You Can't Fix a Company's Experience from the Outside In.
You Fix It From the Core.
This wasn't about completing projects, it was about rewiring the DNA of a Fortune 10 company to embed human-centered design into “business as usual” for their digital product teams.The Challenge
Organizational siloes. Legacy systems. Fragmented customer experience. Competing priorities. Most large organizations are at war with themselves. McKesson, a Fortune 10 pharmaceutical distribution giant, was no different. They recognized this pattern and brought us in not just to consult, but to help them solve this fundamental problem. This wasn't about completing projects, it was about rewiring the DNA of Fortune 10 company to make human-centered design “business as usual” within their digital product teams .
Our Mission Was Clear
Build a Customer Experience Center of Excellence (CX CoE) from the inside out. As the VP overseeing this multi-year partnership, my role wasn't just to manage teams, it was to force collaboration, scale design maturity, and prove that a unified, strategic design function is one of the most powerful levers for growth.
Build the Engine
Establish a centralized CX CoE to standardize design practices and drive transformation.
Structure Collaboration
Align product, process, data, technology, and design around a shared view of the customer.
Cross-Functional Pod Structure
This meant embedding cross-functional pods of researchers and designers directly into their business units.
Pharma
eCommerce, distribution, inventory, and order management
Medical-Surgical
Supply chain and equipment logistics
Fix What's Broken
Tackle critical customer and employee journeys to drive efficiency and deliver immediate value
Elevate Design
Made design an imperative that influenced priorities and business decisions
HR
Employee experience and internal systems
Innovation
Digital platforms and infrastructure
The Brutal Reality
Enterprise Inertia
We faced a complex web of siloed teams, legacy technology, and entrenched processes resistant to change.
The ROI Question
Every step of the way, we had to answer the fundamental question: "What is the financial value of this?" We needed to speak the language of the business.
Competing Priorities
In a massive organization, our initiatives had to constantly fight for attention and resources amidst shifting corporate priorities.
Scaling Consistency
The biggest challenge wasn't having one successful project, but creating a repeatable system that delivered consistent quality across dozens of teams.
The Approach
My philosophy was simple, you can't force change from an ivory tower. Instead of acting as an outside consulting group that delivered recommendations and left, our approach was to embed and empower. We integrated our teams directly into their business units, becoming trusted partners who worked alongside them. We focused on building capability and delivering tangible wins on their terms, which earned us the political capital needed to drive larger, systemic change.
Embedded Pod Model
We deployed small, cross-functional "pods" of UX researchers and designers who worked as dedicated members of the client's product teams, fostering deep domain knowledge and trust.
Executive Education & Storytelling
We consistently presented our findings to leadership not as data points, but as compelling human stories backed by evidence and financial models, making the value of our work impossible to ignore.
Strategic Roadmapping
We translated insights from user research directly into prioritized, actionable roadmaps that aligned design efforts with concrete business objectives and financial targets.
Design Operations Foundation
We established the core operational pillars, standardized tools, review rituals, and hiring frameworks necessary to ensure consistent quality and efficiency at scale.
Proof, Not Promises
This partnership proves a simple truth. When you make customer experience a core business strategy, you don't just get happier users, you get powerful financial results. These weren't just isolated wins, they were proof points that our CoE model worked.
Revenue Leakage Research
We conducted comprehensive research that uncovered $200M in revenue leakage, creating a solution that has recovered $32M to date.
Employee Intranet Redesign
We redesigned the employee intranet, delivering $1.5M in cost savings through pure operational efficiency improvements.
Customer Onboarding Transformation
We transformed a critical customer onboarding journey, slashing the cycle time by 50% while driving $8.5M in new sales.
Clinical Employee Experience
We delivered a strategic roadmap for the clinical employee experience designed to improve $31M in business performance.
Related Work
Summary needs updated.
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Let's discuss how strategic design leadership can drive growth and innovation in your company. I specialize in building high-performing design teams and creating measurable business impact.
Enterprise UX
Transform experiences across complex organizations
Team Building
Build and scale high-performing design teams
ROI Strategy
Develop frameworks to measure design impact
Executive Coaching
Advise leaders on design-driven strategy