Optimal Usability > About us > Our people

Our people

Our usability and design specialists hail from backgrounds as diverse as industrial design, business strategy, product development, government policy, cartography, web design, interaction design, and information architecture. We even have a physicist on board!

Alex GambleAlex Gamble

Alex Gamble

Usability Consultant

The professional

Alex's background is in information technology with an honours degree in business information systems. He loves to get involved in any programming he can get his hands on. An example of Alex's work is a dragon boating analysis tool which uses a motion sensing camera to collect data. This tool was described as being "the best analysis tool in the world" by Valley Dragon Boat Club coach Jacob de Feijter.

After interning at Trade Me and working under UX guru Ruth Brown, Alex was able to piece together his passions for philosophy and human behavioural science with an area of IT. This interest manifested itself in usability design and research.

Alex is also obsessed with knowing why things happen which has evolved into a passion for analytics. You will often find him diving head first into data for fun.

The person

Being a typical Kiwi bloke Alex is into rugby. If not training or playing for the Oriental Rongotai Rugby Club you will most likely see him hanging around the clubrooms.

After parting with his Xbox in order to concentrate on the final year of his degree, Alex is looking forward to once again hibernating in his man cave with the latest football game.

Alex is a valued friend which is shown by the strong relationships he has maintained since high school.

Bobbie BennettBobbie Bennett

Bobbie Bennett

Financial Administrator

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The professional

Bobbie started her working life as a PA and Secretary to the Chief Accountant of Cable Price Corporation. Bobbie returned to work when her children started school, and while she never intended to get into the financial side of things, she did when the job fell into her lap. She hasn’t looked back. Bobbie finds it extremely interesting and very satisfying dealing with figures.

The person

Practical and down to earth, Bobbie is married with two grown up boys, who mean everything to her. She owns her own house in Lyall Bay, overlooking the sea and the Airport, and loves it there. She enjoys gardening, knitting, meeting up with friends at the local pub and generally doing things with the family, Rose wine, cheeses and good food.
Bobbie is not a sporty person, and doesn’t watch much sport, although she has spent many years on the side lines watching her husband and boys playing Soccer. Her secret passion is Wrestling, and she has dragged her poor husband around to many WWE Wresting events - the last being in Sydney and the next hopefully in Los Angeles.
Bobbie originates from the UK, and is very proud of her heritage. But she is also proud to be living in New Zealand, where both her children were born. She has spent many, many years involved as the Secretary of the Londoners Club, which was a club (is no longer) for like-minded people form the UK to get together in Wellington. Generally just a booze up really.

Bridget McSherryBridget McSherry

Bridget McSherry

Senior Consultant

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The professional

Bridget's background is in web and interaction design, focussing on user experience design. She likes figuring out what works for people, and what will make their experience super, using techniques like interaction mapping, storyboards, user observation and testing. Bridget is experienced in using web analytics and online marketing to create frameworks to evaluate website performance against organisational and user objectives. Over the last 4 years with Optimal Usability, Bridget has worked with clients including Telecom, KiwiBank, Westpac, The Parliamentary Service, Powershop, The Quit Group, The Reserve Bank, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, NZ Post and Parliamentary Counsel Office.

Bridget enjoys communicating the idea of user experience design as a crucial part of business-as-usual activity. Showing organisations the benefits of great design helps generate enthusiasm and a commitment to making sure that every project has user input.

The person

Bridget spends most of her spare time playing with lego, enjoying Wellington’s top playgrounds, visiting the scary pig at Te Papa, and generally indulging in the things that make life fun with her family and friends, including her two little kids.

Dave O’BrienDave O’Brien

Dave O’Brien

Senior Consultant

The professional

Dave’s 15 years of user-centered design experience has taught him that the key to delivering a great product is up-front, unbiased user research - moving past preconceptions, folklore, and the competition to find out who the users really are and what they actually need.

His past work, as a UI designer for Qualcomm and Intuit, includes B2B web apps and consumer desktop software, as well as intranets, workflow automation, and knowledge management.

Since coming to Optimal, Dave has designed a call-centre system for Air New Zealand, created web personas for ACC, designed a loan-application system for BNZ, and conceived our Treejack tool for testing site structures. He also teaches courses in design and usability.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Arts; 25 years in the software industry

The person

If the weather’s good, Dave’s out riding a user-centered bike and planning his next cycling tour. When it gets cold and wet, you’ll find him carving stone, juggling, or playing poker (not at the same time).

