Outthinker Network Executive Summit
Leveraging Generative AI for Strategic Advantage
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Innovation Portfolio Management and Resource Allocation
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The Future of Strategy
November 13, 2023 | New York, NY
Hosted by BNY Mellon
Agenda
| Time | Activity |
| 10:00am – 10:30am | Check-in and networking |
| 10:30am – 11:00am | Welcome and individual introductions |
| 11:00am – 12:30pm | Artificial intelligence and strategy research update and practitioner workshop + discussion |
| 12:30pm – 1:30pm | Networking lunch |
| 1:30pm-3:15pm | Rita McGrath presentation and roundtable discussion |
| 3:15pm-3:45pm | Coffee and networking break |
| 3:45pm-4:30pm | Rita McGrath roundtable discussion continued |
| 4:30pm – 5:00pm | Key takeaways, announcements and close |
| 5:00pm – 6:00pm | Networking and departures |
*Final agenda TBD, exact times subject to change
Leveraging Generative AI for Strategic Advantage
WORKSHOP & OUTTHINKER RESEARCH UPDATE
The Outthinker team and network members have begun research into numerous questions that have arisen following the recent and continuing advancements in artificial intelligence. A top agenda item for all members, the goal of the research initiative is to collectively work together to answer key questions and develop practical tools, best practices, and knowledge that we can use to accelerate the speed and impact of our individual organizations’ adoption and use of AI.
Questions being explored include:
How will business models and organizations transform to cope with these new technologies?
What are the implications for decision-making in organizations?
How strategy governance, management, and execution will be transformed by artificial intelligence?
This session will include an update on insights gathered thus far as well as a workshop with practitioners and advisors to continue advancing our knowledge and capabilities.
Rita McGrath on portfolio management, capital allocation, permissionless organizations, and the future of strategy.
PRESENTATION & ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Rita McGrath
Best-selling author, professor of strategy and innovation, and top-ranked global management thinker
Rita McGrath
Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, a sought-after advisor and speaker, and a longtime faculty member at Columbia Business School. Rita is one of the world’s top experts on strategy and innovation and is consistently ranked among the top 10 management thinkers in the world, including the #1 award for strategy by Thinkers50. McGrath’s recent book on strategic inflection points is Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). Rita is the author of four other books, including the best-selling The End of Competitive Advantage (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013).
At Columbia, Rita directs the popular Executive Education course Leading Strategic Growth and Change. She guest-lectures in a number of other courses, including the flagship Advanced Management Program, and is active in other Columbia initiatives such as the launch of its Think Bigger Innovation Hub. She also acts as faculty director for some of Columbia’s prestigious custom programs offerings, learning experiences designed specifically for individual organizations.
Rita is one of the most frequent contributors to the Harvard Business Review. Her most recent article is The Permissionless Corporation (Jan/Feb, 2023). She also publishes regularly in other premier journals such as the MIT Sloan Management Review. Her work on discovery-driven growth was praised by the late legendary management thinker Clayton Christensen as offering “some of the most important tools of management and strategy that have ever been developed.”
Rita was awarded the prestigious C. K. Prahalad award from the Strategic Management Society, an award for scholarly impact on practice. She has won many other awards for her work and impact, including the “Theory to Practice” award from the Vienna Strategy Forum, the “best paper” award from the Academy of Management Review and multiple “best book” awards for her work.
McGrath received her Ph.D. from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and has degrees with honors from Barnard College and the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. She is active on all the main social media platforms, such as Twitter @rgmcgrath, Linked in and Instagram. For more information, visit RitaMcGrath.com.
Outthinker Networks is pleased to welcome back Columbia Business School Professor Rita McGrath for a roundtable discussion of multiple topics at the top of the CSOs strategic agenda including, innovation portfolio management, capital allocation, the permissionless organization, and the future of strategy. Rita and participants will discuss:
How organizations can effectively balance their innovation portfolios to drive growth while managing risk.
Strategies that empower organizations to innovate with confidence, ensuring that capital allocation serves as a catalyst rather than a constraint.
Key ideas and implications of the emerging “Permissionless Organization”.
The future of strategy and what strategy executives need to know to remain effective and successful.
Get an exclusive look into a new software tool to better manage strategic options and innovation projects.
Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, a sought-after advisor and speaker, and a longtime faculty member at Columbia Business School. Rita is one of the world’s top experts on strategy and innovation and is consistently ranked among the top 10 management thinkers in the world, including the #1 award for strategy by Thinkers50. Her recent book on strategic inflection points, Seeing Around Corners, and her best-selling, The End of Competitive Advantage, are required reading for strategy and innovation executives today.
Outthinker Strategy Network attendees, thought-leaders, and expert guests
Alok Agrawal
Alok K. Agrawal is an executive with over fifteen years of finance experience in industrial and technology companies. He is proficient in developing and executing organic and inorganic strategies, grounded by experience running a P&L and performing operations turnarounds. He has substantial international exposure, including long-term assignments in Europe and Asia.
Alok is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Celestica, a $6 billion services company focused on the industrial and technology markets. He is a member of a seven-person Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and reports directly to the CEO.
He recently held leadership positions with global responsibility for strategy and corporate development at Federal-Mogul and Meritor, both multi-billion dollar automotive suppliers. Previously, Alok worked in Johnson Controls' automotive businesses (now Adient) leading strategy development and executing transformation projects, including the turnaround of the interiors business. His assignments included 18 months in China with the Yanfeng Automotive Interiors joint venture and ownership of a $100 million product line P&L.
Earlier, he worked at Kearney as a consultant, primarily on growth strategy and product management engagements. Alok began his career as a powertrain engineer at Ford Motor Company. He received his M.S. and B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and his M.B.A. in strategy and finance from the Ross School of Business.
Andrew Cone
Andrew studied art history and economics. Wanted to work in the art world – did some gallery work. In the meantime, he interned in consulting and analytical work. Art orgs were trying to professionalize. He applied to business school – said he wanted to run an art museum one day. McKinsey- Did consulting for Western companies that wanted to grow in Asia. Ended up on a one-year HBS fellowship at the Whitney Museum. During the last two months, the COO retired. Created an opportunity for him to stay permanently – he's stayed there for 10 years. The role was created for him.
Anna Tavis
With over 20 years of experience in human capital management, Anna Tavis is a researcher, global educator, and coach who focuses on the future of work. She leads the Human Capital Management Department at New York University, where she oversees three MS degrees and five certificate programs in HR, analytics, coaching, and consulting.
Her passion is to develop innovative approaches to talent and organizations and help discover a higher purpose for the next economy. She teaches at NYU and lectures globally, learning from the networks she develops and joins. She is an academic advisor to various organizations and a senior editor of People+Strategy Journal. She co-authored "Humans at Work," a book about the new pivot towards human-centered organizations.
*CSO Emeritus
Claudio Garcia
Claudio is President of Outthinker Strategy Networks, a global network of strategy executives from large organizations the are committed to staying ahead of the pace of change.
Before joining Outthinker, Claudio was Executive Vice Presidency for Strategy and Corporate Development at Lee Hecht Harrison, where he was responsible for the expansion and innovation of the company with operations in more than 60 countries. Prior to this role, he was LHH’s President of Latin America where he helped solve critical business challenges and personally supported dozens of complex transformation projects for large client organizations. During his tenure leading strategy LHH, Claudio was a member of the Outthinker Strategy Network.
Claudio has experience across a variety of industries, including food and beverage, entertainment, and media and communications. In addition to his role at Outthinker, Claudio is a board member and teaches Global Management and International Human Resources Management at New York University’s School of Professional Studies.
*CSO Emeritus
Desiree Castillejos
Desiree Castillejos is a multi-lingual global strategy leader and business development executive with a demonstrated record of success in partnering with C-Suite leaders to acquire new businesses and expand channels by developing successful partnerships that drive revenue growth. She is captivated by the convergence of software and hardware and thrives in designing, planning, executing, and integrating M&A transactions.
Growing through acquisitions, partnerships, and business development are strengths for Desiree, with more than 16 transactions, creating multi-million-dollar businesses in new domains such as SaaS, Machine Learning, Cloud, Analytics, Automation, Industry 4.0, and IOT. She has a strong flair for identifying the white spaces, sourcing companies for acquisitions and partnering with complementary organizations, which includes leading a strategic alliance with IBM while at Nokia.
