Keynote Presenters:
Monday - Wednesday, November 2 - 4

Keynote Biographies

  Professor Jean-Philippe Deschamps

Innovation Leaders:
Senior Executives Who Stimulate, Steer and Sustain Innovation

This session will be devoted to understanding the innovation leadership challenge and reflecting on the characteristics of those senior managers who defend an innovation agenda and carry the innovation flag in their organization.

Innovation leaders

• Defining who they are

• Characterizing them: Six common attributes

• Recognizing different types, i.e. Front-end and back-end leader

The leadership imperatives of your innovation strategy

• Defining the broad thrusts of your innovation strategy

• Understanding the different imperatives of each thrust
• Deploying the right kind of leader for each type of thrust

Keynote Biography

  Ken James

R&D as the Value Driver: The Journey to a Successful Innovation Process and Culture in a Consumer Healthcare Company

Over the last few years, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare R&D has undergone a radical shift in the way we do business. A focus on innovation precipitated change across the organization in the areas of leadership, structure, talent and the physical work environment. This resulted in a structured and sustainable pipeline process, a creative culture and a robust pipeline that has led to a measurable increase in the value of the business, both internally and externally.

Session topics include:

• A radical change to the R&D operating model drove innovation within the business
• Multiple organizational levers were pulled to ensure the deliberate strategy was well executed
• Leading-edge science, world-class marketing and brand focus were fundamental to the new operating model
• Internal measures coupled with external validation illustrate success.

Keynote Biography

  Guy Kawasaki

The Art of Innovation

This speech inspires and informs companies to innovate. Guy lays out the strategic steps to create new products and services by calling upon his experience with Apple as well as my study of dozens of cutting-edge companies. His speech is ideally suited for people who want to change the world. It is based on his latest book, Reality Check. Bonus: Guy will show how he uses Twitter as a marketing weapon.

Learn how to:

• Jump curves
• Market and evangelize innovation
• Defy the naysayers
• Kick butt with Twitter

Keynote Biography

   Steve Rendle

Exceptional Brand Experience through Innovation

The North Face tag line of Never Stop Exploring sits at the essence of our culture. From day one on the job, we ignite a deep passion for asking questions and stimulating curiosity on how to improve our systems, products, and overall experience with our brand. This culture of exploration inspired by the athletes that push the limits of human potential, drives our associates to continually explore new ways of doing things and push ourselves and our business to new heights.

Steve Rendle will discuss:

• Finding and harnessing the passion
• Innovation as a culture
• Discussion around sustainable products and the process used to drive these efforts
• Innovation as Total Customer Value Proposition

Keynote Biography

  Dr. V. Sumantran

Necessity is the Mother of Invention:
Constrains Motivated Innovations in Product Development

 Innovations in the Auto Industry have been uniquely shaped by temporal, regional and cultural constraints.  This is but logical given that human ingenuity is naturally tasked to work around obstacles in the pursuit of specific goals.  What is important is the ability of an organization or a system to acutely define objectives and constraints and to create a climate wherein circumventing the constraints, while reaching the stated goals gets institutionalized.  In this spirit, India has begun to foster many product innovations motivated by resource constraints.  Going forward, in a world where natural resources and energy resources will be obtained at ever-increasing premium, there may be lessons for the larger world from these approaches.

Learn About:

• Historical punctuation of innovations in the Auto Industry.

• Cultural traits and pre-disposition to kinds of innovations.

• New innovations arising within product developments in India.

Keynote Biography

KEYNOTE BIOGRAPHIES

 Professor Jean-Philippe Deschamps

Jean-Philippe Deschamps joined IMD's faculty in 1996 as Professor of Technology & Innovation Management. He focuses his research, teaching and consulting activities on the management of innovation and on the profile and focus of innovation leaders, those senior executives who stimulate, steer and sustain innovation. His professional experience has led him to deal with the following topics:

• Managing products and technologies strategically, and linking technology and product strategies
• Managing innovation and product development as a seamless process from idea to launch
• Building an innovation culture and measuring the company's innovation climate
• Getting market adoption for an innovation
• Setting up innovation management and governance mechanisms
• Promoting bottom-up innovation and steering it top-down.

