Fractional Leadership
A hands-on player/coach who partners with stakeholders, supports the team, and keeps leadership in the loop.
Fractional leadership. Strategy and innovation. Design services.
I offer purpose-built engagements for startups, scale-ups, and enterprises — when it's mission critical, I make sure the job gets done. Right. The first time.
My Mission
When you work with me, you can expect approaches centered on customer-led growth and user-centered strategy that produce purpose-driven, data-informed solutions to the business problems keeping you up at night.
I bridge the gap between complex business strategy, technical execution, and customer reality. Over a 25-year career, I've managed a $30M/year enterprise portfolio, realized $23M+ in systemic cost savings, scaled cross-functional teams, and transformed early-stage ambiguity into scalable market solutions.
There are a few things I don't believe in anymore — like pushing pixels or launching guesswork. I know what it takes to craft solutions that mitigate risk and solve for complex challenges — on the first try. So try me.
Strategic approaches. Successful outcomes.
Is a business problem keeping you up at night?
Expertise & Services
Six capabilities, deployed as fractional engagements, focused sprints, or on-demand support. Scoped to your stage.
A hands-on player/coach who partners with stakeholders, supports the team, and keeps leadership in the loop.
Human-centered methods that simplify complex challenges, define objectives, and turn them into actionable plans on tight timelines.
From back-stage organizational processes to user-facing design systems — efficient, cohesive ecosystems that scale.
Capture brand essence. Tell a compelling story. Brand platforms, communication strategy, visual identity, creative direction.
End-to-end, dual-sided service and product design — from concept and research to iterative solutions that scale.
Thoughtful, user-centered digital experiences that are purposeful, clean, and functional. Lean process, intentional tooling.
Experience
A veteran problem-solver with expertise across fintech, government services, hospitality, health, and technology consulting.
A business-management, strategy, and innovation consultancy offering fractional leadership, product strategy and design, and branding services — purpose-built for SMBs, startups, and scale-ups in hyper-growth mode, or enterprises with product and design team gaps. When cross-collaboration, agility, and mission-critical results are non-negotiable.
Featured project: Rapid ideation that fueled a year of design & development backlogs at Everlywell Health →
Led a team of designers and producers creating dual-facing (agent + member) native mobile and responsive web SaaS experiences serving over 14 million members. Spearheaded product strategy for three of the most complex and highly regulated lines of business in the bank — Consumer Lending, Real Estate Mortgage, and Debt Recovery — with a portfolio exceeding $30M.
Case studies:
Compassionate communication as a winning strategy →
Making great design possible on an impossible timeline →
360° Teams — bridging organizational silos through radical transparency →
Partnered with functional leaders to redefine cross-collaborative services while establishing a new human-centered design UX practice, including new service SKUs. Collaborated with Operations and Sales, crafting sales-enablement materials and leading capabilities presentations to drive demand. Led HCD engagements for top-tier customers including Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Visa, Google Cloud, Sephora, and Epic Games.
Featured project: When Google said "Build us the Ferrari of Communities," we were on it →
Established and expanded the Austin team 5× over 18 months for this rapidly growing HCD-driven business-management consultancy's cross-functional teams — spearheading new business development, establishing operational approach, and launching a new Service Design practice while leading client engagements. Cornerstone clients included McKinsey Digital and Accenture Products & Platforms.
Founded a design services consultancy offering fractional leadership, strategy, and design services to Fortune 500 organizations including McKinsey Digital, Accenture, Dell Experience Design Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EA Games Worldwide Customer Experience Group, and Zynga.
Featured project: "Tell us how to become the industry leader in the next 3–5 years" →
What's your mission? Looking for a co-pilot?
Book a Discovery CallGraduate Research
Graduate thesis research in the Communication Design MFA program at Texas State University.
I believe that practicing design is a life skill that everyone can — and should — learn, because it has the power and potential to uplift the most economically disadvantaged and at-risk individuals and communities. But when, where, and how do we go about teaching folks to develop this skill set?
With the rise of generative AI tools like Claude Code, and AI-powered design tools like Figma and Canva, more people than ever are dipping their toes into the design craft. It's an exciting time to see this democratization of design happening in real time.
While there are aspects of design that should generally be relegated to the professionals — what aspects, exactly? What is the value of design in this new era of democratized design? Where are the limits of democratization? How do we snap the line between professional practice and design by the everyday person?
Designers have an opportunity at this very moment to sharpen and shape the discipline's focus through both professional and academic discourse around the democratization of design — to articulate a united response, rationale, and rally cry in a thoughtful, cohesive way — and champion design's business value in certain terms.
FAQs
All of the above, with a hybrid model preferred. Face-time is important, particularly in the early stages of a project. For projects outside the Austin metro, I'm happy to arrange travel as needed.
I've built a network of top-tier professionals who I can pull in to support any project. Serious Mission operates on a flex-to-fit model — if your project requires a team, I'll source the right talent, including a project manager, as needed.
We select the toolset that best complements the project and organization. Deep expertise with industry-standard design tools including Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, Canva Studio, and others.
In harmony with the mission to democratize design, I structure engagements so they're financially feasible for organizations large and small. Rate depends on time commitment and level of expertise required:
For help sizing your project, schedule a 30-minute chat.
Currently open for new engagements. To discuss your needs, schedule a 30-minute chat.
Yes — a structured mentorship program in 6-month increments, tailored to early- to mid-career design professionals. I currently have capacity for one individual looking to clarify their career path, level up communication skills, and grow as a leader.
Interested? Email a proposal to erica@srsmission.com and book a 30-minute chat.