Mohammad (Mo) Riza

SUMMARY

Over 20 years of leadership excellence, crafting innovative digital products. I thrive at the intersection of technology, business, and design, fostering collaborative environments where cross-functional teams create exceptional user experiences. My expertise transforms complex challenges into elegant, intuitive solutions that drive both business success and user satisfaction.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Principal Designer - Visual Experience, AI-Powered Business Operating System
  Rhythms.AI, San Francisco Bay Area - Hybrid
  Aug 2024 - Feb 2025
  I led the visual experience for Rhythms’ AI-powered Business Operating System, defining how organizations orchestrate structured workflows, recurring processes, and business rhythms:

  • Lead the visual strategy for Rhythms’ AI‑powered business operating system, collaborating with engineering and product teams to translate complex workflows into intuitive, conversational experiences.

  • Defined a scalable design system that balances flexibility with consistency, empowering cross‑functional teams to experiment and iterate quickly.

  • Design the integration of generative design workflows and AI‑enhanced user research to speed up discovery and prototype testing.

  • Advocate for inclusive design and ethical AI practices—ensuring our experiences are accessible to diverse users and transparent in how they leverage data.

• Design Consultant
  XQ Institute, Oakland, CA - Remote
  Jan 2020 – Present
  I provide design consultancy in education design, data visualization, and visual storytelling for XQ Institute initiatives: XQ Superschool Competition, XQ Math Badging, XQ Learner Outcomes, Educational Opportunities Audit, and XQ Competencies.

  • Provide strategic design and data‑visualization consultancy for XQ initiatives, helping reimagine high schools through AI‑enhanced storytelling and visual frameworks.

  • Partner with educational leaders to craft narratives and prototypes that illustrate new models of learning and assessment.

  • Experiment with generative design and AI‑assisted creativity to explore innovative ways of mapping learning outcomes and equity indicators.

• Principal, Product Expansion
  Guild, Denver, CO - Remote
  May 2020 - Jul 2024
  The Guild Product Expansion Team drives market growth by exploring and launching new business lines beyond Guild’s core focus on tuition assistance, workforce upskilling, and career education for working adults. Leveraging Guild’s educational platform and partnerships with leading employers, my role in this team helps identify and design innovative opportunities to extend Guild’s impact.

  • Explored and validated new business opportunities beyond Guild’s core tuition‑assistance platform, leveraging AI to personalise upskilling and career‑mobility solutions.

  • Led cross‑functional teams in rapid prototyping, aligning product vision with market needs and Guild’s mission to create opportunities for working adults.

  • Facilitated alignment across leadership by turning abstract ideas into tangible experiences—bridging strategy, design, and technology.

• Principal, Experience Studio
  Guild - 1 yr 9 mos
  As the Design Principal for Experience Studio at Guild Education, I lead a team of designers with unique skills in developing product visions aligned with Guild’s core business of tuition assistance, workforce upskilling, and career education. When creating within and around complex systems, we draw on intuition, personal experience, and logic to craft truly innovative solutions. By leveraging product demos, prototyping, and visual storytelling, we foster alignment across the company and with partners.

  • Built and led Guild’s Experience Studio, a team dedicated to envisioning the future of education benefits through immersive prototypes, demos, and visual storytelling.

  • Introduced conversational interfaces and inclusive design frameworks to our product vision work, ensuring new concepts would be engaging and equitable for diverse learners.

  • Facilitated alignment across leadership by turning abstract ideas into tangible experiences—bridging strategy, design, and technology.

• Guild Fellow
  Guild - 2 yr 1 mos
  As a Design Fellow at Guild Education, I joined the company through the acquisition of Entangled, where I was given the freedom to explore and work on projects across the product and consulting arms of the organization. My role involved leveraging my extensive product design experience to address the unique challenges and opportunities posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Embedded within Guild’s product and consulting arms to tackle complex problems during the pandemic, focused on prototyping learner‑centric experiences and exploring AI‑powered support tools.

