About
Tom is IDEO’s general manager. With his brother, IDEO founder and chairman David Kelley, Tom helped manage the firm as it grew from 20 designers to a staff of more than 500 people. At various points in our history, this jack-of-nearly-all-trades has overseen business development, marketing, human resources, and operations. Tom shares IDEO’s human-centered design philosophy and methodology with the world through speaking engagements and two best-selling books, The Art of Innovation (2001) and The Ten Faces of Innovation (2005). When he’s not traveling the globe to talk about innovation, he can be found biking around Northern California — including to IDEO’s offices — or watching more than 100 movies per year.
Speaking Highlights
March 2008, “Ten Faces of Innovation,” Experience!Tech 2008, Toronto, ON
October 2006, “Patient-Centered Care,”
2006 Planetree Annual Conference
May 2006, Manufacturing Matters! Conference, Boston, MA
May 2006, The Front End of Innovation Conference
March 2006, AGILITY 2006
November 2005, “The Ten Faces of Innovation,”
Commonwealth Club
October 2005, “The Ten Faces of Innovation,”
Forum radio show, KQED, San Francisco, CA
April 2005, EPC Developers Conference
December 2003, Brand ManageCamp 2003
September 2003, 10th Annual Innovation Convergence Conference
June 2003, “Big Thinkers,”
TechTV
May 2003, “Design Matters: Poetry and Proof,”
AIA Convention and Expo
February 2003, Conference on Leadership
Speaking Topics
Design thinking
Organizational design
Published Work
January 2006, "A Galaxy Still Expanding," The New York Times
