The Quarterly Review: Miki Van Cleave makes design a cultural expectation at Chase through process optimization and knocking down silos
- Last year, Van Cleave set out to strengthen discovery processes and elevate design's presence across departments, learning that breakthroughs come from embracing unexpected customer behaviors and treating constraints as opportunities.
- Her team delivered measurable impact through "the Quad" partnership model and refined discovery workflows, achieving a 39% conversion boost and 24% no-show reduction on the Meeting Scheduler redesign, while reducing customer complaints by 10% and making discovery a cultural expectation across Chase.
Notes from the desk: Welcome to this month’s Quarterly Review and a new year! The Quarterly Review is one of the only media pieces that allow readers to track improvements through time. It’s a chance for the industry to learn about what goes on behind an FI’s four walls and how leadership manages their priorities.
And a review mandates a check-in, as I like to say, so enjoy reading about how the exec in the hot seat today overcame challenges, and brought her vision to life.
In this edition, we will check back in with Miki Van Cleave, Chief Design Officer at Chase.
Executive Summary
When we last spoke to Chase’s Chief Design Officer, Miki Van Cleave, she had been in the role for only seven months and she had big process-related plans. It seemed fair to allow her plans to bloom before we put her back in The Quarterly Review hot seat and in 2025. Her aim for the past few quarters was to improve the discovery processes to build better alignment between design decisions and customer needs, and improve her team’s presence across other departments.
“I stepped into the role of Chief Design Officer in August 2024 generally aware of the journey the organization had been on because I had been on the leadership team since 2020. But in 2025, we took everything up a notch,” she said looking back at her year in the new role.
Here is what Van Cleave accomplished:
- Strengthened cross-functional collaboration through “the Quad” model, driving measurable results like a 39% conversion boost and 24% reduction in no-shows on key redesigns.
- Refined the discovery process with the “Customer Why Template”, creating consistent workflows that reduced costly pivots and led to a 10% drop in customer complaints.
The Full Review
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