Natalie Buda Smith

Current

• User Experience Consultant at various companies

Past

• Director of User Experience and Managing Director at NavigationArts
• User Experience Consultant at various companies
• Creative Director and Creative Services Manager at IBM

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Education

• North Carolina State University
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Recommended

15 people have recommended Natalie

Connections

150 connections

Industry

Internet

Natalie Buda Smith’s Summary

Natalie Buda Smith has 19 years of experience developing user experiences and strategies for Fortune 200 companies. She is adept at user-centered design, including strategy, user research, interaction design, and enterprise information architecture.

Over her career, Natalie has served in a diverse set of roles from strategy and project management to user research and interaction design. This gives her an understanding of how the user experience fits into the full development lifecycle and how it affects all aspects of development. She is prominent in professional communities and has been a presenter and reviewer for ACM’s SIGGRAPH, the Usability Professionals Association, and Adaptive Path’s User Experience Week.

Natalie Buda Smith’s Specialties:

customer research, user research, usability, heuristic assessment, user experience design, organizational change management and adoption, governance, content management systems, information architecture, interaction design, Web strategy, user interface design, user experience management, creative direction

Natalie Buda Smith’s Experience

• User Experience Consultant

  various companies

  (Internet industry)

  July 2008 — Present (1 year 5 months)

  Serve as a consultant on multiple engagements in India and the U.S., in the roles of web strategist, information architect, usability consultant, and content management consultant.
  
  Clients include, but not limited to: George Washington University, Society of Human Resource Management, Human Factors International, Association of American Medical Colleges, St Jude Medical and The Institute of Medicine.

• Director of User Experience and Managing Director

  NavigationArts

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

  March 2004 — July 2008 (4 years 5 months)

  A senior consultant on a variety of projects including National Public Radio, Chemonics International, the American Association of Medical Colleges, General Dynamics, The Washington Post Company, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Department of State. Managed a department of 20 user experience consultants, including: information architects, interaction designers, visual designers, user researchers and content strategists. Also served as a Managing Director for the company, guiding strategies for the development and growth of the company.

• User Experience Consultant

  various companies

  (Internet industry)

  August 2001 — March 2004 (2 years 8 months)

  Served as a consultant on multiple engagements throughout the Washington D.C. area, in the roles of UX manager, creative director, information architect, usability consultant, content management consultant, project manager, and web developer.
  
  Clients included, but not limited to: AARP, Caldwell-Beebe Interiors, Congressional Quarterly Publishing, Discovery Channel, EDS, Family Health International, Library of Congress, Nextel, k12.com and The Washington Post.

• Creative Director and Creative Services Manager

  IBM

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; IBM; Information Technology and Services industry)

  August 1999 — August 2001 (2 years 1 month)

  At IBM's Center for eBusiness Innovation, I built and managed a team of 30 user experience consultants while leading user experience engagements on projects for clients, including Dow Corning, Johnson & Johnson, The World Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the U.S. Mint.

Additional Information

Natalie Buda Smith’s Interests:

I have been a presenter for ACM’s SIGGRAPH, the Usability Professionals Association, and Adaptive Path’s User Experience Week; and teach in Georgetown University’s Culture, Communication and Technology graduate program.

Natalie Buda Smith’s Groups:

Usability Professionals Association, Information Architecture Institute

•    The Greater IBM Connection: IBM's alumni program for past and present IBM employees
•    LinkedSEO
•    Interaction Design Association
•    Boxes and Arrows
•    Global Worker
•    North Carolina State University Alumni Group
•    Information Architecture Institute (IAI)
•    Social Media Today
•    UNC Alumni
•    User Experience
•    NCSU : MGD
•    Vignette Portal Professionals