Darrel Rhea

CEO

Darrel Rhea, CEO of Cheskin Added Value has worked for more than 30 years at the front lines of innovation with the world’s top corporations, helping to drive growth strategies through the development of critical insights on their customers, markets and businesses. As a pioneer in customer-centric design and consumer-led innovation, Rhea’s relentless advocacy and passion for basing design strategy on a deep empathy for human beings has changed the discourse of the innovation and design industry.

Rhea has developed processes, methods and tools for driving innovation that have become standard for contemporary design consulting practices. He has built a successful organization renowned for delivering proprietary insights and go-to-market strategies for category leaders. By integrating the disciplines of social science, business analytics and design methods at Cheskin, Rhea contributes significantly to the reinvention of business consulting.

A recognized thought leader, Rhea co-authored the book Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences, is frequently interviewed and quoted on radio, television, newspapers, magazines, books and blogs (featured on CNN, and in Inc. Magazine, Fortune, Business Week, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink), and has authored articles in numerous business and professional publications. Rhea was awarded the Design Management Institute’s “Jay Doblin Award” for design theory. A renowned public speaker, Darrel has inspired business leaders internationally in prominent venues including World Economic Forum, National Public Radio, Forbes CEO Conference; he has keynoted many seminal design and innovation conferences, and he has lectured at leading business schools and design schools.