Denver, CO | 303.718.7164 | kelly@kellypickering.com | linkedin.com/in/kelly-w-pickering | kellypickering.com

Kelly Wayne Pickering

Innovation | Design Thinking | Impact | Community | Mission-Driven Design

Professional Summary

Product development leader with over 20 years of experience delivering human-centered solutions and innovative products. Proven expertise in strategic development, customer discovery, and advanced manufacturing. Passionate about creating impactful solutions with multidisciplinary teams to solve stakeholder and business objectives in housing innovation, clean energy, and sustainability.

Leadership Competencies

  • Human-Centered Design Workshops
  • Immersion Events
  • Data Driven
  • Strategic Market Development
  • Product Design & Innovation
  • Sprint Project & Team Leadership
  • Lean/Six Sigma Practices
  • Advanced Problem-Solving
  • Data Analysis & CAD Modeling
  • UX/UI Design & Brand Development
  • Additive Manufacturing
  • Critical Thinking / Advanced Problem Identification and Definition
  • DISC Communication Training
  • LTFI - Leadership Training
  • Lifecycle Planning

Work Experience

06/2021-current

CEO / Founder

Lookout AM LLC DBA Addazu

Highlights

  • Engaged and conducted 200+ customer discovery/stakeholder interviews and developed strategicgo-to-market strategies for an innovative modular housing solution.
  • Developed execution plans and pivot strategies that allowed the business to move from disaster relief housing to affordable single-family residential developments.
  • Designed, Tested, Validated, and Launched a panelized modular housing startup, securing over $150k in pre-revenue investments.
  • Delivered proof-of-concept and proof-of-manufacturing prototypes and converted two sales for single-family residential units.
  • Built and managed a 10-member team.
  • Secured vital industry partnerships and aligned on the development of strategic SaaS tools to allow for rapid designand deployment of modular housing solutions, which reduced the design cycle by 95%, saving an average of $350,000 per year.
  • Managed three Capstone senior design projects to develop critical renewable energy features for the building systems, such as geothermal, solar compatibility, and LEED-compatible building envelope, which will net in annual savings for the resident $15,000.
  • Managed Customer Engagement and Product Feature Improvements through design artifact development and key feature improvement task tracking.
  • Developed sales pipeline and established 1500 customer and stakeholder leads in two years.

08/2022-07/2023

NREL West Gate Program Director - Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Colorado School of Mines

Highlights

  • Led four clean energy startups through early commercialization and product launches by engaging internal and external stakeholders to define product needs, conduct product studies, and design program offerings.
  • Established critical relationships for product launch through collaboration with Mines’ faculty and students.
  • Developed incubation curriculum courses for design-based market development, product positioning, and journey/ecosystem mapping for hardware product solutions in energy and deep tech.

08/2020-08/2022

Adjunct Instructor - Engineering, Design, & Society

Colorado School of Mines

Highlights

  • Conducted customer interviews and analytics studies to optimize the online learning interface to increase content retention and comprehension. 
  • Led multiple design workshops to establish critical student workflows and deliver journey mapping strategies that optimized student engagement and program outcomes.
  • Managed client engagement and product development concepts for 36 student teams. Directing the development of product concepts, operational plans, testing, budgets, life-cycle planning, and go-to-market strategies. 
  • Mentor Team Accomplishments: 
  • >10% best-in-class finishes. 
  • Over >$1.5m post-graduation seed funding.

01/2020-12/2022

Graduate Candidate - Advanced Manufacturing

Colorado School of Mines

Highlights

  • Acquired a Master’s Degree in Advanced Manufacturing and a Professional Certificate in Finite Element Analysis focused on innovation and entrepreneurship.
  • Built a team of 5 students and acquired operational funding to 3D Print over 10,000 visors and 60,000 masks for Jefferson County, Colorado’s COVID-19 PPE program.
  • Led a team to second place in the America Makes First Responder Relife competition.
  • Team lead for two multi-national Innov8x innovation and entrepreneurship projects -
  • Disaster Relief Housing (FEAM) and Alternative Building Materials (United Arab Emirates); defined problem statements, developed and validated novel building products, created go-to-market strategies, and life-cycle planning.

02/2019-08/2020

Adjunct Professor

Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design

Highlights

  • Developed original undergraduate curriculum for Environmental Design and Human Interactive Design courses.
  • Introduced lean design principles for solving complex problems through 5 stages of design thinking: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.

02/2019-07/2019

User Experience Director

gyro

Highlights

  • User Experience Department Director with an (ARR) of >$1.5m for clients such as Knauf Insulation, JLL, and Transamerica.
  • Led a team of seven FT and >10 PT design professionals across five consumer brands and three North American offices. 

03/2017-02/2019

Chief Creative Officer / Founder

Schoolyard Creative

Highlights

  • The founder and Chief Creative Officer of a product development-focused agency focused on supporting new and emerging brands.  
  • Launched two emerging brands from concept to 24+ state distribution within 24 months, with one brand continuing to secure a presence in 17,000 retail locations across 45 states and several countries, leading the market as the #1 RTD shots brand. 

Work history prior to 2017 is available upon request.

Education

MS – Advanced Manufacturing / Professional Certificate in Finite Element Analysis

Colorado School of Mines

Bachelor of Arts – Graphic Design

University of Northern Colorado

Achievements & Certificates

  • National Science Foundation I-Corp Program
  • Colorado School of Mines Entrapanureship and Innovation
  • CU Denver Smart Futures Lab
  • Business Owner and Entrepreneur
  • Corporate User Experience
  • Curriculum Development
  • Leadership Training – LTFI
  • Communication Style Training – DiSC
  • Level A improv training
  • Second City Chicago
  • Solo Showing Artist
  • Published Paleontologist
  • Denver Natural History Museum
  • Colorado State Troopers Colonels Award Alive at 25 Foundation
  • Mentor Gold Crown Computer Club Lakewood, CO