Operational Principles

Act as a guide, not a gatekeeper

Effective governance orchestrates teams toward success rather than merely hedging against failure.

Earn trust through transparency

Partner with stakeholders early and often to create momentum that compounds across programs and initiatives.

Infrastructure begets innovation

Teams move fastest when systems and processes are solid enough to support experimentation and scale.

Case Studies

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Rescuing 5 Years of Research—Then Making It Actually Useful

Rescuing 5 Years of Research—Then Making It Actually Useful

When our research repository vendor was acquired, we had 11 months to migrate 250 projects and 2,000+ hours of research. We finished a month ahead of schedule — then redesigned how insights reach the people who need them.
$100K in Savings Without Losing a Single Capability

$100K in Savings Without Losing a Single Capability

As our research team scaled from two to ten, the tooling stack grew with it — until it didn't work anymore. I consolidated the ecosystem, built a 1,000+ member participant panel, and saved over $100K in the process.
Building the Guardrails Before Anyone Asked for Them

Building the Guardrails Before Anyone Asked for Them

AI tools were proliferating across research workflows with no shared guidelines. I partnered with Security, Legal, and Privacy to build a governance framework that moved the team from skeptics to practitioners — and took the work to the Insight Out 2025 stage.

Experience

Work Experience

Nov 2023 - Present, San Francisco, CA

Research Operations Principal at Okta

Jan 2022 - Nov 2023, San Francisco, CA

Research Operations Lead at Okta

Feb 2017 - Jan 2022, San Francisco, CA

Senior UX Researcher Staff UX Researcher at Okta

Jul 2015 - Feb 2017, San Francisco, CA

UX Researcher at Kiavi (Formerly LendingHome)

Education

2012 - 2014, Bloomington, IN

Master of Science, Human-Computer Interaction/Design – Indiana University Bloomington

2005 - 2009, Madison, WI

Bachelor of Arts, Political Science & Global Culture – University of Wisconsin Madison

Portfolio Showcase

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Kind words from writers

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“Naoto transformed my portfolio site completely. The clean layout lets my work speak for itself, and setting up different sections was surprisingly intuitive. My clients constantly compliment the site's elegance.”

Sarah Chen, Designer

“Finally, a theme that doesn't fight with my content. The typography is gorgeous and the table of contents feature makes my long articles so much more readable. Worth every penny.”

Marcus Rivera, Tech Writer

"I needed something professional but not corporate. Naoto strikes that perfect balance. The resource sections help me showcase my expertise, and the dark mode is a nice touch for evening readers."

Emma Thompson, Freelance Consultant

The timeline template is perfect for my online courses. Students love how clean and organized everything looks. Plus, the mobile experience is flawless—important since most access from phones.

David Park, Course Creator

Naoto's gallery layout showcases my photography beautifully. The minimal design doesn't compete with my images, and I can organize everything exactly how I want from the Ghost admin.

Lisa Rodriguez, Travel Blogger

Switched from a cluttered theme to Naoto and immediately saw better engagement. The homepage builder let me create exactly the story I wanted to tell. Clean, professional, and flexible.

James Mitchell, Startup Founder