With exceptional strategic vision, Desiree has deep industry expertise, financial insights, and analytical acumen. She is skilled at analyzing market, operational, human capital and financial risks related to mergers and acquisitions, negotiating deals, and refining strategies that maximize opportunity for manufacturing and technology organizations across the world. Additionally, Desiree has an innate approach to planning and orchestrating the integration of the acquired entities to ensure they deliver immediate value to the corporation.
She cares deeply about Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG), having created the employee resource groups as Kimball Electronics and championed the Women in Engineering initiative. As a Mexican-native, Desiree is passionate about encouraging all students to pursue fields of studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and has been active in non-profits that pursue that mission, particularly amongst minorities.
Ed Knapp
Professional Board and Advisory Affiliations: CAR (Center for Automotive Research); AST SpaceMobile; Ciena 5G; Harman TAC; Rutgers Engineering ECE - Industry Advisory Board.
Elisabeth Moore
Elisabeth is responsible for developing strategies others become passionate about and for working for executive leadership to guide the organization through times of hyper growth and profitability - balancing challenging the status quo while staying true to the company's core values and entrepreneurial roots.
Elisabeth is a member of our Growth Mid-Market cohort. She brings more than 10 years of experience understanding business needs through the lens of market insights and internal #businessintelligence and translating that into tangible results. Her background in M&A and finance coupled with engaging the organization to think critically about the future blends into a unique, CX/EX data-driven and emotionally intelligent approach to strategy development.
She also leads the organization's Emerging Business group that helps support #innovation and launching up-and-coming businesses within the firm.
Elizabeth Chubbuck
Elizabeth Chubbuck is the Chief Strategy Officer at Murray's Cheese, leading strategic growth initiatives across a diverse ecosystem of businesses. She oversees Murray's marketing, digital + ecommerce, food service + distribution, catering, events + education, hospitality + restaurants, culinary, and merchandising teams.
For more than 12 years, she has driven substantial sales growth across multiple business units while simultaneously investing heavily in the growth of her team—many of whom now hold formal leadership roles throughout the organization.
She was born and raised in the Midwest, speaks three languages, and meditates daily.
Elizabeth Haas-Edersheim
Elizabeth Haas Edersheim, ThEME’s creator, has studied, written about, and advised organizations for over 30 years. A former partner with McKinsey & Company, she later founded New York Consulting Partners. She currently works with senior executives as their enterprises’ growth exceeds their capacities, and with clients ranging from fast-moving young firms and the largest global non-profits to Fortune 100 companies. Author of “McKinsey’s Marvin Bower” and “The Definitive Drucker,” she holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. When she is not working there is nothing she enjoys more than being in the outdoors, away from organizations.
Eric Goldstein
Prior to joining JPMorgan, Mr. Goldstein was a consultant with McKinsey & Co. in the firm’s Financial Institutions Practice. While at McKinsey, Mr. Goldstein advised insurance companies and banks on both strategic and operational issues. Mr. Goldstein received his JD degree from Yale Law School and his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.
Jason GInsberg
Jason Ginsberg joins OSN, having recently come on board at Zoetis as the Head of Global Strategy. His career up to this point has been in strategy / management consulting, starting at Capgemini and then spending the last ~6.5 years at BCG, all focused on healthcare (biopharma and MedTech) and spanning Manufacturing & supply to Commercial. Jason brings a passion challenging the status quo and thinking outside the box. In his spare time, Jason is an avid reader, a big New York sports fan, and a middling golfer. Jason is based in New York, has a BSE in Materials Science from UPenn and an MBA from Chicago Booth.
Jessica Freireich
Jessica Freireich joined Consumer Reports (CR) in 2021. As Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, she is responsible for driving the organization’s strategy and planning.
Most recently, Jessica served as Managing Director and Senior Advisor for Organizational Performance at the Rockefeller Foundation, where she led strategy, measurement and evaluation, including to improve energy access for low-income communities through distributed renewable power. Previously, she worked as a strategy consultant at Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte), both in the corporate practice across a range of industries as well as in the impact practice advising large membership organizations on how to deliver on their social enterprise goals.
