Technical Team

Elisa M. del Galdo
Consulting Executive Director – Europe

Job at HFI

A bit of everything really.

Experience

Previous to joining HF, I ran my own consultancy 12 years – specializing in design, usability, and the internationalisation of products and systems. During this time, we conducted user studies in 9 different languages and 14 countries spread over 5 continents, relying on empirical, contextual usability techniques. Clients included Schlumberger SEED, Vonage, Atos Origin, Coditex Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, Tony Stone Images, Anderson Consulting, Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, Abbot Labs, and Bay Networks.

I have also held positions at Optimum.web, Cambridge Technology Partners Europe, Canon Research Centre, and Digital Equipment Corporation as a consultant director, user experience (UX) lead, and researcher. I have published many research papers and articles, and presented workshops at ACM SigCHI and the BCS HCI conference mostly on the topics of Internationalisation and design speech controlled user interfaces. I also contributed to and edited books on the Internationalisation of products/systems and am the co-founder and former president of Products and Systems Internationalisation Inc., which organizes the International Workshop on the Internationalisation of Products and Systems.

Education

1982 BS degree in Biology from FIT (Florida Institute of Technology)

1986 MS degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Human Factors Option from Virginia Tech.

Also, I was lucky enough to have my graduate research sponsored by Digital Equipment Corporation, where my industrial advisor was Dennis Wixon and I worked in a group run by John Whiteside. But only people who are really old would know what I was on about.

Favorite Projects

My three children.

Areas of Interest and Design Orientation

Internationalisation and culture.

Hobbies and Special Interests

I love to travel, see and explore new places and learn about different cultures, especially if they are in a place that is hot and sunny. I used to have a great deal of hobbies, scuba diving, tennis, painting, and jewelry design. The children have helped to focus my interests, mostly on the things that they are involved in, but fortunately, horseback riding, movies, and travel to hot sunny places are still on the list.

Favorite Food

Fresh caught lobster preceded by a frozen margarita enjoyed in the Caribbean.

Character

That's a tough one. I would think I am a bit maternal, but also still 20 at heart. I can be very accommodating, but at other times can be extremely stubborn. It takes a great deal to make me angry, but when I am my Italian heritage definitely comes out. I am almost always busy or doing something – unless on holiday. If I lose something it makes me crazy until I find it. All in all, that description makes me sound schizophrenic or is that neurotic?

Technical Team