Noel Mayo is owner and president of Noel Mayo Associates, Inc., in Philadelphia. NMA is a wholly minority-owned firm whose clients include NASA, IBM, the Department of Commerce and Agriculture, Black and Decker, the Museum of American Jewish History, and the Philadelphia International Airport. He has written for several distinguished journals including Innovation, The Wall Street Journal, Industrial Design, Arts Advocate and The Minority Business Journal. He has been a speaker and a panel member at a variety of international design venues and is a board member to a large number of professional organizations.

In 1960, Noel was the first black graduate to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Design at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts). He later became chairperson of the department, the first African American chairperson of an Industrial Design program in the U.S., holding that post for 11 years. In recognition of his outstanding achievements in and contributions to design, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (D.F.A.) from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1981.

In 1989, Noel was named the Eminent Scholar in Art and Design Technology at The Ohio State University, a program designed to attract nationally and internationally known scholars to further strengthen outstanding academic programs that deal with compelling statewide and national issues.

Noel places a very strong emphasis on the importance of mentoring and advocates alternative methods for education, accelerated learning, and information dissemination using new technologies. Mayo's personal interest is in the development of synergistic learning products that include vision, music, color, psychology, and light.