Jessica earned her Bachelor of Arts in History and Literature from Harvard College and her Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Kalina Nikolova
I believe that the future brings exponential growth. Increasing returns are unlocked when we enable people and organizations to work with passion and purpose - while leveraging the new technologies to reinvent business models. For over two decades I have been working as a navigator plotting the course for companies to work better today, and prepare for the future: from Saatchi & Saatchi where I led Zenith Media in Eastern Europe to Deloitte where I consulted clients like S&P, McGraw-Hill, Meredith Publishing, and Cablevision, EVP of Strategy at Viacom Sales, and currently as SVP of Business Operations and Strategy at Yahoo Advertising.
& Hewlett Packard Labs
Konstanty "K"
As of November 1, 2023, in addition to responsibilities of Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), K has taken on an expanding role as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for HPE's publicly reported ~$3.5B High Performance Computing (HPC) & Artificial Intelligence (AI) business and Hewlett Packard Labs.
As COO, he leads a 100+ team with mandate across analytics, operational excellence, product life cycle management (PLM), knowledge management and technical training, quality and process improvement and data center operations.
As CSO, he continues to focus on setting strategic vision for the business in cooperation with HPE's executives and Board of Directors, planning and business development across all areas of the business: supercomputing, high-performance interconnect (Slingshot) and software.
Kaihan Krippendorff
Kaihan Krippendorff is the CEO of Outthinker Networks, a global think-tank of chief strategy and innovation executives shaping the future of business. A sought-after keynote speaker, Kaihan is recognized by Global Gurus and Thinkers50 as one of the top 30 global thinkers in strategy and innovation. His work helps organizations generate breakthrough ideas that drive transformation and growth in our accelerated world of change.
Leveraging skills and experience from McKinsey and Company with rigorous research of emerging trends, Kaihan designs practical business tools that he delivers through engaging and hands-on experiences. He is an innovation catalyst to business leaders and CXOs of some of the world’s most admired companies. To date, his work has generated over $2.5B in new annual revenue for clients that include Aetna-CVS, JP Morgan, Lockheed Martin, Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Yahoo.
A prolific writer, Kaihan has published five books including the bestsellers Outthink the Competition and Driving Innovation from Within. Amidst a dizzying schedule of keynotes, workshops, ongoing research, and writing, Kaihan still finds time to teach for Wharton Executive Education, Florida International University, and New York University; host the Outthinkers podcast; and play an active role on two corporate advisory boards.
He holds a doctorate in strategy and has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering, Wharton, Columbia Business School, and London Business School. With a mother from Bangladesh, father from Germany, and wife from Latin America, Kaihan is a global citizen who brings a holistic, diverse, and worldly perspective to everything he does.
He is a passionate cook and lives in Miami, Florida, with his wife, three kids, two cats, and a dog.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus has said, "Kaihan shows that with a compelling idea anyone can change the world" and that message has made Kaihan one of the most sought- after business speakers in the world.
*CSO Emeritus
Ken Eng
Ken Eng is the Senior Vice President, Group Strategy and M&A for Macmillan and Holtbrinck. Since 2007 he has led strategic planning, mergers & acquisitions, investments, alliances and incubation initially in its North American division and in recent years as a member of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group (Macmillan’s holding company). Prior to Macmillan and Holtbrinck, Ken held various leadership roles in business development, product development, marketing, and operations at prominent media companies including McGraw-Hill/BusinessWeek, Nielsen Business Media, and Universal Media. Throughout his career, Ken has been instrumental in helping organizations to navigate market turbulence and to innovate digitally. In his free time, Ken mentors digital entrepreneurs in education, publishing, and media.
Kevin Ilcisin
As Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development, Kevin is responsible for ensuring cross-functional alignment of NI's strategy planning and execution activities including the use of partnerships and acquisitions.
Prior to joining NI in 2015, Kevin served as the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Tektronix, where he was responsible for the core technology development, R&D strategy, and portfolio processes governing R&D investments. He has held leadership roles at Novellus (LAM Research) and a number of start-ups including Zight and Technical Visions.
Kevin holds a Ph.D. and M.A degrees in plasma physics from Princeton University and B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with Distinction from the University of Alberta.
Libby Rodney
Fast thinking strategic flywheel for clients, Libby's future-forward insights, trends, and strategic frameworks help clients best navigate today and anticipate the next 3-5 years. She is always working on what's next.
