About HFI

HFI Speakers Bureau

Have one of HFI's talented technical team speak at your conference.

Eric Schaffer

Apala Lahiri
Chavan

Catherine
Gaddy

Jeff Horvath

April McGee

Mary M.
Michaels

Noah Schaffer

Saurabh Gupta

Satyam Patel

Amber Krishan

Our speakers are knowledgeable in user-centered design and experienced in applying this knowledge in real-world situations:

Contextual innovation and designing for emerging markets
Using emotional design to guide users through your site
UX certification for individuals, organizations, and products
How to leverage a successful user experience into achieving your business goals
Creating citizen-centric information sites for government
Calculating the ROI of usability

These are just a few of the topics that we can bring to your event.

Eric Schaffer, PhD, CUA, CXA, CPE, CEO Biography	Eric is the world's authority on the institutionalization of usability. In fact, he wrote the book on it – Institutionalization of Usability: A Step-by-Step Guide. He is the best person on the planet to show you how to introduce a proven user-centered design capability into your organization. Eric has given keynote addresses in venues around the world. Talks include: Creating Great User Experience Institutionalizing usability: An executive's roadmap to sustainable UI development Sustainable UI development: Making the offshore model work for you and your company How do you institutionalize usability within your organization? Certification for organizations and products Request Eric to speak at your event.
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Apala Lahiri Chavan, MA, MSc, CUA, CXA Chief Oracle and Innovator Biography	Apala can tell you everything you need to know about contextual innovation, cross-cultural design and designing for emerging markets. Her latest book is now available on Amazon – Innovative Solutions: What Designers Need to Know For Today's Emerging Markets. Apala is active on Twitter @FuturistApala. Recent talks: Starting & Succeeding as a Woman Entrepreneur Girl Geek Dinner, Bangalore, India – June 14, 2012 Women in UX Leadership in Business CHI 2012, Austin, TX – May 7, 2012 User Experience Design for Emerging Markets iMUG, Adobe HQ, San Jose, CA – November 17, 2011 Usability to Innovation - An Exciting Journey Techease 2011, Hyderabad, India – September 1, 2011 Emerging Markets and User Research - A Special Relationship STC India UX Conference, Bangalore, India – August 27, 2011 Understanding Users in Emerging Markets – Is there a "Genre" of Methods? IWIPS, Kuching, Malaysia – July 13, 2011 Innovating and Designing Products and Services for the Emerging Markets CoIN, Cairo, Egypt – June 22, 2011 The Method is the Message! IAD in Darmstadt, Germany – May 5, 2011 Documenting Culture UnBox Festival, Delhi, India – February 26, 2011 Contextual Innovation in Developing Countries Keynote at Africomm 2009, Maputo, Mozambique – December 4, 2009 Persuasive HCI - Where science meets art! Winter Schoolon Interactive Technologies, Bangalore, India – February 2, 2009 Request Apala to speak at your event.
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Jeff Horvath, PhD, CUA, CXA VP – User Experience Strategy Biography	Jeff is up-to-date on the latest in Web design and usability. Hear his talk on how to take care of your users using Web 2.0. Recent talks: Improve Efficiency and Usability with Design Templates Webinar, Web Manager University – November 9, 2010 The Usability of Electronic Health Records at Mayo Clinic HFI Podcast with Tom Suther, Human Factors Engineer, Mayo Clinic – April 6, 2010 User-Friendly E-Government: An introduction to Usability and its Return on Investment Designing Simple & Effective: Getting there step by step National Association of Secretaries of State – July 18, 2009 User Centered Design at Caterpillar Caterpillar World Usability Day event – November 13, 2008 Monitoring the User Experience UW eBusiness Consortium's Web Strategy & Marketing peer group – October 9, 2008 User experience in a Web 2.0 world...and what it means for your business HFI Webcast – September 13, 2007 UX 2.0: User experience in the Web 2.0 world HFI Reception, Milwaukee, WI – March 6, 2007 Request Jeff to speak at your event.
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April McGee, MS, CUA, CXA VP – User Experience Strategy Biography	April is an excellent, engaging speaker. You'll be a winner if you invite April to your event. Upcoming talks: Seven UX Mistakes made by Financial Institutions and How to Avoid Them TD Ameritrade Webinar– June 15, 2012 Challenges of Cross-Channel Experiences SpeechTEK, New York, NY – August 13, 2012 Recent talks: Introducing the Left Hand to the Right Hand – Breaking Out of Organizational Silos UPA 2011 International Conference Idea Market, Atlanta, GA – June 22-23, 2011 Are Facts Enough ...? How to Persuade, Engage and Inform Your Users World Usability Day Workshop, FedEx, Memphis, TN – November 11, 2010 Early Usability Testing: Why you SO want to go there ...! World Usability Day Keynote, FedEx, Memphis, TN – November 12, 2009 Beyond Usability: Persuasion Engineering World Usability Day Workshop, FedEx, Memphis, TN – November 12, 2009 An Award-winning Commitment to Usability: How Verizon Uses HFI Training HFI Webcast, New York, NY – September 17, 2009 Beyond Usable Websites: Persuading your Customers to Go with the Flow UPA, Connecticut chapter, Glastonbury, CT – September 10, 2008 Beyond Usable Websites: Persuading your Customers to Go with the Flow IABC Southern Region Conference, Denver, CO – September 28, 2008 Persona Development: A Healthcare Case Study World Usability Day, JPMorgan Chase, New York – November 8, 2007 Tips for effective usability consulting Usability Professionals Association, NJ Chapter – February 7, 2007 Request April to speak at your event.
