Leadership / Reece Quiñones
Build the team.
Expand what’s possible.
My work extends beyond the creative itself: building teams, developing new capabilities and lines of business, and helping people see what they can achieve together.
Explore 15 Strategic Leadership Examples ↓Building Teams and Capabilities
Building design capabilities where none existed has been a defining part of my work, from selecting and acquiring the technology stack to hiring and developing talented people. That work brings together the tools, processes, and creative direction a team needs to deliver strong work and grow.
Building diverse creative teams is an intentional part of my practice. Different experiences and perspectives bring more possibilities to the work. I focus on creating the relationships, direction, and conditions that help people contribute and grow.
Expanding Services
Expanding services starts with connecting creative capabilities to organizational needs and opportunities for growth. That means considering what we can offer, the people and processes needed to deliver it, and how new services can become sustainable lines of business.
Business Development
Strong business development connects client needs with creative capabilities to shape opportunities, proposals, and new services. My role brings strategy and creative thinking into business development: identifying where we can contribute, developing an approach, and making the value of that approach clear.
Beyond individual pursuits, my focus is on how new capabilities can expand services and become sustainable lines of business, supported by the right teams, partnerships, and processes.
Making Space for Good Work
Strong ideas need practical support. My work includes developing frameworks, processes, and tools that help teams move from strategy to execution with shared direction.
Explore design management work ↗Teaching & Mentoring
“Teaching and mentoring are the best and most effective ways to change the world.”
Teaching and mentoring create opportunities to help others build confidence, make connections, and develop their own approach to creative problem solving. They also keep me learning.
Explore teaching ↗Human-Centered AI Process
“AI generates. Humans create. The magic is in the balance.”
Within my practice, AI supports production, deepens learning, helps test assumptions, and turns ideas into working tools and experiences. My approach starts with people and keeps human judgment, creativity, and accountability at the center. I question outputs, check claims, and use evidence and feedback to refine the work.
Explore My AI Process ↗Speaking & Conversations
Topics I care about include building diverse creative teams, the responsibility of design, teaching and mentoring, and the relationship between creativity, business, and technology.
Explore speaking engagements ↗
Leadership in Practice
What leadership
makes possible.
Selected examples of building capabilities, shaping opportunities, improving how work happens, and helping people learn.
01 / The Hatcher Group / 1 example
Building a Creative Capability
- The Need
- Hatcher had an established communications practice, with design focused primarily on reports and other client materials. The opportunity was to build on that foundation: develop a multidisciplinary team, bring creative strategy into client conversations, and launch a dedicated division that could help shape solutions from the outset. My mandate was to connect people, technology, processes, and creative direction with client needs and the firm's ambitions for growth.
- What I Created
- A multidisciplinary Creative Studio, supported by people, technology, processes, and creative direction.
- My Contribution
- Within the first few months, my work moved from planning the launch to introducing clients to a vision for Hatcher Creative and the strategic possibilities for their own work. Strong client relationships and trust in Hatcher's account teams opened the door. The owners' confidence in my vision created room to build demand for high-quality design, hire five designers, and develop the people and practices needed to deliver it. Within the first year, every designer earned award recognition, with several receiving multiple awards.
- Collaborators
- Hatcher leadership and creative colleagues, with account teams helping introduce the new capability to trusted client relationships.
- Documented Result
- The design capability grew into a multidisciplinary Creative Studio and expanded the firm's creative services. Within a year of the launch, the owners sold the firm and retired. Nearly a decade later, many of those early clients remain with Hatcher, and the team has grown to 18.
02 / M-NCPPC Brand Study & MWCOG Street Smart / 2 examples
Creating New Lines of Business
- The Need
- Research and data had always informed Hatcher’s work. The opportunity was to make that depth visible at a larger scale and establish the firm as a partner for substantial research engagements. For the M-NCPPC Prince George’s County Brand Study, that meant demonstrating how research could guide awareness and engagement for an already successful parks and recreation system. For MWCOG Street Smart, the challenge was to bring a compelling new team and approach to a regional safety campaign served by a long-standing incumbent.
- What I Created
- Two approaches to opening new lines of work: a research-led positioning and proposal strategy for M-NCPPC, and a partnership-driven campaign approach for Street Smart. Each connected Hatcher’s existing strengths with the expertise, delivery approach, and evidence needed to compete for a larger opportunity.
- My Contribution
- For M-NCPPC, my contribution centered on strategically presenting Hatcher’s research capabilities, explaining the methodology, and connecting relevant past outcomes to the client’s needs. The proposal and presentation made the value of the work clear: informed recommendations that could help strengthen awareness of the system.
