HI, I'm CHRIS

CONSULTANT
BOOKSELLER
MENTOR
HUMAN

RESUME | PORTFOLIO | CONTACT

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"An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them."
— Werner Heisenberg
 

 

STARTUP CONSULTANT

As the founder and principal at Void Digital Strategy & Design, I help fast-growing companies of all sizes define and achieve their business goals. I hold a variety of roles, including: product strategy; defining goals and KPIs; customer development; user research; user-experience and user-interface design; and hiring, coaching, and managing Agile product teams.

 

THE MUSE
Head of Product & Design
Feb 2020 - April 2022

buildbook.co

buildbook.co

roamluggage.com

roamluggage.com

thesecondshift.com

thesecondshift.com

theory.com/2.0

theory.com/2.0

the historic districts council

the historic districts council

dosomething.org

dosomething.org

 

 

BOOKSHOP OWNER

Yes, I own and operate an actual, real life, free-standing, physical bookstore. Bricks, mortar, and books. And some totes. Read more about Transom Bookshop here.

 
 

Product Mentorship

Through one-on-one and group coaching, I help product managers and designers of all levels excel in their careers, build better products, and hit their companies’ most important goals.

I owe much of my success as a Product Manager to Chris, who taught me the fundamentals of product strategy as well as the nuts and bolts on the tactical side of product development. Along the way, Chris has coached me through setting measurable product goals, validating hypotheses, feature prioritization, developing roadmaps, and effective team communication.
— Diana T., Product Executive
Chris was (and still is) a mentor that helped form my thinking and how I show up as a product person - I am forever grateful for his mentorship and guidance in such an important time of my career.
— Ashley B., VP of Prodict
I’ve had the pleasure of working with / having fun with Chris many times over the last 10 years. I often ask myself where I would be if Chris didn’t take me under his wing. Thinking back I had no clue what I was doing at that time, but Chris identified my ability and motivation before even I had a deep understanding of it.
— Krista P., User Research Lead
Unquestionably, I learned how to be a better product manager by working for Chris.
— Steve K., Product Lead

I work with individuals and teams, whether directly with PMs or as part of a company’s professional development offerings. If you wanna work together, hit the button and drop me a note.


WEB DESIGNER

In addition to product strategy work, I like to get my hands dirty as a SquareSpace Preferred Developer. Business leaders, authors, artists, local SMBs, friends, and even my brother have trusted me with their websites. Here are a few.

 

Are you interested in a custom-made personal website? What a coincidence: I’m interested in custom-making it for you.
Contact me here for a quote.

 
 
Chris is always my first call on any tech project. He’s a gifted product developer with an ability to translate customer insights, product vision, and project constraints ultimately into a product that users love.
— Jeff LeBlanc, Co-Founder of Out of Print Clothing
 
 

Product Leadership

I spent the second phase of my career leading product teams at a handful of great companies. I’m indebted to the many talented and passionate people at these companies who helped launch the products listed below.

 
The Knot
VP / Product + UX
 

As VP of Product, I oversaw the re-platforming of the company’s flagship website (which is like a redesign, but more fun/painful), and led several product teams including content, marketplace, ecom, innovation, native mobile, planning tools, customer service, and user research.

— ENDORSEMENTS —
 
“Chris is a user-first product leader in the truest sense. He was part of the leadership team that brought modern product thinking to XO and was an integral part of the relaunch of The Knot across all platforms.”
— Katherine Brady, EVP Commerge & Registry, XO Group
 
 
“Chris is a talented product leader, superb at tackling a range of product challenges. He thrives on innovation challenges, but can iterate/scale well too. His team loves him and he brought over several great people to XO.”
— Brent Tworetzky, SVP Product, InVision
 
 
“I hired Chris as a consultant in fall 2013... Within weeks he was influencing overall product strategy, within months he was directing the project, and within a year I hired him as our VP, Product + UX for The Knot.”
— Rob Fassino, Co-Founder and former CPO, TheKnot.com
 
TRANSΩM
Founder & Designer
transom-promo-portfolio.png

As an avid writer and voracious reader, I believe each of us has a story worth telling. Based on dozens of user interviews with aspiring and established authors, I created Transom to help writers with the age-old problems of disorganized notes, false starts, and writer’s block.

A Few Nice Things that Supposedly Real People Said About the App…

★★★★★
I just got this app and I immediately love it. I've had other apps that do the same thing but this one is just better.
― Dominique

★★★★★
Since papers and notebooks can get lost, I was very pleased and eager to give Transom a go and I was very pleased I did!
― Niamh

★★★★★
Wonderfully simplistic app that works! Thank you.
― Craig 

Delivery.com
VP / Product & Design

 

Brought on in the summer of 2012 to build the company's first formal Product & Design team, I staffed up and oversaw the responsive redesign of delivery.com and its mobile apps, including a full rebrand + identity redesign.

 

 
Thrillist & JackThreads
Director / Product & Design
jt_lt_web.png

 

As Thrillist’s first Director of Product, I oversaw the design and launch of the lifestyle brand’s web and mobile products. In three years, we released more than a dozen mobile and web products across Thrillist, JackTheads, and Thrillist Rewards.

 

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

Speechwriter, product marketer, community relations manager, event planner, literary magazine editor, college professor, and high-school english teacher. True story.

 

Want to Work Together?

I’d love to hear from you. Tell me a little about you and how I can help you or your organization, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.