How We Can Work Together
1:1 Coaching
For executives or those growing into leadership roles, my 1:1 coaching focuses on important transitions in work and life.
I help emerging leaders, IC product managers, designers & researchers focus on the things that MATTER most to advance their careers while sustaining their creative energy and curiosity.
I help you see your own superpowers for what they are, and help you scale your effectiveness for better impact and influence.
Whether you are in a small startup or a large organization, allowing you to embrace your strengths, and identify your growth areas for both hard skills and soft skills will be a part of the journey. Together, we can better maximize your current situation, or help you make the next move.
Dane was a phenomenal design advisor to my company, Kalibrr, and he helped us make the most consequential decisions as my company was finding product market fit. Kalibrr was one of the first companies in Southeast Asia to get into YC, and get valley funding. We essentially were building a tech company in a market without a tech ecosystem.
Dane helped us achieve clarity on what the underlying problem our product needed to address. He diligently coached my team as new designers to become one of the best UI/UX teams in the Philippines. He mentored me directly as a first time founder to navigate the waters building a new venture and making difficult founder decisions.
Many of the people Dane coached at Kalibrr have gone on to become design leaders and product leaders at Unicorn companies in the APAC region. Personally, is one of the most influential advisors I have had. I value the continuing relationship that we have.
Dane has many superpowers, but my favorite is his ability to lead others to think big. Whether the group is small or large, he is able to scale his approach with thoughtful questions and focused activities that help people get unstuck from old ways of thinking. This helped us unlock new approaches that have a profound impact on the CX, morale, and ultimately the business.
Dane is the closest thing to a zen master that I’ve had the good fortune to work with. He’s a leader with an innate ability to get dozens of creative individuals to move quickly in multiple directions yet arrive at the same place. And the resulting work impresses CEOs and design luminaries.
When I met Dane in the capacity of an advisor on one of my projects, it was clear from the very first moment that we met, that he is someone who lifts people up. In my entire career, I haven’t met anyone so humble yet willing & capable of building safe professional environments in which all team members are included and can bring their whole self to work. Whilst Dane prefers to stay in the background, he shares the tools & frameworks necessary to succeed. It doesn’t stop with the tools though – Dane gets out the best in people by asking the right questions, active listening and his high standards to deliver the best. He naturally feels completed when his team is thriving through the environment he created. His endless creativity, kindness & positive spirit make him a fantastic leader, mentor & coa ch.Dane is missed dearly and I wish him all the best for his future endeavors!
Talks / Podcasts
Some of my most requested Topics:
- Designing Your Future Self
- The Importance of Journey lines
- Managing through Transition
- IC or Manager? YOU Get to decide.
- Storytelling through the Scope of Design
I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to audiences large and small through various topics around design, transition, culture change, and parenting. If you’re interested in booking me for a talk or Podcast, Please contact me below.
featured on: Design Driven, Storytelling School Podcast, 805 Connect, Products That Count
Workshops / Facilitation
These are some of my most requested workshops:
- Design Sprints & Effective Facilitation (half day)
- Workshop Facilitation Training (Two half days)
- Product Strategy kickoff & Alignment (full day)
Workshops (in person or remote) can be shaped to fit audiences from 8 to as many 40 people.
If you would like to discuss a custom workshop please contact me below so we can discuss the format and pricing.
ABOUT DANE HOWARD
I am a strategic design leader & entrepreneur. I’ve led globally distributed teams for world class products, services and brands, while focusing on scaling the design process across multiple business domains.
I’ve had the pleasure to build, grow & lead teams for both start-ups and big companies. I co-founded a start-up in 2006, which was acquired in 2008 by eBay. I know how to build shareholder value. I love to mine the experience potential in companies, and I’ve been told I’m a ‘humble leader driven by purpose’.
I have worked on an international scale with CEO’s and Product leadership. I have played principle design, operational and leadership roles for Microsoft, BMW, Major League Baseball, Scient, Quokka Sports, NBCOlympics, Alias/Wavefront, eBay, Trov, Samsung NEXT, and Amazon. I have built and launched global experiences in several countries, and have garnered several prestigious awards in design & marketing.
I believe that stories build in strength with re-telling. It is the product & brand stories that become the reason we all move forward together.
I am an author, speaker, photographer, designer, and father. I am the author of ‘The Future of Memories‘ and advisor to ‘standbeautiful.me‘, an anti-bullying movement promoting the acceptance of self and others.
I speak on design and culture transformation. It’s nice to meet you.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Dane Howard Studio
Principle & Founder (Jan 2023)
A Collaborative Studio specializing in Generative AI, Design & Fine Art for commercial & residential projects across Apparel, Fashion, Sports, Exhibit Design, and Fine Art.
Amazon
Head of UX Design & Research (Aug 2020 – March 2023)
Amazon Care – Lead and Manage a team of UX Designers & Researchers.
