Overview:

Designation : Professor of Practice, User Experience Design

Nilesh Akode is the Founder and Principal Designer at Maker’s ThirdPlace LLP in Bangalore, bringing over two decades of experience in strategic design consulting and leadership across North America, Europe, and India. He specializes in integrating business, technology, and user experience, leveraging his expertise in discerning nuanced patterns of human behaviour for design, strategy, brand development, and public policy.

Apart from his professional role, Nilesh is actively involved in academia, serving as a Professor of Practice at MITAOE Pune in India.

Before founding ThirdPlace LLP, Nilesh played a crucial role at RBEI (Bosch Global Software Technologies, Bangalore), contributing significantly to delivering services to Bosch International and external companies. His responsibilities included leading key UX projects, acquiring new projects, managing UX recruitment, and overseeing the external partner ecosystem.

Prior to RBEI, Nilesh worked at Honeywell Technology Solutions (HTS) in Bangalore, playing a pivotal role in establishing the Honeywell User Experience (HUE) studio. During his nearly decade-long tenure at HTS, he progressed through various roles, leading strategic planning, defining business and technology objectives, managing end-to-end user experience design, and contributing to global design leadership.

In his final role at HTS, Nilesh served as the Design Experience Leader for the six ECC (Environmental Combustion and Control) portfolio brands within the Building Technology business unit. Leading a team of designers, he supervised design in Europe and North America, earning international and internal Honeywell awards. Nilesh was also granted four international design patents.

Nilesh holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Amravati University and a Master's degree in Design (Industrial) from IDC (IIT Bombay). Currently residing in Bangalore with his wife Reshma and 12-year-old daughter Ira, Nilesh is not only dedicated to his professional pursuits but also passionate about Nature Journaling. He enjoys exploring various forms of media, including paper origami, Sumie Art, painting, and clay modeling. Nilesh's dream is to build a "ThirdPlace" where people can gather and experience the joy of creation, away from both home and work.