For six years, he designed and directed IMD's highly rated program, "Managing the Innovation Process" and is a key faculty member on "Mastering the Technology Enterprise", offered by IMD together with Polytechnic Universities of Zurich (ETA) and Lausanne (EPFL). He is also part of the faculty of the program, "Driving Strategic Innovation", offered jointly by IMD and MIT. In addition to these open-enrolment programs, he has designed and directed a number of specific programs on product management, product strategy and innovation management for a variety of multinational companies.

Prior to joining IMD in 1996, he was a corporate vice president with consulting firm Arthur D. Little (ADL). At ADL, he occupied successively the position of European practice leader for strategy consulting, then founded and became the Chairman of the firm's Technology and Innovation Management practice. He has close to 40 years of hands-on top management consulting and teaching experience with multinational corporations throughout Europe, the USA and Asia. Throughout his consulting career, he has dealt with top management teams and boards, mainly on strategic issues. He has served as advisor of several Chairmen and CEOs on merger and acquisition issues, top management evaluations and successions, and even a major "post-bankruptcy" company revival. For several years he served as external director on the board of a global Nordic $ 4 billion company and is now on the board of a highly promising, Nasdaq-quoted medical technology company. He also coaches several hi-tech start-ups.

Prof. Deschamps graduated in marketing and business management from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris; from the European Institute of Business Administration, INSEAD in Fontainebleau, and from the Harvard Business School. He is the author of numerous cases, articles and book chapters, and co-author of Product Juggernauts - How Companies Mobilize to Generate Streams of Market Winners, translated in six languages and long featured in the best-selling list of the Harvard Business School Press. His new book, Innovation Leaders: How Senior Executives Promote, Steer and Sustain Innovation has been published by Jossey-Bass in April 2008.

He has given conferences and lectures throughout the world and was a regular speaker at Management Centre Europe in Brussels. He was invited three times as a speaker and faculty facilitator at workshops organized by the International Association of Product Development (IAPD) in the US, and twice as a speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He was recognized by The Economist as one of Europe's most influential innovation management thinkers.

Ken James

As head of Research & Development, Ken James strategically plans, directs and manages the scientific and innovation programmes and activities for GSK Consumer Healthcare Worldwide Ken's career in consumer healthcare R&D began in 1973 as a formulation scientist with Beecham Products (UK). Since then, he has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility throughout several mergers including Head of OTC Medicines R&D for Europe and International (with Beecham Products), Vice President Global Cough & Cold (with SmithKline Beecham) and Vice President New Product R&D (with GlaxoSmithKline).

When Ken assumed his current role in 2006, he took a radical approach that sought to drive innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity within the organization. This led to a remarkable shift in four key areas: leadership, culture, external opportunities and the physical work environment.

Ken's actions have resulted in an inspiring and refreshed leadership, a palpable creative energy among employees, an open innovation business model and unique, collaborative, brand-focused open space work environments called ‘Innovation Hubs'. A firm believer in the benefits of the hubs, Ken has forgone his executive office and now works with his team at a ‘kitchen table' in the Leadership Hub in Parsippany, New Jersey.

GSK Consumer Healthcare's R&D sites are located in the US (Parsippany), UK (Weybridge), India, China and Germany. The current product portfolio addresses three key areas: OTC medicines, oral healthcare and nutritional healthcare. Well-known brands include Aquafresh, Sensodyne, Breathe Right, Lucozade and alli (orlistat), the first OTC weight loss drug approved by both the FDA in the US (2006) and by the European Commission across Europe (2008), among others. In January 2009, UBS Investment Research ranked GSK Consumer Healthcare #1 in innovation.

Guy Kawasaki Bio

Guy Kawasaki's newest book, Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition (Portfolio, Penguin Group), was released on October 30, 2008. Reality Check is his all-in-one guide for starting and operating great organizations-ones that stand the test of time and ignore any passing fads in business theory.

Guy Kawasaki is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com, an "online magazine rack" of popular topics on the web.

