David M. Kelley is an American businessman, entrepreneur, designer, engineer, and teacher. He is founder, chairman, and managing partner of the design firm IDEO and a professor at Stanford University. He has received several honors for his contributions to design and design education.[1][2]
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Kelley was born in 1951 in Barberton, Ohio. His brother is Tom Kelley the General Manager of IDEO and author of The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation.
He is married to Kc Branscomb, a former CEO of IntelliCorp, whom he met through mutual friend Steve Jobs.[3]
He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1973. and began work as an engineer, first at Boeing and later at NCR.[2]
At Boeing, he was responsible for the design of the Lavatory Occupied sign for the 747 airplane.[4]
This experience led him to return to school. In 1978, he earned his master's degree from the Joint Program in Design at Stanford University, popularly called the Product Design program.
In 1978, he partnered with another Stanford Product Design graduate, Dean Hovey, to form Hovey-Kelley Design. Hovey left to pursue other interests and the firm was renamed David Kelley Design DKD.
In 1984, he was a cofounder of Onset Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm.
He also cofounded Edge Innovations, a special-effects company responsible for the whales in the Free Willy movies, among many other film credits.[5]
In 1991, Kelley merged DKD with three other design firms (Mike Nuttall's Matrix Product Design in Palo Alto, ID TWO in San Francisco, and Moggridge Associates in London, both founded by Bill Moggridge) to create IDEO, which he ran as CEO until 2000. As chairman and managing partner, Kelley continues to play an active role at IDEO.
Kelley began teaching in Stanford Product Design program in 1978, after earning his master's. He was briefly a PhD student.[6]
In 1991, he became a tenured professor, and was named the Donald W. Whittier Professor in Mechanical Engineering in 2002.[7]
In 2004, David led the creation of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, known as the "d.school."
David Kelley has been recognized as one of America's leading design innovators.
In 2009, he was awarded the Edison Achievement Award by the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University for his “pioneering contributions to the design of breakthrough products, services, and experiences for consumers, as well as his development of an innovative culture that has broad impact.”[1]
In 2005, he was recognized for his "distinguished contribution to design education" with the Sir Misha Black Medal.[7]
In 2001, the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum presented David Kelley and IDEO with the National Design Award in Product Design.[8]
In 2000. he was honored with a Chrysler Design Award, [9] and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for "affecting the practice of design."[2]