Willy Lai

I’m a product design leader with over 25 years of driving growth and innovation at Silicon Valley tech companies such as Apple, Samsung, PayPal, Intuit, and eBay. I have shipped world-class products with award-winning designs across a range of devices and platforms, including smartphones, PC’s, tablets, wearables, smart TV's and appliances. I have scaled large multidisciplinary design teams in fast-paced environments, comprised of UX / product design, user research, content design, and design operations. I've also driven digital growth and transformation for consumer and enterprise products through vision, strategy, and operations, overseeing full product lifecycles across all parts of the business.

I lead with empathy and build diverse and inclusive high-performing teams that are passionate and compassionate, built on trust and mutual respect. I’m user-centered and data-driven with a passion for innovation and creativity, inspiring future design visions and bringing them to life by making new technologies accessible and engaging to everyday users. Through design thinking, innovative ideation and design craft, lean startup methodologies, and data and analytics, I bring teams together to strategically align user desirability, business viability, and technology feasibility. The result is the delivery of the highest value, forward-thinking designs that drive the greatest impact for businesses and their users.

I’m a proponent of the growth mindset and foster cultures of continuous improvement. While I'm most passionate about leading design, as a lifelong learner, I'm also passionate about teaching, coaching, and mentoring. I've delivered over 60 keynote talks and workshops about user experience and product design for corporations and conferences across Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and North America. I've lectured and mentored for universities such as Pratt, Parsons, ArtCenter, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, UC Berkeley, Stanford, UC Irvine and NYU. I've also shaped design programs, serving on advisory boards for UC Berkeley Extension, UCLA Extension, UCSC Extension and General Assembly.

I'm incredibly honored to have received many industry accolades for my work. My designs have won over 70 international design awards including The Webby Awards, Communication Arts, A'Design, Good Design, and International Design Awards. I've been cited and profiled in industry books, blogs, and magazines and have been named one of "10 UX Influencers" by Speckyboy Design Magazine and a "UX Design Guru" by Design Bureau, INNPoland, and Future Collars.