Biography
After his design studies in Wuppertal, Germany, Jan-Erik Baars started his career in 1990 as an industrial designer at Philips Design in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. There he held various positions, initially as a product designer, later as design manager and branch director. From 1998 till 2003 he managed Philips Design's Branch in Vienna, Austria, were he was responsible for a diverse service offer. His design work won various prestigious design awards, amongst them the Rotterdam Design Award and the IF-award in Gold.
After 19 years with Philips, where his last position was the one of CDO (Chief Design Officer) for Consumer Electronics' business unit peripherals and accessories, he moved to Deutsche Telekom (T-mobile) in 2009, to head design management. Till leaving in December 2010, he was responsible for strategic design projects at Deutsche Telekom, after initially heading design management during the build-up phase.
Since January 2011 he is a self employed consultant in the field of design strategy and management, supporting organizations with design challenges. In collaboration with the HSLU he developed the Customer Centricity Score, by which the level of customer centricity in organizations can be measured.
As of September 2011 he also holds a professorship at the University of Applied Sciences in Lucerne, Switzerland, where he heads the bachelor program Design Management, International.
Next to his professional activities he is regularly invited to speak, or attend juries for design awards. He actively blogs on designfokus.net, addressing topics of design, brand and economics. As a guest-lecturer he has taught at various universities and is part of an international network of design-thinkers.
In 2018 he published "Leading Design", a german handbook for executives to effectively lead design with organisations.
Jan-Erik is an american born Dutchman and lives together with his family in Kempen, Germany, or in Lucerne, close to his students.
More information at www.janerikbaars.com
