Minnesota-based custom software design and development company The Nerdery has promoted designer and UX thought leader Fred Beecher Director of User Experience Design.

Founded by three programmers in 2003 and headquartered in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-Saint Paul), the company employs 463 'nerds' at the site and offices in Chicago, Kansas City and Phoenix.

Beecher co-founded the University of Minnesota's first usability lab in 1998, and is described as 'an outspoken advocate for user-centered design methods, especially prototyping, user research and analysis'. He joined The Nerdery in 2012 after working as Lead User Experience Consultant at Evantage Consulting in Minneapolis. He has developed a number of training programs geared towards integrating UX considerations in the design process, including the first official Axure training program in 2007, and the UX apprenticeship program at The Nerdery in 2013.

Chris Locher, the company's VP of Software Development, comments: 'As a key part our commitment to grow, evolve and continuously improve, UX design has become a more and more crucial component of the value we offer our clients. To fully realize the potential of this continued evolution of our organization, we need a design leader with the vision, passion and drive required to make it happen. I found one in our very own Fred Beecher. If you've ever talked with Fred, you know his commitment to - and passion for - UX are intense. Now it's our good fortune to draw upon his experience to guide The Nerdery's User Experience Design team'.

Web site: www.nerdery.com .

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