Eamon O’RourkeEamon O’Rourke

Eamon O’Rourke

Business Development & Marketing Manager

The professional

Eamon is a veteran design professional that began his career in advertising and brand communication direction, but transitioned to the digital realm at the turn of the millennium to head up an interactive design team and has never looked back. A passionate user-centred design practitioner, he built, managed, sold and delivered the user experience practice at Intergen for nearly a decade before moving on to NZ Post Group as an Experience Design Strategist consulting on the group’s transformation initiatives. These days he is most likely to be found applying his analytical-creative brain to Optimal client challenges, cracking user-centricity problems large or small with infectious enthusiasm. He will also do coffee on short notice if you just want to run an idea past him.

Qualifications: Dip. Fine Art & PGDip. Marketing Management

The person

Eamon is undeniably vehicularly obsessed, describing himself as a Petrohedonist, deeply fixated with the aesthetic and experiential dimensions of fine automobile ownership (more than the hands-dirty under the bonnet bit). Eamon and wife Lara are knee deep in the restoration of their second Wellington home. The generous old Villa is usually music-filled and the perfect home to an eclectic collection of contemporary New Zealand art.

Gareth ParryGareth Parry

Gareth Parry

General Manager Auckland

The professional

Gareth is Optimal's Auckland GM. He's spent his working life in the broader design community beginning with a bachelor's degree in architecture and tempered with large chunks of learning design, digital advertising, and infography. Top of his list of favourite work activities are design thinking, insight discovery, and finding creative ideas that lead to elegant solutions.

In his spare time, Gareth is the chairman of a district cricket association, a business mentor, and an infographer.

Qualifications: BArch

The person

Secretly wishing he could categorize his cricket playing days in the professional column of this bio, Gareth maintains a reasonable batting and bowling average ­ although furniture renovation and gardening with wife Imogen, and reasonably frequent tramping excursions, have limited game time of late. When not cricketing or working in some form or other, you'll find Gareth reading (fantasy fiction I'm afraid), drawing, listening to or mangling music on his guitar, enjoying good design, drinking coffee, or adventuring.

Heath SadlierHeath Sadlier

Heath Sadlier

Designer and consultant

The professional

Heath is a passionate designer who loves solving complex problems. His background is as an all-round creative. He is looking forward to growing his knowledge in user experience design. Heath is still passionate about visual design but works to connect each design decision with the underlying interaction design and overall user experience. Heath sees an audience's time as valuable and makes sure client's products and systems delight and engage users while remaining simple to use.

Before joining Optimal Usability Heath was leading the designers and developers at Manatū Taonga – the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. As the lead designer on Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand project he was responsible for the site design as well as the encyclopedia's diagrams and other infographics.

Qualifications: Bachelor in Computer Graphic Design

The person

Heath loves to climb up mountains, find great views, collect wood, and build a house… in Minecraft. He likes doing some of that in real life too. Heath is never too far away from an internet connected gadget. When not at work he's listening to podcasts, consuming articles and blog posts, finding inspiration to pin on Pinterest, playing games, or watching movies. Doing it all on the go or on the couch.

Kelly Ann McKercherKelly Ann McKercher

Kelly Ann McKercher

Designer and consultant

The professional

Soon after entering the world of design, Kelly Ann discovered it was not enough to merely produce things for people without first discovering their individual needs. This is where she became interested in the synthesis of social anthropology and critical design. Kelly Ann has a strong interest in ethnographic method and is particularly interested in how it can be used in creative ways during the design process.

Her strengths lie in research, observation and graphic communication.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Design Innovation and Cultural Anthropology

The person

As a hot yoga teacher Kelly Ann spends most of her free time hanging out upside down or attempting to balance on her hands (mostly unsuccessfully).

When not sitting in lotus you can find Kelly Ann reading about old Indian yoga dudes who can fly, baking vegan treats and making old furniture beautiful again.

Kimberley EdgellKimberley Edgell

Kimberley Edgell

Office Manager & EA to Kris Nygren

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The professional

Kimberley has extensive experience in education and leadership through her previous role as a primary school teacher. Kimberley comes to Optimal Usability with many relevant skills. She has facilitated school-wide programmes and provided mentoring for teacher trainees. Generally, she has excellent organisational, time management and problem solving skills.

