{"_meta":{"version":"1.0","source":"illogicalproject.com","updatedAt":"2026-05-30T04:11:51.678Z"},"identity":{"name":"Brian Fenn","positioning":"Product leader. Builder. Operator across consumer, commerce, and craft.","location":"Lake Oswego, Oregon","email":"brian@illogicalproject.com","links":[{"label":"illogicalproject.com","href":"https://illogicalproject.com","kind":"site"},{"label":"linkedin.com/in/bfenn","href":"https://linkedin.com/in/bfenn","kind":"social"},{"label":"Detent (iOS)","href":"https://detent.illogicalproject.com","kind":"product"}]},"openTo":"Senior Director / VP Product","summary":"Brian Fenn is a senior product leader with 25 years across Nike, Dick's Sporting Goods, Amazon, Microsoft, Zillow, and Porch. He takes on the unglamorous work — failing platforms, fragmented orgs, hard market entries — and turns it into the flagship experience that ships at scale. He has built and led teams at every scale — from a two-person PM group to a 20+ person product org, while leading a 120-person cross-functional studio — rescued a checkout from half-broken to 90%+ on day one, protected a multi-billion-dollar revenue stream through China's localization migration, and co-authored the PM career ladder for a 300-person product organization. Currently building consumer products at illogicalproject and open to Senior Director / VP Product roles.","highlights":[{"theme":"Platform → innovation → scale","body":"Rebuilt Nike's mobile checkout from ~50% to 90%+ on the day-one A/B and extended the same tray-based platform into the House of Innovation NYC flagship. Repeated the pattern with the WeChat Retail Platform during COVID lockdown and Nike's global navigation as a componentized platform (3x engineering efficiency)."},{"theme":"Global scale across markets","body":"Scaled Nike's Shanghai product team from 2 to 20+ and managed a 120+ cross-functional studio. Led the migration of all consumer experiences into mainland China — protected a multi-billion-dollar revenue stream and unlocked nine-figure incremental demand. Launched the WeChat Retail Platform during COVID and the Tmall 3D Avatar Membership with Alibaba."},{"theme":"AI in production at consumer scale","body":"Protected the enterprise generative AI investment for Nike's search and ranking through a company-wide restructure. The program shipped to production across 100M+ DTC users with double-digit engagement lift and nine-figure incremental demand."},{"theme":"Team building and promotion","body":"Promoted 15+ people into senior roles across career. Co-authored the new PM career ladder for the 300-person Nike Direct Product organization. Restructured DSG's design team and promoted four people inside a year."},{"theme":"Founder / current building","body":"Founded illogicalproject. Three consumer builds in flight — Detent (iOS coffee app + Next.js web), The Chivalrous Walrus, and Bottle & Flame — plus public writing on product leadership, scale, and craft. The same arc that ran through the Nike years, run end-to-end at studio scale."}],"now":[{"org":"illogicalproject","title":"Founder","dates":"2025 – Present","location":"Lake Oswego, OR","bullets":["Personal studio building consumer products end-to-end — iOS, web, design, content, and the operating model behind them.","Detent: native iOS coffee app with a Next.js web companion at detent.illogicalproject.com. A calmer surface for a category drowning in noise — opinionated defaults, no engagement traps.","The Chivalrous Walrus and Bottle & Flame: two additional studio builds shipped end-to-end.","Publishing essays on product leadership, scale, and craft on LinkedIn."]}],"experience":[{"org":"Dick's Sporting Goods","title":"Senior Director, Product Management & Design — Store Technology","dates":"2024 – 2025","location":"Remote","bullets":["Set the multi-year Connected Store strategy for 800+ stores and 40,000+ teammates — hardware modernization, applications, AI-based labor scheduling, inventory optimization.","Led the 100% rollout of the new POS across the fleet; piloted mobile checkout; shipped RFID platform upgrades and landed an exclusive multipurpose-device partnership that unlocked AI-driven teammate workflows.","Restructured the design org, promoted four people inside a year, and earned a Design Advocacy Council seat at the executive level."]},{"org":"Nike","title":"Senior Director, Product Management — Search, Browse & Discover + Central PM","dates":"2022 – 2024","location":"Portland, OR","bullets":["Ran two teams (5 + 30+) across the surfaces serving 100M+ active users on Nike's direct-to-consumer properties.","Protected the enterprise generative AI investment for search and ranking through a company-wide restructure — the program shipped to production with double-digit engagement lift and nine-figure incremental demand.","Ran the first-ever Nike Digital Summit — got business, product, design, engineering, and insights working from a single roadmap, persona model, and OKR set.","Rebuilt the global navigation as a componentized platform — 3x engineering efficiency across consumer surfaces.","Co-authored the new PM career ladder for the 300-person Nike Direct Product organization during a company-wide restructure. Promoted two PMs to Director."]},{"org":"Nike","title":"Senior Director, Product Management & Head of Studio — Greater China","dates":"2018 – 2022","location":"Shanghai, China","bullets":["Relocated to Shanghai to lead the Greater China digital product organization, supporting mainland China.","Scaled the product team from 2 to 20+ and managed a 120+ cross-functional studio across product, design, and engineering — promoted leaders into seats they grew into.","Led the migration of all consumer experiences into mainland China to meet compliance requirements — protected a multi-billion-dollar revenue stream and unlocked nine-figure incremental demand. Maxim Award finalist.","Built the WeChat Retail Platform during the COVID lockdown — first consumer shopping experience designed and built entirely in China — and the Tmall 3D Avatar Membership, the first brand experience Alibaba invited a partner to co-innovate on their platform. WeChat program won the Maxim Award; Tmall delivered a record Double Eleven."]},{"org":"Nike","title":"Senior Product Manager, Common Components","dates":"2016 – 2018","location":"Portland, OR","bullets":["Shipped v1 of Nike App and re-launched Nike Run Club + Nike Training Club for the Rio 2016 Olympics marketing campaign — opened Nike's direct-to-consumer strategy.","Owned the shared mobile platform — Feed, sharing, cart, checkout — across Nike App, SNKRS, Nike Run Club, and Nike Training Club.","Rescued the failing wrapped-webview checkout: from ~50% success to 90%+ on the day-one A/B. New-market integration time dropped from ~6 months to ~2.","Extended the same tray-based platform to power Nike App Self-Checkout, the pinnacle feature of the House of Innovation NYC flagship launch. Maxim Award."]}],"earlier":[{"org":"Porch","title":"Senior Product Manager","dates":"2015 – 2016","location":"Seattle, WA","summary":"Led consumer experience product across 3+ engineering teams. Rebuilt the project-submission lead-gen funnel for a double-digit conversion lift. Owned real-estate partnerships with Realtor.com, Estately, and Movoto."},{"org":"Zillow","title":"Senior Program Manager, Zillow Mortgages","dates":"2012 – 2015","location":"Seattle, WA","summary":"Led 5+ engineering teams across web and mobile inside Zillow's mortgage marketplace. Shipped first-to-market Instant Online Pre-Approval with Chase, Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo — 6x lead conversion lift, ahead of Rocket Mortgage."},{"org":"Amazon","title":"Technical Program Manager — International","dates":"2011 – 2012","location":"Seattle, WA","summary":"Ran Amazon 3P seller programs internationally — integrated shipping savings for cross-border sellers and rebuilt 3P returns to reduce consumer time-to-return."},{"org":"Microsoft","title":"Multiple roles, ending as Senior UX Program Manager (Bing)","dates":"2001 – 2011","location":"Redmond, WA / London","summary":"Ten years across Software Test, Producer, and Program Manager (London — MSN entertainment and movies channels). Closed the run on Bing — owned core search UX components (Homepage, AutoSuggest, Search History, Filter Framework) through the Bing brand release. Gold Star Award."}],"selectedWork":[{"title":"Detent — a calmer coffee app","url":"https://detent.illogicalproject.com","kind":"product","description":"Native iOS with a Next.js web companion. Opinionated defaults; no engagement traps. The studio's flagship build."},{"title":"Bottle & Flame","url":"https://bottleandflame.com","kind":"product","description":"Studio build under illogicalproject."},{"title":"Nike Mobile Checkout — from broken to breakthrough","url":"https://illogicalproject.com/work/mobile-checkout","kind":"essay","description":"The rescue: tray architecture, smart buffers, ~50% to 90%+ on the day-one A/B. Scaled into the House of Innovation NYC flagship."},{"title":"Nike Greater China — scaling the studio","url":"https://illogicalproject.com/work/greater-china","kind":"essay","description":"Built the product team from two to twenty inside a 120+ cross-functional studio in Shanghai. The compliance-driven migration, the WeChat program built in weeks, and what holding craft in a matrixed multinational actually looks like."}],"skills":{"leadership":["Product strategy","Org design and scaling (PM team 2 → 20+; cross-functional studio 120+)","Executive partnership and air cover","Hiring, promotion, and PM career ladder design","Cross-functional leadership across product, design, engineering, research","Servant leadership and coaching","Operating in matrixed multinationals"],"design":["Consumer experience design","Design leadership and team restructure","User research (qualitative + quantitative)","Design systems and componentization","Editorial and brand systems for product surfaces"],"technical":["iOS (Swift, SwiftUI)","Next.js, React, TypeScript","REST and GraphQL","AI / LLM product integration","Search, ranking, and recommendations","A/B testing and experimentation","Native and web platform architecture"],"domains":["Commerce and marketplaces","Mobile checkout and payments","Search, browse, and discovery","Retail technology and store operations","International expansion (China, Europe)","Consumer health and wellness adjacent","0 → 1 product","Platform → innovation → scale playbook"]},"education":[{"school":"Whitman College","degree":"B.A., Psychology","detail":"Varsity Swimming, Club Water Polo"}],"recognition":[{"title":"Nike Maxim Award — House of Innovation NYC Self-Checkout","org":"Nike","year":"2018"},{"title":"Nike Maxim Award — WeChat Retail Platform (mini-program), Greater China","org":"Nike","year":"2018"},{"title":"Nike Maxim Award Finalist — China-for-China consumer experience migration","org":"Nike"},{"title":"Microsoft Gold Star — leadership of core Bing UX during brand release","org":"Microsoft","year":"2009"}]}