Chris Denhart

Washington, DC (Remote) — Progressive roles across executive advisory, design operations, and digital strategy

Advisor, Marketing Strategy & Organizational Effectiveness  ·  2025–Present

• Advise senior product and marketing leaders on strategy, positioning, and organizational effectiveness for Fannie Mae's multifamily digital portfolio.
• Lead cross-functional content strategy initiatives — facilitating directors and senior advisors through structured reviews of 2,000+ web assets.
• Actively mentor product designers and marketers; consistently the person leaders call for the most important unfilled need regardless of the org chart.

Product Manager & UX Lead — Digital Marketing  ·  2022–2025

• Led the strategic decision to sunset the Fannie Mae Mobile App, freeing $1.25M per year in team capacity — a harder call than building, and the right one.
• Reduced web delivery cycle time from 60+ days to two weeks (65%+ improvement) by redesigning end-to-end workflow and eliminating redundant approvals.
• Rebuilt Fanniemae.com — cutting site volume by 50%+ and driving 20%+ lift in audience engagement.

Deputy Chief of Staff — Chief Marketing Office  ·  2021–2022

• Strategic advisor to the Chief Marketing Officer, VP of Digital, and Head of Design on organizational priorities, people strategy, and operating decisions.
• Founded the Marketing People Council, a leadership-driven culture taskforce addressing management standards, mentorship, and employee development. Adopted by HR and scaled enterprise-wide.
• Led people operations for the marketing division: talent pipelines, org structure, workforce planning, and budget forecasting in partnership with HR and senior leadership.
• Facilitated design thinking workshops with C-suite and senior leaders across the enterprise, driving alignment on strategic priorities.

Design Operations Manager — Customer Experience Design  ·  2018–2021

• Managed a $12M annual design program budget, reversing a ~30% historic overspend to within 1% of plan for three consecutive years.
• Built the operational infrastructure for a 90-person design organization and led org restructuring through the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Designed and scaled a $500K Human-Centered Design training program, reaching hundreds of employees across multiple divisions with 10+ stakeholder groups.
• Created manager development programs and minimum learning standards adopted beyond design and embedded into company-wide HR practices.

Washington, DC — Employee #4 at a boutique consulting firm; embedded consultant on Deloitte federal team at US Dept. of Treasury

• Helped scale Thelan from 4 to 15+ people and a multi-million dollar operation, working directly with the CEO to build the business plan, board of advisors, and strategic direction.
• Founded the Thelan Special Projects division — an internal incubator for new service offerings, operational improvements, and leadership development.
• Advised senior government stakeholders (GS-15+) on digital transformation, human capital strategy, and organizational change at the US Department of Treasury.
• Facilitated executive alignment workshops and design sprints; developed a PM playbook and improved risk management practices for the IRS Applications Development unit.

Administrative Director (de facto Chief of Staff)

• Operational Chief of Staff to Dr. Richard Vedder. Managed all think tank operations, supported Congressional hearing preparation, presented at state treasury officer meetings, and represented Dr. Vedder in DC when unavailable.

Senior Researcher — Contributing Writer

• Co-authored policy research published in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes; underemployment research cited by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
• Led research supporting the Forbes America's Best Colleges list (the first outcome-based college ranking) and helped curate the Forbes 30 Under 30 Law and Policy list.