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Caris Hurd

User experience and Web Geek

Product Management Professional and

Graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin

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- Caris Hurd
  
  Interaction Designer/Product Manager/UX Professional
  
  Information Technology and Services | Austin, Texas Area, US
  
  Summary
  
  Web product and project manager with experience in web strategy, web design and development, information architecture and user experience testing, database design, application development, front-end web-application development, and web analytics reporting.
  
  Specialties: Strategic web design and development, web marketing, user experience, web analytics setup and implementation, web analytics reporting, business system design, business process improvement, SQL Server, MySQL, HTML/XHTML with CSS
  
  Experience
  - Aug 2011 - Present
    Graduate Student (MSIS) / The University of Texas at Austin - School of Information
    
    Studying information architecture, usability, and human-computer interaction (HCI). Expected graduation date is May 2013.
  - Aug 2011 - Present
    Teaching Assistant / The University of Texas at Austin - School of Information
    
    - Serving as TA in the IT lab (August 2011 to May 2013). Teaching short courses on specific technologies (XML, web design and development) and helping graduate students with technology.
    - Spring 2013 TA for graduate course on Mobile Interface Design (INF 385T) under Dr. Jacek Gwizdka
    - Spring 2013 TA for undergraduate course on Human-Centered Design (INF 350T) under Ji Hyun Park
  - Oct 2009 - Jul 2011
    Product Manager, Web Properties / SolarWinds
    
    Web product manager focused on user engagement, community, and e-commerce.
    • Gathering requirements, conducting ROI analysis, and writing product requirements documentation to guide design and development deliverables
    • Managing functionality and user experience of community site (Thwack.com) based on Telligent Community Server
    • Managing e-commerce (NetSuite) web integration, content and user experience
    • Conducted in-person and remote usability testing
    • Conducting A/B tests to optimize web conversion, generate leads, and drive revenue
    • Managing company blogs, ratings and reviews, and other social media and social commerce integration points across all company web properties
    • Monitoring performance on a daily basis to inform website optimizations
  - Oct 2008 - Oct 2009
    Interactive Product Specialist / nFusion
    
    Product management and strategy for website design and content management system implementations, including researching client industry, business needs, competitors and site audience, then creating system requirements based on analysis
    • Lead product management through discovery and system definition process by researching client business needs, competitors and site audience
    • Manage day-to-day activities of creative, technical and media specialists on concurrent projects across multiple clients and industries involving web design, development, maintenance, system implementation and media campaign support
    • Lead Web analytics setup and implementation within the company including conducting multivariate and split testing using Google Analytics and Omniture
    • Recommend website optimizations based on Web analytics reporting and client business objectives
    • Contribute technical input and expertise to search engine optimization projects, social media strategy, and other online campaigns
    • Design mobile site architecture and organize mobile content and functionality based on mobile best practices
    • Design site information architecture and user interface wireframe mockups to inform design and development processes, as well as for use in user testing
    • Conduct user experience testing and compile data to inform site interface and navigation
    • Pitch company’s interactive and technological capabilities and make specific custom recommendations for each potential client
    • Conduct quality assurance testing and manage user acceptance testing process to ensure that products perform according to specifications and exceed client expectations
    • Manage intern and facilitate training each semester
    
    Manage interactive projects and provide web strategy for the following accounts:
    BP, Toshiba, Floor King, State Bar of Texas, Abbott Spine, AVEVA, Alamo City Golf Trail
    
    Assist with strategy and manage projects on the following accounts:
    Comerica Bank, Wilshire Homes
  - Feb 2007 - Oct 2008
    Interactive Product Analyst / nFusion
    
    • Understand client business needs to create innovative technical marketing solutions for clients
    • Interface with clients and cross-disciplinary internal teams to manage web projects on a day-to-day basis
    • Conduct research into client products and businesses to generate productive web strategies that serve to help clients exceed business goals
    • Provide consulting and recommendations in areas of online product strategy, product management, user experience and information architecture
    • Create technical requirements documentation to develop long-term product management strategy
    • Manage web development process and analytics implementations. Contribute to reporting by generating strategic recommendations based on web analytics metrics
    • Completed course on Building Effective Business Requirements through University of Texas Professional Development Center (IIBA endorsed)
  - Aug 2006 - Jan 2007
    Consultant / Credera
    
    • Developed a multi-tiered enterprise-level internationalized web application in multiple languages using Java with Struts Internationalization practicing an Agile development methodology (Scrum)
    • Gained knowledge in front-end web design and development using XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript
    • Participated in weekly client status calls
  - Jan 2006 - May 2006
    MIS TA / McCombs School of Business
    
    TA for MIS 374 - Business System Development.
    
    Graded assignments, assisted professor and students with real-world client-facing IT consulting projects.
  - May 2005 - Aug 2005
    Internal Audit Coop Pre-professional / IBM
    
    • Performed one month application managment audits on site in Italy and Korea
    • Specifically focused on data integrity scope area:
    input and editing controls, output and classification controls, and data transmission integrity
    • Assembled a quarterly application management statistics package for the entire internal audit organization and presented it to senior management
  - Jan 2005 - May 2005
    Lab Proctor / McCombs School of Business
    
    Assisted lower division MIS students with their .NET programming assignments, graded programs and helped the professor and teaching assistants.
  - May 2004 - May 2005
    Mac Specialist / Apple Computer
    
    Customer service and sales of Apple hardware, software, and accessories.
    
