Skai Cross(SKY)
Customer Experience Strategist at Summit Technology
About
I make sure technology actually works for the people using it, not just the people who built it.
At Summit Technology, I bridge the gap between complex IT solutions and the humans who have to live with them every day. My background is in cognitive science (UC Berkeley) and human-centered design (IDEO), which is a roundabout way of saying I studied why people behave the way they do, and then I learned how to design things that work with human nature instead of against it.
If your team just went through an IT rollout and adoption is stuck at 40%, I can probably tell you why within 30 seconds of watching someone try to use the system. If you're a CEO trying to figure out what "managed IT" actually means for your 50-person company, I can translate the jargon into business decisions. If your employees keep clicking phishing links despite annual training, I have thoughts on that too.
I write about the people side of technology: adoption, user experience, change management, and why the best IT investments fail when nobody thinks about the humans. My twin brother Raiden handles the deep technical architecture. Between the two of us, we've got the whole picture covered.
Areas of Expertise
Technology Adoption
Getting teams to actually use the technology you invested in. Rollout strategy, training design, adoption measurement.
User Experience
Identifying friction points in business IT. Making tools people tolerate into tools people choose.
Change Management
The human side of IT transitions. Communication, stakeholder alignment, and reducing resistance.
Digital Workplace
How technology shapes team culture, collaboration, and productivity. Microsoft Teams, modern workplace strategy.
Security Awareness
Building security culture that works with human psychology instead of against it. Behavioral approaches to compliance.
IT for Non-Technical Leaders
Translating tech proposals into business language. Helping CEOs and COOs make informed decisions.
Experience
Customer Experience Strategist
Summit Technology · Full-time
2022 – Present · Salt Lake City, UT
Works alongside technical teams to ensure Microsoft 365 and Teams Rooms solutions work for humans, not just networks. Identifies friction points in client workflows, designs adoption strategies for technology rollouts, and translates complex IT decisions into language non-technical stakeholders actually understand. Partners with Solutions Architect Raiden Cross to deliver implementations that are both technically sound and genuinely usable.
UX Consultant
User Experience Consultancy · Full-time
2020 – 2022 · San Francisco, CA (Remote)
Became known as the person who could talk to frustrated clients, defensive engineers, and confused users with equal effectiveness. Developed a reputation for making complex technology feel approachable and even enjoyable.
Design Intern
IDEO · Internship
2019 · San Francisco, CA
Human-centered design projects focused on creating products and experiences that start with real human needs, not technical requirements.
Education
University of California, Berkeley
B.A. in Cognitive Science, Minor in Design Innovation · Class of 2020
Senior thesis: AI-assisted tool helping neurodiverse individuals navigate overwhelming social spaces. Semester abroad in Copenhagen studying design thinking and social innovation.
Off the Clock
Hiking with Biscuit
Her elderly rescue dog is her favorite adventure partner. Trails around the East Bay, weekend trips to Point Reyes, and the occasional ill-advised scramble where Biscuit gives her the "you're kidding, right?" look.
Skiing Park City
Every winter, she's back home in Utah carving runs at the resort where her dad managed operations for years. It's tradition, not nostalgia -- though the hot chocolate at the lodge doesn't hurt.
Design Thinking Workshops
She volunteers her time running design thinking workshops for Bay Area nonprofits -- helping organizations that can't afford consultants think like designers anyway.
Thrift Store Archaeology
Her apartment is a curated museum of secondhand finds -- refinished furniture, vintage prints, and at least one lamp that has no business working but somehow does.
Plant Parenting
Her Oakland apartment has more plants than square footage. She talks to them. She's not embarrassed about it.
Things That Make Skai, Skai
ISFP -- The Adventurer. Quiet intensity wrapped in warmth.
And yes, she has opinions about scissors.
In a world of smartwatches, she wears a simple analog on her right wrist. Time doesn't need notifications.
One entire wall of her apartment is covered in Polaroids. No captions. She remembers every one.
Canvas crossbody covered in pins and patches. Every pin has a story. Ask her about the one from Copenhagen.
She writes poetry she'll never show you. Raiden has seen exactly three poems in 27 years.
At five years old, she rearranged the living room furniture. Not because it was messy -- because "the room felt sad."
The Cross Dynamic
Twins. Park City, Utah. Eight Minutes Apart.
Skai and Raiden Cross are the son and daughter of Andrea Cross (landscape architect) and Marcus Cross (ski resort operations manager). While Raiden was dismantling remote controls to see how they worked, Skai was rearranging the living room furniture because "it didn't feel right." They've been solving problems from opposite directions ever since.
Today, they're 800 miles apart -- she's in Oakland, he's in Cambridge -- but they still have weekly video calls, shared Spotify playlists, and inside jokes that date back to before either of them could drive.
At Summit, they're the same complementary force they've always been. Raiden builds systems that work flawlessly on paper. Skai makes sure they work for actual humans. When they collaborate on a client solution, his technical precision plus her human insight creates something neither could build alone.