Gary Coker
UX and Product Design Leader
Creative Leader with 20+ years of Director- and VP-level experience
I'm a creative User Experience (UX) and Product Design leader, highly experienced in building and leading UX and product teams who are developing SaaS & mobile apps, with an overriding focus on creating products and user experiences that delight users and create competitive advantage for companies.
In my 20+ years of UX and product design leadership experience, I have:
led the design of many successful SaaS/web applications and mobile apps for enterprise, B2B, and B2C / DTC users,
conducted thousands of hours of user research, and used it to create winning strategies,
recruited and managed many multi-disciplinary UX & Product teams of all sizes,
integrated scalable, repeatable UX processes into varied development methodologies (including Lean/Agile), and
helped sell the value and ROI of UX and cultivate Design Thinking cultures in all sizes of organizations, including extensive collaboration with senior management.
A small sampling of my clients:
"Gary is a very talented technology professional - his UI/UX expertise is world-class. But beyond his technical skills, Gary is an exceptional leader and teammate, able to take feedback effectively from many divergent sources and craft it into the best possible product. Gary easily maneuvers from the high-level strategy to the nuts and bolts tactical execution. He can take a project from inception through planning to completion, always with the user/customer as the key focus. His tireless work ethic is rivaled only by his ability to bring people together to achieve a common outcome."
-- Verna Grayce Chow, Executive VP at City National Bank
"Gary is a UX designer of considerable skill, capable of creating fluid, functional workflows, while driving understanding and appreciation of modern user interfaces. At SourceMed, Gary worked hard to educate all levels -- executives, product managers, developers, BAs -- on the benefits of developing modern interfaces following Lean, Mobile-First practices. For his efforts, he not only won acceptance, but also respect for the quality of his design work. Gary introduced the practice of usability testing to ensure a high level of design quality, and defined the lifecycle for how interfaces transition between design, development, and testing. He is a committed evangelist for quality UX, and would be an asset to any team."
-- Stephen Smith, Enterprise Architect at Virginia Information Technology
"Gary was Director of UX Design for one of our premier products for over two years. His unique contribution is evident in the quality of our software. Gary brings a wealth of solid experience, creativity, and end user advocacy to software design. His arsenal of skills enables UX that is smart and innovative, while remaining consistent with our company culture and branding.
Gary quickly adapted to our aggressive development schedule, demonstrating a conscientious work ethic that allows him to meet deadlines for assigned projects as well as take on additional assignments. His participation in design discussions is characterized by his pleasant demeanor and his willingness to welcome feedback from all members of a team representing a variety of stakeholders, including business analysts, project managers, quality assurance representatives, and members of the senior management team. He is a student of technology, keeping abreast of UX trends and is a generous mentor to all members of the team. He can explain the vagaries of human-computer interaction in a manner that can be understood by any audience, making him a popular guest speaker when there is a need to communicate a new feature of the software to internal and external users."
-- Lisa Marie Wilkinson, Director of QA at Clearwater Compliance