Resume

Accessibility Program Manager

Over the past year and a half, I have pivoted in my career from engineering to accessibility program management. I convinced my employer, Blackhawk Network, to make me their first dedicated employee working on web accessibility. Within the first year, I developed a comprehensive accessibility plan that is being applied globally.

Skills permalink

VPAT Auditing
Using Assistive Technology
Project Management
Quality Assurance
User Experience Advocate
Programming
Public Speaking
Cross-department Collaboration
Author

Technical Skills permalink

Programming Languages: HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, JavaScript, LESS, Sass, PHP, Symfony, AngularJS, NodeJS, ReactJS
CMS Experience: WordPress, Timber (WordPress + Sensio Twig)
Responsive Development: Mobile-First Responsive Web Design
Performance: Experience with minifying and concatenating JS and CSS, critical CSS and using JavaScript plugins (e.g. respond.js, modernizr, picturefill, loadcss, lazyload)
User Experience: Experience with wireframing, prototyping and usability testing techniques
Software: Adobe’s PhotoShop and Illustrator, PhpStorm and Balsalmiq
Version Control: Github, Bitbucket, Git, SVN
Build Management: Gulp, Bower, Grunt, Hologram, NodeJS, Webpack

Work Experiences permalink

BlackHawk Network (2020 – Present) Accessibility Program Manager permalink

As the accessibility program manager, I have:

Implemented an accessibility plan for each step of the software development lifecycle and agile process.
Released mandatory training and built a resource repository for product owners, designers, developers, quality assurance and customer service representatives.
Prioritized and audited several ecommerce sites from all across the globe producing:
- WCAG 2.1 AA, revised Section 508 and EN 301 549 compliance reports
- Detailed issues for bug tracking and
- A roadmap for remediation

BlackHawk Network, Giftcards.com (2016 – 2020) Senior Software Engineer permalink

When Blackhawk Network acquired Giftcards.com, I was brought on to help with the front-end of the site:

Implemented the mobile optimized purchase flow with ReactJS that all of our products will use
Managed the state of accessibility
Optimized new areas of the sites to use flexbox and grid

Giftcards.com (2013-2016) Senior UI Developer permalink

Audited the site for accessibility and tracked the progress in Confluence before adding bugs to Jira.
Developed a custom responsive and accessible pattern library that is visible to the internal team as a code-based style guide using hologram and switched the site to Sass with a Gulp build process.
Conducted discovery for the site’s content creators and detailed what needed to be developed in the CMS.
Helped to implement the unifying of the products through a standard purchasing process
Developed wireframes for the admin tool for a product

Oncology Nursing Society (2006-2013) Web Designer/Developer permalink

Designed and developed responsive conference websites (Connections 2012, Connections 2013 and Congress 2013) utilizing HTML5/CSS3 and jQuery
Implemented UX techniques such as wireframing, prototyping and usability testing
Designed and developed TheCancerJourney.org website and logo (the main part of the site no longer exists)
Developed several online courses (coded and designed interactive elements with the course facilitator)
Learning Management System (LMS) administrator

Five Star Development (2004-2006) Flash Designer/Developer permalink

Worked as part of a team to design and develop custom interactive elements for Heinz training modules. This project was developed using Flash, Dreamweaver and Photoshop.
Designed and developed a complete set of training modules for Sharp Electronics (CD), which entailed a creating a custom player interface using Flash and implementing all of the content for the project.
Other eLearning projects included: Sheetz, Ford, and US Steel.

Freelance Experience permalink

Kind Girls Mentor Program (2015) permalink

Worked as part of a team to develop an accessible website as part of the Open Air Challenge

Advanced Window and Door (2009-Present) Web Designer/Developer permalink

Designed and developed the original Advanced Window and Doorwebsite.
Currently transitioning to a new Advanced Window and Doorwebsite to a WordPress installation and implementing a responsive web design, HTML5 and CSS3.

Western PA Veterinarian Medical Association (2005) Web Designer/Developer permalink

Created and designed a database driven website for the WPVMA utilizing HTML, CSS and PHP/MySQL. Created the original artwork, logo and Flash animation.

Education permalink

Duquesne University

Master’s Degree in Media Arts and Technology. Graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

The Art Institute of Pittsburgh

Bachelor’s Degree in Multimedia and Web Design. Graduated with a 3.9 and on the Dean’s List.

Participant permalink

W3C – Invited Expert

SVG Accessibility API Mappings

Writing permalink

CSS-Tricks

.net Magazine

Accessible SVG using <object> or <iframe>

Speaking permalink