Resume
Creative leader who turns brand and creative into business outcomes — now rebuilding how creative teams work with AI. Twenty-plus years across retail, e-commerce, and editorial.
Focus
VP Creative · Head of Creative · ECD
Location
New York, NY · Remote-friendly
Contact
rire@riredesign.com · (646) 342-9128
Education
MFA Design, School of Visual Arts
Summary
Creative leader who builds and scales brand worlds across multi-brand portfolios, pairing elevated brand aesthetics with performance-minded marketing. Directed the creative vision across four consumer brands at The Children’s Place, helping generate $100M+ in incremental revenue and a 4.74% conversion rate over 200M+ annual visits while keeping each brand’s voice distinct. Owns integrated campaigns end to end, from concept through photo and video production to social-first content and localized brand assets. Builds high-performing creative teams and the workflows that let them ship at volume.
The numbers
Creative that moves the business.
$100M+
incremental revenue in 12 months
4.74%
conversion across 200M+ annual visits
35% lower
customer acquisition cost
176%
new-to-brand customer growth
Experience
Brand and Digital Strategy Consultant
Rire Design | New York, NY
06/2025 – Present
•
Independent brand and creative consultancy serving growth-stage and enterprise clients across consumer, technology, and DTC sectors — developing brand positioning and go-to-market creative for B2B SaaS, consumer tech, and retail clients, translating business objectives into differentiated brand narratives that drive pipeline and revenue
•
Lead digital experience engagements spanning UX architecture, conversion optimization, and omnichannel brand expression, and provide fractional creative and brand leadership to organizations repositioning in competitive markets
•
Integrate AI-powered creative workflows (Claude, Gemini, Midjourney, Runway, Firefly) into client engagements to accelerate production and reduce time-to-market
Adjunct Professor, Product Design & Typography
New York Institute of Technology
09/2025 – Present
•
Teaching design thinking, visual systems, and creative innovation to MFA students using Double Diamond, Stanford d.school, and Design Sprint frameworks
•
Integrating agentic AI workflows — Claude Cowork and Claude Code (MCP automation), generative research tools, and AI-augmented design process — into the studio curriculum
Vice President, Brand Marketing & Creative Leadership
The Children’s Place Brands | New York, NY
03/2018 – 04/2025
•
Led digital creative strategy and e-commerce transformation across four brands (The Children’s Place, Gymboree, Sugar & Jade, PJ Place), directing cross-functional teams of designers, copywriters, retouchers, producers, and developers
•
Generated $100M+ incremental revenue in 12 months by launching segmented creative strategy and e-commerce transformation across four brands serving 200M+ annual site visits
•
Drove 30% sales growth in 6 months through Braze ESP launch, audience segmentation, and personalized campaign execution
•
Achieved 4.74% conversion rate across 200M+ visits, surpassing industry benchmarks through data-driven A/B testing and UX optimization
•
Reduced customer acquisition costs by 35% through targeted optimization, creative testing, and channel-mix refinement
•
Delivered 176% increase in new-to-brand customers by developing and executing Amazon storefront strategy
•
Modernized creative team workflows by transitioning to Figma with Claude MCP integration, leveraging Adobe Firefly to fast-track multi-size digital asset production, and introducing AI-generated comp artwork for senior leadership approval — saving 25% production time and accelerating speed-to-market
•
Led Salesforce Commerce migration resulting in 25% site speed improvement and advanced personalization capabilities
•
Managed $2M+ annual budget (production, photography, technology, agency partnerships) and partnered with the CEO, CMO, and CIO on business strategy
Creative Director, Digital Content
Lands’ End | New York, NY
01/2017 – 03/2018
•
Increased audience interaction by 30% and repeat visits by 12% by conceiving and launching The Lands’ End Journal content platform
•
Drove 28% increase in pages-per-session and 30% boost in brand engagement through strategic video content series
•
Reduced bounce rate by 15% through analytics-driven creative optimization and UX improvements
Senior E-Commerce Art Director
Aéropostale | New York, NY
02/2012 – 01/2017
•
Increased email CTR by 31% and campaign ROI by 18% through A/B testing, responsive design, and creative optimization
•
Launched digital presence for 7 sub-brands including the Bethany by Bethany Mota collaboration
•
Reduced time-to-launch by 20% through streamlined creative production processes
•
Directed photo shoots, managed creative teams, and executed 3+ integrated brand campaigns per year
Senior Art Director
New York & Company | New York, NY
10/2007 – 02/2012
•
Led creative strategy and campaign execution across multiple channels, increasing seasonal engagement across key demographics
•
Enhanced in-store customer experience through window displays and point-of-sale design; streamlined creative production
Art Director, Interactive
Spiegel Brands | New York, NY
05/2007 – 10/2007
•
Led digital creative strategy for major website relaunch and email marketing campaigns; directed team of 3 web designers
Art Director
Lord & Taylor | New York, NY
12/2003 – 05/2007
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Executed global upscale rebranding strategy for luxury market repositioning across digital, print, and advertising
•
Designed cohesive brand experiences spanning websites, catalogs, direct mail, and advertising
Assistant Art Director
The New York Times | New York, NY
06/2001 – 11/2003
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Editorial design for House & Home, Travel, Circuits, Arts & Leisure sections, and page layout for The New York Times Magazine
Education
MFA Design — School of Visual Arts, New York
BFA Fine Arts & BA Art History — Calvin University, Michigan
Certifications: Advanced Figma & Figma Bootcamp (Noble Desktop) · Advanced Front End Web Development (General Assembly)
Tools & Technologies
AI & Emerging Tech: Claude (Code, Cowork) · Gemini · Midjourney · Adobe Firefly · Runway ML — Design & Prototyping: Figma · Framer · Adobe Creative Suite · Webflow — Platforms & Analytics: Salesforce Commerce Cloud · Braze · Google Analytics · HTML/CSS/JavaScript
Let's build something that lasts.
Hire me for a senior creative or design role, or bring Rire Design in on a project or retainer.