For Street Smart, my contribution centered on identifying key partnerships and connecting them with Hatcher’s behavior-change methodology, campaign process, innovative approaches, and award-winning digital campaign team. Together, those elements formed a competitive approach to winning a new line of work. - Collaborators
- Hatcher leadership, proposal and business-development colleagues, research specialists, creative and digital campaign teams, and strategic partners contributing complementary expertise.
- Documented Result
- M-NCPPC selected Hatcher for the Prince George’s County Brand Study. The team delivered research-informed recommendations to help grow awareness and see gaps in an already successful parks and recreation system.
Hatcher also won the MWCOG Street Smart engagement, replacing a long-standing incumbent. The win brought a new line of work into the firm through a combination of strategic partnerships, behavior-change expertise, and campaign capabilities.
03 / Design Operations & Process / 3 examples
Designing Better Ways to Work
- The Need
- ASCD Creative supported a wide range of programs, products, and services. Strong delivery required shared production workflows, a consistent way to bring user needs into digital decisions, and clear working agreements with outside creatives.
- What I Created
- Processes and working agreements that help people produce stronger work with greater clarity and consistency: a design process guide, a UX process, and condensed work-for-hire and illustrator agreements.
- My Contribution
- My contribution connected three areas of practice.
The Design Process Guide established shared production workflows and a framework for ongoing improvement, including Photoshop actions for book mockups.
Implementing a UX Process at ASCD brought problem definition, user interviews, personas, content strategy, prototyping, and testing into digital design decisions.
The work-for-hire and illustrator agreements were developed in collaboration with the legal team to simplify a lengthy hiring process while protecting the interests of both ASCD and the creatives it engaged. - Collaborators
- ASCD Creative designers and the legal team, with contributors and responsibilities reflected in the supporting projects.
- Documented Result
- The process guide supported a smoother path from ideation through production and ongoing workflow improvement. The UX process provided a structured approach to understanding users and testing design decisions. The condensed agreements simplified the paperwork involved in engaging outside creatives; the original project account documents more than ten years of use before a move to an online tool.
04 / George Mason University, ASCD & Hatcher / 5 examples
Developing People and Learning
- The Need
- Across more than 18 years of teaching and mentoring, the need has remained consistent: help people connect design theory with practice, develop sound creative judgment, and build the confidence to make and explain their decisions. University students and working professionals bring different experiences, but both need opportunities to connect ideas, practice deliberately, and grow.
- What I Created
- University courses, workplace master classes, mastery-based primers, and mentoring experiences. These include the Design Methods and Principles, Motion Graphics, and User Experience Design courses at George Mason University, the Branding Master Class, and focused learning experiences that connect theory, practical routines, and creative application.
- My Contribution
- Full development of the Design Methods and Principles, Motion Graphics, and User Experience Design courses. Across university and workplace settings, my contribution includes shaping curricula, developing presentations and exercises, connecting concepts with professional examples, and guiding critique and discussion. The aim is to help learners build their own approach to creative problem solving and carry that judgment into new situations.
- Collaborators
- George Mason University School of Art, ASCD and Hatcher colleagues, and the students and professionals participating in these learning experiences.
- Documented Result
- All three George Mason University courses, Design Methods and Principles, Motion Graphics, and User Experience Design, were developed and taught. Master-class and primer materials document additional learning experiences in branding and logo design, typography, advertising, and AI in creative practice. Together, they show a sustained commitment to developing people through both formal education and workplace learning.
06 / Human-Centered AI Process / 1 example
Building With AI, Guided by People
- The Need
- Create useful work while keeping audience needs, creative intent, and reliable evidence at the center.
- What I Created
- An iterative approach across production, learning, testing, and building: define the need, explore possibilities, make a working version, review it, and refine it.
- My Contribution
- Creative direction, original ideas and artwork, and review of the writing, design, and experience remain my contributions. Questioning assumptions is part of that process. AI supports implementation and iteration; it does not replace my judgment.
- Collaborators
- Firm leadership, staff, and student collaborators. AI-assisted implementation.
- Documented Result
- Staff and students learned to use AI strategically: defining the problem, choosing where AI could help, evaluating its output, and applying their own judgment. For clients, this approach supports thoughtful exploration and refinement while keeping the work grounded in their goals and audience needs.
Leadership & community
The people
behind the work.
Shared ideas, thoughtful collaboration, and moments that bring a team together.
Select a photo to open the gallery.
A guiding belief
Be curious.
Always a student.
“Continuously question and learn to ensure that imagination and growth become a habit.”