Coram, NY 11727 631.512.1111 Frank Fgws.Net

FRANK GAETE Coram, NY ▪ [email protected] ▪ www.fgws.net

OVERVIEW/OBJECTIVE After 20 years working as a UI/UX (UIX) designer-developer, I feel extremely fortunate in that I truly enjoy what I do as much today as when I first started. I've worked in numerous verticals and organizations ranging from small startups to global fortune 500, and with many talented designers and developers.

I am a hands-on UIX designer and HTML-CSS-jQuery coder who advocates passionately for user centered design, creative collaboration, design patterns, user empathy, best practices, UX research, and other practices/considerations that support the design and delivery of optimized user experiences. I am currently seeking a new opportunity where I can continue to enjoy my work and bring great value to the next organization I join.

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS SENIOR UIX DESIGNER /ARCHITECT / DIRECTOR I have held different titles, but ultimately I am a UIX Designer with a primary goal to deliver the best possible user experiences possible for users. I’ve helped design and architect UIX systems for internal and external clients, B2B and B2C clients, direct consumer facing ecommerce/marketing applications and large enterprise SaaS application platforms.

I’ve been described as a passionate and driven UIX designer with a track record of exceeding expectations in fast paced, multi-project environments; committed to delivering great user experiences; enthusiastic and creative collaborator; sensitive to business goals; strong ability for conceptualizing and communicating ideas; effective project and team leader; enjoys continuous learning and improvement; and more.

In recent roles, my focus has been on designing and improving the UX design lifecycle which includes requirements gathering; cross team collaboration; ideation and conceptualizing UI/UX designs via hand sketching, wireframes, HiFi mockups and HTML/CSS/jQuery prototypes; building and maintaining style guides and design pattern libraries; developing usability tests; leveraging UX research; and more.

CORE SKILL AREAS

 Ideation, sketching,  HTML and CSS hand coder  Agile Scrum, Jira wireframing; HiFi Mockups  jQuery, JavaScript UI libraries  MS Office; SharePoint; etc  Adobe Creative Cloud;  .Net application environment  Project and resource Photoshop; XD; Sketch using Visual Studio and Azure management; capacity  Various text editors including Portal planning and forecasting Sublime, Visual Studio,  Liferay Portal, Sitecore;  Effective cross team Dreamweaver WordPress and other CMS communication and  UI Prototyping using Adobe collaboration XD, Balsamiq, InVision, Axure

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

 As the UIX Lead for Valiant Solutions, I focused primarily on a user centered redesign of the Human Capital Management SaaS platform and its individual applications that served mainly the security and hospitality

verticals. My initial challenge was a front end that is not responsive, is dated-looking and unengaging, slow in performance and difficult for users to navigate through. Other challenges included an absence of UX research, user centered design, effort in creating engaging corporate communications including the corporate web site, HTML emails, and more. I successfully excited and motivated stakeholders with possibilities of where we could take our service platform by developing and sharing ideas and design concepts, methods, resources and tools to succeed.

 As the Senior Lead for the UI/UX team at Broadridge Financial Solutions, I started as the only UI/UX designer- developer supporting over 30 large and complex ICSOL applications. I quickly demonstrated the value of having an in-house UI/UX resource and over the next 5 years I helped build a highly successful team of 10 UI/UX designer-developers (5 local and 5 offshore).

 Proved value and benefits of engaging the UI/UX team before any application development. This resulted in a re-structured SDLC process at Broadridge where projects are now first prototyped by the UI/UX team in a fully agile process, eliminating administrative/procedural obstacles typically encountered in a waterfall approach. I was able to deliver prototypes rapidly for stakeholders to submit for application development approval. Increased efficiency and significant cost savings have been realized, making this a large success for Broadridge ICSOL, the UI/UX team and stakeholders.

