Heather Cassano

Heather has served for over two decades as a product & design leader at technology companies including Google, Facebook, Pearson and Yahoo. She’s an expert at leading and scaling high performing, global product & UX (user experience) teams who can deliver disruptive product innovations. Heather is currently a Senior Director at Google leading the Google Play UX team which supports the needs of both app developers and consumers by designing and building user experiences that deliver innovation within the Android ecosystem. Prior, Heather was a Senior Director at Meta focused on driving Meta’s product strategy, systems and quality, and before that, Heather led several large UX teams at Google (200+ person global teams) with a focus on foundational products and services for Google’s products & teams, including learning & development, analytics and ads, helping drive $80 billion annually in revenue for Google. Prior to Google, Heather served as the first Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Pearson Education and Scholastic leading design and product teams to build transformative experiences to uplevel education at all levels: preschool, elementary, secondary, higher education and professional, by driving individualized learning at scale. Heather has taught for decades at Harvard, UCLA and Marist College, and currently is a guest lecturer at Yale School of Management. She holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Cognitive Psychology from Boston College, an MFA from Bennington College.