Mauro Porcini is Samsung’s first-ever President & Chief Design Officer, a newly created role he assumed in April 2025.
He leads human-centered innovation through design at one of the world’s largest and most influential multinational corporations in consumer technology.
Mauro oversees a global team of 1,500 designers spanning Samsung’s three core business units—mobile, displays and TVs, and home appliances. These teams are based in Seoul, South Korea, with additional design hubs in Japan, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Brazil, and India.
Before joining Samsung, Mauro served as the first Chief Design Officer at two other global, multi-billion-dollar companies: the tech giant 3M and the food and beverage powerhouse PepsiCo.
At PepsiCo, Mauro stepped into the newly created role in 2012, tasked with building a design culture and capability from the ground up. Based in New York City, he led a transformative approach to innovation by design across a portfolio of iconic brands, including Pepsi, Lay’s, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, SodaStream, Quaker, 7UP, Doritos, LIFEWTR, Bubly, Aquafina, Cheetos, Mirinda, amongst many others. His work spanned both physical and virtual expressions of the brand, encompassing product, packaging, retail experience, fashion and art collaborations, events, architecture, and digital media.
What began as a bold ambition evolved into a thriving global design organization: by the time he left in 2025 to join Samsung, PepsiCo Design had grown into a team of nearly 400 extraordinary designers across 19 cities worldwide. Together, they redefined the role of design within a global corporation—creating products, experiences, and narratives that touched billions of lives. Mauro also built a lasting culture of creativity, passion, and human-centered thinking, now deeply embedded within the fabric of PepsiCo.
Under his leadership, the team garnered more than 2,300 design and innovation awards, a testament not only to the impact of their work but also to the people behind it. In 2018, Fortune recognized PepsiCo on its "Driven by Design" list—one of only two food and beverage companies to earn the distinction.
Prior to PepsiCo, Mauro was the first-ever Chief Design Officer at 3M, where he led the design of innovative products and experiences across multiple business sectors while nurturing a design-driven culture within the global tech company. His teams in the U.S., Italy, China, and Japan earned numerous prestigious international awards.
He began his career at Philips Design and later co-founded his own design firm, Wisemad Srl, in Italy with renowned entertainment producer and music icon Claudio Cecchetto. His work in wearable technology has been exhibited at the Louvre in Paris and the Seoul Arts Center.
Mauro is also an accomplished author. In fall 2022, he released The Human Side of Innovation: The Power of People in Love with People (Berrett-Koehler), a book on innovation, design, and leadership. It won a Gold Medal at the Better Future – New York Design Awards and has since been translated into Chinese and Arabic. In 2021, he published L’età dell’Eccellenza (Il Saggiatore), now in its fifth reprint. In 2023, he co-authored Good Design is for Everyone (Rizzoli) with his PepsiCo design team.
He has served on the boards of multiple organizations and was President of the Board of the Politecnico di Milano Foundation in the U.S. (Fellows of Politecnico) from 2022 until his move to South Korea in 2025.
Mauro also created and hosted the podcast In Your Shoes – with Mauro Porcini, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, where he interviewed creative leaders from around the globe. He has been a recurring judge and presenter on the CBS and Amazon Prime Video series New York by Design and America by Design.
A passionate lover of design and fashion—but not addicted to it—Mauro owns more than 350 pairs of shoes. He holds dual citizenship (Italy and the U.S.) and currently resides in Seoul, South Korea, with his wife Carlotta, their children Beatrice and Leonardo, and their three Pomeranians—Leone, Bella, and Lupo.
Awards and Recognitions
One of Mauro’s most proudest honors is the title of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia, an order of knighthood bestowed upon him by the President of the Italian Republic. This prestigious knighthood recognizes individuals for “extraordinary merits in the preservation and promotion of national prestige abroad, fostering friendly relations and cooperation with other countries, and strengthening ties with Italy.”
Over the years, Mauro has received numerous additional accolades for his contributions to the fields of design and innovation.
From 2023 to 2025, he was included in the annual CALL 100: The World’s Most Inspiring People list by Call magazine for three consecutive years—reaching #10 in 2025. The list features a diverse and influential group of global changemakers, from Richard Branson, David Attenborough, Pharrell Williams, Taylor Swift, and Joe Biden, to the Dalai Lama, Oprah Winfrey, Greta Thunberg, Leo Messi, and Pope Francis, alongside Marina Abramović, Michael J. Fox, Deepak Chopra, Banksy, and Paul McCartney, among others—selected by an international jury and the Call editorial team.
In 2024, he was inducted into the Albo d’Onore dell’Ordine degli Architetti in Varese, Italy, and received both the ItalPress Award and the Business Care International Award in New York City.
In 2022, Mauro was named a Laureate of the American Prize for Design, presented by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. This prestigious award honors a designer who has achieved excellence, innovation, and long-lasting impact in their field.
In 2021, he was listed among “2020’s Top 25 Most Influential Innovators” by InnoLead (Boston).
In 2020, Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia) named him Innovator of the Year.
In 2019, he received the Pentawards “Visionary Award” in London.
In 2018, he was honored in New York City with the DrivenXDesign “Chairman’s Better Future Award”, recognizing individuals who have led impactful journeys toward a better future.
In 2016, the Italy America Chamber of Commerce presented Mauro with the Business and Culture Award, honoring an Italian citizen who has made extraordinary contributions in the U.S. in both business and culture. That same year, he also received the U.S. Design Brand Leader Award.
In 2015, Il Giornale named him one of “The 10 Italians Who Will Change the World”, and GQ Italy included him among the “30 Best Dressed Men of 2015”.
In 2014, he was included in Fast Company’s list of “Most Creative People in Business 1000”, and received the PrimiDieci Under 40 Award, celebrating the ten most distinguished young Italians in the U.S.
Since 2013, Mauro has been part of the “Italian Talents Abroad” community of the Aspen Institute Italia, chaired by Professor Giulio Tremonti.
In 2012, Fortune Magazine named him in its “40 under 40” list of the most promising rising stars in business—he was the only designer included. That same year, Ad Age recognized him in its “Creativity 50” ranking of the world’s most influential creative personalities. The Politecnico di Milano Alumni Association honored him with the Alumni Polimi Award, recognizing his role in enriching Italian culture on a global scale.
In 2011, Fast Company listed him among the “50 Most Influential Designers in America” and named him a “Master of Design.” The World HR Forum in Mumbai awarded him for Leadership and Innovation, and The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Journal referred to him as “the man putting 3M on the design map.” Under his leadership, 3M was named one of Fast Company’s “30 Companies That Get Design.”
Mauro’s work has been featured in numerous books on design and innovation across the globe, including:
• Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley and David Kelley
• Harvard Business Review's 10 Must Reads – On Design Thinking
• HBR's 10 Must Reads – The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year (2017)
• Jugaad Innovation by Simon Ahuja, Navi Radjou, and Jaydeep Prabhu
• Il Minimo Sostenibile by Gino Finizio
• Vincere con le idee by Enzo Baglieri and Gabriella Lojacono
Throughout his career, Mauro has been granted 47 patents, underscoring his enduring commitment to innovation and creativity.
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