Bill Lee

An early adopter of an ecological mindset and developer of new methods for strategy and rapid new product development with end users and customers, Professor Bill Lee has assisted companies with business strategy development, innovation, and market offer development through a wide sustainability lens for over three decades. He has been awarded numerous US patents and international awards for his client work, ranging from consumer packaging to high-tech electronic diagnostic equipment. His consulting clients have included entrepreneurs to small- and middle-market organizations to large corporations, including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Hewlett Packard, Johnson Wax, McDonald’s, Motorola, Porsche, and Steelcase.

In 2007, Prof. Lee founded UICO, LLC, a leading developer and manufacturer of demanding environment capacitive touch screen solutions. He has served on boards for companies ranging in revenue from $25M to $200M and is the founder and principal of Brand Design, LLC, a consulting company dedicated to assisting forward thinking enterprises with strategy development, business challenges, and innovation opportunities.

Prof. Lee has created and led online classes for Marlborough College, England, and taught in the United States at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Lehigh University, and The Savannah College of Art and Design, where he also served as chair of the Design Management Department for five years. For the last three years, he has taught for Northwestern University’s online Executive Education Program. He is currently an assistant professor of management and marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Carthage.

Prof. Lee studied engineering at Syracuse University and earned a BFA in Industrial Design from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

• Master of Business Administration, Executive Masters Program (EMP 34), J.L.Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University, 1996
• Bachelor of Fine Arts, Industrial Design Major, The University of Michigan, 1982

• “Design Defined - DESIGN IS CONSCIOUS ACTION” — Innovation, Journal of The Industrial Designers Society of America, November 2013
• “Modern Interface Design - INTIMATEINTERACTION” — Innovation, Journal of The Industrial Designers Society of America, July 2010 (with Don Norman)
• “Reinvigorating a Brand through Product Development” — Product Case Study on E- Work Markets, February 2007
• “Process Makes Perfect” (Innovation ‘How to’ workshop) — Product Development Process Article E-Work Markets, February 2006
• Structured Dreaming...or How to Outrageously Creative in 2 Days” — Innovation
  Workshop Process Article E-Work Markets, February 2006

• “Creating Brand Affinity Through Packaging” — 2003 International Institute of Research Conference, Oct. 8-10, Chicago, IL
• “I’d like to be...” (Values clarification for teens) — New York Times Partner Program for Education, March 2002, NYC
• “The Vision Thing” (Innovation ‘How to’ workshop) — 2001 American Association of Sunday Feature Editors Conference, Chicago
• “Keys To A Successful Design Process” (Featured speaker) — 2001 Guangdong Industrial Design Conference, Guangzhou, China