Veteran Chief Design Officer Heather Winkle to serve as DXC Research committee chair

Announcements
Veteran Chief Design Officer Heather Winkle to serve as DXC Research committee chair

Pictured above: Heather Winkle (DXC Research Chair) and Gordon Ching (DXC Founder & CEO)

San Francisco - May 29, 2024 - Design Executive Council (DXC), the premier membership-based organization for corporate design executives, today announced the formation of DXC Research, its business intelligence arm. Veteran Chief Design Officer Heather Winkle has been appointed as committee chair.

Heather brings over 30 years of experience as a design leader, most recently serving as Chief Design Officer at McAfee and SVP, Global Head of Design at Capital One. She has also held design leadership roles at Apple, Adobe, eBay, and Yahoo. As Chair of the DXC Research committee, Heather brings expertise in strategic design leadership, design organizations, product innovation, and business and technology transformation.

DXC Research aims to advance how companies compete in the experience economy by effectively operationalizing strategic design leadership. It leverages the expertise and track records of its members, who are seasoned design executives at the VP, SVP and C-level of major public and private companies. DXC Research sources insights from executives who bridge the gap between the boardroom and design studio.

DXC Research harnesses the untapped knowledge capital of DXC's premier membership, representing over $1 trillion in market capitalization and $600 billion in annual revenues. These design executives come from diverse industries and have an average of 20+ years of experience in corporate design leadership.

As DXC Research chair, Heather will guide the advancement of best practices in strategic design leadership, governance, and management. In partnership with the DXC and its members, she will support the synthesis of knowledge to establish DXC Research as a center of excellence for business intelligence and innovation.

“By bringing together the world’s most accomplished design and business executives who represent major players across the business landscape, we are building a distinct organization to address critical questions businesses face today and in a dynamic future. DXC Research enables us to partner strategic design executives with CEOs, CFOs, CHROs, board directors and other cross-functional leaders to amplify innovation profitably, ethically and sustainably,” she said. 

Founder & CEO of Design Executive Council, Gordon Ching added that "DXC Research represents a significant step in our mission to advance strategic design leadership. By leveraging the extensive experience of our members, we can provide unparalleled insights and data that differentiate DXC in the marketplace. Our goal is to transform the role of design in business, ensuring that it is a key driver of growth, innovation and long-term success."

About

Heather Winkle

Heather Winkle has spent nearly three decades as a designer and product leader in high tech. If you’ve paid a bill online, gotten a stock quote, compared items while online shopping, or filtered a search result, you’ve interacted with something she designed for the first time on the internet. After completing Carnegie Mellon’s program in Industrial Design, Heather kicked off her career in Silicon Valley, designing some of the world’s now ubiquitous digital experiences for companies like Apple, Adobe, eBay, Intuit, Yahoo, and Netscape. Fascinated by design’s potential for business, Heather obtained her MBA and specialized in leading innovation. She expanded her human-centered approach into business strategy, organizational design, and leadership to transform teams, services, and systems at scale.

Heather most recently served as McAfee’s Chief Design Officer, shaping the company’s vision for the future of online protection. Prior to joining McAfee, Heather was Senior Vice President of Design at Capital One, where she helped establish and mature the company’s design practice and design its ecosystem of award-winning digital banking apps. Heather applies her passion for improving the human experience to more than just products: she founded an Equity by Design team to understand and address bias and inclusivity in practice, served on community service and grant-decisioning committees, and continues to be an active participant in business resource groups for women in tech, LGTBQIA2S allies, Black and LatinX in tech, and adoptive parents.

Full profile

About

Gordon Ching

Gordon Ching, Founder & CEO of the Design Executive Council (DXC), champions strategic design leadership alongside influential senior executives, CEOs and board directors. Noting that only about 5.3% of Fortune 1000 companies have a chief design executive, DXC aims to boost this number, enhancing the influence and value of design functions in companies. Under his leadership, DXC has emerged as the premier member network for global design executives and board directors, providing executive networking, research, advisory, and business insights.

With a background in design, research, and marketing at leading companies like Apple and Affirm, and a Master's in Design Management from SCAD, Gordon is at the frontier of elevating and integrating design's strategic role in transforming businesses worldwide.

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