Tia Thomson

Operations Lead

2023 - Current

Head of Business Operations

2023 - 2023

- Established and scaled core business functions (Operations, People Ops/HR, Strategy, Finance) from inception, driving operational efficiency and supporting 8x company growth - Led the organization’s 3-year strategic planning and quarterly goal-setting processes across 6 departments, improving goal alignment and overall team productivity - Created and deployed program launch playbooks, streamlining the launch process by over 50% and ensuring consistent and efficient execution across departments - Led the successful implementation of a new CRM system (HubSpot), resulting in 100% team-wide adoption and significant increase in clarity around founder and partner relations - Directed the FP&A operations for a $3M organizational budget. Implemented a new financial modeling framework, leading to a 35% average reduction in monthly forecasting variances

Vice President & Chief of Staff

2021 - 2023

- Designed and orchestrated the startup selection process, managing the review and data analysis of 3000+ applications with bias-reducing methods, ultimately selecting 90 founders - Streamlined the organization's knowledge management system, implementing a centralized repository that improved information accessibility and resulted in a 50%+ reduction in onboarding time for new employees - Managed the program delivery for Meta’s 2022-23 Community Accelerator Program, which resulted in a 52% increase in participant NPS from the previous year - Advised 12+ startups in operations, customer validation, product design, and branding

Associate

2020 - 2021

Visible Hands is a pre-seed fund with a fellowship program that supports underrepresented talent in building technology startups. We provide company building services and investments of up to $200k to our annual cohort of fellows.

Project Management & Design Fellow, Census Open Innovation Labs

2020 - 2020

- Facilitated 12-week sprint cycles to guide the development of award-winning digital tools that harnessed open data to address national challenges - Managed outreach and recruitment efforts to bring in 50+ cross-sector experts - Led user research workshops with over 90 users to generate actionable design insights

User Experience & Information Architecture Designer

2019 - 2020

- Designed CMS-based websites for higher education institutions by developing accurate personas, creating intuitive sitemaps, designing wireframes, and documenting functional specifications for each site, boosting session duration rates by an average of 15% - Led usability testing sessions with 15+ participants, observing and analyzing user behavior to inform UI/UX improvements - Developed and implemented a no-code higher ed persona development tool, streamlining persona creation process by 30% and decreasing billable hours across projects - Maintained relationships with 9 clients; facilitated delivery & feedback process

Labs Director

2019 - 2020

-Led multidisciplinary teams of students through semester-long civic research & design projects in partnership with the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics -Guided and taught the human-centered design process to create a prototype for supporting Boston Public Schools students in taking civic action in their communities. -Managed communications with teachers, community leaders, and public servants -Set long-term strategic priorities for Scout Labs and translated these into short-term action items for the rest of the team

Research Assistant

2019 - 2019

In this study, we conducted ethnographic research including surveys and interviews to learn about seniors' technology usage in relation to their sense of autonomy. We used qualitative and statistical analysis to synthesize patterns and used our design research findings to inform our service ideation process. In the end, we proposed four major service design guidelines to help enhance the technology literacy of seniors: a changed mindset from singular problem-solving to pluralistic motivations, a meaningful learning process embedded in seniors' everyday communication needs, ongoing educational support within a sustainable system, and the value of integrating humanity with technology.

Economic Growth Co-op

2019 - 2019

- Managed the Skills First initiative (formerly Talentsetters), which aims to reduce hiring bias and diversify the talent pipeline to link students of color and students from non-traditional backgrounds to high-quality internship opportunities - Provided support on various initiatives that aimed to advance racial equity in the private sector, strengthen the innovation economy through a geographic collaboration, and spread awareness throughout the business community about climate change action

Research Assistant

2018 - 2018

- Explored how the human value of dignity/indignity can be used as a principle of service design and systematically integrated into the design process - Designed and conducted 10+ interviews and participatory research methods - Used service design methods and tools to propose design ideas for improving the service experience of formerly incarcerated students pursuing a college degree

User Experience and Information Architecture Co-Op

2018 - 2018

-Created user personas, site maps, wireframes, functional specifications, and other IA/UX deliverables. - Worked on UX research and testing -Improved the usability and accessibility of sites

Digital Design Intern

2017 - 2017

-Redesigned the Careers section of the Honest website. Stages of the redesign included wireframing, visual design to match the company's new branding requirements, and user testing/analysis. -Created wireframe kits for internal use to streamline the UX team's design process. -Designed assets for the company's new online volunteering and giving platform to match the Honest brand. -Supported digital/web design needs across all aspects of the product portfolio, including various marketing materials and website assets.