Hi, my name is Ethan. I lead the product design, service design and design systems group at Quanata. We're working on HiRoad among many other things.
Before I was busy with Quanata, I spent time as a design leader at Expedia Group. I also launched and scaled the Gorilla Group design and content practice. I’m a long standing member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) as well as the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). I am currently an associate member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences where I serve as a panelist judge for the Webby Awards.
Chicago is home along with my family and our two dogs. If you'd like to find out more about me please drop me a line. Consultations are available on a selective basis.
The common thread in my work isn't a discipline — it's leadership: building teams, growing revenue, and getting the right people pointed at the right problems, wherever that happens to sit in an organization. Product strategy is a big part of that: I work closely with product management and engineering, and I spend as much time framing business challenges as I do user problems.
At Gorilla Group, that meant helping take the business from $5M to $12M in revenue over four years — as much time spent in sales pitches and client development as in creative direction. At Devbridge, it meant running a practice with real P&L accountability: staffing, forecasting, and growth plans, not just project delivery. Today at Quanata, I direct Product Design, Service Design, and Design Systems, but the actual work is org strategy — shifting the team from a production mindset to a growth mindset helped cut time-to-market by 75%, launch two products in record time, and double the customer base for an existing one. I also sit on Quanata's internal innovation group, scouting new product and service opportunities, and the AI Center of Excellence, where I own our agentic design strategy — neither of which is design work in the traditional sense.