SAN FRANCISCO, California—August 28, 2023—Design Executive Council (DXC), the premier membership network for design executives, is thrilled to announce that Arin Bhowmick, Executive Vice President & Chief Design Officer of SAP, has joined the organization as a Board Advisor and Founding Member.
A Titan in Enterprise Design
With over two decades of unparalleled expertise, Arin is a titan in the field of design leadership, especially within the enterprise software arena. As SAP’s Chief Design Officer, Arin currently leads a 1,000+ person design community at SAP, the world's third-largest publicly traded software company by revenue, and oversees global design strategy across SAP’s vast array of products and services. In addition to his duties as Chief Design Officer, Arin also sits on SAP’s Innovation Steering Committee. Here, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the company's future through design considerations, reinforcing design's integral function in driving enterprise-wide decisions.
Before joining SAP, Arin spent six years at IBM as their Chief Design Officer for IBM Products, a tenure marked by over 60 international Design and Innovation awards. The impact of his work at IBM was acknowledged in a 2021 Harvard Business School case study. Arin’s career began at Oracle, where he eventually served as Senior Director of Cloud Applications and User Experience across his 13 year journey, setting the stage for his future leadership roles. Arin is not merely a design leader; he’s a craftsman who takes deep-rooted pride in simplifying complexity through the medium of design and technology to drive business and user outcomes. His design philosophy is underscored by the ownership of over 15 design patents, and as he aptly puts it, "good design isn’t just a job—it’s a deep responsibility to the people we serve."
Board Advisor and Strategic Direction
As a Board Advisor, Arin will be instrumental in shaping the DXC’s strategic direction and member experience to meet the modern needs of corporate design executives. Working closely with Founder & CEO Gordon Ching, and DXC’s Advisory Board of seasoned design executives, Arin’s deep expertise and broad understanding of the industry landscape will provide DXC with invaluable insights as it seeks to advance strategic design leaders to the highest levels of industry and society.
Shaping the Future of Design Leadership
Arin’s engagement with the DXC represents more than an individual commitment; it symbolizes a critical juncture for corporate design leadership. Investment in design is becoming an increasingly pivotal competitive advantage. More companies than ever before now hold Chief Design Officer roles, including SAP's continued commitment to enhancing user experience and modernizing their product offerings serves as a testament to this growing focus on design in the enterprise sector.
Arin's Vision for the DXC
Arin is optimistic about the DXC's transformative potential. "At this pivotal moment, the world yearns for design leaders to seize the reins and shape the future we collectively desire. DXC holds the key to fostering the next wave of design visionaries, empowering them to reach unparalleled heights of design impact and unlock the boundless transformative power that design holds," he shared. In conversation with DXC Founder & CEO Gordon Ching, Arin emphasized the irreplaceable value of a strong peer network for design leaders. "Design is a long-game, and Design Leadership is an even longer game. Having a strong peer network through the DXC is essential to improve our ability to sustain performance and elevate our creativity," said Arin.