

Orchestrating pillars across design, product, engineering, analytics, site operations; directing Strategy & Research, Content Design, Interaction Design, Ops & Design Systems, and Accessibility Compliance for The Bay & Zellers.

Consultant for the development of design systems, operating models and org design; mentorship and training for organizational innovation growth. Problem solving for organizations ranging from startups to international corporations.

• Reliant Networks (2021–2022) – tactical design operations, foresight practices and team structures for the futures of automobility
• Climastry Inc. (2021–2022) – startup consulting for product positioning and brand narrative; team leadership growth
• QuarterMaster Inc. (2020–2022) – product strategy, positioning, stakeholder & internal vision alignment, design strategy advisory
• Hppy Hour Digital (2020–2021) – community network of independent product design consultants, specializing in strategy & production
• Clickatell Inc. (2020) – led cohesive multi-product redesign and system design for centralization of assets

Led and managed a Toronto team of design educators and teaching assistants, delivering full-time 12-week diploma programming, evening courses and professional workshops across multiple campuses. Built scalable systems spanning admissions, curriculum architecture and performance evaluation.

Oversaw quality control for design projects across cohorts of up to 30 students, sustaining high educator ratings and strong placement rates.

Platform & experience design lead (interaction & service design, product ownership) on strategic build and implementation of Connected Mall platform within Kinetic Commerce's PaaS, applied to major malls across Canada via Ivanhoe Cambridge Inc.

Design team leadership & management, culture building, resourcing and coaching. Strong business acumen, driving new lines of business on accounts upwards of $1M.

Full-stack design (strategic concepts to public release) and product shipment for the world's top Fortune 500 brands spanning healthcare, automotive, entertainment, retail & finance. Competitor analysis, research, information architecture, wire-framing, prototyping and extensive production support on agile product teams. Developed strategic processes for the sales team to engage new lines of business through pre-build engagements. Data-driven decision making.

Project coordinator for interactive content on large-scale touch media, spanning multi-touch surfaces, computer-vision, and large-format displays. Managed offshore vendor development for North American clients including Crayola, Sunlife Financial and Atlantic Lottery.

Strategic development and execution of customized design training experiences for learning institutes, including universities across China, full-time 12-week intensive accredited Canadian diploma program, and custom public introductory workshops to product design & digital transformation.

Professional career coaching with international clients from London, Berlin, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Taipei City. Clients include practicing designers looking to build meaningful career progression by diving deeper into self-awareness, intention of practice, improvement of personal craft, and leadership development.

Founded and operated Makeshift Studio – a design collective and studio space that facilitates collaboration between artists, designers and fabricators. Starting with a community operating since 2009, Makeshift Studio opened its doors in 2016 as a co-working studio that houses specialized spaces for physical prototyping, woodworking, fashion/textiles, photo & video production, illustration and ceramics.

@makeshiftcollective | wemakeshift.com

Design lead on a full year engagement across CIBC — one of Canada's Big Five banks — spanning cross-functional teams in technology, business, security and services, delivering forward-thinking banking interactions for business clients.

Other notable brands Alex has worked with:
Walmart / General Motors / Nestle-Purina / Government of Canada / Live Nation / Crayola / Firestone / Discovery Channel / Temple Street Productions / Rogers Media / AccuWeather / Cineplex / ALDO Shoes

• Starkey Architect Group (architecture firm) – directed client strategy end-to-end with the firm's principal — facilitating workshops, co-designing concepts, and shaping practice positioning, voice, and communications systems
• Mobile Plugin App – advised through hands-on product workshops uncovering technical and strategic gaps, facilitating feasibility, positioning and longevity planning with a technical partner
• AudioNotch (healthcare) – shaped market positioning and narrative strategy for a healthcare startup's sound-therapy product, clarifying value and communicating it through video
• Extreme Startups (startup accelerator) – documented founder narratives and product positioning across an accelerator's startup cohort, gaining firsthand exposure to early-stage startup culture and operations
• Uken Studios, Inc. (video gaming) – investigative documentary on ingredients of successful company culture in a video game industry