Samsung eyes Pepsi's Mauro Porcini as first foreign design chief
Samsung Electronics is in discussions with Mauro Porcini, a globally renowned industrial designer, to appoint him as the chief design officer of its mobile business division, industry sources said Thursday.
If finalized, Porcini would become the first foreign CDO in the tech giant's history since its founding in 1969.
Porcini is known for spearheading design-led innovation at global companies such as 3M and PepsiCo. In 2012, he was the only designer named to Fortune's 40 Under 40 list, and he was also awarded Italy's national merit honor for elevating the country's design reputation on the global stage.
Samsung has a history of recruiting world-class experts across various domains to drive innovation.
In 2019, Samsung hired Steve McManus, a former senior designer at Apple, to lead the design strategy team in its mobile division. McManus had played a key role in hardware design for the iPhone and iPad, later guiding smartphone design strategies at Samsung.
In artificial intelligence and machine learning, Samsung brought in David Eun, a former executive at Google and AOL, in 2011 to launch Samsung Next, where he helped shape the company's open innovation and venture investment strategies.
In 2016, Sebastian Seung, a neuroscience expert and professor at Princeton University, joined Samsung and was later promoted to president. He has since led Samsung's AI research, focusing on neuroscience-driven AI development.
In 2013, the company appointed Gregory Lee, a former executive at Johnson & Johnson, as Executive Vice President for North America. He later became head of Samsung's mobile division in the US, playing a key role in expanding the company's presence and brand recognition in the region.
In 2015, Samsung appointed Lee Don-tae, former co-CEO of the British design firm Tangerine, as head of its global design center, further strengthening its global design capabilities.
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