About
About
I'm Ren Wardle, a UX leader and strategist based in Springville, Utah. My core skill is connecting people: customers to the teams building for them, and teams to each other. Everything else I do serves that.
The path here
I've changed the medium three times and kept the same job: understanding people and making things that work for them.
- Print and production. I started in print design and prepress, and ran production at Online Graphics in Orem: a team of ten, plus billing, pricing, sales, and lead generation.
- Advertising. At Quantum Advertising, and then as a freelancer, I made radio, TV, cinema, billboard, newspaper, and web work: design, audio, video, and motion graphics.
- UX. At Cognizant I led enterprise UX for clients including AIG, Edgepark, TracFone, and eBay. At Cox Automotive I was a UX Architect on the Dealertrack DMS and Xtime products. At GoTo I was Director, UX & Human Factors Engineering, building UX and research into a business driver. Since February 2026 I've run my own consulting practice.
15 years in UX, starting with client websites in 2011, built on earlier careers in print and advertising.
Cars
Automotive has been part of my work since I was 16, helping my dad with mailers, promotions, and video and audio shoots on location. Later I designed print, radio, video, and websites for Utah dealerships, worked on automotive trade publications in Boston, spent four years inside dealer software at Cox Automotive, and launched GoTo Connect for Automotive. I still stop at dealerships on vacation to ask questions.
Music
I have a B.A. in Jazz Composition from Berklee College of Music, and did graduate study in jazz at the University of Utah. Berklee came with a lot of Gestalt training. It turned out to be good preparation for design. I'm a bebop drummer, I taught around 40 drum students a week plus ensembles, and I restore vintage drums in my home workshop.
Writing and ideas
I've written for magazines and online publications, and some of my articles are still up at All About Jazz. I'm drawn to etymology, logic, and the origins of ideas. Read my writing.
How I show up
At GoTo I worked from inside the team: first in, last out, and working weekends alongside them when the work demanded it. I'd rather earn trust than ask for it.
Outside work
When I'm not working, I'm usually playing music, hiking, or surfing, and traveling whenever I get the chance.