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Mary M. Michaels, MBA, CUA, CXA UX Stategist, Director of Training Biography	We always get great feedback from Mary's talks. She is an energetic and engaging speaker, and makes the ROI of Usability discussion practical and easy to understand. Recent talks: Establishing Rapport and Matching Communication Styles with Test Participants Usability Professionals Association conference, Las Vegas, NV – June 5, 2012 Usability: The Key to Successful Product Innovation Higher Ed Cafe – November 4, 2011 Usability: Current Trends and Challenges Booz Allen Hamilton’s Technology Focus Group, McLean, VA – October, 2010 Putting the “You” in User-Friendly, Marketing Executives Networking Group, New York, NY – May, 2010 The ROI of Usability: How to Demonstrate the Value of User–Centered Design Within Your Organization NYC Usability Professionals' Association, New York, NY – June, 2009 The ROI of Usability Government Style: How to Demonstrate the Value of User-Centered Design Within Your Agency Web Manager University, Washington, DC – April, 2009 Request Mary to speak at your event.
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Catherine Gaddy, PhD, CUXP, CUA, CXA UX Strategist Biography	Catherine has returned to HFI after a three-year assignment to institutionalize usability at a large US Department of Defense / Federal Government Agency. Here are a few of the topics she loves to talk about: How to be a usability champion How to develop a User Experience (UX) Strategy Information architectures for large and complex information spaces Interaction design for desktop and mobile user experiences Design for mission-critical applications Design for Federal Government Agencies Request Cathy to speak at your event.
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Noah Schaffer, PhD, CUA UX Stategist Biography	Noah's specialty is user experience certification for companies and products, the institutionalization of user experience, UX Enterprise, and gaming usability, including bringing gaming principles to business applications. Recent talks: How to Make Your Website as Addictive as World of Warcraft. New York UPA chapter, New York, NY – June, 2011. Certification of Usability Professionals: A discussion for usability practitioners about certification. Boston UPA Roundtable panelist, Boston, MA – May, 2011. Request Noah to speak at your event.
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Saurabh Gupta, MS, CUA Managing Director, HFI-India	Saurabh Gupta manages HFI’s India operations. Saurabh is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and has worked in the usability and user experience field since 2003. Over the last 8 years at HFI, Saurabh has scoped consulting engagements and mentored and managed project teams that included usability specialists, graphic artists and programmers. Saurabh has led numerous projects including digital strategy visioning, product ideation, usability evaluation reports, user interface structures, and usability testing. His team consults with several Fortune 500 clients as well as cutting-edge start-ups worldwide. He is also a lead instructor and teaches HFI’s user centered analysis and design training courses in India and abroad. Request Saurabh to speak at your event.
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Satyam Patel, MS, CUA UX Stategist	A Group Lead at HFI, Satyam Patel has over 5 years of experience as a User Experience consultant. He has successfully worked on various projects including digital strategy visioning, product ideation, usability evaluation reports (expert reviews), user interface structure design, and usability testing (traditional and remote). Satyam has worked with an array of international clients, and managed multi-disciplinary and globally distributed project teams. He has extensive experience working on financial and banking interfaces as well as designing intranets and client servicing tools. Request Satyam to speak at your event.
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Amber Krishan, MFA, CUA UX Stategist	As Center of Excellence Lead at Human Factors International, Mumbai, Amber Krishan leads project teams across digital strategy, usability evaluation, user interface structure design, and usability testing engagements. He has consulted with numerous domestic and international clients. He is also a lead instructor and teaches HFI's desktop and mobile UI design courses internationally. Amber has a post graduate degree in Design & Technology from Parsons School of Design, New York, and a bachelor degree in product design from National Institute of design, Ahmedabad. Request Amber to speak at your event.
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