With a storied 40-year career in design, Paul has worked with clients, partners, and colleagues around the world to bring to market human-centric, commercially successful, and socially significant new businesses, products, services, and experiences.  

For 23 years, he worked at IDEO, where he was Chief Creative Officer and then co-CEO. There, he was responsible for content excellence across the whole firm and was active in developing and publishing new thinking in the field of human-centered and design-led innovation. 

Paul, a Brit who grew up in Singapore, has a personally informed international perspective. He created IDEO’s largest global practice, Consumer Experience Design; ran its San Francisco office, setting a robust and enduring creative direction; extended IDEO’s international reach as part of the team that created its presence in China; established and led its New York office, increasing IDEO’s share of influence in the US market; and delivered impact to clients and new growth to IDEO’s business in Europe. He has worked with several governments, developing human-centered services, often focused on unleashing the creative capacity of the next generation. 

Today, Paul is a Senior Advisor at McKinsey, where he continues to provide creative leadership and cross-pollination of insights and ideas to clients and colleagues on an extended scale by traveling, learning, and working across the globe.  

 Paul is a sought-after speaker and is invited to speak at major forums, including: COP26, The World Government Summit, The World Economic Forum; Boao Forum for Asia, TED Global; TEDx Tohoku, Dubai and Amazonia; The Economist Redesigning Business Summit, The AOL CEO Conference, the American Express Luxury Summit and Tokyo Midtown Opening, and more. 

A keen educator, Paul has taught and coached students from the Royal College of Art (UK), Stanford University, Columbia Business School, and FIT’s (Fashion Institute of Technology, New York) Executive Beauty and Fragrance Marketing program and Capstone Project in the US. Most recently he has taught in Norway on the Masters program at Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo (KHiO) in Oslo and at Listaháskóli Íslands (Iceland Academy of the Arts) in Reykjavík. 

Paul resides in Denmark with his partner Jim and their three rescue cats, Freddie, Magnús, and Ziggy.