As Chief Design Officer for Land Rover, Gerry McGovern creates some of the world's most distinctive and desirable vehicles and is recognised as one of the world's critically acclaimed automotive design leaders.
After completing a degree in industrial design at Coventry University, McGovern went on to study for a Masters at the Royal College of Art in London, specialising in automotive design. He began his career at Chrysler in the UK, followed by a stint in Detroit, before returning to the UK as a Senior Designer for Peugeot and later joining the Rover Group. Through this period he was the lead designer of the critically acclaimed MGF sports car, the Land Rover Freelander ‑ the bestselling compact SUV in Europe for 7 years, and led the team that created the third generation Range Rover. McGovern then moved to the Ford Motor Company to head up and rejuvenate the Lincoln‑Mercury brands, setting up studios in Detroit and Irvine, California, in this role he was responsible for several award winning concept vehicles that were pivotal in establishing a relevant design strategy for modern day Lincoln vehicles. He returned to the UK to run a design consultancy in London, developing design and communication strategies for several automotive brands.
McGovern re‑joined Land Rover in 2004 as Director, Advanced Design, and was appointed as Land Rover Design Director in 2006. Since then his position has grown to include the role of Chief Creative Officer and he is an Executive member of the Jaguar Land Rover Board.
Currently, he and his team are in the process of creating an entire new generation of Land Rovers, redefining the brand and building on established heritage to make the product range relevant to the 21st Century. The phenomenally successful Range Rover Evoque, developed from the globally‑acclaimed LRX concept vehicle, was the first complete manifestation of McGovern's design strategy since his return from the US. This vehicle has not only changed the fortunes of the brand but has also helped bring about a cultural change within the business, bringing design to the core of the business. This was followed by the all‑new Range Rover, which launched to critical acclaim in September 2012, and the all‑new Range Rover Sport, unveiled in New York in March 2013.
McGovern and his team developed the Dramatic Discovery Vision Concept that was revealed in New York and Shanghai simultaneously, followed by the recently launched Production Compact Discovery, the first member of Land Rover new family of Discovery's, designed and engineered to be the World's most versatile premium company SUV, a vehicle created under the direction of McGovern that is poised to take the market by storm!
Responsible for guiding and visioning the future of this great British brand, McGovern is currently leading the team to develop opportunities to grow the business into new areas as well as the challenge of replacing icons such as the Defender. As Chief Creative Officer McGovern's wider remit is to guide all aspects of visual communications ensuring a consistent look and feel between vehicles and identity of the brand.
McGovern's passion for design reaches much further than the automotive industry; he is an authority on modern architecture and furniture as well as a collector of contemporary art. In October 2014 he was announced as a Visiting Professor at the prestigious Royal College of Art in London, demonstrating his commitment to design education. His remit will be to inspire a future generation of designers having committed his expertise to the college until 2016. The college's new professor will deliver a number of seminars to Masters students in which he will share his passion for design leadership and pass on his wealth of knowledge. McGovern has sat on many panels judging design, presented at numerous prominent international automotive and business events. His high profile status positions him perfectly as the figure head of the Land Rover brand at a global level.