    • Member of the sales team who won “Best Sales to Forecast” ahead of all stores in the company, Q3 2004
    • Ranked among top 250 individual retail performers for sales metrics in Q4 2004
    • Motivated sales team to double sales of ProCare service as ProCare sales leader
    • Maintained store visuals, windows and displays, in-store marketing materials and merchandise
    • Trained new hires on company policy and store operations
    • Taught customer seminars on Mac OS X system and software
  Education
  - 2011 - 2013
    
    The University of Texas at Austin
    
    MSIS in Information Architecture, Usability, Human-Computer Interaction
    Activities: IT Lab Teaching Assistant, ASIS&T (American Society for Information Science & Technology)
  - 2002 - 2006
    
    The University of Texas at Austin - The Red McCombs School of Business
    
    BBA in Management Information Systems, Psychology
    Activities: Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Eta Sigma, College Scholar, University Honors, MIS Teaching Assistant, Lab Proctor
  - The University of Texas at Austin
    
    Professional Development in Coursework: Building Effective Business Requirements
  Additional Information
  - Honors:
    
    College Scholar, University Honors
  - Interests:
    
    technology, snow skiing, apple computer, mac, OS X, travel, programming, volleyball, knitting, music, open source software, agile development methodologies, entrepreneurship, mobile web, web 2.0, product management, project management, web marketing, web analytics, google analytics
Tweets

Tweets

Profile
- @_caryanne @lamfletcher not me either, but IT VERY WELL COULD HAVE BEEN. Ugh.
  
  May 20, 13 from Tweet Button in reply to _caryanne Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- .@cfd_samurai RT @sharkivist: E-Records Forum 2013: Automating classification of records using High Performance Comp. http://t.co/uSLMSpiqOj
  
  May 01, 13 from Echofon Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @erstwhiletexan gotta convince future employers to pay for it ;) or at least not make me take vacation days to go!
  
  Apr 29, 13 from Echofon in reply to erstwhiletexan Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Feeling the #CHIsadness from missing out on #CHI2013. Finals week during CHI every year is just cruel. http://t.co/D6blmXSLzd
  
  Apr 29, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @lamfletcher @_caryanne I def remember a convo about professional dress as academics… "the sandals remain" = lol
  
  Apr 23, 13 from Twitter for Mac in reply to lamfletcher Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- ATX, if you missed our She++ event, you've got another chance: MT @PyLadiesATX: PyLadies is screening she++ on May 2: http://t.co/Tb8NJZLZFl
  
  Apr 22, 13 from Twitter for Mac Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- love RT: @chrissadeghi: Happy to say the Czech Stop is open and serving breakfast to emergency workers #westexplosion http://t.co/pEIoROgT4v
  
  Apr 18, 13 from Twitter for Mac Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Way cool! RT @brianpeppler: Just discovered http://t.co/uKlYLzIP7m. Good examples of reflowing content based on media type.
  
  Apr 14, 13 from Echofon Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Bending Google Fusion Tables and Chart Tools to my will. #makingitwork #gradschool
  
  Apr 14, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- +1, Thanks for coming out, all! MT @EllieDickson: Tonight's @sheplusplus event @UTiSchool was a success! Great talk about #womenintech
  
  Apr 10, 13 from Twitter for iPad in reply to EllieDickson Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @ash_kamath @victoriasolomon @EllieDickson @_caryanne Thanks again, dream team!
  
  Apr 09, 13 from web in reply to ash_kamath Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- RT @_caryanne: After @carismarie's presentation on Google Chart Tools, I want to make all the charts with all the data ever. #viz #omgGoogle
  
  Apr 09, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- RT @victoriasolomon: Passionate about women & IT? Come to our panel tomorrow at 5 to hear from women working in tech! RSVP here: htt ...
  
  Apr 08, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @erstwhiletexan SO JEALOUS. I want to be 8 again :(
  
  Apr 06, 13 from web in reply to erstwhiletexan Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Gorgeous day. Out with my husband and in-laws looking at wildflowers? Nope. I'm indoors figuring out Google Chart Tools. #gradschool
  
  Apr 06, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @erstwhiletexan @mfgaede I'm also seeing good things about Feedly. Maybe I'll give it a try. http://t.co/QjpQg59ywT
  
  Mar 14, 13 from Echofon in reply to erstwhiletexan Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @erstwhiletexan @mfgaede I'm also hearing that @reederapp will continue on after google reader shutters. It looks nice..
  
  Mar 13, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- RT @omarg: If Google had announced they were shutting down Google Reader during SXSW Interactive, they would not have made it out of Austin.
  
  Mar 13, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @erstwhiletexan @mfgaede I found this, at least it's a starting point, nothing perfect though: http://t.co/2whm23lpal
  
  Mar 13, 13 from web in reply to erstwhiletexan Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @erstwhiletexan Google is killing google reader. http://t.co/zsWKL1eudZ
  
  Mar 13, 13 from web in reply to erstwhiletexan Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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