Samsung NEXT
Global Head of Design & Product Experience (May 2018 – June 2020)
As Global head of Design, I am responsible to grow, mentor and lead the product design & user research teams, currently located in Tel Aviv, New York, UK, Russia and San Francisco. I help drive the full lifecycle of product experiences from early stage narratives and prototypes to the product design and delivery end to end. We do this as a highly distributed design team working cross-functionally across 15 timezones.
I lead design & user research for both B2B and B2C products in areas of:
– Distributed Computing & Artificial Intelligence (dis.co)
– Food Experiences (whisk.com)
– Augmented Reality and Spatial Computing
– Early stage Products & POCs
Samsung NEXT champions builders and founders inventing a more purposeful future. Our suite of software and services allow us to meet and support innovators wherever they are, at any stage in the life-cycle. We build software and services that turn ideas into products, grow products into businesses, and scale businesses that leverage and transform the Samsung ecosystem.
Trōv
Chief Experience Officer (Aug 2015 – Feb 2018)
Global Head of Design, Product & Marketing for Trov.
Trov is the world’s first on-demand insurance for single items. We’re on a mission to make protecting your things simple and flexible, so you can enjoy them without worrying about rigid policies and confusing fine print.
With Trōv, you’ll be able to insure just the things you want—exactly when you want—entirely from your phone.
eBay, Inc.
Director, Global Brand Experience & Design, eBay Inc.
(Jan 2013 – Apr 2015)
Culture: Responsible for leading the company-wide effort for cultural change for ebay inc. across all of ebay’s design teams. Appointed by the CEO to work with John Maeda on a four-pillar initiative to activate design, grow community and build a strong talent pipeline. A company-wide POV on design was led and launched at: ebay.com/design, and is now a case study at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Brand: Responsible to translate business objectives into compelling visual stories and experiences across multiple mediums and environments across the eBay inc. portfolio.
Director, Verticals & PreVIZ Design, eBay Marketplaces
(Oct 2008 – Jan 2013)
eBay Mobile (2008-2009)
One of First UX designers on eBay Mobile – Responsible to Design & Manage the UX for initial iPhone & iPad releases. Grew the design/UX team through explosive growth and over $2B in GMV.
Verticals: Led a design team of 30 across eBay’s vertical businesses, including Fashion, Motors and Electronics
PreVIZ – Successfully grew & led a new Pre-Visualization Design practice for eBay. Hired and led a team of 5, through pro-active design labs & workshops. Responsible to lead eBay product groups through a process of solving business problems by visualizing them.
- Successfully completed 53 PreVIZ projects across the company across M&A, HR and several product teams.
- Inventor, 8 Patents in User interface & software architecture
VUVOX – Principal & co-founder. Chief Product Officer
(May 2006 – January 2011) – Acquired by eBay, June 2008.
VUVOX was a media creation and sharing platform.
Successfully raised seed capital and built product team. Designed, built & managed VUVOX.com, brand, product & partnerships.
Successfully positioned company for acquisition to eBay in June 2008.
Microsoft Corporation
(October 2001 – April 2006)
UX Design Lead, Mobile & Embedded Devices
Microsoft Mobile Division, Redmond, WA
Team leader for ‘Connected’ Experiences & Media
Design Manager, Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT)
October 2001 – Jan 2005. Microsoft Research, WA
Built and led a cross-disciplinary team of designers responsible for a new set of mobile Microsoft Products. Led the design of the entire business of SPOT including product development, marketing, industrial design and business development.
- Inventor, 8 Patents in User interface & software architecture
- Inventor, 4 Patents in Mechanical & Industrial Design
EDUCATION
Art Center College of Design. (1992-1994) Pasadena, CA , BFA program in Graphic / Interactive Design.
Westmont College. (1990-1992) Santa Barbara, CA, BFA program, Fine Art.
LINKS & PRESS
Fast Company: Six Bite-Sized Innovation Lessons From Ebay’s New Design Think Tank,
Dane Howard’s Teaches design & preVIZ on LinkedIn
Lynda.com: Pitching Projects and Products to Executives
Dane is a master facilitator, an impeccable storyteller, and an inspiring leader. He is that person who is always selflessly promoting the work of others on the team around him. I had the privilege of organizing a product team retreat in Italy with Dane where I witnessed the magic he brought to the room during a How Might We brainstorm exercise with over 50 people. I recommend Dane for his relentless pursuit of the user experience, his design leadership, and his acts of kindness.
Dane has done the impossible…he helped make insurance cool. As chief experience officer, Dane gave design a seat at the table and saw to it that product design, marketing, business development, company culture – EVERYTHING – was considered through the lens of design thinking at Trōv. He’s a thoughtful leader that can effortlessly shift between executive level business and design ideation.
Work with me
Topics...
- Design Leadership 92%
- Coaching / Advisor 84%
- Speaking 72%
- Workshop / Facilitation 67%