Kimberley has embraced the challenge of managing the Auckland office and providing consultants with support on a range of projects. Kimberley also organises the Auckland training courses and events. She is enjoying the experience of working for a company that puts people first and the challenge of incorporating the company ethos of usability in her work.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Education (Teaching)

The person

Kimberley loves being active and heading to the gym for a good workout. Her favourite class is Les Mills’ Body Combat. In the summer weekends she supports her partner and family with their motor racing passion at race tracks around New Zealand. Kimberley enjoys Auckland’s café culture and regularly meets friends for a catch up at one of these spots. She enjoys a good book and going out to watch a range of movies.

 

Kris NygrenKris Nygren

Kris Nygren

CEO

The professional

Kris heads up Optimal Usability. He has a “colourful” professional background leading innovation, strategy, marketing and business growth in ecommerce, global dairy and financial services industries in New Zealand and Europe.

Kris loves to help new exciting ideas grow! He is a resident adviser in leading New Zealand start-up incubator The Icehouse and is a hands-on director in multiple start-ups including a biotech R&D company based in Sweden. Kris can be trusted to lead creative and strategic problem solving workshops… or arrange air freight from Chicago O’Hare to Port Lome in Togo depending on what you require!

Qualifications: BCom (Hons)

The person

Kris was born, raised and educated in Stockholm. He has lived in NZ off and on with kiwi wife Janine and two kids for the past 15 years and is now well and truly settled on a lifestyle block in Albany.

He is passionate about spending a kiwi summer camping and fishing the far north. He loves experiencing new cultures while travelling with his family – the last trip took them across China and next they are aiming for Thailand. A perfect balance!

Kristina NinkKristina Nink

Kristina Nink

Usability Consultant

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The professional

Kristina comes from a background in front-end development, web design and online marketing. Employing a user-centred approach, she’s created and redeveloped a range of websites and online marketing campaigns, mainly in the education and not-for-profit sector. In her most recent job at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, she was responsible for the redevelopment of the organisation’s website, including selecting a new content management system, developing strategies and designs, extensive testing, information architecture, content development. Kristina believes that user-centred design, based on solid research, should be the focus at all times, whether just a page is being updated or a whole site redeveloped. She’s dedicated herself to continuously involving both users and organisations throughout the development process, ensuring websites and marketing campaigns are built to provide the best possible user experience.

Kristina likes talking to and observing users to find out what they really need and do, mapping out their journeys and delving into data (analytics or survey data… it doesn’t really matter).

Qualifications: MA in Communication, Culture & Technology, BSc in International Business

The person

In her spare time, Kristina can usually be found racing or cruising on a sailboat, enjoying the views after hiking up a mountain, making her own clothes, geeking out a bit in app design/development and open source or with her nose in a book.

 

Maria SauerMaria Sauer

Maria Sauer

Interaction Designer

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The professional

Maria is an interaction designer with a strong passion for good design. Her objective is to create highly usable products that people love to use. To achieve this, she believes that the utility of a product is the basis, but there is much more to it. Compare to a building, you would never admire the architecture of an ugly building with great framing and plumbing. Likewise a beautiful building that caves in after five minutes is not admired either.

Maria's previous role, based in Munich, was as interaction designer for a software development company where she was responsible for the concept and design of several software-as-a-service products. Working in multi-disciplinary teams she has experience in the complete product design process and is able to take designs from pie-in-the-sky ideas to a working proof of concept. As a designer in an agile development environment, Maria worked closely with the developers to communicate her design ideas. With a degree in Media Technology she has a solid technical and analytical understanding.

Since joining Optimal Usability Maria has been involved in a variety of projects, including conceptual design, wireframe design, expert reviews and user testing.

The person

At weekends, Maria loves to go tramping. With New Zealand as her new home, there are plenty of treks waiting to be explored. You will find her accompanied by her husband and her camera. In the evenings - especially during wintertime - she enjoys reading good crime novels.

Mark HuttonMark Hutton

Mark Hutton

Usability Consultant

The professional

Mark has been working in the User Experience field before it was called the User Experience field, back in the days when the mobile was WAP based and a tablet was still medicinal.

From user testing to information architecture and Interaction design, Mark has delivered insights whilst client side, in agency environments and as a consultant. His work has helped shape and define the way people interact with products and services across multiple platforms, and for a variety of industry sectors. Mark combines this experience with an academic background in Applied Psychology & Computing and Interface Design and Evaluation.

