About Morgan Denner
I've spent my career solving problems and driving change. In my early career as a sales person I solved customer problems. In my time as a product owner and product designer, I solved business and user problems. In my time as a program manager, I’ve worked toward solving the world’s problems.
Along the way I’ve learned how to analyze a candid picture of a problem. I’ve learned the importance of rallying teams around a shared understanding. I've learned to help others solve the correct problem and solve the problem correctly.
I follow the Agile philosophies in my day-to-day life in order to succeed. I respond to change. I collaborate with others to decide. I focus on delivering usable value in small chunks. This is not only a way of work, but a strategy in how organizations can drive change, de-risk, and make impact.
Through my journey, teammates around me have also grown with me. They've experienced the same business adversity and learning experiences. We learned how to build psychological safety and trust first. We learned how to coach teammates to find more meaning in the work they do. We've built influence and empathy with authoritarian leaders who are afraid of failure. We've empowered others to self-organize and build servant leadership mindsets.
I don’t have a perfect track record: I have a progressive track record. I’ve grown in my own approach to scaling program impact over the years. It starts with people, it starts with clarity, and it starts with trust.
To me, program management isn't just a job. It's a set of philosophies for change agency, empathy, collaboration, progress, and curiosity. They’re a way of understanding the human dilemma and how to drive human-centered change. They are especially important in an age of AI and deep technology.
We need empowered teams and responsible technology to solve the world's biggest problems. We need teams to solve the right problem and solve the problem correctly.
In my next career phase, I want to empower nonprofits and teams to drive influential impact and change the world. I want to empower them to deliver continuous value in order to learn. I want to help teams empathize with audiences and form strategies based on pain points in the customer experience.
I'm particularly excited about the comprehensive scope of this position, as NAO's success depends on program managers who can balance strategic planning with operational excellence. I seek to maintain a focus on participant satisfaction and sector impact. I am confident that the skills I've honed, and lessons I've learned, can help any nonprofit, and the people in it, grow.
What others say
Morgan doesn’t just talk about psychological safety, agile, and product thinking; he lives it, and embodies every principle he teaches. Working with him means feeling seen, heard, and supported...
Morgan has an unrivaled ability to apply empathy, build trust, elicit customer needs, feedback and input in cultivating a truly participatory design...
He fostered an environment of collaboration and experimentation where anyone's idea could be heard, tested, and refined.
Morgan is a great visionary and an advocate for the UX community. In his leadership role, he maintains just the right balance between autonomy and guidance to figure things out on their own but also have a clear direction...
He navigated complex executive approvals easily...His work designing workflows significantly improved team efficiency and cross-functional collaboration. He brings a rare mix of versatility, diligence, and integrity to the table.
Morgan is a true evangelist of user centricity...His attention to detail and ability to look at everything from a user’s perspective to provide the best possible UX and workflow was essential...
