Bringing innovation, passion, strategy, operations, and design thinking to everything I do
I began my professional journey in the dynamic world of startups, where I learned to be quick, adaptable, and customer-centric. In every role I’ve taken on, I’ve focused on understanding customer needs, identifying the right business opportunities to meet those needs, and ensuring the organization is strategically positioned to seize those opportunities.
This holistic approach to problem-solving and opportunity identification has shaped the trajectory of my career. I’ve consistently sought out roles where I could address the biggest challenges or unlock the greatest potential for impact. In each of these positions, I brought a strong desire to organize and align teams around a shared vision, inspiring collaboration to achieve our goals.
Over the years, I’ve grown tremendously, both personally and professionally. I’m grateful for the diverse experiences—both the successes and the challenges—that have shaped me into a more compassionate leader, a creative problem solver, and an ever-eager learner. As I look ahead, I’m excited for the opportunities to continue growing and making a positive impact whatever comes next.
Mary Lan, Design Innovator & Strategist
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Charissa is one of the most thoughtful leaders I’ve met to date -- thoughtful in her execution of strategic initiatives, thoughtful in her approach in coming up with tactical solutions, thoughtful in her approach with people, treating them not as commodities in an organization but as assets -- thoughtful in her every modeled behavior. She is a unique leader in that she does not do it with obvious push or pull tactics, instead she raises the spirits of those with whom she works and energizes them to be their best. It’s a powerful kind of leadership that is as difficult to describe as it is effective to witness, and I can't think of a single company that wouldn't be lucky to have her.
Brainstorming ideas is powerful, but it's explosive to see those ideas come to life
I'm a strategic idea person who loves to make things real.
Work Experience
Key Skills
Design Leadership: Proven ability to lead UX and product design teams to create impactful solutions.
Product Development: Expertise in guiding products from concept to launch while prioritizing customer needs.
Strategic Planning: Skilled in defining strategies, facilitating leadership teams to define goals, aligning resources, and driving execution across teams.
Operations Management: Demonstrated success in optimizing processes, managing budgets, and achieving cost savings.
Global Leadership: Experience leading distributed teams and driving engagement in dynamic environments.
Accomplishments
Delivered millions in cost savings through operational efficiencies and strategic initiatives.
Improved team engagement metrics by fostering collaboration and clarity.
Enhanced product adoption and customer satisfaction through innovative design strategies.
Electronic Arts, Austin, TX
Sr. Director, Experience Design and CX/Product Strategy (2023 – Present)
Spearheaded the maturation of the Experience Design organization across 4 business units, projected to increase revenue by $50M.
Leading enterprise efforts to enhance lifecycle management practices, with an estimated impact on business metrics of $100M.
Developed and implemented Product Discovery practices, enabling teams to integrate strategy, design, and solution consulting across games ecosystems.
Defined and led the CX strategy to bridge game features with customer service and account management, focusing on fan needs and operational improvements.
Introduced UX measures to enhance customer journey tracking and improve touch points across product spaces.
Sr. Director, Strategic Planning, Experience Design, & Business Operations (2019 – 2023)
Managed a $76M operations budget, achieving a 46% increase in player support capacity while reducing costs per player.
Oversaw a $13M budget for a global team, driving engagement from 78 to 91 points.
Established a disciplined strategic planning process to align strategy, roadmaps, and resources with organizational goals.
Transitioned delivery models from project-based to product-based, enabling customer-centric, long-term solutions.
Led enterprise programs to address toxicity and addiction in gaming, improving detection rates and sentiment.
eBay Inc., Austin, TX
Director, Operational Excellence and Product Marketing & Programs (2013 – 2015)
Introduced design thinking to drive customer inclusion in solution development, transforming organizational mindsets.
Led major organizational initiatives, defining outcomes and measures to prioritize product targets and project delivery.
Successfully executed large-scale projects during the company’s spinoff, including a career site redesign and product enhancements.
Initiated partnerships that boosted product awareness by 54% among key customer segments.
PayPal
Sr. Manager, User Experience Design, Strategy, Content, and Chief of Staff (2008 – 2013)
Introduced Lean UX and Agile practices across a 500-person Product group, saving $1.5M annually in operational costs.
Implemented design thinking methodologies to improve product development and elevate the Content organization’s impact.
Streamlined localization, content production, and design delivery, reducing expenses by $1M annually.
Created resource management practices to align team efforts with organizational priorities.
Sr. Manager, Technology Solutions, Product Development, Content, and Localization (2003 – 2008)
Defined and deployed an enterprise-wide project management system, increasing efficiency by 25% and adoption by 30%.
Led full lifecycle software development teams using phased and Scrum methodologies.
Start Ups Include
Ynot.com - creative greeting cards. Worked as business development, relationship management and product manager.
Bonus.com - game content aggregator for kids. Was Editorial specialist.