Mark is a passionate believer that the user centred design process is valuable to anything involving humans and 'stuff'. One of his biggest pet hates are push doors, with pull handles on them, both literally and metaphorically.

Qualifications: MSc (15 credit module) Interface design and evaluation, Open University. BSc (Hons.) Applied Psychology and Computing, Bournemouth University

The person

Mark was about to turn 31 and in something of a quarter life crisis, he made a snap decision to take his last chance at a working holiday visa in New Zealand. His main aim is to find out if New Zealand can offer the lifestyle that seemed out of reach back home in the UK.

He is a bit of an 'experience junkie' and will try most things once and a lot of stuff twice, especially if it's 'outdoorsy'. For the foreseeable future he intends to jump off high things with elastic strapped to his feet, throw himself out of perfectly good aircraft with a ruck-sack full of nylon on his back, go as fast as he can up and down New Zealand’s hills on a push bike, cruise around new Zealand's roads on a motorbike, and generally tramp, scuba dive, surf and snowboard around this amazing country.

If anyone has any NZ adventure suggestions for Mark, he is very keen to hear them!

Martin BulmerMartin Bulmer

Martin Bulmer

Senior Consultant

The professional

Martin has been working in the digital industry since before the web started (he once told the editor of the British Weekly Telegraph that there was this thing called ‘the Internet’ he might like to consider putting his paper on). Starting his career at BT Research Laboratories Human Factors Unit, he worked on projects as diverse as the interaction design of collaborative virtual environments, the world’s first TV on demand service, the development of interaction design standards for BT products and the specification for the stripy red and yellow tents you see on streets that telephone engineers sit inside and drink tea.

Qualifications: BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences, MA Design for Interactive media (dist)

The person

Martin is a recent émigré from the United Kingdom having arrived with Heather, his partner and Kenan, his young son. When not working he spends a significant amount of time playing Star Wars Lego with his son or getting involved in the committee of the Society of Beer Advocates (www.soba.org.nz), a not for profit organisation set up to campaign for a greater appreciation of craft beer. An important contributory factor in Martin’s employment at OU is the fact that in his spare time he makes beer, although since he joined, Trent has commented that there has been a suspicious absence of any free, foaming cold ones.

Michael DuttonMichael Dutton

Michael Dutton

Usability Consultant

  • Skype: mdutton27
  • LinkedIn: mdutton
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The professional

Michael is a jack of all trades and master of some. With more years than he likes to admit, he has a broad background in IT and psychology, and merges business goals with user needs and technology to create optimal user experiences. His passion is doing what’s right for the long term, not just for today. Michael specializes in helping organizations create a digital strategy that incorporates UX. Through user research, task flows, wireframes, and prototypes, and his business acumen, he helps organizations understand their challenges and how to succeed in providing the best user experience possible.

Prior to joining Optimal he flew 23 hours from the states where he previously worked at Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Intel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the American College of Cardiology.

The person

In his spare time he likes to run, bike, scuba dive, and of course travel. His goal is to run a marathon in New Zealand, land on a glacier in the south island, and convince his friends to move to middle earth as well. While he's not doing this, you'll find him looking for exceptionally made craft cocktails.

Natalie WebbNatalie Webb

Natalie Webb

Consultant

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The professional

Natalie loves improving the experiences people have when interacting with organisations. She is a big believer in the difference user-centred design can make for providers of products and services, as well as their end customers.

Natalie worked as a management consultant for Booz Allen in Australia, before completing a Masters in Human Computer Interaction at University College London. Since her Masters, Natalie has worked in the user experience field across a wide range of mostly web-related projects. A major piece of recent work was running a research and engagement programme for eBay Europe on their professional sellers.

Natalie is currently working part-time at Optimal.

Qualifications: BA/BSc in Psychology and Biology, MSc in Human Computer Interaction with Ergonomics (distinction)

The person

Natalie enjoys seeing new places. On her return to New Zealand, she took a five month backpacking detour. This included such spots as Turkmenistan where she particularly recommends seeing 'The Door to Hell'.

Currently she spends a lot of her time looking after her toddler son who likes to explore new and exciting ways of rearranging the house.

Nicole KaufmannNicole Kaufmann

Nicole Kaufmann

Consultant

The professional

Nicole is passionate about practical user interfaces and design solutions. One of her key philosophies is “Use creates design, so good design creates good usability and vice versa.”

