Revamping a Global Employee Network

Overview

Overview & Approach

Role: President, ABLE Employee Network Group
Company: Sony PlayStation
Date: May 2023 – April 2024
Team: Volunteer leadership team across U.S., U.K., and Japan
Budget: $35,000 annually

ABLE is PlayStation’s employee network group for accessibility advocacy and disability inclusion. When I stepped into the role of President in May 2023, the group had 350+ members but minimal engagement, negligible business impact, and fractured alignment with corporate priorities — despite having the CEO as our executive sponsor.

To tackle this work I used my skilIs in design and applied a design thinking and program management approach:
Discover → Define → Iterate → Deliver → Measure

Rapid Impact: GAAD Event & Budget Utilization

• Insight: Low awareness meant we needed a visible, long-lasting way to promote ABLE.

• Action: Invested $4,000 in branded pens and stickers that doubled as advertising tools — items employees would use in the office daily.

• Scalable Execution:

  • Recruited Local Leads in 6 global offices to run GAAD events.

  • Created a “GAAD Playbook” to guide promotion, setup, and content.

• Result:

  • 300+ in-person participants (despite remote-first workforce)

  • +40 new members (15% growth in one week)

  • Established new permanent Local Leads in multiple regions

Fixing Communication & Increasing Engagement

• Discovery: Outdated Outlook distribution list was the root cause of low meetup turnout.

• Action: Assigned regional leads to work with local IT to clean and update lists.

• Impact:

  • 200%+ increase in attendance at the next meetup

  • Ongoing participation growth, peaking at 74 attendees

Designing Content Members Actually Wanted

• Research: Surveys revealed members wanted cutting-edge accessibility tech talks, not general discussions.

• Solution: Partnered with PlayStation’s Academic Research Team to bring in guest experts, including Dr. Chukoskie on VR games for Alzheimer’s and ADHD — a session even the CEO attended.

Aligning ABLE’s Mission with Corporate Strategy

• Facilitation: Led a full-day strategy workshop with the CEO, HR, and ABLE leaders.

• Initiative: Created a Monthly Executive Summary for C-level leadership.

• Outcome:

  • Updated mission to directly support PlayStation’s corporate goals

  • Executives supported ABLE with resources to complete mutual goals

  • Defined 5 Key Goals and 10 Stretch Goals

  • Achieved 100% of Key Goals and 80% of Stretch Goals, including ABLE’s expansion to Japan

  • Scalable Communication: Adapted it for Local Leads to share region-specific updates.

  • Result: Offices that used the summary saw 90% increase in local meetup participation.

Results at a Glance

| Metric | Before | After |

| ------------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------- |

| Monthly Meetup Attendance | 5–10 | Up to 74 |

| GAAD Global Participation | 0 (previous year) | 300+ attendees |

| Membership Growth | 350 members | +15% in first quarter |

| Budget Utilization | 0% | 100% aligned to strategic goals |

| International Presence | 2 regions | 3 regions (U.S., U.K., Japan) |

Key Skills Demonstrated

• UX Leadership: Applied discovery, iteration, and human-centered design principles to organizational challenges.

• Strategic Planning: Facilitated C-level workshops to define and prioritize goals.

• Program Management: Coordinated global events with scalable toolkits and local ownership.

• Data-Informed Decision Making: Used surveys and metrics to drive programming decisions.

• Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Worked across multiple time zones and offices to unify a global initiative.