FINANCIAL

  • AXA Insurance
  • Canadian Tire
  • CIBC
  • Deutsche Bank
  • Excite Canada
  • H&R Block
  • Pitney Bowes
  • RBC
  • Scotiabank
  • TD Canada Trust
  • Visa

Recommendations

Harumi Takeshita, CIBC, Director User Experience, eChannels, March 2014

“We were very lucky to have Ilona be part of our UX Research team for a year. She joined as a research consultant to help jump start our new usability lab usage and did a very commendable job. She brought with her a wealth of knowledge in terms of current usability research, best practices, tried & true methodology, and her boundless energy. She plunged into the full  usability test cycle of organizing, recruiting, facilitating, analyzing, and presentation of the results with minimal direction. She was so compelling in her Findings presentation that executives put down their Blackberries to listen.

She’s truly a user experience specialist in every sense and was responsible for many activities during the one-year contract including:

  • design & execution of quality User Research studies
  • design recommendations that take into account user needs, business goals & technical constraints
  • insightful presentations of UX research results that encouraged cross organizational discussions and challenged all involved to put users’ needs upfront and to innovate creative solutions around those needs
  • high quality, detailed & actionable research reports deliverables
  • design & delivery of customized training for UX team
  • mentoring junior members of UX team
  • Persona development based on consolidation of public & proprietary research including in-house studies

Now when I see junior members running user studies in an organized and professional manner, I attribute that to Ilona’s positive influence.”   Recommendation on LinkeIn March 26, 2014

Shao Kang Tat, CIBC, Manager of Development, January 2013

“Ilona was my computer science prof for Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Toronto. I learned a great deal from Ilona and you can say that my extra attentiveness to all things User Experience related in the development world came from her. Years later, Ilona came to work for the same company I worked for. Ilona as the User Experience Research Lead and myself, managing a team of developers. I wanted my team to get a sense of where my attention to UE issues came from, so I had asked Ilona if she would be open to a lunch & learn to talk about UE related issues. It was a last minute arrangement, but Ilona pulled it all together with just 4-5 business days notice. She delivered the presentation quite successfully. Everyone in the room was engaged and certainly learned a thing or two (or more!). She is a great speaker, certainly gets your attention the moment she talks and has ways to keep you hooked in by presenting interesting material and never staying on a topic for too long. She even incorporated a hands on team activity to close off her presentation. I certainly will be looking to Ilona for more material!” Recommendation on LinkedIn January 27, 2013

 

Mark Raheja, Pitney Bowes Inc. / Digital Cement, Director of Experience Planning, May 2010.

Just wanted to thank you for the exceptional work in taking the group through your findings today… They found it very useful and informative…  Great job!

 

Angela Wiebeck, RBC Investments, Strategic Initiatives Manager, May 6, 2003

I want to specifically thank Ilona for her hard work and stamina in interviewing all of our clients (due to a SARS related change in schedule).  Ilona- You made it and did a great job!!!

 

Eric Schaffer, Founder and CEO, Human Factors International, June 5, 2003

I have the highest regard for your skill and intelligence.