Essentially, I'm a touchy-feely leader driven by logic and action. For 20+ years I've been scaling accessible UX through modular approaches — these days by leading the horizontal teams (AI Foundations, Design Systems, Accessibility, UX Integrity) that turn specialized craft into materials and resources the whole company can use.
My current obsession. Getting the design system, tokens, and process ready for AI to produce UI that's predictable, accessible, and actually on-brand — not just fast. Plus spotting the moments in design and prototyping workflows where AI genuinely earns its keep.
Design, Engineering, and Enablement working as one team. A shared language product folks actually want to use — not a set of components collecting dust in a library.
Started early: my first job was bringing non-profits online, and assistive tech was a constraint from day one. Since then, accessibility has been the reason I care about modular systems in the first place.
Modernizing the relic features and owning the shared surface (nav, notifications, patterns) — so the product still feels like one product as new teams ship into it.
Component docs, global system guidance, composition blueprints, hands-on workshops, and IC rotations. The point isn't to teach people the system — it's to scale team expertise across the company, so the folks closest to the users can wield the system themselves.
Prototyping environments, rules APIs, code analysis, Figma templates, CLI starter kits. Each one is a guidance moment across the product lifecycle: in Figma while designing, in the IDE while coding, in the linter at commit time. The plumbing that makes the system easier to use than to route around.
A Support Lead rotation. Weekly office hours with the whole team. A Slack channel that's searchable because every answer is public. Done right, support is how the system learns what it needs to become next — and where it quietly dies if you skip it.
Converting tokens, atoms, and a Figma library into a real system — with a federated system-of-systems model, three balanced pillars, and a two-day org-wide reset (the Hue-a-thon).
Making the design system the source of truth for AI-generated UX. Layerable skills, Figma Make kits, and prompt guidelines as first-class system assets. AI is a forcing function for system quality.
Ran Design and Design Technology for four teams: Design Systems, Accessibility, Experience Integrity, and Global Utilities. Wrote the UI Foundations roadmap that tied design quality to business outcomes across the Sprout suite.
Ran a highly agile Design + Engineering team with no dedicated PM (so vision, strategy, roadmap, and advocacy were on me). Made accessibility-first the default for new components. Kept saying out loud that user support is the thing that actually drives adoption.
Stood up a super-agile team to coordinate work across time zones. Laid the foundation for an LDS API at every project touchpoint (design, handoff, code, testing, merging). Helped seven engineers grow into their next role.
Built the company's inaugural Angular system. Architected a themeable embedded UI for Anthem. Started a UX Ambassador Program that drove adoption and accessibility across the org. Redesign timelines went from twelve months to three.
My guiding belief is that the power of horizontal teams is to scale expertise through materials product teams actually want to use. Product teams focus on the users they know best, the whole surface stays cohesive, and everyone spends less time reinventing the same button. I also spend a lot of time helping the folks I manage find an authentic leadership voice, and cutting through corporate-speak so their work maps back to what they actually care about.
Outside of work: allyship, social psychology, fiber arts, watercolors, kayaking, and VR workouts. At home with my teen Cora (they/them), a chaotic dog named Concrete, and a bossy cat named Katie.
"[Lise's] expertise in design systems is among the strongest I have worked with. She treats them not just as a craft but as living products that connect design, engineering, and product management, and she works comfortably across all three, helping align teams that might otherwise operate on their own.
Lise also thinks ahead. She pays close attention to where design systems are going and how AI will change the way they are built and scaled, so her work tends to hold up well over time…
Just as important, Lise builds strong and inclusive teams. She creates an environment where people feel they belong and can do good work, and that shows in what her teams deliver."
"Lise is not just a steward of design excellence but also a strategic visionary who continuously pushes the boundaries of what's possible in creating inclusive, accessible, and user-centered experiences."
"Lise is a brilliant, authentic, big-hearted leader. Beyond her deeply rooted design systems expertise, she is a passionate accessibility advocate and a strong voice for inclusiveness in the product-building process."
"The way she leverages authenticity in her storytelling, clear communication to drive organizational education, and empathy in building trusting relationships is such a masterpiece to observe."
"Her experience as an engineer is equal to her ability to lead with empathy and kindness while placing her values at the heart of every choice. Anyone looking for a fantastic front-end leader, look no further."
Case studies, references, a chat about design systems, a book recommendation — all fair game. I'd love to hear from you.
lise@llatorre.com →