SUMMERS Consulting - Who We Are

Michael R. Summers, M.S., co-author of Creating Websites that Work Prior to founding SUMMERS Consulting, Michael had been consulting for five years, as User Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group, Director of User Research with Scient New York, and Senior Information Architect with USWeb/CKS Washington DC. Michael has been invited to speak about user-centered design to the American Center for Design, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Association for Computing Machinery's special interest group in Computer-Human Interaction, and the Usability Professional's Association.
Kathryn Summers, Ph.D., co-author of Creating Websites that Work Kathryn teaches user research, usability testing, and interaction design for the University of Baltimore's master's program in Interaction Design and Information Architecture. Her consulting work integrates the theoretical and the concrete through usability testing and usability design reviews. She rigorously applies recognized usability principles and test methods to careful, detailed observations of user interactions. Along with a host of projects for major corporations, she has done research about navigation, on-line reading comprehension, and information design. She has spoken at a number of international research conferences, and published in industry journals.
Elisa Chih-I Chang Summers, B. Com. Elisa has over 7 years of experience in international business consulting, formerly as Program Manager with Intrasphere Technologies, Senior Business Analyst with Scient - New York, and Experience Consultant with Andersen Consulting - New York (now Accenture). Elisa holds the Bachelors of Commerce from McGill University in Montreal, and has extensive work experience developing web solutions to complex problems for Fortune 500 clients such as Pfizer, GE Capital, Morgan Stanley, Chase, AVAYA, and Scholastic. Born and raised in the United States, she has lived and worked in Shanghai, China, and Taipei, Taiwan. The scope of her work includes the gathering of detailed requirements, application development, process improvements, as well as program management office initiatives.
Robert L. Summers, MBA, BA in Psychology Bob is known for creating semantically unambiguous documents or instructions for readers at all of levels of reading comprehension. His 13 years at the IBM Systems Center, and seven with High Availability Computing make him one of the most experienced consultants and project coordinators in the country. He has written numerous technical and marketing manuals and brochures, and has extensive experience with multiple industries, i.e. Finance, Medical, Manufacturing, Legal and Service. His international experience includes regular travel to Europe, as well as several years in Latin America where he developed fluency in Spanish.
Heidi A. Summers, M.S. Heidi holds a Masters in Agronomy and has four years of lab experience with sophisticated quantitative data collection and analysis. She has published and presented several highly regarded studies and teaches and consults in research design and methodology. Heidi also has demonstrated expertise and experience with technical writing, content strategy, information architecture, and interaction design. She has spent a year and a half in Portugal and is fluent in Portuguese.
Randy Souza, M.S. Randy has eight years of experience as a researcher and practitioner in the Internet industry. As Manager of Technical Services for the University of Baltimore's Center for Community Technology Services, he leads user research, IA, interaction design, and web development for nonprofits with innovative technology strategies. Previously, Randy was an Analyst at Forrester Research, where he wrote about user experience, consulted with Fortune 500 clients, and spoke at industry events. Randy holds the M.S. in Interaction Design and Information Architecture from the University of Baltimore and a B.A. from Syracuse University.
Christine Abela, M.S. Christine has four years of experience as a researcher and practitioner in the Internet industry. While completing her doctorate at the University of Baltimore's School of Information Arts and Technologies she has written about user experience, consulted with Fortune 500 clients, and spoke at industry events. Christine holds the M.S. in Counseling Psychology from Southeastern Louisiana University and will complete her Doctorate in Communications Design at UB in the next year.
Troy Winfrey, M.A. Troy has five years of experience creating interaction designs that support user goals. He has particular expertise with sophisticated improvements to user experience with SEARCH functionality. He is committed to measuring success in hard metrics. His redesign of email acquisition forms for an international hotel chain resulted in an 149% increase in gross conversion rate. His current research examines the relationship between a user's mental models and the online conversion process. Troy has a strong international focus, having spent a fellowship-support year in Prague during his M.A.