Hello, I'm Sarah
I believe the best work happens at the intersection of business goals and human needs.
I'm a product and design leader with deep experience in healthcare and retail, specializing in consumer-centric digital solutions. I have a proven track record of leading high-performing product and design teams to drive business growth and deliver exceptional user experiences. My expertise spans user-centered design, healthcare technology, and digital product strategy. I'm skilled in fostering cross-functional collaboration, aligning stakeholders, and translating consumer insights into scalable, impactful digital products.
My Experience
April 2014 - November 2025
Held progressive digital product and experience leadership roles across Optum and RVO Health, spanning enterprise experience strategy, digital product, human-centered design, service design, and UX. Built and led cross-functional teams, scaled consumer-first solutions, and delivered measurable enterprise growth.
- Led the launch and multi-disciplinary product and design team behind Optum Store, driving $100M+ in sales for a direct-to-consumer platform offering HSA/FSA-eligible products, virtual care, and a low-cost cash pharmacy that beat competitor pricing 70%+ of the time.
- Directed consumer-centered product strategy, guiding teams in generative research, ethnography, JTBD, concept validation, and usability testing to shape roadmaps, de-risk decisions, and refine end-to-end experiences.
- Built and led a shared-service human-centered design organization delivering enterprise-wide service design across digital, telephonic, and in-person channels—recognized for industry-leading best practices and operational excellence.
- Championed modern, pragmatic design practices, enabling teams to rapidly progress from low-fi concepts to high-fi prototypes, adopt modern design systems, and partner closely with engineering to accelerate innovation and delivery.
- Introduced and scaled interactive journey mapping, leading teams to embed consumer and frontline audio/video into immersive artifacts that strengthened alignment and improved cross-business experience execution.
- Oversaw cross-functional design and research teams driving product transformation across Optum and UnitedHealthcare through service blueprinting, capability mapping, and systems thinking.
- Established enterprise-wide capability mapping and strategic frameworks, enabling executives, CEOs, and boards to connect product capabilities to tangible value drivers (revenue, cost reduction, satisfaction) and supporting major employer, provider, and government wins.
- Partnered with leading agencies and consultancies—including Huge, AKQA, Lippincott, EY, McKinsey, and Oliver Wyman—to elevate design quality, accelerate innovation, and strengthen enterprise strategy.
September 2005 - April 2014
Held multiple roles across digital product, design and merchandising—progressing from Senior Information Architect to Senior Manager Product Design.
Focused on delivering scalable digital solutions that enhanced customer experience, improved operational efficiency, and drove business growth. Key highlights included:
- Redesigned Target’s gift registry experience, resulting in a 150% increase in average registry size and a 50% reduction in in-store paper usage—during the kiosk era.
- Led digital initiatives that improved conversion and basket size, including the product review and recommendation platforms, subscribe-and-save functionality, and content standards for product imagery and video.
- Issued three design patents related to gift registries, personalization, and integrating social media to deepen consumer engagement.
- Led the product team through the migration of Target.com off the Amazon platform, working with agency partners like Huge and Publicis Sapient to accelerate innovation and elevate execution.
- Developed a scalable onboarding model for digital agencies, piloted with AKQA and later expanded to other Tier 1 partners—accelerating time-to-value across key initiatives.
September 2004 - September 2005
Information Architect
Supported digital transformation efforts by designing intuitive, user-centered web and kiosk experiences across consumer and employee platforms. Played a foundational role in structuring content and navigation for complex banking tools.
- Conducted research to understand user behaviors, needs and pain points.
- Developed wireframes, site maps and navigation systems for websites, ATM interfaces and employee tools.
- Developed clear taxonomies, labeling systems and meta data frameworks that enhanced usability and findability.
- Worked closely with UI designers and front-end developers to ensure that the design and functionality met user's needs.