Meet the Program Advisory Board
A key success factor for our graduate program is our strong connections to the national tech and business communities. One component of that network is our Advisory Board composed of thought leaders in in the XD community. This group represents diverse roles and industries and provides continuous input to the program on emerging trends in the profession.
James discovered the profession of UX after a series of chance encounters with a disgruntled architect, an Olympic ski coach, and an automotive designer led to a meeting with the first human factors engineer at Bose Corporation over 25 years ago. James instantly became enthralled with a profession he had never heard of. UX combined what he loved about engineering (figuring out how things worked) with the added challenge of understanding how people worked. He was hooked. Despite having just graduated with a mechanical engineering degree, he took a job paying high school wages so he could pursue his dream job. He started out by prototyping and co-designing the world’s first handheld touchscreen stereo interface (essentially Sonos on an iPhone a decade before the iPhone existed), and returned to school to become one of the first students in the Bentley University HFID program. Over the past 25+ years, James has built and led UX teams for companies across diverse industries ranging in size from startups to Fortune 5, gravitating to design leadership and systems thinking roles. James began teaching as a favor for a fellow HFID alum who wasn’t able to teach his own class. That was over a decade ago; James found it so rewarding he never stopped. His classes blend understanding the underlying principles of design with navigating the real-world challenges and politics you can’t learn from a book. Outside of Bentley, James leads the Design Systems, Enablement, and Research teams at CVS Health. He lives with his wife, 3 kids, 2 dogs, and a varying number of ducks in a restored 280+ year old house on a former farm in NH.
Senior Product Design Manager at Apple, supporting super talented designers on the Video team. Previously, product Design Manager at Meta Reality Labs, supporting designers in the AR/VR org. Lead Designer on Facebook Stories, creating a product reaching hundreds of millions of people.
Anne Mamaghani is a senior User Experience leader who brings about end-to-end experiences, builds high-performance multi-disciplinary teams, grows leaders and drives successful outcomes through strategic focus on customers.
Anne brings a broad range of experience to to her work. She has devoted her career to UX Research, working as a researcher in FinTech, at Yahoo! and eBay, and leading UX Research teams at eBay and Meta. Most recently, Anne has driven positive business outcomes as the founder and CEO of her UX research and strategy consultancy, Wisdom Driven UX.
Anne also created eBay’s Global Mindfulness Program in 2015, which brings a variety of mindfulness and emotional intelligence opportunities to eBay employees. She attributes much of her success and enjoyment to her emphasis on mindfulness, learning and growth.
Anne has an M.S. in Human Factors in Information Design from Bentley University and a B.A. in Journalism from Indiana University, where she continues to serve in mentorship and advisory roles. Anne also mentors start-ups developing technologies that serve the autism community.
In addition to driving key UX impact, Anne has fun reading everything from novels to business blog posts, and writes frequently on-line and off. She also enjoys being outdoors hiking, kayaking and tide-pooling. Anne lifts weights, rides her stationary bike and serves in several community organizations. She particularly loves spending time with her husband and two school-age children, who lead her into all kinds of captivating experiences she could not have imagined.
Vanessa Wiegel is a research and design leader with 17 years experience delivering best-in-class products across industries and brands (e.g., Hyundai, iRobot, PBS, Chewy). She specializes in bleeding-edge technology, 0-1 product development, and new market and category expansion. Over the past 12 years, Vanessa has built and led high-performing, multidisciplinary teams across UX research, product design, human factors, industrial design, prototyping, consumer insights, and product management. She currently serves as the head of research, content design, and brand for a robotics startup. Vanessa obtained her Masters from Bentley in 2017 and is honored to serve on the industry advisory board.
Renee is a practiced and motivated User Experience Design Researcher, with experience in health care, living abroad, and conducting global user experience research that has allowed her to develop strong interpersonal skills and expertise to strategically cultivate desirable user experiences fueled by new and existing user experience research.
Allison Strochlic serves as a Senior a Research Director in Emergo by UL’s Human Factors Research & Design team, and was one of the team’s co-founders. She advises clients on how to apply human factors engineering (HFE) in a manner that meets FDA’s and other regulators’ expectations, helps establish effective HFE strategies and programs, and leads HFE-focused discussions with regulators. Allison also oversees and consults on a wide range of research activities that serve to identify user needs and evaluate and validate medical technology. She has spent her entire career applying HFE principles to medical and pharmaceutical product development. Allison presents frequently at industry events, is co-author of a book titled Usability Testing of Medical Devices and several technical articles, and is an editor for the journal Human Factors in Healthcare. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in HFE from Tufts University and Bentley University, respectively, and is a Certified Human Factors Professional.
Lori's experience includes customer service, consulting, ux design and research, and building and leading a multi-disciplinary UX team. She also established a Customer Experience (CX) focus at Commonwealth Financial Network, using data as a primary tool for improving the overall CX of financial advisors and their clients. Whether it’s face to face, by phone, or digitally, she has always been passionate about knowing and understanding her customers to provide great service and memorable experiences. At Commonwealth, she was able to utilize her expertise, management, and leadership skills, to ideate and create communications, products, and services that result in unparalleled experiences both with software and with people. Most recently, Lori returned to her focus of improving the digital experience of financial advisors and their clients at Fidelity Investments.
Design and research leader building teams that craft exceptional SaaS products.
Tomer Sharon is a leading voice on design thinking, UX, and lean research methodology. Tomer is Principal at UX+, a small UX consultancy providing design and research services with a specialty in financial services.
Tomer is a former Managing Director, Head of User Research and metrics at Goldman Sachs, Head of User Experience at WeWork and Sr. User Experience Researcher at Google Search.
He is the author of three books: Measuring User Happiness (2020), Validating Product Ideas (2016), and It’s Our Research (2012). Tomer has mentored organizations on UX and user research methodology, given keynotes, and taught workshops in thirteen countries and the UN. He holds a master’s degree in Human Factors in Information Design from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and is a member of the program's advisory board. He lives in New Jersey and is a beginner drummer and drawing/painting artist.
Ben Huggins is a strategic product design leader with a passion for bringing fresh thinking to stale problems. He’s had the chance to reimagine software at Retool, HR at Humu, TV at YouTube, and thermostats at Nest. Most recently he founded birdmurder ˟, a concept studio with a fresh take on the “Founding Designer” role, to help early startups build faster and hire smarter. He spends free time exploring the mountains of California with his partner and their two young kids.
Neeta is the founder of Circle & Square, a minority and woman-owned design studio dedicated to solving business challenges through the power of human-centered design. With over 18 years of experience spanning agency, client-side, and her own agency, Neeta has honed her expertise in design thinking, behavior design, and neuroscience.
Her journey began with a decade at Digitas, where she led the finance and health UX teams. She then transitioned to the client side, where she built a UX practice from the ground up, ultimately becoming the Global Head of Customer Experience, Strategy, and Design. Today, Neeta leads Circle & Square, a UX design agency at the cutting edge of human-centered design, neuroscience, and data science, driving real business impact through exceptional experiences.