Experience
Lead UX Designer and Project Lead
UX Cabin
July 2022 to Present
« Working with clients and cross-functional team members on projects to build and improve user experienc©
« Leading efforts for Agile UX and Google Design Sprint methods for continuous discover
« Facilitating sprints and the Agile process for the tea
« Creating UX artifacts like user journey maps, storyboards, personas, annotations, and wireframe
« Creating and running qualitative and quantitative research methods for UX across various products and budget
« Documenting user stories / acceptance criteria for user and business requirements
« Creating high fidelity development-ready designs and dev specifications in Figma / Figjam
Founder and Project Lead
Tech Fleet Community DAO
June 2020 to Present
« I founded an apprenticeship agency that helps new workers in Tech gain experience through client-facing project
« The community autonomously leads client-facing agency project and incubates its own open source product
« I lead projects across various roles: UX Research, UX Design, Product Management, Product Ownership, and Dec
« Coaching Agile, Lean UX, and Google Design Sprint methods through work with client
« Coordinating business development efforts for Tech Fleet to bring in quality clients and partner
« Helping build a sustainable operational model for projects and apprenticeships in Tech Flee
« Working to partner with industry companies and schools to offer services and perks to the communit
« Building real-world facing educational curriculum content delivered through personalized project coachin
« Creating high fidelity development-ready designs and dev specifications in Figma / Figjam
Lead Product Designer
Hopscotch
Aug 2021 to July 2022
« Accountable for the end-to-end user experience of our product
« Working cross-functionally with Product, Leadership, Customer Success, and Engineering to deliver roadma#
« Leading efforts for Agile UX and Google Design Sprint methods for continuous discover
« Creating UX artifacts like user journey maps, storyboards, personas, annotations, and wireframe
« Creating and running qualitative and quantitative research methods for UX across various products and budget
« Documenting user stories / acceptance criteria for user and business requirements
« Creating high fidelity development-ready designs and dev specifications in Figma / Figjam
Lead UX Designer and Product Owner
Mindgrub
Feb 2020 to Aug 2021
« Working with clients and cross-functional team members on projects to build and improve user experienc©
« Acted as product owner or Lead UX Designer on client-facing project
« Leading efforts for Agile UX and Google Design Sprint methods for continuous discover
« Creating UX artifacts like user journey maps, storyboards, personas, annotations, and wireframe
« Creating and running qualitative and quantitative research methods for UX across various products and budget
« Documenting user stories / acceptance criteria for user and business requirements
« Creating high fidelity development-ready designs and dev specifications in Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD
Business Analyst, then Product Owner
14 West
Business Analyst Jan 2016 to May 2018
Product Owner May 2018 to Feb 2020
« Accountable for the end-to-end user experience of our product
« Managed roadmaps, backlogs, and sprints for several development teams working in tande
« Managed a SaaS platform that dealt with marketing automation, e-commerce management, and content!
« Working cross-functionally with users, Leadership, Customer Success, and Engineering to deliver roadma#
« Leading efforts for Agile UX and Google Design Sprint methods for continuous discover
« Coaching business analysts and other team members in user-centered design techniques and Agile method
« Creating UX artifacts like user journey maps, storyboards, personas, annotations, and wireframe
« Creating and running qualitative and quantitative research methods for UX across various products and budget
« Documenting user stories / acceptance criteria for user and business requirements
« Creating high fidelity development-ready designs and dev specifications in Figma / Figjam
Adjunct Professor
University of Baltimore
Jan 2016 to May 2020
« Taught undergraduate program classes in the Applied Information Technology progra
« Taught one or two classes per semester as an adjunct professod
« Created curriculum, assignments, lectures, and test
« Taught Java programming, full stack web programming, and web/database security
Senior Sales Engineer
Oracle Hospitality
Apr 2015 to Dec 2015
« Worked with current and potential clients to set up pilot environments for POS systems and cloud-based SaaS hospitality management software.
« Designed solutions based on customer requests and RFP's
« Presented to c-level execs to win initial sales partnerships before local sales reps implement POS in districts
Technical Project Manager
Oracle Hospitality
Mar 2013 to Apr 2015
« Designed, trained, and troubleshooted software and hardware for point of sale systems at bars, restaurants, and hotels.
« Implemented complex databases for restaurant operations
« Trained staff on software and hardware when opening new restaurants
« Troubleshoot network issues for LAN within the restaurant properties
« Managed up to 15 projects for regional clients at a given time
Senior Account Executive
Oracle Hospitality
Nov 2011 to Mar 2013
« Successfully led a pilot sales lead generation position to generate potential POS leads for local sales districts
Education
Master of Science - Interaction Design and Information Architecture
University of Baltimore
Attended 2015 to 2019
Holistic, academically rigorous training with project-first classes. Topics covered include usability testing, accessibility, quantitative / qualitative research, interaction design, information architecture, prototyping, brain psychology, project management, and cognitive aspects of human behavior. Finished 36 credits and wrote original research thesis but am working on finalizing submission of the thesis and degree paper.
Bachelor of Science - Applied Information Technology
University of Baltimore
Obtained in 2015
General IT degree covering network hardware and software as well as programming and security. Obtained from the University of Baltimore in 2015.
CSPO certification
Obtained in 2020