For nearly three decades Charles Johnson has worked at the intersection of human performance, design, technology and manufacturing creating both analog and digital products for the sports, fashion, active lifestyle and gaming sectors and leading innovation on a global scale.
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design and recipient of the IDSA Merit Award, Charles began his career as a product designer and evolved into executive leadership roles, shaping strategies and teams for renowned brands. At Adidas’ global headquarters in Germany, he helped reestablish the company’s industry leadership by translating biomechanics research into cutting-edge performance technologies for athletes. He later founded Sports Creative Group, a New York-based design consultancy, where his accomplishments included the Black Fives™ apparel brand and designs for Ralph Lauren RLX and Prince Tennis.
Charles has held leadership roles at Adidas North America, Crocs and Puma SE, where he served as Global Director of Innovation. At Puma, he led multidisciplinary teams to create performance-enhancing technologies and forged partnerships with industry leaders like Hewlett-Packard, BMW, MIT Design Lab and ESL Gaming. His work integrates design and innovation with a focus on sustainability, mobility and social impact.
In addition to his professional work, Charles is a sustaining jurist for international design awards such as IDEA, iF and Core77. Through his consulting business, DrivenByCharles, he advises organizations and startups across sports, healthcare, sustainability and social impact sectors. He has given keynote speeches on the subjects of humanistic design delivering “Advanced Technology and Humanistic Design” at the Artificial Intelligence and Design Lab International Symposium in Hong Kong, “Design For Humanistic Values” at the 2020 International Design Conference (IDC) and wearable technology at Wear It Innovation Summit Berlin. He is featured on the Agents of Innovation and Freie Wildbahn “Bizplay Meets Creatables” podcasts.
At the ETC, Charles leverages his extensive experience to champion humanistic design and shaping experiences that bridge the digital and the physical worlds including human robot interface and mobility.
