Alley is pleased to announce that Susan Finkelpearl has officially been named Partner and Vice President of User Experience. Susan’s thoughtful approach to her work in audience research and information architecture have transformed Alley’s entire approach to web design. As a manager and leader, Susan has built a strong relationship between designers and developers — both within Alley and within client organizations — away from Gantt charts and waterfall processes and towards Agile iteration and continuous improvement.
Susan joined Alley in 2014 as the company’s first Director of User Experience and has led its design and UX practice since then. Prior to joining Alley, Susan was a Strategy Director for Free Range, a design agency in Washington, D.C. Susan is based in Silver Spring, MD and holds a Masters in Communications from Johns Hopkins University.
In other partner news, Matthew Johnson, Alley’s longtime Chief Technology Officer who co-founded the company with Austin Smith in 2010, is taking on the role of President. Matt and Austin will work together to evangelize Alley’s values amongst Alley’s team members and clients, and consult with clients on key strategic engagements. Matthew Boynes, Chief Software Architect since 2015, has been named Chief Technology Officer and will lead Alley’s growing team of developers in their pursuit of quality and performance.
Finally, Jeff Stanger, an Alley partner since early 2017, is taking on a new role as Vice President of Product Strategy after leading a team dedicated to delivering data visualizations and complex information presentation needs. Jeff will oversee digital strategy and product consulting across the entire firm.
These role changes will help Alley become even stronger in the future, and we’re excited to share more as our company grows.