Meet Caitlin Piery ’14: SIGD Advisory Council Member

Based outside of New York City, she currently serves as the Design Operations Lead at Cedar—a healthcare startup working to make healthcare more affordable and accessible—where she plays a pivotal role in managing Cedar’s design systems, ensuring seamless collaboration across teams, and delivering tools and processes that increase velocity of design work at scale.

Prior to joining Cedar, Piery spent six years honing her skills as a Visual Designer at frog design, a renowned global innovation and design firm. During her tenure at frog, she collaborated on multi-disciplinary teams to envision new customer experiences and future product offerings, bringing them to life through design. She consulted for clients in a variety of industries, including healthcare, financial services, food services, hospitality, fashion and many others.

As a design operations professional at Cedar, Piery combines her strategic mindset with hands-on design experience to drive innovation and efficiency within the design processes. She is recognized for her ability to lead cross-functional teams, streamline workflows and implement design systems that elevate the quality and consistency of Cedar’s products.

Piery aims to leverage her decade of industry experience in her new role as a member of the SIGD Advisory Council. The new council commenced its four-year term on Jan. 1, 2024.

“I hope to help expose students to the variety of career paths available with their Auburn degree and help prepare them for an industry that is constantly changing and evolving,” Piery said.

Piery’s appreciation for varied career paths came long before she stepped foot in industry. During her time on the Plains, a fellow classmate shared concerns about selecting the right major with Professor Kelly Bryant, who emphasized that the Graphic Design curriculum’s main objective is to impart problem-solving skills, which are universally applicable.

“It then occurred to me: the various subjects we study, such as typography and illustration, serve as tools to tackle challenges,” Piery explained. “While some may pursue careers as graphic designers, art directors or illustrators, other may diverge. Graphic Design is meant to teach us to be exceptional problem solvers, and with that skill, you can excel at just about anything.”