Karel Vredenburg

Karel has had a long career as a design executive, most recently as Global Vice President at IBM. He serves as Industry Professor in the McMaster University’s DeGroote Schools of Business and Medicine, hosts the Life Habits Podcast, serves on the Food for Climate League and PRAXXI Advisory Boards, and helps individuals with his life and career coaching practice.

He recently co-founded the global nonprofit Habits for a Better World with filmmaker Carly Williams and serves as its president, leading 300 volunteers. The initiative addresses global challenges—such as the health of the planet and ourselves—through research-driven, design-inspired behavior change via social media reels, a documentary, in-person activations, and GenAI-powered tools and other supports. Karel previously co-founded and led other large global projects such as the COVID-19 Design Challenge with the World Design Organization and Design for America and the Future of Design Education Initiative alongside design visionary Don Norman.

At IBM, he developed and introduced User-Centered Design across the company in the middle 1990s, led the company’s designers and researchers, developed a worldwide education program, a design and researcher toolkit, and published the book “User-Centered Design: An Integrated Approach”.

With the reboot of the design program in 2013, Karel introduced and taught IBM's Enterprise Design Thinking to each of the business units of the company globally—software, consulting, sales, and infrastructure—and to hundreds of other companies, startup incubators, and universities.

He founded the Design Executive Team of business unit top managerial design executives and led the Design Leadership Board of the technical and managerial design executives responsible for the appointment of Design Principals and Distinguished Designers.

Karel was responsible for the design profession, designer skill development, and design culture for the 3,000 designers in the company and for external engagement, academic programs, and the social media presence externally.

He did undergraduate, masters, and doctoral studies at the University of Toronto initially in cognitive science and clinical psychology which later led to research, specialization, and his life-long passion for, practice in, and leadership of design and research. Karel blogs at karelvredenburg.com and his social media coordinates include @karelvredenburg on Instagram as well as on LinkedIn.