Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • M. Sc., Industrial Design - ArtCenter College of Design

  • M.B.A., Finance, Strategy & Entrepreneurship - Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University

  • B. Sc., Mechanical Engineering - University of Notre Dame

Professional History

  • Founder & Chief Creative Officer - dreams • design + life, April 2018 - Present

  • Head of Design - Invoy, February 2019 - Present

  • Co-Founder, Investor & Industrial Designer - Keevo, December 2017 - Present

  • Vice President of Strategic Design - BCG Digital Ventures, April 2016 - April 2018

  • Principal, Human-Centered Design & Innovation Director - BCG Digital Ventures, January 2014 - March 2016

  • Principal, Human-Centered Design & Innovation Director - Booz Digital, December 2012 - December 2013

  • Design & Innovation Consultant - Axon Advisory Partners, May 2012 - December 2012

  • Design & Innovation Stretch Contributor - Nike, Inc., January 2008 - July 2010

  • Product Process Manager - Nike, Inc., January 2007 - July 2010

  • Financial Manager - Nike, Inc., July 2005 - January 2007

  • Senior Engineer - Westinghouse Nuclear, June 1998 - August 2003

Publications & Credits

  • Nonlinear: Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction (The MIT Press), releasing February 2025

  • Foreword - Chris Miller and Jenessa Spears, Routledge Companion to Practicing Anthropology & Design (Routledge), releasing TBD

  • Foreword - Sheryl Cababa, Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers, (Rosenfeld Media), February 2023

  • “Q&A with Kevin Bethune,” DMI Review Vol. 34, Issue 4, November 2023

  • “The Key to Critical Transformation,” ArtCenter On Magazine, September 2023

  • “A Designer’s Journey of Writing - Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation,” DMI Review Vol. 34, Issue 3, August 2023

  • Endorsement - Dori Tunstall, PhD, Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook (The MIT Press), February 2023

  • Mention - Maria Giudice and Christopher Ireland, Change-makers: How Leaders Can Design Change in an Insanely Complex World, (Two Waves Books), January 2023

  • Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation (The MIT Press), March 2022

  • Mention - Natalie Nixon, The Creativity Leap (Berrett-Koehler), May 2020

  • Mention - Krystina Castella, Designing for Kids: Creating for Playing, Learning, and Growing (Routledge), December 2018

  • “Servant Leaders and Gatekeepers,” DMI Review Vol. 30, Issue 4, December 2019

  • “How to Future-Proof your Design Career: Expert Insights from Kevin Bethune,” Interaction Design Foundation, August 2019

  • “Connected by Design,” DMI Review Vol. 28, Issue 1, March2017

Board Service

  • Board Trustee - ArtCenter College of Design, July 2021 - Present

  • Board Director - Design Management Institute (DMI) - January 2017 - Present (Board Chair, December 2018 - December 2023)

  • Advisory Board Member - EDI, Northwestern University

Honors & Awards

  • 2023 Graduation Commencement Speaker - UIC, Architecture, Design & the Arts

  • “Our Bestsellers of 2022,” The MIT Press - Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation (released March 2022)

  • The Design of Business | The Business of Design (DBBD) Season 10 Co-host with Dana Arnett - DesignObserver

  • 2021 Core77 Awards Jury Captain for Consumer Technology

  • 2021 IDSA Sustainability Deep-Dive - Co-Emcee

  • Future of Design Education - Steering Committee Member

  • 2017 CEO Award, BCG Digital Ventures

  • 2018 Young Alumni Award - ArtCenter College of Design

  • 2005 D. H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship / SMC Busienss Council - Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year Award

  • 2005 D. H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship - Enterprise Award with Special Distinction

  • 2002 / 2003 - 2 Westinghouse Signature Awards and 1 Westinghouse Special Project Award for the Palisdades Emergent CRDM Housing Replacement Campaign

Major Media

  • The Design Better Podcast with Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter - “Kevin Bethune: Reimagining Design,” 2023

  • NBC TMJ-4 - “The Power of Transformative Design with Kevin Bethune,” 2022

  • Fast Company - “What Nike Taught Me About Collaborative Design,” 2022

  • Next Pittsburgh - “Tony Norman: Kevin Bethune Shares the Drive Behind His Design of Nike’s Air Jordan Fusion 8,” 2022

  • Print Magazine - “The Daily Heller: Realism Plus Dreams Equals Reimagined Design,” 2022

  • Core77 - “Kevin Bethune’s Reimagining Design is the Read We Need Right Now,” 2022

  • Fortt Knox with Jon Fortt - “Kevin Bethune, author of Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation,” 2022

  • Fast Company - “12 Design & Architecture Books to Get Excited About in 2022,” 2021

  • Fortt Knox with John Fortt - “Kevin Bethune, Keevo Co-Founder - a Fortt Knox Conversation," 2021

  • Revision Path Podcast with Maurice Cherry - “Episode 382: Kevin Bethune,” 2021

  • Dr. John Maeda’s LinkedIn Live - “The Business of Design, CX in 2020, and Thoughts on Racial Justice,” 2020

  • In Your Shoes Podcast with Mauro Porcini, PepsiCo Design - “Episode 6 with Kevin Bethune", 2020

  • Notre Dame IDEA Center - “ND Founders Profile 39: As This Former Engineer Now Global Design Entrepreneur Proves, The Path to Success is Anything but Linear,” 2020.

  • TED - “The 4 Superpowers of Design,” 2017

Photo: Richard Hadley / TED.