  • Collaborated with data scientists and researchers to visualize insights and inform product decisions.

• Chief Design Officer
  Entangled Group, San Francisco, CA - Remote
  Jan 2019 - May 2020
  As the Chief Design Officer at Entangled, an EdTech consulting company, I lead a talented design team in developing innovative solutions and product designs for higher education and career development. Our mission is to create impactful and user-centric designs that enhance learning experiences and support professional growth. By integrating cutting-edge design strategies and a deep understanding of educational needs, we deliver products that drive success for both institutions and individuals.

  • Led a multidisciplinary design team at an edtech consultancy, developing innovative solutions for higher education and workforce‑development clients.

  • Established design systems and processes that scaled across multiple projects and integrated AI and data‑driven insights.

  • Drove a culture of ethical design, ensuring solutions respected learner privacy and promoted fairness and transparency.

• Chief Design Officer, Co-Founder
  ProjectEd, New York, NY
  Oct 2015 - May 2020
  As the Chief Design Officer at ProjectEd, a spinoff consulting group from Amplify Education, I lead a dedicated team committed to helping educational and philanthropic organizations create exceptional services and products.
  ProjectEd is a mission-driven consultancy dedicated to enhancing the impact of EdTech companies and social impact foundations through innovative product development and user experience (UX) design. Founded with the vision of leveraging design and technology to drive positive social change, ProjectEd provides expert guidance and solutions to help organizations maximize effectiveness and reach.
  The company’s commitment to social impact and excellence in product development led to significant growth, enabling ProjectEd to generate $5M in annual revenue, expand its team to 22 employees, and serve over 50 clients within 3.5 years. This success culminated in Entangled Group's acquisition, allowing ProjectEd to continue its mission on a larger scale.

  • Co‑founded and grew a mission‑driven consultancy to a team of 22, serving 50+ clients and generating $5M in annual revenue.

  • Guided edtech startups and foundations in translating research and pedagogy into user‑centered products and services.

  • Championed the integration of emerging technologies—AR, data visualization, and early AI tools—to enhance learning experiences.

• Executive Creative Director
  Amplify, New York, NY
  Nov 2010 - Oct 2015
  Led design vision, strategy, and creative direction across Amplify’s K-12 digital education portfolio (including the Amplify Insight division focused on educational analytics and assessment). Partnered closely with the Chief Product Officer to establish a disciplined, systematic approach to innovation that reimagined how digital products and services empower teachers, students, and parents.

  • Partnered with the Chief Product Officer (2012–2015) to instill a consistent, design-led innovation framework across the entire company, resulting in transformational educational products and services.

  • Defined and oversaw design vision and strategy for educational analytics and assessment tools (Amplify Insight, 2010–2015), emphasizing clear visualization of complex data and user empowerment for over 200,000 teachers and 3 million students across all 50 states.

  • Built and mentored high-performing multidisciplinary design teams, fostering a culture of experimentation, rapid prototyping, and human-centered design.

  • Provided overall creative leadership for the design department (2010–2012) before expanding company-wide as Executive Creative Director (2012–2015).

• Director, Product Design
  Wireless Generation, New York, NY
  Nov 2006 - Nov 2012
  Established the foundational design vision and user-experience strategy for Wireless Generation’s pioneering mobile assessment and data-analysis tools—the direct predecessors to today’s adaptive learning and educational analytics platforms.

  • Led the creation of the industry’s first widely adopted mobile assessment software, enabling teachers to capture real-time student data and make immediate, evidence-based instructional decisions in the classroom.

  • Designed intuitive, teacher-centric interfaces for early data-visualization and personalized-learning systems that served as the blueprint for modern adaptive curriculum tools.

  • Built and directed a multidisciplinary product design team, partnering closely with engineering and product leadership to balance aesthetic excellence with technical feasibility and rapid iteration.

