Ideo hires a new CEO, Michael Peng

Ideo—the global design firm famous for putting Design Thinking into the lexicon of corporate America—has vastly reduced its staff as appetite for its services have waned. But two years following the culling, the company has hired a new CEO.

Michael Peng will take the role in June. Peng is a former Ideo partner who has spent the last five years leading the venture studio Moon Creative Lab, which was founded by the Japanese investment firm Mitsui & Co. “His leadership will bring a unique blend of human-centered creativity, multicultural fluency, thoughtful collaboration, and strong business acumen,” the company announced in a press release.

Meanwhile, Derek Robson, Ideo’s CEO since 2023 who oversaw the largest staff cuts in the company’s history, will be moving into a “group-level role” at Kyu, the parent organization of Ideo.

Before Moon, Peng studied neuroscience as an undergrad at Berkeley, and amassed considerable experience at IDeo, where he led the company’s human factors team and was key at shaping its expansion in Japan. During his 14 years with the company, he co-founded the company’s Tokyo office—a satellite that was profitable for Ideo even as the larger company was losing money in the 2020s. Robson closed Ideo Tokyo in what staffers considered a bungled move to “prioritize” its venture arm partnership in the region, D4V, which Peng also founded.

While it would be premature to deconstruct too much of Ideo’s strategy with the hire, it is notable that Robson was the first non-designer Ideo had ever hired for the role of CEO. And in hiring Peng, Ideo has put a trained designer back at the helm of the company. 

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