Nicole has a background in cartography and GIS Engineering and worked as a Data Visualiser for 4 years. After a 2 year stint in 3D animation and film making, she joined Optimal Usability in 2005. Since then she worked with a wide range of clients and on a variety of projects, including conceptual wireframing, wireframe design, information architecture design, expert reviews and user testing.

Since working for Optimal Usability, Nicole has completed expert reviews for over 50 clients.

Nicole is currently working part-time after coming back from maternity leave.

Qualifications: Dipl.-Engineer of Cartography and Geomatics

 

The person

In her previous life, Nicole enjoyed movies, playing games, baking, tramping and indoor soccer.
These days, Nicole’s spends most of her time on being a mum to her two little daughters, Helena and Emilia.

Sharon CartwrightSharon Cartwright

Sharon Cartwright

Senior Consultant

The professional

Sharon is passionate about designing systems and services that meet user needs and delight the user. In particularly she has a strong interest in human behaviour and how information is designed and communicated most effectively.

Since joining Optimal in 2008 Sharon has facilitated hundreds of User Testing sessions, including international remote testing and in-car testing. Sharon has also been applying her strong research, analytical, and communication skills to Expert Reviews and Information Architecture projects as well as project managing several Design projects. Sharon has worked on a wide range of project across a wide range of industries including Telecommunications, Banking, Government, Education, Not for Profit and Retail.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Psychology, Graduate Certificate in Social Science Research.

The person

Sharon likes to make the most of the kiwi outdoor lifestyle - tramping, camping, beaching, running, gardening and kayaking.

When not feeling quite so adventurous Sharon pursues more urban activities, spending time with family, socialising with friends over good wine or coffee, reading and cooking.

Suzanne CrossSuzanne Cross

Suzanne Cross

Practice Manager

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The professional

Suzanne is an experienced marketer, with a particular focus on marketing change driven by technology. Naturally inquisitive and curious by nature, and with a complementary background in market research, Suzanne loves to get answers to questions.

She joined Optimal Usability in July 2010 from Telecom NZ where she spent the previous 9 years building up an in-depth knowledge of the Internet and telecommunications industry. Across four different roles she had extensive experience in delivering operational outcomes with minimal customer impact, and balancing customer and business needs. Since joining Optimal Usability Suzanne has applied her varied experience to strategy, service design, user testing, expert reviews, and change management projects.

Qualifications: MA (First Class Honours) in History, Postgrad Certificate of Management

The person

Becoming a mother for the first time in February 2011 has been occupying most of Suzanne’s waking (and sleeping) hours! When she has the time (!) she continues to hang out in the garden trying to reach her goal of not having to buy any vegetables, and trying to beat her husband at Scrabble!

Thea MyersThea Myers

Thea Myers

Interaction Designer

The professional

Thea is a dedicated interaction designer with a real passion for understanding a system or issue fully before proposing solutions. She loves the range of different industries and clients she’s exposed to in her role as a consultant at Optimal Usability, and prides herself on providing clean, invaluable deliverables. She really enjoys discovering subtle, effective interaction solutions that make users happy.

Thea comes from a web design background, having studied digital art and collage, interface design, and multimedia. She got a BA from Bennington College in Vermont, and has also studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Scuola Lorenzo Di Medici in Florence.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Arts

The person

Thea had a sweet little baby girl in June 2010, so it doesn’t really feel like she has any free time anymore – however her non-work time is somehow fuller and more enjoyable than it used to be. She still reads comics whenever possible, and still very much enjoys her fine food and wine… but more and more, these things get prioritized AFTER hanging out with the husband and making the baby giggle.

Trent MankelowTrent Mankelow

Trent Mankelow

Director

The professional

Trent Mankelow is a Director and co-founder of Optimal Usability. He started out as a technologist, with a degree in computer science, but quickly found that his passion was in the intersection between people and technology. These days he spends a lot of time with New Zealand organisations trying to understand their customer experience challenges, and setting Optimal Usability’s strategic direction.

Trent regularly writes and speaks on customer experience, service design, and usability. He also helped to found the New Zealand chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association, and served on its international board from 2008 – 2010.

Qualifications: BCMS in Software Engineering (with First Class Honours)

The person

Trent speaks relatively fluent Spanish after 11 months in Northern Argentina on a student exchange when he was 16. He enjoys playing with his daughter, the occasional game of tennis and the odd cigar. He’s addicted to The Moth and kind of can’t be bothered with long walks, unless it involves going tramping.

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