Nike chief design officer interviewed for “Movers, Shakers"

Penn State Architecture alumnus John Hoke III, chief design officer at Nike, is featured in the latest “Movers, Shakers, Designers, Makers,” the College of Arts and Architecture’s interview series highlighting alumni making an impact across the arts and design disciplines. The interview can be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ZhSa5FE7jrY. Hoke (’88 B.Arch.), a 2008 Penn State Alumni Fellow, has been with Nike since 1992, moving into the chief design officer role in 2017. He has been a director at design leader Herman Miller since 2005, and on the board of advisors for Piaggio Fast Forward, an innovative tech product company, since 2016. “At Penn State, I was trained in critical, creative thinking. And that critical, creative thinking can be applied to a myriad of problems in front of you,” Hoke said in his interview with B. Stephen Carpenter II, dean of the College of Arts and Architecture. “The mechanics and skills are going to come and go. They’re going to keep evolving. It’s the traits you possess as a creative that stay with you. ... I can guarantee you this: the solutions to problems you face in the future won’t be what you have today. They’ll be completely different.” “Movers, Shakers, Designers, Makers” was launched virtually in spring 2020 to give alumni a way to discuss their careers and accomplishments, in a format that could be shared broadly. Previous interviews featured, among others, Graphic Design alumnus Adam Cohn, vice president of global design for Converse; School of Visual Arts alumnus and ceramic artist Roberto Lugo; and School of Theatre alumnus and social media entrepreneur Mike Karns. All interviews are available at https://arts.psu.edu/aadean/#msdm.