Ivy Ross (born 1955)[1] is an American business executive, designer,[2] and Chief Design Officer for Consumer Devices atGoogle.[3] She has worked at Google since May 2014; prior to being appointed Chief Design Officer, she led theGoogle Glass team atGoogle X.[4][5]
Ross's metal work in jewelry design is in the permanent collections of 12 international museums, including the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.[6] One of few recognized fine artists to successfully cross over into the business world, Ross is also a keynote speaker[7] and a member of several boards, and has been hailed as a “creative visionary” by the art world.[8]
In February 2019 she was named one of the 15 Most Powerful Women at Google byBusiness Insider.[9] In July 2019 she was named #9 onFast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business.[10] Ivy is the co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us withSusan Huganir Magsamen.[11] This book shares the science behind humanities birthright - to make and behold art and its power to amplify physical and mental health, learning and build stronger communities.
Ross was born in Yonkers, New York, and grew up in Riverdale. She credits her father, an industrial engineer who worked for theRaymond Loewy studio that created theStudebaker Hawk automobile, for influencing her choice of careers.[12] Ross attended theHigh School of Art and Design in New York City, with a major in fine art and minor in psychology. She later attended theSyracuse University School of Design and theFashion Institute of Technology in New York City with a major in jewelry design. She went on to complete the Professional Management Development Program atHarvard Business School in 1994.[13] In 2016, she gave the keynote speech at the Fashion Institute of Technology and was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.[14]
Ross began her professional career as a designer. After college she launched a jewelry design business in 1978 called Small Wonders,.[15] Until the mid-‘80s, Ross worked as a designer forAvon Products Inc.[16] She oversaw product development forSwatch Watch and worked as an accessories designer forLiz Claiborne before moving on to direct design and product development for Outlook Eyewear (Bausch and Lomb),Coach, andCalvin Klein.
During Ross's tenure atMattel (1998 to 2004) as senior vice president of worldwide product design & brand image for The Girls Division, she was charged with developing a new toy for the pre-teen girls segment. Ross conceived of an experiment in multi-disciplinary design dubbed “Project Platypus”,[17][18][19] which resulted in Mattel's highly successfulEllo Creation System.
Whilst at Mattel, Ross also failed to see the shift in consumer preferences of the "tween" segment: i.e. girls between the age of 9 to 12 years old.[20] This caused a U.S. toy company named MGA Entertainment Inc. to launch a competitive series of dolls named Bratz. After the introduction of Bratz in 2001, sales of Barbie declined rapidly, whereby Bratz outsold Barbie for the first time in December 2003. From that moment, Bratz became had number one marketshare position. As a consequence of the significant drop in sales of Barbie, Mattel had to take drastic measures to be able to further lose marketshare. Ross left Mattel just after Barbie lost its number one market position.
After leaving Mattel, Ross joined theGap Inc. as executive VP of product design & development forOld Navy from 2004 to 2007. While there, Ross created an in-house blog called "Culture Feed" with insight culled from the Internet and curated by trend-hunter Jody Turner.[21] She left to become Senior VP and chief creative officer for theDisney Stores of America (owned by the Children's Place),[22] a position she held for one year before returning to theGap Inc. in 2008. As executive vice president of marketing for theGap Inc. Ross was responsible for the launch of the 1969 denim line of jeans. In July 2011, Ross joined Art.com[23] where she served as chief marketing officer until her move toGoogle X in 2014.
AtSalone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano in April 2019, Ross led the Google Hardware Design Studio in building A Space for Being: a 6000 square foot installation based on the concepts ofneuroaesthetics. The exhibit was created in partnership with Reddymade Architecture,Susan Magsamen and the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, and Muuto Furniture Design.[24]
Ross was one of the first jewelers to use titanium, tantalum, and niobium, metals that reveal a spectrum of colors when they are charged with electricity.[25] By age 26, Ross had some of her jewelry designs included in the permanent collections of 10 museums, including theSmithsonian,[26] theVictoria and Albert Museum[27] in London, theMuseum of Arts and Design,[28] the Schmuckmuseum, inPforzheim, Germany,[29] theCooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City and the Montreal Visual Arts Center. Ross is a recognizedAmerican craft artist and has had her work exhibited globally.[30] In 1984 Ross and then-husbandRobert Ebendorf won a Formica design competition through the exploration of a new product called ColorCore™.[31]
Ross is on the board of directors for Destination XL Group Inc,[32] Willow,[33] ArtCenter College of Design,[34] and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.[35] Previously, she was on the design board for Procter & Gamble[36] and the Institute for Play.[37]
Ross was given the Juror, Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) competition in 2006.[38] Additionally, she presented as a business storyteller for BIF-2, a collaborative innovation summit sponsored by the Business Innovation Factory, that same year.[39] In 2003, Ross was one of nine executives chosen by Fast Company magazine for the “Who's Fast 2003” issue.[40] In 2008, she was named a Fashion Design Mentor for Otis College of Art & Design.[41] In 2017, Ross was featured as one of200 Women who will change the way you see the world in both a book and a touring exhibition.[42]Surface magazine featured Ross in The Boundaries Issue on barrier-breaking figures in 2019.[43]
Ross has been featured as a guest on several podcasts, including Meet the Creatives,[44] Time Sensitive,[45] Clever,[46] The Vergecast,[47] and Design Milk.[48]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| Smartphones |
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computers |
| ||||||
| Wearables | |||||||
| People | |||||||
| Related | |||||||
