Jennifer Ewell

LaGarde's Phoenix platform targeted mid-market B2B and B2C retailers and distributors. I began working on the platform as a business analyst on the product management team and grew to become the lead product manager, overseeing development completion and product launch activities, including sales enablement, product marketing, vendor relations, and media outreach. Though younger than many of my industry peers, I impressed vendor partners and customers alike with my ability to articulate the platform's value and usability.

I led the design and launch of SocialQueue, the fourth product I launched in a suite of social media products designed for the heavily-regulated pharma industry. Alongside the product development team, I used emerging technologies with control mechanisms to ensure that pharmaceutical and healthcare companies could quickly respond to content on their owned social properties, preventing the violation of FDA regulations. I partnered with the social media services team to support efforts to sell service hours based on team use of the product. These sales expanded the business portfolios of several key accounts and led to industry recognition.

What was initially planned as a six-month UX strategy project expanded to two years of UX strategy and design, usability testing, business analysis, product backlog creation, sprint management, development oversight, DevOps planning, QA support, and vendor vetting. I presented product demos for state officials and consulting partners and ran interference for the development team. This project was a significant modernization endeavor, moving off of decades-old mainframes and onto a Web stack. Combining faster, more intelligent technologies with a completely redesigned information architecture and UI, new users are able to be trained and ready to deliver value to the state within weeks instead of the former six-month training process.

Working in partnership with an IT consulting firm, I led product design and development efforts for the MVP of a web-based, configurable workflow system for managing safety audits. This involved heavy collaboration with the beta client, from entry-level staff up to C-suite executives. In parallel, I assisted the consulting firm in planning the product's roadmap, positioning, branding, pricing, and launch into the broader market. As this was the first product for the firm, I provided guidance not only related to the logistics of delivering and supporting products but also the differences in mindset and methodology needed between custom software and resale products.