Mark Ehrhardt, Product Management and Design

Hello, I’m Mark.

Specializing in human-machine interactions, I build and scale customer-centered product teams that envision and plan for the future, executing an innovative, sustainable portfolio of products, services, and experiences.

I am a customer-obsessed, data-driven, cross-functional player-coach and servant-leader.

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    Character & Ability Testimonial

    “Mark is one of the finest people I've had the pleasure of working with. A rare combination of business acumen, strategic thinking, creative problem solving, and people leadership in the form of a humble human being. Mark can quickly jump from 30k feet to ground level without losing the plot. Intelligent, hard-working, and all-around good person.”

    Jeff Casemier - Managing Director, KPMG (Former manager)

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    PM Testimonial - Integrating Design, Business, & Technology

    “Mark’s ability to align on the product roadmap and provide constructive feedback to both product managers and design leads significantly contributed to the success of our projects. Mark's insights and guidance played a crucial role in ensuring that our products not only met but exceeded user expectations.”

    Jalpesh Chitalia - Global Head, Digital Commerce, Visa (Product leader and stakeholder at Visa)

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    Leadership Testimonial

    “Mark is a bold leader who asks the tough questions. I’ve watched him empower his team through trust and by allowing individuals autonomy on projects. He guides his team members by providing connection, fostering relationships, and advocating for their growth. Mark is a fantastic collaborator who draws from his past experiences to guide his recommendations on building scalable teams, informing best practices, and structuring work.”

    Heather Angelone - Sr. Director of Product Design, Visa (Peer)

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    Product Strategy & Innovation Testimonial

    “Mark showed genuine empathy for customers and relentlessly represented them in shaping our product vision. Mark leverages his breadth of experience across industries to connect the dots and build sound strategy.”

    Severin Wandji - Director of Industry Solutions, Microsoft (Peer at Boeing HorzonX)

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    Strategic Innovation & Foresight Testimonial

    “Mark's creativity, depth of experience, and collaborative spirit have been instrumental in bringing outside innovation into Boeing. While on the Boeing HorizonX team, he has blended strategy and consulting expertise with UX design to drive projects forward with an agile approach, help leaders validate business assumptions and make high quality decisions.”

    Courtney Lansing, MD Commercial Strategy, New Products, Alaska Airlines (Skip-level manager at Boeing HorizonX)

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    Mentorship & Coaching Testimonial

    “Mark has without a doubt been one of the most influential mentors I've had in my career. He has been incredibly generous with his time, and has inspired me to approach product thinking on another level. All the while, he's demonstrated what it is to be a kind, thoughtful, helpful, effective, and curious leader.”

    Mike Wenger - Product Design Leader, Swimlane (Direct report)

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    People Management Testimonial

    “Of all the managers I've reported to over my career, Mark has been the most supportive, authentic, and empowering. He helped guide me as I was navigating my own career conundrums by sharing his wisdom & experience – and more importantly, asking me the right questions. He freed me to pursue the things I was most interested in, and taught me the value in self-determination.”

    Dana Sheik - Director, Visa (Direct report)

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    Navigating Complexity Testimonial

    “When it comes to strategy, innovation, and problem solving for challenging business opportunities he is trusted to drive that discussion and direction in the process. It is evident immediately that Mark is well versed in multiple complex strategic approaches that align to unique clients' business processes and practices creating a space of innovation, alignment, and connection.”

    Michael Perry - Strategic Investments, KPMG (Group lead, stakeholder)

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    Working at Scale Testimonial

    “He works well in agile teams and excels at coordination in complex programs across matrix organizations. Mark sets a high bar and creates the active collaboration needed for success.”

    Chris Colborn - Chief Experience, Design and Innovation Officer, R/GA (Former manager at Visa)

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    Outside-in Business Strategy Testimonial

    “Mark is able to provide very valuable business strategy and marketing insight. He truly thinks from the audience's perspective, which makes him an incredibly valuable asset to any company that is fortunate enough to work with him. If you need someone who can think beyond the software -- someone who can see the bigger picture -- then Mark is your guy.”

    Jon Byrum - Head of Product, Stripe (Peer at Socrata)

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Executive Leadership

  • Scaling and maturing teams and capabilities

  • Elevating craft and ways of working

  • Expanding the value of design

  • Instilling vision, purpose, and culture

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Product & Experience Design

  • Quant/Qual research

  • Workshop design and facilitation

  • Stakeholder management and collaboration

  • Rapid testing and iteration

  • Design language and UX/UI

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Innovation, Research, & Strategy

  • New Products, Services, and Business Models

  • ML/AI

  • Digital/Physical

  • Strategic foresight

  • Process innovation

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Q&A

  • • Mature into a product and design-centric organization

    • Start or scale a customer-centered team

    • Work horizontally & strategically across your offerings & teams

    • Create AI/ML products

    • Move beyond tech-first

    • Innovate and elevate

    • Align business goals with customer needs

    • Gather, synthesize, and gain actionable insights from customer research

    • Up-level your products and services

    • Implement modern ways of making

    • Embark on a digital transformation

    • Enter a new opportunity space

    • Future-proof by identifying the key trends and signals to act upon

    • De-risk and validate a concept before committing significant resources

    • Transform a new capability into something people want

    • Leapfrog your competition

    • Identify and launch a competitive differentiator

    • Modernize your experiences

    • Turn around an underperforming offering

    • Giving some love to your employee experience

    • Cultivate a more innovative and customer-centric organization

    • Move fast while remaining strategic

  • Almost every decision an organization makes impacts people. Selecting a new platform? Yep. Prioritizing features? Yup. Changing messaging? You bet. The list goes on and on.

    So, outside-in means starting with people and then aligning with business goals while being mindful of technical constraints, in that order. Otherwise the tail is wagging the dog.

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  • Outbound product management helps ensure that a cohesive strategy runs through the product's lifecycle—from design through marketing and sales—helping each function understand its role in the product’s success and how it contributes to the overall business objectives.

    Inbound Product Management is about listening to customers and understanding their needs. It means researching to find out what problems they’re facing and what they like or don’t like about similar products.

    Then, it’s about working closely with different teams in the company, like the folks who build the product, to ensure it solves those problems in the best way possible.

    Integrating these is crucial for maintaining a unified approach to market and customer engagement, ultimately driving product success.