Board of Directors
President, Dirk Knemeyer
DIRK KNEMEYER is a catalyst for developing new ideas and inspiring people and groups to create meaningful change. His contributions to the business and design community are myriad: he has participated on seven different advisory and directorial Boards, and has been a keynote speaker and given seminars and presentations all around the world. Dirk has also published over 100 articles on business and design topics.
Dirk is a Founder of Involution Studios LLC, a digital product design firm in Silicon Valley. Prior to founding Involution Studios, Dirk was the Chief Design Officer at Thread Inc. His diverse professional background also includes time as a management consultant, advertising executive and design director.
Dirk earned a Master of Arts in Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, a multi-disciplinary program that synthesizes methods from sociology, psychology and anthropology. His deep understanding of the relationship between people, culture and experiences enables him to lead major change in both product development and business management environments.
Secretary, Sean Van Tyne
SEAN VAN TYNE is AVP of User Experience for Strategy & Technology at LPL Financial. LPL Financial is one of the nation’s leading diversified financial services companies and the largest independent broker/dealer. Sean is charged with providing the vision and evangelizing the user experience strategy to increase revenue and reduce cost.
Prior to LPL, Sean was the Director of User Experience and Technical Communications for Marketing and Product Management at Mitchell International, the leading provider of data, software and eBusiness solutions for the automotive insurance, collision repair, medical claims and glass replacement industries. As Director, Sean provided the vision, strategy, and direction of the common look and feel across the portfolio of Mitchell’s solutions. Prior to Mitchell, Sean was the Director of Product Design for Medibuy, a global B2B marketplace provider for healthcare buyers and sellers.
Sean is the current President of the User Experience Special Interest Group; the Founder and Chair of the User Experience Business Information Group for SDSIC; and advisor on a number of professional and corporate boards.
Treasurer, Whitney Quesenbery
WHITNEY QUESENBERY is a usability and user researcher with a passion for clear communication. As the principal consultant for Whitney Interactive Design, she works with large and small companies around the world to develop usable web sites and applications.
Whitney is a leader in the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) and the STC Usability and User Experience Community, and has served on the board of Design for Democracy. She helped launch World Usability Day on 3 November 2005, bringing together people at over 100 sites around the world to highlight the need to “make it easy.” In 2004, she was appointed to a U.S. federal advisory committee for the Election Assistance Commission where she works to ensure the usability and accessibility of voting systems and elections.
Before she was seduced by a little beige computer, Whitney was a theatrical lighting designer in New York and regional theatre, learning about storytelling from the masters. The lessons from the theatre stay with her in creating user experiences.
Website Chair, Keith Instone
KEITH INSTONE is the information architecture lead on the ibm.com User Experience Design team. He works on a wide range of projects including user interface standards, user experience strategy, dynamic navigation, interaction design and information architecture methodology.
Keith is known professionally for Usable Web, SIGCHI volunteer work (including CHI-WEB founder), and as one of the early employees of Argus Associates. Keith is currently a member of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), SIGCHI, UPA, Information Architecture Institute, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) and American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T). He regularly “rotates” into memberships with Society for Technical Communication (STC), AIGA, IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) and other user experience related groups to learn how they contribute to the user experience profession.
Locales Chair, John Sheridan
JOHN SHERIDAN is a seasoned business consultant, architect, and serial entrepreneur. John has been responsible for the creation of architectures, frameworks, and methodologies that directly lead to measurable results.
He began getting consistently involved in User Experience over a decade ago and from that point onwards, has approached the creation of any solution with the goals of simplicity, ease of use, and quick adoption. John has also been facilitating the UXNet Board of Directors strategic review, helping UXNet develop a focused roadmap for the organization.
John runs management consulting, professional development, and new media publishing companies.
Communications Director, Mark Vanderbeeken
MARK VANDERBEEKEN is a partner with international experience design consultancy Experientia, responsible for identity and strategic communications. He is the author of the Putting People First experience design blog, a bellwether for the user experience industry.
A native of Belgium, Vanderbeeken has worked in four countries and studied at Columbia University in New York City. Currently, Vanderbeeken is based out of Experientia’s headquarters in Turin, Italy.
Director at-large, Louis Rosenfeld
LOUIS ROSENFELD is an independent information architecture consultant, and founder and publisher of Rosenfeld Media, a publishing house focused on user experience books. He has been instrumental in helping establish the fields of information architecture and user experience, and in articulating the role and value of librarianship within those fields.
Lou co-authored the best-selling book, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (O’Reilly, 1998; second edition, 2002), which is used as a standard text in many graduate-level classes. Lou has contributed regular columns for CIO, Internet World and Web Review magazines, and has written and edited numerous other books, chapters, and scholarly articles.
Lou co-founded Argus Associates, a pioneering consulting company, in 1991, co-founded UXnet, and is co-founder of the Information Architecture Institute, the sole professional organization of information architects. He serves or has served on advisory boards for the Content Management Professionals group, the AIGA Experience Design Community, and the Interaction Design Association.
