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Valerie Brock

About me

Senior Research Leader driving strategic decisions and shaping product vision through mixed-methods research.

I help teams make confident, customer-driven decisions. I use mixed-methods research to uncover insights that reduce risk, speed up learning, and guide product strategy.

I work closely with product, design, engineering, and leadership to solve complex challenges, from growth and monetization to enterprise platform redesigns.

What I bring:

  • Mixed-methods research: combining qualitative and quantitative approaches for clear, actionable insights
  • Research leadership: building scalable practices, mentoring teams, and embedding research into decision-making
  • Impact at scale: shaping roadmaps, aligning stakeholders, and driving measurable business outcomes

Selected work

Cricut — Onboarding & subscription growth

Senior UX Research Lead

  • Problem: Customer frustration and early drop-off surfaced across social media, support channels, and behavioral data
  • Outcome: +20% Access subscriptions, -10% unused machines
  • My role: Led participatory research embedded with product and design to diagnose onboarding issues and guide improvements

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VMware — Scaling participatory design for Identity & Access Management

Senior UX Research Manager

  • Focus: How to redesign Identity & Access Management without fragmenting user feedback
  • Outcome: Faster iteration, de-risked roadmap decisions, scalable research model
  • My role: Designed and led an 8-week longitudinal customer research program

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Gusto — Accountant platform strategy

Senior UX Research Lead

  • Focus: How to increase accountant engagement and reduce wasted partner incentives
  • Outcome: Partner program changes, cost savings, roadmap realignment
  • My role: Led mixed-methods research across growth and expansion initiatives

U.S. Bank — Streamlining global corporate trust

VP, UX Research Manager

  • Focus: Eliminating duplication and manual processes to optimize experience
  • Outcome: Onboarding time cut by 80%, customer satisfaction scores increased by 25%
  • My role: Directed generative research that redesigned corporate trust onboarding
WalmartGoProDellCalTransLinkedinBabyCenterCNETAccentureBARTShutterfly

Summary

Senior Research Leader with 15+ years of experience in fintech, healthcare, and enterprise technology. Proven record of building and scaling research teams, integrating qualitative and quantitative insights into product strategy, and advancing AI-driven research practices in highly regulated industries. Recognized for translating customer insights into $MM growth opportunities, operational efficiencies, and M&A impact. BA in Economics (Northwestern), MA in Creative Writing (SFSU), MBA (Kellogg, Northwestern).

Skills

  • Research Methods: Generative research, interviews, diary studies, usability testing, JTBD, personas, contextual inquiry, journey mapping, workshops, A/B testing, card sorting, heuristic evaluations
  • Analytics & Market Research: Surveys, VoC programs, segmentation, brand tracking, behavioral & telemetry data, competitive analysis
  • Tools: Qualtrics, UserZoom, UserTesting, SPSS, Dovetail, PowerBI, Medallia, dScout, Google Analytics

Experience

U.S. Bank — VP, UX Research Manager 4/2023-Present
  • Lead a 7-person UX Research team supporting Corporate & Commercial Banking and Corporate Payments, influencing strategy across high-value enterprise products
  • Founded the AI Center of Excellence for Research, creating frameworks for responsible AI adoption in research design, synthesis, and reporting
  • Directed generative research that redesigned Corporate Trust onboarding, cutting onboarding time by 80% and raising satisfaction scores by 25%
  • Partnered with business and technology leaders to define a common enterprise lexicon and platform consolidation strategy, reducing redundancy and improving consistency
  • Winner of the ESG Net Zero Idea Challenge, delivering cost savings and sustainability impact by eliminating wasteful corporate swag
Gusto — UX Research Lead 7/2022–2/2023
  • Owned UX research for the Accountant segment, applying generative and evaluative studies to improve engagement with small business customers
  • Delivered insights that informed roadmap decisions for B2B product enhancements
Cricut — Senior Manager, UX Research 2/2020-6/2022
  • Hired and led the UX Research and Competitive Research teams, embedding customer insights into product and strategy
  • Designed mixed-methods research that led to the successful launch of Cricut's mobile app, adopted by millions
  • Partnered with design and engineering to overhaul onboarding, improving retention and user activation rates
  • Established customer panels enabling rapid evaluative testing and shortened feedback loops
  • Created new KPIs integrating behavioral and attitudinal measures to track customer success
VMware — Senior Research Manager 5/2017-2/2020
  • Directed a global panel of 4,300 customers and partners, generating continuous insights for enterprise products
  • Conducted weekly research combining qualitative studies and telemetry data to guide enterprise product development
  • Scaled participatory 'Design Teams,' embedding customer voice into product design and enterprise cloud experiences
Adobe — Senior Research Manager 9/2015–5/2017
  • Led a $2M Global Brand & Reputation research program across B2B and B2C segments
  • Overhauled Digital Media Campaign Effectiveness research, strengthening measurement of marketing ROI
Blue Shield of California — Senior Manager, Customer Insights 7/2012–8/2015
  • Built and led a 5-person insights team delivering VoC, brand, and advertising effectiveness research
  • Instituted a User Experience Measurement system with behavioral health KPIs and real-time VoC integration via Medallia
  • Partnered with leadership to support the Covered California rollout, ensuring compliance and customer satisfaction in a regulated environment
Valerie Brock Consulting — Principal Consultant 1996-2012
  • Delivered insights and strategy for Fortune 100 clients and startups, influencing M&A, product launches, and digital innovation
  • LifeLink: Startup using AI to develop chatbot for specialty pharma, clinical trials, emergency care
  • Walmart.com: Designed media effectiveness processes, enabling growth in ad sales; created early mobile shopping strategy
  • BabyCenter (J&J): Launched viral marketing strategy that generated an $8M opportunity
  • Clickstream: Distilled 1B+ data points into strategic insights; research contributed to Microsoft’s acquisition of the company
  • The Planet.com: Led customer insights that informed acquisitions
  • Other clients: Dell, LinkedIn, Shutterfly, GoPro, CNET, Accenture, Caltrans, BART

Education

  • Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University — MBA, Marketing
  • San Francisco State University — MA, Creative Writing
  • Northwestern University — BA, Economics
  • Completed Focus Group Moderator Training at RIVA Institute

Additional

  • Published feature writer for the San Francisco Chronicle; author of short fiction
  • Founded and chaired PTA Green Committee, saving $7K/year in school waste management and creating a district plan that saved $1M annually

Contact

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