Previously, Mr. Kawasaki was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. He is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way.
Guy Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Mr. Kawasaki's in-depth knowledge of the high-tech industry combined with his years of management experience enable him to address a wide range of audiences. His particular strength is the ability to quickly understand diverse industries and incorporate his pre-existing knowledge into a highly relevant and customized speech. He routinely gets rave reviews from clients including trade associations, packaged goods companies, service providers, insurance companies, educational institutions, and technology companies. He has spoken for organizations including Nike, Audi, Wal-Mart, Sprint, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Saturn, Stanford University, TIE, Calgary Flames, The Body Shop, MIT, Forbes, and Aveda.

Steve Rendle Bio

Since 2004, Steve Rendle has served as President of The North Face, a position where he oversees global design and development, marketing, direct to consumer retail, sales and internal operations.

Rendle has over 22 years of experience in the specialty outdoor industry. Shortly after he joined The North Face in 1999, he was promoted to Vice President of Sales and has since worked to re-shape The North Face sales organization, product and marketing strategy, and go-to-market model. He has focused the company's sales and distribution strategy on a synergistic blend of specialty outdoor and specialty sporting goods retailers. Over this last six years, annual sales and employee headcount at The North Face have more than tripled.

Looking ahead, Rendle emphasizes that The North Face will continue striving to build a culture of social and environmental sustainability while advancing it's position as the industry's key innovator of products for the outdoors-oriented customer.

Prior to joining The North Face, Rendle held the position of Director of North American Sales and Operations for the global apparel manufacturer, Youngone Corporation. While there, he gained experience in all aspects of technical apparel production and international business operations. Before his time at Youngone, Rendle was in a leadership position for W.L. Gore and Associates' Fabrics Division, where he worked for nine years. While there, he garnered extensive knowledge of performance textile design and manufacturing, sales and marketing.

Mr. Rendle also brings an authentic voice to his position at The North Face, as he is an avid alpine skier, road cyclist, and backpacker. He grew up in Washington's Cascade Mountains, where, he says, "You would need to be a local to know the peaks I've climbed."

Most recently, Rendle received The Mountain Institute's distinguished Exemplary Corporate Stewardship of Mountains 2007 award. The Exemplary Corporate Stewardship of Mountains Awards recognizes individuals who are dedicated to protecting mountain cultures, and embody the mountain spirit. "It is a great recognition of our athletes' and team efforts to give back to the communities where we explore-it truly is an honor," states Rendle.

Rendle has also been invited by Bainbridge Graduate Institute to participate in a panel of outdoor industry leaders who will help provide insight into the creation of an outdoor industry concentration dedicated to sustainability within the MBA program.

Rendle holds a B.S. in Physiology from the University of Washington. Away from the office, he enjoys time in the outdoors with is wife, daughter, son and two Labradors.

Dr. V. Sumantran Bio

Dr Sumantran is Executive Vice-Chairman of Hinduja Automotive, UK, the auto and manufacturing sector holding Group Company of the USD $18 billion Hinduja Group and Chairman of Nissan Ashok Leyland Powertrain Pvt. Ltd. Hinduja Automotive's group companies include Ashok Leyland, India's second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer and Hinduja Foundries, India's largest iron and automotive foundry. Dr Sumantran serves on the Science Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of India and the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

From 2001 and until end of 2005, he was chief executive of TATA Motors' Car business. He served as President of the Automotive Research Association of India, the country's leading research and homologation organization for 2004-2005. Dr Sumantran chaired the Engineering Services Forum of NASSCOM, India's association of software and engineering service organizations during 2005-2006.

Prior to joining TATAs, Dr Sumantran had a 16-year career with General Motors in the R&D Centre in Detroit and subsequently served on deputation in Europe as Director, Advanced Engineering, and SAAB Automobile. During this period he also held the position of "Single Voice" for all R&D and Advanced Engineering undertaken by the GM-FIAT alliance in Europe. Dr Sumantran holds MS and Ph. D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering (Princeton University & Virginia Tech) and a Master's degree in Management of Technology (Ressalaer Polytechnic).

He is a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers International and served on the board of SAE International from 2003 until 2006. He also served as Editor, SAE Passenger Car Journal between 1995 and 2000. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineers.