Jeff Simons is Director of Product Design at global life sciences company Charles River Laboratories, where he leads a team of designers delivering a wide-scale digital transformation to support the company’s mission of creating healthier lives. He has fallen in love with designing software experiences and interfaces for the "behind-the-scenes" jobs of the economy that are driving the world forward.
Over the course of his 15-years of a design career Jeff has applied his problem solving skills, providing strategic direction and designing for a range of companies and industries. Products and services used by people such as recycling plant operators, bank tellers and policy makers, and more recently contact center agents and scientists.
An award-winning designer, Jeff is also an accomplished coach and facilitator. He is passionate about supporting and empowering cross-functional teams to collaboratively deliver successful user-centered products and experiences, whilst navigating the challenges of change and transformation.
Originally from The Netherlands, Jeff has lived and worked in organizations and countries across the globe. For the past few years he has made his home in the country-side of the south-east of Ireland
Past Talks
17 May 2023
Large enterprise companies are more than ever embarking on high-paced digital transformations and reinventions to stay relevant and competitive. In-house design teams have become a key part of those endeavours and as a result designers have tremendous opportunity to work on projects of exciting complexity, scope, and impact.
However, the reality of being an in-house designer supporting transformative change can often be a challenging experience. Managing complex stakeholders groups, educating and articulating the value of design, navigating intricate technical restraints; all while canvassing for the end-user. It's a lot to figure out!
In this 25-minute talk, Jeff will share what he's learned over the course of a decade navigating and working on complex projects for enterprise companies as both a designer and more recently as design director leading teams.
Are you a designer or design manager considering moving in-house, or are you currently working in environments of digital transformation and complex problem spaces? Then this talk will teach you how to take the tools, frameworks and concepts you use to design digital experiences in your day-to-day work and how to put those to work to help you navigate and persuade your way to becoming a more effective agent of change