Denis Weil

Denis Weil, dean of IIT Institute of Design, is a proven design leader with a passion for advancing the practice of design to create new solutions and approaches to entrenched problems, through both practice and teaching. For over a dozen years, he has driven design and innovation in leadership positions at large organisations (McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble) and start-ups.

Denis was named a ‘master of design’ by Fast Company. In the article ‘Making Over McDonald’s’ (Fast Company, 2010), Tim Brown, president and chief executive officer of IDEO, called Weil an ‘experience engineer’ engaged directly with large-scale experimentation. He has led teams in comprehensive product design, resulting in significant patents such as dynamic fit diapers, which has been part of Pampers design for over 25 years. Most recently, he has applied his design leadership to driving innovation in the social and public sector serving as a design advisor to a range of social enterprises and civic organisations including Bloomberg Philanthropies, Mercy Corps, and Sanergy.

A native of Switzerland, Denis received a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH in Zurich, master’s degree in design planning from IIT Institute of Design and most recently was an Advanced Leadership Initiative fellow at Harvard University.