Meet Our Team
Catalyst is a partnership of leading practitioners in strategy, brand, experience design, content, technology, marketing, and product operations based in San Francisco.
We've employed a diverse range of talent and expertise over the years that has formed our unique POV.
-
20+ member team almost all with 15+ years of experience
-
6 of our team members have been VP/Senior Directors
-
3 books, 1 ongoing podcast, and countless articles
-
Extensive groundbreaking experience in making products
-
Professional pedigree: KPMG, Landor, IDEO, Frog, Adaptive Path, and Hot Studio
Alicia Chastain
Alicia is a seasoned User Experience Designer who has logged over 10,000 hours collaborating with teams to create elegant experiences by synthesizing the complex requirements users, marketers, and developers bring to the process. Having worked with enterprise, consumer, and non-profit organizations, she understands how varied stakeholders operate. Her projects include a leading iPhone transportation app and an innovative video web site for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Previously Alicia has held senior design roles at BEA Systems and IBM, where she was a key member of the WebSphere brand. She has helped clients including Wells Fargo, Microsoft, ModCloth, and Common Sense Media design their web and mobile apps.
Ashley Bond
Ashley provides the support for our combined teams to align and execute against our common goals and vision. She has a wealth of experience bringing product to market in the fashion world and now she is applying her skills in our work. She guides strategy and design of both hardware and software. Prior to Catalyst she worked at Isda & Co., Levi Strauss & Co., and Jessica McClintock, Inc.
Bo Schlagel
Bo believes in the power of good design – and its potential to incorporate the voices of those who often don’t find their own represented. With a background in social impact work, empathy and listening come naturally to his design process, which includes user research, systems-thinking, prototyping, visual design, and branding. He's led product design for startups, including We the Future, a voter technology platform, and tEQuitable, a third-party tool for addressing bias, discrimination, and harassment in the workplace. His agency work includes clients Ubisoft, Silicon Valley Bank, and Winston Retail.
Brian Cronin
Brian leads product strategy and development and is Catalyst’s Managing Partner. He has enabled organizations to build breakthrough product and service experiences by identifying opportunities, and developing differentiated strategies that align business goals. Brian has worked with many organizations in the technology, financial services, and content-delivery fields, including AOL, Harvard Business Review, Nexant, Nissan, Scripps, Ubisoft, and Silicon Valley Bank.
Chiara Ogan
Chiara brings more than two decades of experience to Catalyst through crafting intuitive, digital experiences. Her specialities include user experience, information architecture, interaction design, user research, content strategy, and web strategy, having successfully launched systems for a variety of organizations, including those in e-commerce, news and media, financial services, software, government, and higher education. Chiara holds a Masters of Library & Information Science.
Dale Brewer
Dale’s passion for product design has him involved in every step of the process. He has provided creative and innovative solutions in mobile, web, and desktop applications and has managed and mentored designers to develop skills and push the envelope of what is possible. He takes pride in using his product design skills in user interface, visual, interaction and prototype design to help enhance the user experience, making a finished product as intuitive and enjoyable as possible. Dale’s work includes projects for Lytro Inc., Barnes and Noble, Motorola Mobility, Sony and Apple.
Jamison Wieser
Jamison's decades-long background in web and mobile app design, public transit, and making things easy to use includes work from AOL, Punchcut, Google, Hot Studio, and more. With the user at the center and decisions driven by research, study, analytics, testing, and a bit of creative magic, Jamison's specialities include content strategy, user experience, and interaction design.
Jeff Carino
Jeff leads brand strategy and identity design for consumer brands and products. Prior to Catalyst, Jeff honed his craft at Landor. He excels at distilling a company’s personality into a visual system that is authentic and unique. Jeff’s work includes projects for Disney, Coors, Royal Caribbean, Discovery Channel, Baush & Lomb, and Chipotle.
Norbert Scully
With over 15 years of UX and technology experience, Norbert leads product operations. From solution selection to technology implementation, Norbert ensures that all Catalyst projects are embedded with a culture of learning, and are driven by collaboration throughout the creative process. Norbert’s work includes projects for First Databank, Visa, Lexus, Safeway, DelMonte, Verizon, and the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Stephanie Habif
Dr. Steph Habif is a behavioral scientist with 10+ years of experience leading healthcare teams on ways to design for consumer engagement. She leads ethnographic research to ensure the needs of people are identified and met. She also brings a wealth of insight of behavioral psychology to our work, paving the way for meaningful impact. In addition to her work at Catalyst, Dr. Habif currently teaches at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (also known as: the d.school) and has held teaching appointments at Columbia University, University of North Carolina, Washington University at St. Louis, and Victoria University of Technology.