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United States John Maeda is a designer, visual artist, and computer scientist recognized for his work at the intersection of various disciplines, and for his contributions to technology, education, and strategic advisory roles.
Design credits include computational calendars in Java for Shiseido.
Design credits include lighting and furniture for Sawaya y Moroni.
Design credits include footwear and streetwear line for Reebok. Brought a “creative code” aesthetic to a series of shoes and apparel items for Reebok by mixing handwritten computer code with Reebok classics.
Chief Technology Officer leading technology and product vision for enabling resilience at company, city, and country levels.
Board Member / Compensation Committee Member (2012-2020). Empowered design as a native advantage for Sonos across hardware and software product lines through multiple transition points in its evolution into a public company.
Executive Vice President, Chief Experience Officer (2019-2020). Co-developed the LEAD (Light, Ethical, Accessible, Dataful) system with Engineering leadership to reshape the global experience capability to be "A.I. Ready."
Board Member (2011-2019). Developed the founding principles of the trust designed to keep Dan Wieden's vision alive as the world’s last independent global advertising agency.
Global Head, Computational Design and Inclusion (2016-2019). Explored how inclusion could be a key ingredient for success in the technology industry, addressing the diversity gap in tech. Dug deeply and inclusively into the emerging paradigm of tech companies running fully distributed. Visit http://Automattic.Design to learn more.
Executive Producer (2019). Discovered the work of Frank E. Abney III and became captivated by his vision to create a film about a man who struggles to regain his passion after suffering a loss.
Design Partner (2014-2016). Advised startups on the business impact of design. Brought design and venture capital closer by co-founding ProductWorks with Bing Gordon, and by later launching the Design in Tech Reports.
Technical Advisory Board Member for the Advanced Technology & Projects (ATAP) group (2013-2016). Advised on matters across a wide variety of truly inspiring projects designed to change the world for the better.
Chair, Design Advisory Board (2014-2015). Advised CEO John Donahoe in eBay Inc's drive to lead with design across the organization. This work has become a Stanford Graduate School of Business case study thanks to the work of Dane Howard with Professor Jennifer Aaker.
Board Member (2010-2013). Quirky's mission was to democratize inventors' ability to create, ship, and distribute consumer products.
John Maeda, born in 1966 in Seattle, Washington, began his academic career studying software engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During his time at MIT, he developed an interest in the Visual Language Program, an area that blends computer science with visual arts. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from MIT. He further pursued his studies by obtaining a PhD in design from Tsukuba University Institute of Art and Design in Japan. His doctoral work focused on integrating computational expression with traditional bookmaking, leading to the creation of his “Reactive Books” series, which are considered significant in digital media design. In 1996, Maeda became a Professor of Design and Computation and Head of Research at the MIT Media Lab, where he fostered communities focused on computational design and created projects like Design By Numbers, Processing.org, and Scratch, connecting art/design with software development. He served as the Associate Director of Research, leading sponsor relations. He also obtained an MBA from Arizona State University.
From June 2008 to December 2013, John Maeda served as the 16th President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During his tenure, he focused on expanding the university’s traditional approach to design by integrating technology and arts. He championed the national STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) movement, advocating for the importance of art and design in the 21st-century economy. His leadership at RISD led to its recognition by the business community as a top global design institution. From January 2014 to August 2016, he was a Design Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), a venture capital firm, where he advised startups on the business impact of design and launched the “Design in Tech Reports.” He also held strategic advisor roles and board memberships, including with Sonos and Wieden+Kennedy.
Maeda’s career also includes roles as Global Head of Computational Design and Inclusion at Automattic from August 2016 to July 2019, where he addressed diversity in tech and explored inclusive strategies. He later became Executive Vice President and Chief Experience Officer at Publicis Sapient from August 2019 to October 2020, developing the LEAD doctrine for technology products. He then served as Chief Technology Officer at Everbridge from October 2020 to October 2022, focusing on enterprise resilience. In November 2022, he joined Microsoft, initially as VP Design and Artificial Intelligence, Incubations / Office of the CTO, contributing to projects like Semantic Kernel. Since May 2024, he has been VP Engineering, CoreAI at Microsoft, focusing on Agentic Experience (AX) and utilizing AI for trustworthy, outcome-driven solutions.
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