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Rachel Kobetz

Chief Design Officer at PayPal; founder of Design Leadership at Scale

ExecutiveLeads from the frontHybrid schoolEnterpriseOrgAI
A sitting Fortune-100 CDO who is actively reskilling the next tier of design leaders for the AI era — teaching judgment over commoditized execution and positioning teams as essential, the elevate-the-people thesis embodied at executive altitude.

Signature win. Became PayPal's first CDO, leading 400+ designers and researchers through the shift from payments to a commerce platform across 350M+ accounts, after reorganizing Expedia's design org around the customer journey rather than brand.

The case

editorial · CCBEI · with sources
CraftCareer spanning Samsung Mobile Innovation Lab, Amazon HCD, BofA, Expedia, now PayPal CDO; preaches velocity-with-judgment and 'what teams refuse to ship' as the craft bar.8
CommunicationProlific public voice — 'Defining Experience' newsletter, Fast Company board, UX Collective essays, Maven courses, keynotes; explicitly teaches making design legible and essential to leadership.9
BusinessFirst CDO at PayPal leading 400+ across a payments-to-commerce shift over 350M accounts; reorganized Expedia by customer journey, not brand, framing design as competitive advantage.9
EducationFounder of Design Leadership at Scale and ADPList mentor; her whole second act is reskilling senior design leaders for the AI era — the people-protection axis is her core product.9
InnovationLeads AI adoption 'from the front' with the 'AI-Native Leader' course; reframes AI as expanding what's expected of designers, not shedding them — clear elevate, not hollow.8

Endorsed by peers

illustrative · opens with verified accounts
OverallI'd work for them119
CraftRaised my craft bar110
CommunicationMade the case for design124
BusinessMade design matter to the business124
EducationTaught me something I still use124
InnovationShowed me a new way to work110

Verified peers only — one tap with LinkedIn. Names stay private; we show role and industry. Bars are illustrative until the participation backend is live.

Stories

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