"Chief design officer" (CDO), or "design executive officer" (DEO), is a corporate title sometimes given to an executive in charge of an organization's design initiatives. The CDO is typically responsible for overseeing all design and innovation aspects of a company's products and services, including product design, architectural design, graphic design, user experience design, industrial design, and package design. They may also be responsible for aspects of advertising, marketing, and engineering.
The position has emerged only recently, with chief design officers taking on roles that may have previously been assumed by a chief marketing officer, chief product officer, chief brand officer or delegated to lower-ranking design executives.
In the United States, the Chief Design Officer is a position in the federal government, tasked with leading efforts to improve government websites.
As with many other CxO roles it does not necessarily mean the role reports to the CEO. In some companies the title is in name only and does not actually mean the role holder is an executive. Some companies – such as IBM have many CDOs as executives of major divisions within the corporation.
| Name | Company | From | To | Succeed by | Reports to CEO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luc Donckerwolke | Hyundai Motor Company | 2018 | 2021 | SangYup Lee | Yes |
| Christopher Hawthorne | City of Los Angeles [1] | 2018 | Current | ||
| Rogier van der Heide | Philips Lighting, [2] Zumtobel Group [3] | 2010 | 2017 | ||
| John Hoke III | Nike, Inc. | 2017 | 2023 | MartinLotti [4] [5] | Yes |
| Jonathan 'Jony' Ive | Apple Inc. [6] | 2015 | 2019 | Role no longer exists | Yes |
| Stefano Marzano | Electrolux [7] | 2012 | 2014 | Lars Erikson | Yes |
| Peter Schreyer | Kia [8] | 2006 | 2020 | Karim Habib | Yes |
| Eric Quint | 3M [9] | 2013 | 2020 | Brian Rice | No |
| Mauro Porcini | PepsiCo. [10] [11] | 2012 | 2025 | Role no longer exists | No [12] |
| Sean Carney | Philips [13] | 2011 | 2022 | No | |
| Pernilla Johannson | Electrolux | 2018 | 2021 | Simon Bradford | No |
| Lars Erikson | Electrolux | 2014 | 2018 | Pernilla Johannson [14] | |
| Hanna Harris | City of Helsinki [15] | 2020 | Current | ||
| Anne Stenros | City of Helsinki [16] | 2016 | 2018 | Hanna Harris | |
| Alastair Curtis | Logitech [17] | 2013 | 2023 | Malin Leschly | Yes |
| Opher Yom-Tov | ANZ Bank [18] | 2017 | 2023 | Role no longer exists | No |
| Dantley Davis | 2019 | 2022 | Role no longer exists | ||
| Katrina Alcorn | IBM (Global) | 2021 | 2023 | Role no longer exists | No |
| Phil Gilbert | IBM (Global) [19] | 2010 | 2021 | Katrina Alcorn | No |
| Arin Bhowmick | IBM (Product Division) | 2015 | 2022 | Role no longer exists | No |
| Daniela Jorge | Capital One | 2023 | Current | ||
| Rainer Wessler | DBS Bank | 2021 | Current | ||
| Chooake Wongwattanasilpa | DBS Bank | 2019 | 2020 | Rainer Wessler | |
| Roger Rohatgi | BP | 2020 | Current | ||
| Dan Makoski | Lloyds Banking Group [20] | 2018 | 2021 | Role no longer exists | No |
| Arin Bhowmick | SAP | 2022 | Current | No | |
| Kat Crotty | GEICO Insurance | 2022 | Current | ||
| Monica Dalla Riva | Deutsche Telekom AG | 2024 | Current |