Gus Rodriguez

Gus Rodriguez, Vice President Philips Design, is globally responsible for Philips Design’s non-Philips activities, including Partnerships and New Business Development. Partnerships involve the development of cooperative engagements with companies in the innovation space. The New Business Development activities include managing the consulting practice on strategic innovation and total experience design for clients other than Philips.

Prior to this assignment, Gus was Chief Design Officer managing the entire Consumer Electronics design. With over 25 years of experience in practicing and developing the design profession, Gus has helped expand its role to address the total user experience. He has also contributed to increasing the relevance of design in business by incorporating new, complimentary disciplines like socio-cultural trends analysis, psychology and anthropology.

At Philips Design he has chaired the development of the High Design Process, aligned design services with the business creation process, and built Philips Design’s strategic futures thinking. He has worked extensively in Europe, America and Asia. He is regularly invited to lecture and speak on a wide range of subjects. His work - and that of his team members - is widely recognized and has received numerous prestigious design awards.

Gus first joined Philips Design in 1983, initially as Senior Designer and subsequently Design Manager. In 1989 he joined Steelcase Inc., the world’s premier Office Environments and Furniture company in the United States, where he lead the Systems Group’s design efforts. In 1992 he returned to Philips Design to lead the Multimedia and Telecommunications design portfolio before assuming the global role in Consumer Electronics. Prior to joining Philips he worked as a design consultant in New York City and Chicago.

Gus is American, was born in Mexico City and resides in the Netherlands. In 1982 he graduated with Honors from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

Personal and Team Awards
• iF Design, Germany
• Smau Industrial Design Award, Italy
• Good Industrial Design Foundation, the Netherlands
• I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, USA
• Red Dot Award, Germany
• Hong Kong Design Awards
• Design for Asia
• IDEA , USA
• JANUS de l’industrie, France
• IDSA Award, USA, many times
• SGIO Award, United Kingdom
• ICSID/Philips Award, Finland & the Netherlands
• Braun Prize, Germany