Philips Appoints van der Heide First Chief Design Officer for Lighting

Philips has announced that Rogier van der Heide will be appointed in the newly created position of chief design officer for Philips Lighting. The company states that this serves as a further step in elevating the role of design in the company, which it recognizes as a key factor of brand differentiation and a significant source of competitive advantage.

The role of chief design officer has already been established within the Philips consumer lifestyle and healthcare sectors.

"Lighting design can explore new and unique ways that lighting can meet people's needs and aspirations through form, function and emotion. Rogier's work has shown that he truly understands how to simply enhance people's lives with light. By bringing Rogier into the design leadership of the company we are strengthening our commitment to the field of lighting design and becoming a better partner for our customers,'" says Stefano Marzano, CEO of Philips Design and chief design officer for Philips.

van der Heide will begin his new position for Philips Lighting, beginning on March 1, 2010. With him, he brings twenty years of experience in design-led innovation and the creation of lighting solutions. He is internationally recognized as one of the leading architectural lighting design specialists and has been awarded many of the industry's most prestigious awards, including the Lighting Designer of the Year Award 1998, the International Association of Lighting Design Radiance Award in 2005 and the International Lighting Design Award of Excellence in 2005 and 2006. Until recently, he was director at Arup and global business leader lighting design of Arup Lighting.

"The role of chief design officer has been installed in Philips Lighting to strengthen our dialogue with stakeholders by offering a new voice that speaks the same language of innovation as many of our customers and partners. Through this appointment we are able to further integrate design in our business creation processes and people-led innovation. We are thrilled to have Rogier join and bring his strong experience in lighting and architectural design," concludes Rudy Provoost, CEO Philips Lighting.