Tim Brown is the Executive Chair of IDEO, having served as CEO and President from 2000 to 2019. He frequently speaks about the value of design thinking, creative leadership and innovation to business leaders and designers around the world. He participates in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and his talks Serious Play and Change by Design appear on TED.com.
An industrial designer by training, Tim has earned numerous design awards and has exhibited work at the Axis Gallery in Tokyo, the Design Museum in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He takes special interest in the convergence of technology and the arts, as well as the ways in which design can be used to promote the well-being of people living in emerging economies.
Tim advises senior executives and boards of global Fortune 100 companies. He serves on the Board of Directors of Steelcase Inc and is member of the board of trustees of IDEO.org . In addition, he is a member of the Board of Advisors for the World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and writes for the Harvard Business Review, The Economist, and other prominent publications. His book on how design thinking transforms organizations, Change by Design, was released by Harper Business in September 2009, and revised and updated in 2019.
Tim holds honorary doctorates from The Royal College of Art (London), Keio University (Tokyo), Claremont McKenna Graduate University (Los Angeles) and Art Center College of Art and Design (Los Angeles). Tim maintains a blog, and contributes as one of LinkedIn's original top 150 Influencers. He is also an instructor for the IDEO U Leading for Creativity course.