Derek's career started with great success at the brand consultancy Wolf-Olins in London, where he created the infamous "Piper" identity for British Telecom – the work is now in the permanent collection at the V&A.

After that, Derek took one of the most challenging jobs in the industry to became Creative Director for Interband where he helped international clients such as BMW, Canon, HP, Microsoft, ACE Reinsurance, American Airlines, and MasterCard. After running the office for Futurebrand in Malaysia, he moved back to New York as design director of Imagination — where he created brand experiences for Samsung, Sprint, Coca-Cola, and The Ford Motor Company.

Derek has also helped launch Virgin America, created identity systems for AOL and Intel, and worked with Sony, Virgin, AT&T, Charles Schwab, Sunrun and ExxonMobil.

Derek graduated with a First Class BA Honors degree from Wolverhampton University in 1986.