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ABOUT

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who I am & what I do

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CHRIS KLEIN

Customer Experience

Design & Strategy

I specialize in translating customer insights, emergent market shifts, and business priorities into developing and defining new consumer experience design strategies. I have global team experience sitting at the intersection of the what, the why, for whom, and communicating & maintaining intent of customer experiences. I apply a dual understanding of engineering requirements & processes and the iterative approach of human-centered design in solution creation & development

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I also have a love for stories, the way they can emotionally connect and impact, and the various mediums that can immerse an audience. I am always in pursuit of expanding my knowledge, skills, and experience in telling the most compelling stories through a variety of mediums.

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I come from a highly competitive athletic and rigorous academic background at the University of Michigan where I trained and competed at elite level in varsity swimming while pursuing my BSME in mechanical engineering with a minor in business. This was a very formative part of my life to which I owe much of my self-motivation and determination.

Professional Experience

Ford Motor Company

Dearborn, Michigan + Virtual

2018 - Present

Activator - D-Ford

Enterprise Product Line Management

  • Maintaining effective communication & collaboration of new global internal & external team throughout experience design process to production handoff; resulting in delivery of global luxury vehicle program milestones on accelerated timeline, successful onboarding on new foreign team to corporate processes, and new supplier partnership

  • Being a storyteller to connect stakeholders, partners, and various cross-functional teams to the intent of customer experiences - the what, why, for whom, and how

  • Incorporating business needs and translating customer insights into experiences for vehicle and portfolio visions

  • Wearing many "hats" to achieve global team collaboration on focusing on future target customer and emergent shifts

Ford College Graduate 

Product Development: Engineering, Research, and Strategy (rotation program)

Rotations:​

  • Global Strategic Design Studio for Interiors

  • Product Launch Quality Management - 2020 Super Duty 

  • Vehicle Architecture & Packaging

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Nordson Sealant Equipment

Plymouth, Michigan

2017

Mechanical Engineer Intern

other Technical Experience

Storyland Studios Design Challenge

Virtual

2021

Creative Director

Show Writer

Education

2021

Rochester Institute of Technology

MicroMasters in Design Thinking

Course Highlights:

Design Thinking Fundamentals: User-centered research to gain user empathy, understand context, and identify problems. Ideation & Visualization techniques to generate targeted & creative solutions. Prototyping, User-testing evaluation, and Iteration methods.

Online

2020- 2021

Themed Entertainment Creative Academy

Virtual

Courses:

- Technical Direction for Themed Entertainment

- Basics of Concept Design Sketching

- Best Practices

2013-2018

University of Michigan

BS Mechanical Engineering

Minor in Business

Ann Arbor, Michigan

GPA: 3.3/4.0

Engineering Dean’s List 2015.

Course Highlights:

Project and Lab based classes, Product Design and Manufacturing, CAD Modeling, Mechanics and Behavior of Materials, Controls and Dynamics of Mechanical Systems, Consumer Behavior, Managing Business Operations, and Creative Business Processes

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Leadership Experience

2013 - 2017

University of Michigan Swim & Dive Team

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Team Captain 2016-17

Varsity Letter 2014 - 17

  • Spearheaded onboarding process and mentoring for new and returning team members

  • Led team events and meetings to foster positive culture and strong communications between team and coaches

  • Excelled in high-pressure situations to achieve team and personal goals in both athletics and academics

  • Academic All-Big Ten Athlete 2015- 17

  • All-Big Ten First Team: 2016, Second Team: 2017, and two-time NCAA All-America Honorable Mention 2016

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Skillset

Global & Cross-Department Team

Communication & Collaboration

Human-Centered Design Thinking

Emergent Markets

Customer Research

Creative Direction

Microsoft Suite

Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator

Show & Script Writing

Organizations & Associations

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