 Helped drive new UI/UX design and development for a first-of-its-kind Investor Communication Portal for Broadridge. This project provided great benefits for our “Banks and Brokers” clients, and helped save large financial institution clients that were ready to discontinue services. Intensive focus on user centered design and usability, client requirements, product marketing and iterative prototyping sprints. The client retention benefit helped save several hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual revenue.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Freelance Senior UIX Designer, Feb 2017 – present 1* Redesigning business web sites with a focus on a contemporary, user-centered responsive web design and content management tools

Valiant Solutions Senior UIX Architect / Director, Jul 2016 – Jan 2017 2* Provided overall UI and UX design for entire SaaS platform and individual applications, across desktop and mobile devices, including a native mobile app as part of the software engineers agile process 3* Led ideation sessions with executives, dev leads, business analysts, art director, project manager and other stakeholders; conceptualized various design ideas via wireframes, workflows, mockups and HTML/CSS prototypes 4* Worked directly with Creative Director and other Marketing team members to ensure alignment across web applications and corporate communications 5* Created, maintained and communicated UI/UX policies including design; HTML and CSS coding; design/development approaches; cross browser testing; responsive web design; HTML email; accessibility standards; continuous improvement and more

6* UX research including usability test development, surveys, analyze usage metrics, set goals, organize and communicate results/feedback, document UI/UX recommendations and more 7* Redesigned corporate site using WordPress and X Theme Broadridge Financial Solutions Lead UI/UX Designer-Architect, Apr 2011 – Jul 2016  Converted business requirements and user research into sketches, wireframes, high fidelity mockups, HTML-CSS-jQuery prototypes for multiple projects  Created, maintained and communicated UI/UX policies including design; coding; design/development approaches; supported browsers; cross browser testing; responsive web design; HTML email; accessibility standards; and more  Provided creative direction and technical UI/UX guidance for my team, all internal and external web based, data intensive applications projects both legacy and new; desktop and mobile, single applications and application platforms  Worked with various financial application teams including tax, transfer agency, shareholder, banks, brokers, shared data services, corporate governance, proxy voting, mutual funds, universal e-delivery and others  Worked with executives; business managers; technical managers; programmers; database architects, business analysts and other stakeholders to successfully meet UI/UX requirements  Collaborated directly with software engineers to successfully integrate UI/UX design and coding elements into Java and .Net environments using WebSphere and Visual Studio  Promoted proficiency with current tools/languages and reserved time for research and adoption of newly selected tools/languages/approaches such as Adobe XD

CA Technologies (Computer Associates) Web Developer for Internet Marketing team, Nov 2009 – Mar 2011  Developed and managed content for ca.com web site related to product pages, special events, special projects, webcasts, “CA World” and other areas using mainly HTML; CSS; Photoshop and backend enterprise CMS including Sitecore and Rhythmyx

The Creative Group Web Site Designer / Developer, Dec 2006 – Oct 2009  Designed and develop web sites for various internet marketing and ecommerce clients  Used various languages and approaches including HTML, CSS, ColdFusion and some JavaScript

Veritas Laboratories Senior Designer / Developer / Project Manager, Sep 2000 – Oct 2006  Designed, developed and managed all aspects of company web sites, including custom CMS functionality as required and marketing efforts both digital and print  Configured and maintained various on-site servers for web, email and databases

Dowling College Web Services Administrator, Jun 1999 – Sep 2000  Designed, developed, and maintained all official Dowling College web sites using HTML, classic ASP, MS Access, Adobe Photoshop, SEO and JavaScript  Coordinated and collaborated with all department to achieve desired representation online  Created and taught web design and development classes for Dowling College’s first “Web Site Development Certificate Program” as part of Dowling Institute’s Continuing Education program theglobe.com Web Producer/Developer, Jun 1998 – Jun 1999  Developed promotional screens on theglobe.com for partners and clients including SegaSoft, Lowestfare.com, Microsoft, and others  Special projects developer: content automation from news feeds; initial phase of company Intranet  Project leader for production team including database developers, UI designers, and programmers

Channel21 Productions, Inc. Webmaster/Technical Manager, Mar 1997 - May 1998  Supervised and participated in development of all web projects from start to finish, including UI design, HTML, SEO and Quality Assurance  Managed technical staff: graphic artists, HTML coders, programmers, database developers, technical support, and quality assurance team

EDUCATION Hofstra University / Dowling College Internet Architecture, Client/Server systems

Adelphi University, Garden City B.A. Social Science

FOREIGN LANGUAGES Spanish, fluent

MILITARY EXPERIENCE US Army Reserve. Highest Rank: Sergeant. Honorable Discharge.

PERSONAL REFERENCES Available upon request