Tasked with bringing user-centered design principles to A.G. Edwards' Web initiatives, Pat built a skilled team of certified usability analysts who provide design guidance, usability testing, standards development and training. Working "in the trenches" with business stakeholders, technical experts and end users, Pat's team has been instrumental in the ongoing improvement of A.G. Edwards' Internet presence and intranet applications and content design.

The A.G. Edwards' Internet sites that Pat's team works on have been recognized as follows:

• Watchfire® GomezProTM – Twice identified as among the top-ten fullservice brokerage sites, with a top-three distinction for ease-of-use. (Third quarter 2003, second quarter 2004)
• Computerworld magazine – Positively reviewed in feature article about site redesigns. (August 2002)
• J.D. Power and Associates – A.G. Edwards tied for highest honors in an investor satisfaction study that includes "Web site capability." (June 2002)
• Forbes magazine – Identified as among "The Best of the Web" (Winter 2001)

Pat holds a Bachelor of Science degree in media communications from Webster University. He joined A.G. Edwards as a writer, focusing on instructional and promotional publications about the firm’s technology. It was through this experience that Pat developed a deep understanding of how the firm’s employees—namely, the brokers ("financial consultants")—interact with technology, what they appreciate and what frustrates them. When the usability "wake-up call" (described in this paper) came, Pat and his team were poised to take on the ensuing challenge of integrating usability practices into the firm's Web development.

In 2003, Pat contributed some of his insights and experiences with initiating corporate usability practices to a new book by Human Factors International (HFI). Institutionalization of Usability: A Step-By-Step Guide was written by HFI’s CEO, Dr. Eric Schaffer, and published by Addison-Wesley in February 2004.

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