José Manuel dos Santos

I am a designer, thought leader, and passionate entrepreneur, this is a place to document my journey. Welcome!

I have over 30 years of experience in design and design management, an MA in industrial design from Central Saint Martins, an Executive MA from the Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in design from the European University on Design(er) Leadership Large Corporations.

Started in Portugal as an industrial designer, in Europe formed and sold two product design companies, worked as Industrial Design Director in Barcelona, and led as Chief Design Officer a large Internet company in Lisbon. Co-founded one of Europe’s fastest-growing start-up accelerators, co-hosted many design-related conferences, am a guest speaker at numerous industry events, teach and mentor designers and non-designers in business schools, serve as a juror in international design competitions.

In 2011 came to the US and joined Fortune 500 Masco as a Design Director and in 2016 joined Signify (formerly PHILIPS Lighting) as Head of Design Americas.