DXC members, associates, and guests gathered for an event on June 27, 2024 in San Francisco

One Year. One Mission. One Community.

Dear Members and Community,

One year ago, I embarked on a mission to build a company that serves the unique needs of design executives at the highest levels of business and society. Today, I am proud to share the extraordinary progress we have made. DXC continues to elevate strategic design leadership in the corporate boardroom and beyond. Amongst the backdrop of industry change and disruption, our members continue to create business impact and elevate the design and its related functions. Design leaders are increasingly pivotal in transforming how some of the largest companies compete, innovate, and create value for a range of stakeholders and shareholders.

Our members represent companies with over $3.3 trillion in market capitalization and $1.3 trillion in annual revenues across financial services, aerospace, automotive, healthcare, retail, and software sectors. Together, we are empowering new roles for design leadership in the C-Suite and on corporate boards. This year, we have supported the advancement of design leadership within Fortune 1000 companies and late-stage ventures through a membership model that enables us, and our members, to become strategic advisors and sounding boards for one another.

We have both educated and been educated by our diverse community of executives. Influential Chief Design Officers have taught us what it takes to succeed at the highest levels and how to elevate design's strategic value in business. Board directors have shown us how to engage in strategic decision-making, and bridge the gap between design, revenue, and impact. Chief Financial Officers have highlighted the importance of understanding the value-add of a function, benchmarking data, and articulating how design activities drive top- and bottom-line business metrics.

Key highlights include:

• Membership: Our Council now represents the world's foremost design executives serving at major public companies and ventures in the United States and internationally. Together, they represent over $3.3 trillion in market capitalization and $1.3 trillion in annual revenues across financial services, aerospace, healthcare, retail, and software sectors. Our members are leading in design executive roles as VP, SVP, CDO, CXOs of their organizations, with 45% of our members being female executives
  
• Impact: Through our program, members have reported increased job retention, enhanced business impact and strategic thinking, and a greater sense of belonging and community through DXC membership. We've supported pivotal career transitions, advising on VP to C-level career decisions, compensation, negotiation, and role design, leading to more strategic career choices and higher financial ROI. ‍
• Events: Consistent delivery of educational executive events spanning firesides, roundtables, workshops, in-person dinners, and virtual discussions, including topics related to executive level design and board director roles. We welcomed experts from across the table, including corporate board experts and CFOs.‍
• Brand: Over 100,000 unique visitors have engaged directly with our LinkedIn and website, generating over 157K impressions, demonstrating the strength of our brand. We have invested significantly in our members by developing media assets and content for our members' profiles, enhancing their presence, positioning, discoverability, and thought leadership.‍
• Connection: Launch of DXC West Coast Hub in San Francisco and DXC East Coast Hub in New York City, providing a consistent annual calendar of events for members across both coasts in an intimate setting for member connections and knowledge transfer. Our dinners and events throughout the year helped forge meaningful peer relationships.
• ‍Research: Formation of DXC Research and its supporting committee, comprised of senior executives, industry analysts, and researchers. We launched our first white paper focused on 'Strategic Behaviors and Mindsets of Design Executives' in partnership with Figma. Our research was featured on a leadership panel at Config 2024, where our members and CEO spoke.‍‍
• ‍Board: Formation of an advisory board consisting of seven founding members who represent diverse design executive needs in both mature and earlier-stage companies. Our advisors serve as VPs and CDOs of their firms and meet with our founder & CEO on a regular basis to guide the quality and relevancy of our programming.

Looking forward to our second year, our teams and members are working to further mature our membership, research, and media operations. This will enable us to codify critical knowledge of strategic design leadership practices and enhance our ability to educate and advocate to our member firms, business stakeholders, and the design community.

Thank you to our community and supporters for fueling the momentum around our mission to advance strategic design leadership to the highest levels of business. A special thank you to our advisors and members who contribute so meaningfully to our community and business—without you, this endeavor would not be possible. The passion in our community gives me immense pride and conviction for our mission as we head towards our second year of operations. Let's build!

For the love of design,

Gordon Ching
Founder & CEO
Design Executive Council

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