Emily Bahna

About Emily Bahna

Emily Bahna is a Head of Delivery at thoughtbot, where she brings together creative vision, strategic insight, and a deep commitment to collaboration to lead cross-functional teams toward meaningful, high-impact outcomes. Her multifaceted background spans leadership, business development, customer success, organizational strategy, product management, team development, design thinking, and marketing. A passionate advocate for human-centered innovation, Emily is driven by a desire to help individuals and organizations thrive in a rapidly changing world.Emily holds a B.A. in History from Rutgers University and a Graphic Design degree from Parsons School of Design. She has also studied photography at the Aegean School of Fine Arts in Paros, Greece, and filmmaking at Maine Media Workshops. Her diverse client portfolio includes industry leaders and mission-driven organizations such as Harvard Business Review, CloseKnit, Relias, Airrosti, Groups Recover Together, Rhino, Adwerx, InHerSight, Duke University, Seagrams, American Express, UNICEF, GE Oil & Gas, IBM, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, RTI International, NCSSM, The East Coast Greenway, and Planned Parenthood, among many others.

Experience

1. Head of Delivery

   Thoughtbot

   Jul 2017 — Present · US

   Leads thoughtbot’s America\'s Division for new software-based products, resulting in a team size increase from 9 - 30 consultants, a smooth transition from a local office structure to a work from anywhere organization, and the building of a brand new unit of Product Management within the first quarter of 2021.Leads business development and profitability for thoughtbot’s New Products Team, resulting in projected sales of $7 million of services and increasing the post-corporate margin from 3.6% to 17% in the first year of operation.Leads organizational strategy to improve thoughtbot’s services and customer experience, resulting in company-wide adoption of new best practices and processes. Some of these changes include improvements to the Sales Process, Discovery Sprints, and adding Product Management to every new project.Leads account management, project management, and customer success on new projects, resulting in 5 star clutch reviews and multiple extensions with existing clients.Coaches and actively raises level of standards for professional development, managing product management, design, and development direction and team’s professional growth, including 1-on-1 sessions, leadership training, and professional growth plans for each team member.Fosters relationships with partners and grow thoughtbot’s reputation as a leader in the North America community, resulting in serving as lead mentor and an advisory board member for organizations including TechStars, Momentum Learning, NC IDEA, Code to Dream, and The American Underground.Leads and facilitates strategy workshops for high-growth startups and Fortune 100 clients in North America and London, resulting in high-quality prototypes, insights, validation, and user research outcomes that have helped define next steps and secure funding for further investment.

Education

• Parsons School of Design - The New School

  Graphic Design

  1995 — 1998

• International Film Workshops

  Documentary Film and Video

  2002 — 2002

• Aegean School for the Fine Arts

  Art History, Photography, and Figure drawing

  1998 — 1998

• Rutgers University

  BA, History

  1988 — 1993

Skills

• Usability Testing
• Dreamweaver
• Digital Media
• Start-Ups
• Creative Direction
• Social Media
• Art Direction
• User Interface Design
• Interaction Design
• Brand Development
• Web Development
• SEO
• Web Content Management
• User-Centered Design
• Google Analytics
• Digital Marketing
• User Interface
• User Experience
• Content Strategy
• Web Analytics
• Graphic Design
• Digital Strategy
• Wordpress
• Content Management
• Flash
• Web Design
• Cms
• Usability
• Web Project Management
• Entrepreneurship
• Strategy
• E-Commerce
• Information Architecture
• Website Development
• Product Management
• Adobe Creative Suite
• User Experience Design
• Multimedia
• Editing
• Html