Courtney Aquilina

Built and led a 15-person UX team at Foundation Medicine, a leader in precision cancer care. Focused on user research to drive user-centric design and streamlined UX across the platform.

• Reduced accessioning time for commercial and biopharma clients by 34% by consolidating thirteen legacy applications into a next-generation platform. After integrating OCR, an additional 60% efficiency gain was achieved.
• Owned an Executive OKR, driving digital online orders from 60% to 75%—exceeding the 70% corporate target. Created new digital sales opportunities and comprehensive playbooks for sales and marketing teams.
• Spearheaded a corporate roadmap and strategy with product marketing based on ethnographic research, shaping the next generation of ordering, clinical decision-making tools, and clinical workflows.
• Led modified design sprints to accelerate product strategy, fostering cross-functional collaboration and enabling early validation before resource allocation.
• Increased research capacity by 40% through a self-service research and usability platform, equipping cross-functional teams to conduct user testing and product validation independently.
• Led a corporate-wide hackathon leveraging design thinking, subject matter expertise, and Agile methodologies, fostering innovation and accelerating time to market.

Built and led a high-performing team of 58 UX professionals at Aetna Health. In partnership with executives, directly interfaced with the customer advisory board to empower customers to control healthcare costs while improving quality.

• Led the design team integration into Aetna’s SAFe Agile Framework. Implemented Scrumban, best practices, coaching, and training, resulting in a 40% increase in design team efficiency across four Agile release trains.
• Managed and mentored a rapidly growing design team (58 designers) supporting 13 Scrum teams. Grew the design team by 50% in under a year to support rapid growth.
• Owned the strategic direction for the Agile Solution Layer, collaborating with senior leadership (Aetna Cloud, CVS Health platforms, and external partners).
• Led digital task forces to enhance patient care access, facilitating COVID-19 testing and supporting vaccination efforts within Aetna products.
• Championed user-centered design by developing programs around design thinking, design sprints, and member engagement. Partnered with product management on impactful initiatives.
• Through customer data and analytics, formed a design partnership program to inform strategic direction and validate designs early.

Managed a global team of ten UX designers, information architects, and visual designers. Directed solutions for complex access management challenges in healthcare and critical industries.

• Led a high-performing design team of 10 visual designers and UX professionals across the U.S. and Ukraine, supporting 14 Scrum teams.
• Reduced design delays and lowered development expenditures through a new design methodology and UI kit.
• Chaired Imprivata’s Women in Technology group, mentoring and coaching the next generation of product, engineering, QA, and design professionals.
• Actively contributed as a member of the product council, overseeing product flow through development and making critical decisions.

Spearheaded the cloud migration of Newforma’s flagship Project Center PIM solution, including the go-to-market strategy, design overhaul, and mobile app launch for iOS and Android.

• Managed and directed a globally distributed team of 15 product managers, product owners, UX designers, and program managers.
• Planned and successfully migrated Newforma’s on-premises product to a cloud-based solution within nine months.
• Transformed the company from Waterfall to Agile and Kanban by mentoring and hiring staff, establishing a robust requirements pipeline.
• Instituted Newforma’s Early Adopter Program and Customer Advisory Board, ensuring customer feedback informed product roadmap decisions.
• Led implementation of a successful Agile design methodology utilizing design thinking, user research, and rapid iteration.

Led a global design team of 15 across the US, Europe, and China to unify acquired companies into a single intelligence platform for monitoring, optimizing, and managing technology infrastructure performance.

• Led a comprehensive user research program (ethnographic studies, A/B testing, and usability testing) that streamlined the Dynatrace product line.
• Launched the company’s first native mobile applications for iOS and Android, securing necessary resources and fostering cross-functional collaboration.
• Managed a team of 15 UX professionals across various company divisions. Collaboratively established product visions, roadmaps, and mobile strategies.

Directed a team of 20 designers as part of the global alliance with Microsoft. Co-developed and co-patented applications integrating the Microsoft Office Suite onto Nokia mobile phones.

• Directed a team exceeding 20 designers in designing, researching, developing, and marketing mobile productivity solutions integrated with Microsoft’s Office Suite.
• Established the design standards and criteria that formed the foundation for Nokia’s social messaging platform.
• Invented use cases and designed the entire UX for an intelligent personal assistant in 2007—predating Siri’s release by 3 years. Secured a partnership with Vlingo (acquired by Nuance).