Kristin Skinner is an author, speaker, teacher, and organisation design leader. She is currently Head of Design Management at Chase, a new executive leadership role focusing on Design Program Management, Design Operations, Content Strategy, the Design Playbook and the Design Academy. Her mandate is to define the core operating rhythm for design while managing best practices, processes, and operational needs of the organisation.

Most recently, she was Head of Design Management at Capital One, leading the practice and team of Design Managers who coordinate the design organization’s efforts, guide cross-functional collaboration, and enable the design organization to deliver outcomes with measurable impact. Kristin has extensive experience recruiting, hiring, and managing designers and design program managers, and shaping design organizations and operations for optimal effectiveness, in both consulting and in-house contexts, and in companies of various sizes.

Previously at Adaptive Path, Kristin was Managing Director where she established and lead the Design Management practice, guided sales and operations, co-led the portfolio, and scoped and co-led over 40 of the firm’s most strategic and complex projects and programs. Prior to Adaptive Path, Kristin shaped the Design Manager role for Entertainment and Devices at Microsoft’s Pioneer Studios. Kristin has co-programmed and co-hosted the DesignOps Summit, the LX Conference (formerly MX), and is a keynote speaker and frequent workshop teacher on organizational design and design management.

Kristin is co-author of Org Design for Design Orgs: Building and Managing In-House Design Teams, the first book dedicated to the organization, management, and operations of in-house design teams.

As the move to establish in-house design teams accelerates, it turns out there’s very little common wisdom on what makes for a successful design organisation. Books and presentations tend to focus on process, methods, and tools, leaving a gap of knowledge when it comes to organisational and operational matters.

Kristin's here to shine a light on the unsung activities of actually running a design team, the operational challenges and considerations, what works and what doesn’t. Drawing on her experience managing design teams and organisations at Microsoft’s Pioneer Studios, Adaptive Path, and Capital One, Kristin will discuss how what happens “behind the scenes” and how a focus on design management and operations can ultimately affect a design organisation’s output, quality, and effectiveness.