Steve Jobs named a Chrysler 'Design Champion'

Following Apple designer Jonathan Ive’s nabbing a spot on Esquire’s ” Best and Brightest ” list of emerging leaders who will “reshape our world,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been named a “Design Champion” in Chrysler’s Annual Chrysler Design Awards in New York City.

The Chrysler brand is celebrating the achievements of six “Design Champions” — individuals who have “consistently championed seminal works of architecture and design, and significantly influenced the culture of design in America.” (And maybe with Jobs, they’re trying to make up for their “Drive Different” ad campaign which was a rip-off … er, homage to Apple’s “Think Different” ads.) Jobs was also noted for his leadership of Pixar, the Academy Award-winning animation studio he co-founded in 1986.

Chrysler will honor the Design Champions at an event on Tuesday, November 12, at the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building, New York City. Author and NBC correspondent, John Hockenberry, will serve as the master of ceremonies. Besides Jobs, other Design Champs are:

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former New York Senator “who pushed the boundaries of policy by advocating for design excellence in the public realm.”

Phyllis Lambert, founding director and chair of the board of trustees of the Canadian Centre for Architecture and curator of the “Mies in America” exhibition that traveled to New York City, Chicago and Montreal (1998-2001).

Mildred (Mickey) Friedman, design curator and past curator of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for over 20 years.

Murray Moss, an arbiter of “innovative, cutting-edge product design” with his New York City store, Moss, which he opened in SoHo in 1994.

Red Burns, chair of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University and Tokyo Broadcasting System Professor of Communications at New York University.