  • Helped lay the human-centered design foundation that powered Wireless Generation’s growth into Amplify, ultimately reaching millions of students and educators nationwide.

• Creative Director, e-Scholastic
  Scholastic Inc., New York, NY
  Jun 1999 - May 2006
  During my tenure at Scholastic, I provided creative direction for eScholastic’s online products, primarily Scholastic.com and its commerce extensions. I led a team of designers and collaborated with several external design vendors to develop a diverse range of online products. These included award-winning sites for kids, teachers, and parents, community sites for readers, and profitable commerce sites. I also worked on beloved brands such as The Magic School Bus and Harry Potter, ensuring their digital presence was engaging and aligned with their iconic status.

• Design Director, Channel 13
  WNET - PBS., New York, NY
  Sep 1996 - Jun 1999
  Provided creative directions for a PBS-affiliated website, thirteen.org. Developed online products as a companion for shows such as NATURE, Great Performances & Religion & Ethics. Involved in the early conception of PBS Interactive Digital Television by developing several interactive TV concepts for PBS Broadband Roadshow.

• Project Champion, Interactive Art Director
  Music Pen, New York, NY
  Jan 1994 - Sep 1996
  Designed, art-directed, and project-managed a series of award-winning interactive CD-ROMs: Scholastic's The Magic School Bus Explores franchise for Microsoft Kids.Designed, art-directed, and project-managed a series of award-winning interactive CD-ROMs: Scholastic's The Magic School Bus Explores franchise for Microsoft Kids.

• Creative Coder
  Ogilvy Interactive, New York, NY
  Jan 1993 - Jan 1994
  Developed a key concepts presentation using both non-linear and linear interactive storytelling.
  Developed concepts and prototypes for American Express Online.

SKILLS & TOOLS

Core Competencies

• Design Strategy & Leadership
  Product Vision & Discovery • Design Leadership & Team Building• Creative Direction & Art Direction • Creative Problem-Solving

• User Research & Experience Strategy
  Customer Journey Mapping • Storytelling & Storyboarding • Information Architecture

• Interaction & UI Design
  Interaction Design • UI/UX Design • Wireframing • Rapid & High-Fidelity Prototyping

• Visual & System Design
  Data Visualization • Scalable Design Systems • Illustration & Motion Design

• AI-Driven & Future-Ready Design
  AI-Augmented & Generative Design Workflows

Tools & Platforms

• Design & Prototyping
  Figma (expert) • Adobe Creative Suite • Framer • Principle • Hype • Spline • Lottie • Balsamiq • FigJam

• Collaboration & Research
  Miro • Notion • Confluence • UserTesting • Storybook

• AI & Generative Tools
  DALL·E • Runway ML • Midjourney • Stable Diffusion • LM Studio • Claude • Gemini • Custom GPTs • AI-powered Figma plugins

TEACHING & ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

• Adjunct Professor, Toy Design Department
  Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York, NY
  1998 – 2008
  Taught courses on Digital Technology in Design, focusing on the integration of cutting-edge digital tools and techniques in toy design. Provided comprehensive education in areas such as product development, art direction, and interaction design. Empowered future toy designers with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in both industrial and game design, fostering technical proficiency and creative innovation.

EDUCATION

• Monmouth University
  B.A. in Computer Graphics, West Long Branch, NJ
  1987 - 1991

• Trisakti University
  B.A. in Industrial Design, Jakarta, Indonesia.
  1983 - 1987

PUBLICATIONS

• Anima Mundi #1 In The Garden - Giggles In The Greenery, Self Publishing, 2024

• Tidak Ada NY Hari Ini. Gramedia, Apr 28, 2016

• New York Non-Stop: A Photographic Album, Universe Publishing, Feb 23, 2016

CONTACT

Mo Riza, Leonia, NJ
Email: moriza@gmail.com
Phone: +1 201-658-7652