Mission Driven Innovation: Leveraging Innovation to Save Lives
PDMA’s community of product innovators and managers have the immense opportunity to leverage innovation to improve the lives of billions of people by focusing our skills and energy on the underserved regions of the world. Mark Adkins, former chair of the PDMA and the CEO of the medical technology startup LeanMed, will explore this hypothesis through the lens of the development of the O2 Cube. A solar powered medical innovation that brings vital medical oxygen to the one billion people around the world that lack access. Just addressing the scourge of pediatric pneumonia, which kills 800,000 children every year, is one way innovation is making the world a better place to live.
mark adkins, LeanMed
Mark Adkins is the CEO of LeanMed (www.leanmedinnovation.com ), a medical device company dedicated to bringing essential treatment to underserved regions through innovative technologies. Lean Med's first product, the O2 CUBE, delivers vital medical oxygen to patients of rural health clinics in developing nations. Mark also served as a director and chair of the Product Development and Management Association (www.pdma.org ) and is an advisor to the Center for Medical Innovation www.engineering.pitt.edu/CMI/ at the University of Pittsburgh. During his corporate & consulting career, Mark and his teams have led development projects that have launched numerous new products with lifetime sales of over $1B.
What is your role as a product manager and innovator in shaping a resilient and sustainable world?
The Sustainable Workforce: An Adaptive Hybrid for Innovation
How can managers blend virtual and face-to-face work to avoid the loss of connections and social capital that hybrid work brings? Michael Arena introduces us to an alternative organizational design that leaders can adopt to overcome the losses and limitations of a hybrid environment.
Drawing on organizational network theory, this session will show how each of the three stages of innovation (idea generation, idea incubation, and scaling) can be undermined by hybrid work. The session will propose an alternative organizational design expressly created to overcome these limitations. This approach recognizes that the network connections needed for each of the three stages of the innovation process require different types of social capital and identifies how managers can create a resilient hybrid environment with the capacity to avoid loss of connections and social capital.
Michael Arena, PHD, the inovo group
Michael Arena Ph.D. is the chief science officer and co-founder of the Connected Commons, a research consortium that brings together business and academic thought leaders to develop and apply organizational network solutions. He is also a faculty member in Penn’s Masters in Organizational Dynamics program. Arena most recently served as the vice president of talent and development at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he leveraged network analysis to enable employee growth, organizational culture and innovation.
Prior to joining Amazon, Michael was the chief talent officer for General Motors Corporation where he helped to facilitate the business transformation, which is highlighted in his book Adaptive Space. Michael also spent two years as a visiting scientist with MIT’s Media Lab researching human networks and he acted as a design thinking coach within the Stanford dSchool.
Change is Constant- Staying Resilient Through Transitions
Organizations strive to foster sustainability, and we often think that we will be able to adapt thanks to careful planning. Speakers Rodney E. Gaddy and Emily S. Lancucki have learned that riding the wave of catalysts like the pandemic, stakeholder changes, and consumer feedback can ultimately lead to personal and product resilience. Sharing lessons learned from careers in law, nonprofits, and community health, Rodney and Emily will discuss navigating change in order to achieve a sustainable future.
Emily S. Lancucki and Rodney E. Gaddy, ONE Charlotte Health Alliance
Emily brings a diversity of skills and experiences in leading through change with resiliency from over 10 years spent building solid partnerships, developing innovative strategies, and leading community relations initiatives. Over the course of her career Emily has held roles in the US and in Asia, earning opportunities to deepen her understanding of all facets of program operations and philanthropic activities.
Emily has served organizations as a Director of Operations, a Head of Cross-Curricular Development, and as an Executive Director. Emily was recently appointed Executive Director of ONE Charlotte Health Alliance after supporting the organization as the Operations Director since December of 2021.
Emily earned her bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications, Public Relations from Virginia Commonwealth University and she pursued a Master’s of Public Administration through Virginia Tech. In March of 2021 Emily relocated from Asheville to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area with her husband Brett and their six-year-old son Edward. In between work, school, and volunteering they can be found on the Four Mile Creek Greenway biking or running (mostly after Ed). Emily is a graduate of LEAD River Counties and currently serves on the Board of Playing for Others.
Prior to serving as the first Executive Director of ONE Charlotte Health Alliance (OCHA) Rodney completed a 27 year career at Duke Energy, most recently, serving as senior vice president of Administrative Services. In that role, Rodney was directly responsible for managing a $300 million budget and leading an organization of approximately 1200 workers in the areas of Real Estate, Land Services, Support Services and Aviation and Travel Services. Often jokingly saying he “failed at retirement” Rodney brought a high degree of energy and excitement to his role with OCHA as he was inspired by the organization’s mission to support and maximize health and the quality of life in a more equitable way. Rodney retired from his role with OCHA in February 2023 but remains a staunch supporter of the mission and vision.
Throughout his professional career Rodney has always found the time to actively support community-based organizations and causes supporting the under-privileged. He is currently on the Boards of Child Care Resources Inc., Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Carolinas, and is the Chairman of the PBS North Carolina Foundation Board.
A native of Brooklyn New York, Rodney earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling WV. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law School. Earlier in his career at Duke Energy and in prior positions, Rodney practiced Labor and Employment Law, Civil and Criminal Law. In his spare time he loves to play golf, travel and attend live sporting events.
For personal and professional reasons, Lindsey is doubling down on the Charlotte Region. Currently, Charlotte is ranked 160 out of 182 cities for people with disabilities and it’s time we close the gap and make “not” “able,” Notable.
Lindsey holds a Cognitive Science degree from the University of Virginia, Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling from the Medical College of Virginia and attends the Executive Program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.
Becoming a City of Second Chances: How the City of Durham engaged justice-involved residents to develop innovative new approaches to reentry and workforce development.
The City of Durham's Office of Performance and Innovation will share how they engaged justice-involved residents in the innovation process to identify new ways to improve economic opportunity for people with criminal records.
Ryan Smith, Innovation and Performance Manager, City of Durham
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-smith-75679b138/
Leadership & Innovation in an increasingly Neurodiverse World
Neurodiversity is a biological fact, and data suggests up to 1 in 4 individuals are Neurodivergent beyond that of a societal “norm,” commonly labeled as ADHD/ADD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Anxiety Disorders, among others. Many of the greatest innovators of our time were and are Neurodiverse yet many of today’s organizational cultures and leadership methods are not supportive of the employment, retention, and development of Neurodiverse talent. This means that many brilliant, innovative minds are inadvertently being kept from the table of innovation, slowing the pace of progress. In an increasingly Neurodiverse world, how can top leaders and organizations ensure that ALL minds have a seat at the table of innovation?
Brandon Fargis, Fargis consulting group
Profile: https://www.iil.com/leadership-and-innovation-conference/brandon-fargis.asp
The Art of Impossible: Why Design Thinking Fails and How Diversity Can Help Change It
Design thinking has seen rapid adoption by leading brands and is being taught by prestigious universities across the globe. Jason Rome, Director of Digital Strategy and CX at Skookum, will examine how bad ideas get launched and what breakdowns may be happening in your innovation process. In this presentation we’ll examine the importance of having diverse perspectives and building cross functional teams to help:
· Improve the quality of innovative concepts
· Successfully implement solutions
· Drive results for your business
Jason Rome, Skookum
Since starting his career in product delivery and implementation, Jason’s work has revolved around solving complex business problems. Jason currently serves as the Executive Director of Digital Strategy and Customer Experience at Skookum.
Skookum partners with global brands in diverse industries to create digital products and experiences that improve lives and transform businesses. Jason has played an instrumental role in expanding the company’s capabilities to help clients with large-scale digital transformation. Whether he’s working with a business to define their digital strategy or determine how to implement it, he loves helping people answer the question, “What’s next?”.
interactive presentation: designing to and from the edges
What do U.S. Air Force pilots, IQ tests, and babies learning how to walk have in common? And what can they teach us about diversity and innovation? In this talk, David Phillips and Charlotte Guice will answer these questions and more by highlighting some of the principles and practices of Inclusive Design.
Through the power of stories, they will lead us on a journey to explore:
How the concept of “normal” was invented,
How the tyranny of averages can misinform our design efforts,
How mismatches lead to misfits, and
How rethinking the 80/20 Rule can spark innovation by serving those who are often excluded.
Whether you’re designing products, services, environments, or experiences, understanding how and why to take an intentionally inclusive approach will serve you, your team, and your customers well.
david phillips, innovation provocateur
David is the founder of Faster Glass, an innovation enablement firm that helps organizations accelerate their progress from challenge to solution. Equal parts educator, facilitator, and instigator, he equips leaders to unleash the knowledge and creativity of their people through the discipline of Human-Centered Design.
charlotte guice, innovation strategist + maker
A passionate, innovative strategist and designer with a lot of moxie – Charlotte is a hybrid of business and creative. Her unique left/right brain mindset stems from her education (Design and MBA degrees), track record of growing brands, and graphic design expertise. Charlotte thrives in applying strategic thinking and creative execution to facilitate innovation, drive business development, solve complex problems, and create informed, impactful design.
Harness the Power of the Pretotype to Incorporate Diverse Feedback and Derisk your Innovation: A Hands on Workshop
Innovation is all about solving big problems and delivering solutions to people’s unvoiced and unmet needs. But are you incorporating diverse feedback early enough in your process to empathetically understand your users needs? What happens when we leave important user questions up to assumption?
Join us for a hands on session introducing the pretotype tool to quickly and risklessly trial that concept that has been keeping you up at night. Learn techniques for effective communication and pretotype skills, and get the chance to explore your idea—out of your head, into the world, and learning from the opinions of users and peers. Together we will ask the right questions when gathering feedback, illuminate your next steps, guide your concept with confidence, and launch your roadmap to success!
Connyre Corbett, corvos
Connyre is the founder and creator of several user research and empathy initiatives. Connyre is driven by the desire to understand people, and she specializes in communication design. She has a keen ability to identify unmet and unvoiced user needs. Connyre works in user experience and design for complex systems, and she employs a storytelling technique influenced by several years in the film industry. You can find her prototyping and creating just about anything she can find the materials for when she's not behind a computer.
Chelsie hall, corvos
Chelsie works with organizations to build up their innovation and future-casting capabilities. She teaches innovation and design thinking bootcamps and specializes in helping cross functional teams to realize their creative potential. She works as a strategic advisor for Fortune 500 companies and the Federal Government, holds patents, has launched technology products, holds a masters degree in Innovation from Carnegie Mellon University, and has taught innovation and design thinking courses around the world.
Connyre and Chelsie's most recent venture is The Innovative Organization, an online and in-person training mastercourse that gives teams the tools and frameworks they need to masterfully implement innovation, move boldly into the future and to reach their highest creative potential. www.innovativeorganization.io
the secret sauce of moms: how their diverse experience introduces innovative thinking
Learn how the experiences and behaviors that are common in mothers can have a lasting positive impact on innovation teams, as they bring divergent and creative thinking to every aspect of their work.
Ayana Johnson, director of innovation, Point A
Ayana has taken 5 Global CPG businesses into new categories through her expertise in Innovation Management. She’s worked for 3 start-ups including her current role at Georgia‐Pacific’s Point A Center for Supply Chain Innovation. As a New Jersey native, Ayana Johnson naturally started her career in pharmaceuticals, spending her summers interning at Merck & Co. while obtaining her BS in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. She also studied Design at Parson’s, feeding her passion for visual art & Design Thinking. She “grew up” professionally in CPG at P&G while continuing studies in Industrial Design & Open Innovation to enrich her new product development skills, speaking engagements and patents. Much of her last decade has been in various Koch Industries companies advocating for Creative Destruction, building teams, and recruiting & developing talent to bring it! At home she enjoys everything that comes with her and her husband caring for 4 teenage boys and a “Boxer Pitt”.
kacie lett, vp Strategy, 352
Kacie Lett is gifted at being a strategic advisor to the clients she serves, and the business community she supports. In her role at 352, she has worked with recognizable brands including The Home Depot, UPS, Nationwide Insurance and Turner; as well as many scaling companies and funded startups. She has a long background in marketing and business development. Before joining 352 she helped some very well-known retailers undergo the digital transformation needed to drive business growth through eCommerce. As a Virginia transplant, Kacie was drawn to the spirit of collaboration in Atlanta that’s helped innovation thrive in the south.
When not working, Kacie enjoys spending time with her husband, Blake, their daughter and their two dogs and exploring new restaurants and neighborhoods around Atlanta