Ralph Gilles

Ralph Gilles turned an early interest in drawing cars into a career at Chrysler and its successor companies. Born in New York City in 1970 and raised in Montreal, he is of Haitian descent. His work has ranged from studio design to executive responsibility for brands and global design strategy, and Stellantis has featured him among its Black design leaders.

Gilles earned a fine-arts degree in industrial design from Detroit's College for Creative Studies in 1992 and joined Chrysler as a designer that year. He later completed an MBA at Michigan State University in 2002.

As a design director, Gilles helped guide the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum through development ahead of their 2004 launches for the following model year. A Contemporary Black Biography account describes his studio's role and the reception the vehicles received.

His later appointments included leadership of the Dodge brand, the SRT performance business and design at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. When Stellantis was formed in 2021, his design responsibilities covered brands including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram. A 2025 reorganization gave him a broader global design role. The company's July 2025 announcement named Scott Krugger to lead North American design and Gilles Vidal for the European brands, with Gilles focusing on global strategy and projects while regional leaders kept responsibility for their markets.

Mentorship is part of his public work. In a 2022 Newsweek interview, he talked about learning from former General Motors design leader Ed Welburn and from colleagues on his own team, and the report described mutual support among Gilles, La Shirl Turner, Chris Benjamin and Dwayne Jackson across different aspects of automotive design.

At the Academy of Art University's 2024 commencement, Gilles received an honorary doctorate and spoke about collaboration and asking for guidance.