John Hoke III

John Hoke III (born 1965) is an American architect and designer who most recently served as chief innovation officer of Nike, Inc. from 2023 to 2025. He led the company's design team which includes more than 1,000 product and industrial designers, graphic designers, and fashion designers, as well as architects, interface, and digital content designers. After he had worn out a pair, he would slice the shoe in half to examine how it was made. He made sketches of his idea and was encouraged by his father, an engineer, to send it to Nike co-founder and president Phil Knight.

Hoke has spoken openly about growing up with dyslexia, and has said that he considers drawing to be his first language.

Hoke received an undergraduate degree in architecture (B.Arch) from Pennsylvania State University in 1988, followed by a Master of Architecture (M.Arch) from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Stanford University MBA.

Work and career Early in his career, Hoke worked as a model maker for architect Michael Graves, who, until he died in 2015, was a mentor of Hoke's. Hoke was hired by Nike in 1992 as a senior designer in environmental design. His early projects at Nike included the Nike pavilion at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and NikeTown New York.

Collaborations At Nike, he has collaborated with Serena Williams for almost 20 years. Speaking about Williams for an article in The New York Times by fashion critic Vanessa Friedman, he said "on a scale of 1 to 10 of involvement with her clothes, she is a 10." Under his leadership, Nike has also worked with designers such as Virgil Abloh, Max Lamb, and Sebastian Wrong, the architect Greg Lynn, and artists including Tom Sachs and Travis Scott, and brands such as Jacquemus, Comme des Garçons, and Louis Vuitton.

The largest building at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, is the Serena Williams Building which features many references to the athlete's career and her long collaboration with Nike. It was designed by Skylab Architecture, and according to Hoke, involved important creative input from Williams herself. Hoke's house, also designed in collaboration with Skylab Architecture, appears in the Twilight film franchise.

Sustainability at Nike In an interview with Monocle magazine, Hoke has also spoken about Nike's "Move To Zero" design philosophy and the role that circular design, sustainability, and carbon footprint reduction will play in its design practice, and has stated that "ur role as a brand is to be very thoughtful about sport and our planet." However, the "Move To Zero" initiative has been criticised for falling short of its stated goals.

In 2023, Nike published a book titled No Finish Line that sets out the company's design vision for the future. The foreword was written by Hoke, and it includes essays and writing by Geoff Manaugh and Sam Grawe.

Board membership Hoke is a permanent design fellow at Pennsylvania State University. a trustee at Pacific Northwest College of Art;

Awards and honours 2019 Pinnacle Award, International Dyslexia Association

Personal life Hoke lives with his wife and three sons in Portland, Oregon. After all, there is No Finish Line. (2023) Actual Source, Provo.