Kenbra Deere
Fortune 50 Experience & Innovation Leader
Helping humans help humans through empathy and technology
What I do
Organizations thrive when they fully tap into the strengths of their people, and I partner with them to make that happen.
Whether you are exploring new opportunities, rethinking your product experience, or navigating ambiguity, I help you align teams, focus creativity, and foster a culture of collaboration and experimentation to move confidently toward what’s next.
Brands I've worked with
Over the past 25+ years, I’ve grown through a variety of roles, each adding new skills and perspectives. Along the way, I’ve partnered with or worked for more than 20 brands representing 16 different industries.
My approach
Through facilitative leadership, experience strategy, and design thinking, I work with you to move from spark to execution, co-creating the structure, focus, and pathways to bring vision to life. As you work with me, these are the outcomes that you can expect.
Clarity, not control
Alignment around a shared purpose and ownership
Fewer obstacles and smoother progress
Clear direction from concept to delivery
People at the center
Voices heard and valued in decision-making
Work that's driven by purpose and impact
Energy that sparks creative breakthroughs
Solving what matters
Deeper empathy for customers and each other
A culture that values experimenting and adapting
Solutions grounded in real human needs
Flagship projects
A few snapshots of how I've partnered with leaders to drive outcomes within their teams — shared in broad strokes to honor confidentiality. More context available in conversation.
Digital Innovation Lab
Patronage-first loyalty app: 6 weeks | Tiger team of 6
Mobilized and led a hand-picked tiger team to rapidly concept, prototype, and test a next-gen loyalty experience for a national casual dining brand.
Delivered a 100+ screen low/no code interactive prototype, with strong user signal for a patronage-over-purchases model.
Elevated my digital agency’s reputation for rapid, evidence-driven innovation.
Large-Scale Facilitation
Product North Star Strategy: Multi-week | 30+ leaders
Designed, facilitated and program managed a series of executive workshops and alignment sessions to define vision, decision principles, and an experience strategy for a mission-critical platform used by tax professionals.
Unified leadership on purpose and value, clarified north-star outcomes, and cut decision cycles by nearly 50%, enabling faster prioritization and delivery of high-value features.
Org Transformation
Product Ways-of-Working: 6 months | 100+ people
Aligned cross-org executives, assessed org pain points, and co-created clear product team role definitions.
Delivered targeted learning programs, refined agile squad rituals, better tooling recommends, and change enablement strategies.
Boosted cross-functional collaboration, modernized practices, and improved work-life balance scores from 62 to 70 out of 100.
What I'm Exploring
I believe staying future-ready means never settling for what’s working now. My insatiable curiosity and drive to learn have taken me on incredible journeys in my career. Here are just some of the more recent advancements that have captured my imagination and attention.
AI-Driven Design Thinking & Facilitation – Experimenting with AI tools to augment design thinking workshops, streamline synthesis, and accelerate concept testing.
Low/No-Code Prototyping – Exploring platforms that let teams validate ideas faster without heavy development cycles.
AI Workflows with Agentic AI – Tinkering with autonomous, goal-driven AI agents that can plan, act, and adapt in complex workflows to extend team capacity and accelerate decision-making.
Designing with AI & Vibe Coding – Merging generative tools, mood-based design, and prompt engineering to create experiences that connect emotionally and accelerate from idea to prototype.
Word on the street
"Kenbra is a leader in her field, and a CX evangelist who gains respect and momentum when engaging with cross-functional teams."
Max Kunakhovich
Sr. Director Design Strategy, New York Life Insurance
"Kenbra has been a driver of positive change, ensuring product, dev and design teams are working better across our silos."
Vanessa Jupe
Founder and CEO,
Leva
"Kenbra is a strategy unicorn. Truly. I’ve had the privilege of working with her at two separate companies and several industries."
Megan Hopkins
Principle, Conversation Design, Highmark Health
© 2025 Kenbra Deere. All rights reserved.