Natural Intelligence Researcher
Self-Employed
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Irene Au Email & Phone Number
Natural Intelligence Researcher
at
Self-employed
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Current company
Role
Natural Intelligence Researcher
Location
Palo Alto, California, United States
Who is Irene Au? Overview
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Irene Au is listed as Natural Intelligence Researcher at Self-employed, based in Palo Alto, California, United States. AeroLeads shows a matched LinkedIn profile for Irene Au.
Irene Au previously worked as Design Partner at Khosla Ventures and Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University. Irene Au holds Ms, Industrial Engineering/Human-Computer Interaction from University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
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Self-employed
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Profile bio
About Irene Au
My life's work has been to realize the potential of technology and put it in the hands of billions of people worldwide in a form that is easy to use and serves human needs. I am passionate about delivering better design to our world. I advise companies; coach executives and designers; build, lead, and manage high-performing teams; shape organizational design and strategy; do public speaking and writing; and do non-profit work. A longtime operator in executive roles in high-growth companies such as Netscape, Yahoo!, Google, and Udacity, I am now working in venture capital as an operating partner focused on design and UX.As the top design leader at Yahoo! and Google during its formative years, I founded the companies’ human-centered design practices, built high-performing teams with world-class talent, scaled my organizations, drove culture change, and oversaw research and design efforts across all products and services (including consumer, enterprise, desktop, mobile, productivity tools, education). - Created a robust, scalable, repeatable, and reliable hiring process to build my organization in a competitive market quickly- Conceived a vision for the strategic role design would play and recruited best-in-class talent despite not being an obvious place for great design to happen at the time- Created integrated cross-functional product design and development teams- Drove culture change by teaching design thinking throughout the company and training everyone to think like a UX designer- Shaped company and product strategy and vision by developing an empathetic understanding of users and making vision tangible- Scaled the design practice by championing design principles and translating them into a design system that spanned the entire family of products and servicesAs Design Partner at Khosla Ventures, I coach and advise designers, executives, and founders of portfolio companies, from the seed stage to those that have exited. I am a frequent author and speaker on human-centered design, mindfulness practices, and creativity. I am committed to serving as a strong mentor for the next generation of leaders in design and technology as it is paramount that we build technology to serve humans and humanity. I authored the definitive O’Reilly book, _Design in Venture Capital_, and my essays can be found on Medium. I have been featured in _Wired_ magazine, _Fast Company_ magazine, _CommArts_ magazine, and on the cover of _Mindful_ magazine.
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12 roles · 31 years
Irene Au work experience
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Design Partner
CurrentI work with CEOs in the Khosla Ventures portfolio to help their companies be successful, primarily by building and strengthening their design capabilities which in turn drive value to the businesses and portfolio.
May 2014 - Present
Adjunct Lecturer
Adjunct Lecturer for Advanced Product Design: Implementation 1 and 2 (ME216B and ME216C) in Stanford University's Mechanical Engineering department
Dec 2020 - Jun 2021
Yoga Teacher
Avalon Yoga International
My classes integrate breath, cardio, agility, flexibility, and strength-building movements to fortify and nourish the mind, body, and spirit.
Feb 2012 - Mar 2020
Strategic And Editorial Board Member
Rosenfeld Media is the premier publisher of UX books. As an editorial board member, I help guide decisions around what should get published, which authors get support, and what topics are relevant and germaine to UX practitioners. As strategic board member, I help broker valuable connections to Rosenfeld Media with other industry executives and consultants, and advise on future direction and opportunities.
2010 - 2018
~8 yrs
Vp, Design
With the leadership team, found product-market fit and defined company's strategy, vision, mission, values, and principles. Led design and research to define and create Udacity's product offering.
Jun 2012 - Oct 2013
Entrepreneur In Residence
Jul 2012 - Oct 2012
Global Head / Director Of User Experience
Led global organization of all user experience / design team members (350+), including interaction designers, visual designers, web developers, and user researchers responsible for the UX of all of Google's services and products. Scaled the UX team (design and user research), transformed Google's user research organization, introduced and operationalized design thinking practices through the creation of design sprints and training, articulated and evangelized Google's design principles, laid the foundation for Google's site-wide redesign, and helped make a famously engineering-driven culture more design-oriented.
Sep 2006 - Jun 2012
Vp User Experience
Responsible for Yahoo's user experience worldwide across all products and central design and infrastructure efforts. Managed team of 150 that included visual design, interaction design, user experience research, and front-end web development.
2002 - 2006
~4 yrs
Director, User Experience
Established User Experience and Design team as effective and integrated members of cross-functional product development teams that drive interaction, interface, and visual design for yahoo.com products and services. Responsible for leading and managing all designers and user researchers for Yahoo's .com properties.
2000 - 2002
~2 yrs
Manager, User Interface Design And User Research
As the first interaction designer at Yahoo, I built Yahoo’s user-centered design practice and led key design and research projects. Created Yahoo's first usability lab. Introduced user testing, field research, and proactive design methods to the company.
1998 - 2000
~2 yrs
Interaction Designer
Designed Netscape Communicator 4.x products, including the browser, mail/news client, and web site editor.
1996 - 1998
~2 yrs
2 education records
Irene Au education
Ms, Industrial Engineering/Human-Computer Interaction
University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Bs, Honors College, Electrical And Computer Engineering
University Of South Carolina
FAQ
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What company does Irene Au work for?
Irene Au works for Self-employed.
What is Irene Au's role at Self-employed?
Irene Au is listed as Natural Intelligence Researcher at Self-employed.
Where is Irene Au based?
Irene Au is based in Palo Alto, California, United States while working with Self-employed.
What companies has Irene Au worked for?
Irene Au has worked for Self-Employed, Khosla Ventures, Stanford University, Avalon Yoga International, and Rosenfeld Media.
How can I contact Irene Au?
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What schools did Irene Au attend?
Irene Au holds Ms, Industrial Engineering/Human-Computer Interaction from University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
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