Featuring | NYFA Hall of Fame Honoree Phil Gilbert
Gilbert – Patron of the Arts and General Manager of Design, IBM, will be inducted into the NYFA Hall of Fame on April 12, 2018 alongside Paul Beatty (Fellow in Poetry ‘93) and Carolee Schneemann (Fellow in Performance/Multidisciplinary ‘87).
Phil Gilbert is a recognized leader in the technology industry who has led the IBM design program since 2012, spearheading a broader transformation of how the company’s teams understand and solve complex problems.
IBM’s design program is based on two principles: adding formally-trained designers into IBM at an unprecedented scale, and reskilling its global workforce in design thinking and agile practices. Under Gilbert, IBM has built the largest design team in the world, with more than 1,600 professionally-trained designers working on the latest technologies like AI, blockchain, and cybersecurity.
In February 2018, IBM partnered with NYFA to host Inform: A Symposium on Cultural Entrepreneurship. The invite-only symposium explored the critical intersection of arts and business, and featured talks, panels, and interactive sessions led by an esteemed lineup of art, business, academic, and government leaders. Gilbert participated in a panel that examined cultural entrepreneurship from the perspective of four sectors: business, academic, government, and nonprofit arts.
Prior to being General Manager of Design, Gilbert led the Business Process Management segment for IBM, where he drove the simplification of its portfolio and the ease-of-use of its products. He joined IBM in 2010 via the acquisition of Lombardi Software, where he was President.
Gilbert has been awarded multiple patents across his career and is a thought-leader on topics of portfolio and software design, design governance, strategy, and culture. He has most recently been called upon to advocate before the U.S. Congress for a new “Digital Americans with Disabilities Act.” He lives in Austin, Texas.
Read more about Gilbert and how he is helping to transform business through design in this 2017 Forbes article and 2015 New York Times article.
Stay tuned for our next post about 2018 Hall of Fame Honoree Phil Gilbert, and learn more about NYFA’s 2018 Hall of Fame Benefit here. Sign up for NYFA’s bi-weekly newsletter, NYFA News, to receive announcements about future NYFA events and programs.
Image: Phil Gilbert – Patron of the Arts, Photo Courtesy: IBM
