Will Hortman

I am currently leading the User Experience Design team at HolidayCheck.com, the leading online review and booking site for the German speaking package travel market.

I had a blast as a senior designer in the professional services division of a small software/services company. I worked directly with customers such as Sephora, Transamerica, Caisse d’Épargne, Yves Rocher, Yahoo, Telus Public Mobile, Cisco, and HP to plan and design customer communities on the Lithium platform. Additionally, I worked with management to define User Experience Design processes that scaled with customer engagement levels.

As manager of the UX Design & Research group for LPL Financial, I was charged with building a top-tier team by : - Partnered with product owners, engineers, and business stakeholders to define appropriate engagement models - Recruited top talent by providing personal and professional growth opportunities for our team - Created a UX research program that defined an product research strategy

I led the UX group within the American City Business Journal (ACBJ) corporate Digital Operations division. In less than three years, we transformed the UX team into the hub of innovation and digital product design for the company.

On arrival at ACBJ I took the helm of its motorsports news site SceneDaily.com. Throughout 2011 the motorsports division enjoyed record growth in its online audience, developed its own internal race statistics application, launched its first mobile site, simplified its IA, and improved performance with its upgrade to a modern css and js framework. In 2012 I transitioned to the digital division of The Business Journals.

I led the UX team within Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group (SING). Under my supervision, the SING group redesigned and launched new entertainment sites for its larger newspaper properties. We also launched new automotive verticals to all Scripps newspapers nationwide.

As a UX Specialist for E.W. Scripps, I worked with software engineers and project managers to create award winning newspaper sites for thirteen markets in the U.S. I was quickly designated the primary point of contact for vendors and served as the key UX Specialist for products such as the classifieds and employment verticals.

Reporting to the Online Director and managing five direct reports, I was ultimately responsible for the performance of commercialappeal.com. My team was directly responsible for adserving, vertical performance, site design and site development.

Hired as an entry-level content producer, my main responsibility was managing content via the Vignette CMS. Special projects such as blogs and intranet communication became priorities in 2006.

Journalism, Photojournalism, Physics, Fine Arts