SVUX.A 2023 Judges
Jen Byyny – Senior Director, Product Design @ Strava
Jen is a design leader, strategist, and storyteller with 20 years of experience designing, building, and leading Product/UX Design teams focused on consumer and B2B experiences. Before joining Strava, Jen led design at Yahoo, Looker, Livongo, and Teladoc Health. Jen is passionate about the intersection of consumer experiences with products and brands that serve behavioral patterns resulting in wins for both the user and the business. Her mission is also to guide, coach, and develop the next generation of design leaders to deliver their best work. Jen studied business and marketing at Boston University and earned an MFA in Media Design at ArtCenter College of Design.
Willy Lai – CDO/VP of Product Design
Willy Lai is a design leader with over 25 years at tech companies including Apple, Samsung, PayPal, Intuit, and eBay. He has held Chief Design Officer positions for tech startups and was previously Vice President of Product Design and User Experience at Macy’s. Prior to Macy’s, Willy held Director of User Experience positions for Apple's FileMaker business software and Samsung's Milk Music streaming music apps. Willy has also led large-scale, global redesigns for PayPal, Intuit, eBay, and AOL. His designs strategically align user needs and business goals and have garnered international design awards, including The Webby Awards, Communication Arts, A’Design, Good Design, and International Design Awards. He has been named a “UX Guru” by Design Bureau and one of “10 UX Influencers to Follow” by Speckyboy Design Magazine. Willy holds a degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design.
Kendra Shimmell – VP of Design @ Remitly
Kendra L Shimmell recently joined Remitly as Vice President of Design. For 20 years, Kendra has uncovered what makes people tick—creating products they love, marketplaces to grow their businesses, and services to help them get life done with less effort and more fun.
From fintech to aviation to healthcare to real estate, esports, and so much more—Kendra’s insatiable curiosity has led her to work across MANY industries and at nearly every stage of business, from startup to Fortune 100.
She’s served on boards and led product design for companies with millions of happy customers. She has a private coaching practice helping business leaders overcome limiting behaviors, articulate vision, and deliver more value to the world by focusing on growth instead of proving they’re right.
Connect with Kendra on LinkedIn, take her to coffee, or attend one of her talks at events like SXSW and TEDx.
Wesley Yun – Design Leader
Wesley Yun is currently retired-ish, previously, head of design at Asana, design leader at Uber, GoPro, Lytro, Samsung, Motorola, RIM, Palm, Helio. He has spent 22 years helping invent solutions that deliver customer-first experiences across software, services, cameras, drones, operating systems, mobile devices, wearables, iOT, desktop and web. He has managed teams that work on Design Systems, GUI, UX, Brand, Motion, Sound, Content Strategy and User Research. He possess a keen sense for creating an inclusive environment, attracting the right talent and getting teams to focus on delivering elegant solutions customers love.