As Chief Strategy Officer, she runs the Thought Leadership and Trends practice at the Harris Poll. Previously she ran strategy departments at ad agencies focusing on branding, product launches, consumer insights, digital trends, and innovation. Libby has been fortunate for nearly two decades to consult with top Fortune 100 brands and rising all-stars. Her research has been on the stages of Davos, Cannes, SXSW, and CES.
She is passionate about women's research, equity, business, finance, travel, wellness, and the future of work. In 2015, before it was cool, Libby worked remotely surfacing beauty, luxury and hospitality trends for clients across thirty-six cities on six continents.
*CSO Emeritus
Mark SIms
Results-driven executive and board member with diverse experience driving transformations globally as a Chief Executive, head of strategy, Chief Information Officer, and as a management consultant. A strategic thinker skilled in leading organizational change, defining and driving strategy, successfully buying and integrating acquisitions, and leveraging technology to optimize business objectives. Experienced in multiple industries including Retail and Consumer Products, Packaging, Manufacturing, and Distribution.
Martin Kihn
As the SVP Strategy of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Martin Kihn has been helping to shape the vision and direction for the world's leading customer data platform, advertising, and marketing automation solutions since 2018. With over 15 years of experience in digital marketing and advertising, he has a deep understanding of the intersection of mar-tech, ad-tech, and AI, and how to leverage data science and technology to drive business outcomes and customer satisfaction.
Before joining Salesforce, he was a Research VP at Gartner, where he led the research and advisory agenda for programmatic advertising and media, digital marketing analytics, and the application of data science to marketing and advertising. He delivered insights and recommendations to Gartner's global network of clients and was a frequent speaker and contributor to industry events and publications. He also has a background in strategy and analytics at digital marketing and ad agencies, working with leading global brands across various industries. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor's Degree from Yale University.
He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and expertise with the wider marketing and advertising community, as well as learning from others. He is a 4x bestselling author of books on digital marketing and advertising, a keynote speaker at major industry conferences and events, and a podcast host of #PaleoAdTech, where he explores the evolution and future of the ad-tech ecosystem. He is also an avid reader, runner, and traveler.
Michael Drexler
Michael Drexler is the Chief Strategy Officer and a Managing Director at Brightstar. He currently serves on the boards of America’s Group and REMarkets, both Brightstar portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Brightstar, Michael was Managing Director and Global Head of Strategy and Business Transformation at J.P. Morgan Asset Management based in New York. He was a member of the division’s Operating Committee and worked with all business lines on strategic initiatives, including M&A, business efficiency, and decision making.
Previously, he worked for nearly a decade in a senior leadership role at the World Economic Forum as Member of the Executive Committee responsible for partnerships and content in the Alternative Investment industry and later the Forum’s content initiatives across the financial sector, infrastructure, and long-term investing. Michael also spent nearly a decade at Barclays Capital in London, as the Global Head of Strategy and Planning for the majority of his time there, following his role as a consultant at McKinsey & Co and a post-doctoral position at Stanford University.
Michael holds a doctorate in Mathematics from Oxford University and an M.Sc. in Engineering from the Technical University at Munich.
Michael Shrage
Michel Schrage is a Visiting Fellow at Imperial College Business School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship and a world-renowned expert in transforming collaborative tools and technologies into a source of business innovation.
As a member of the technical advisory committees, Schrage helped companies like Accenture, Google, Siemens, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, PwC, British Telecom, BP, Mars, and NASDAQ use experimentation as a source of corporate transformation through innovation.
Michael is also a research fellow with the MIT Sloan School of Management's Initiative on the Digital Economy. His research, writing, and advisory work focuses on the behavioral economics of models, prototypes, and metrics as strategic resources for managing innovation risk and opportunity.
He is author of the award-winning book The Innovator’s Hypothesis (MIT Press, 2014), Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become? (Harvard Business Review Press, 2012), and Serious Play (Harvard Business Review Press, 2000). His latest book, Recommendation Engines, was published in September 2020 by MIT Press as part of its Essential Knowledge series.
Schrage has run design workshops and executive education programs on innovation, experimentation, and strategic measurement for organizations all over the world and is currently pioneering work in selvesware technologies designed to augment aspects, attributes, and talents of productive individuals. He is particularly interested in the future co-evolution of expertise, advice, and human agency as technologies become smarter than the people using them.
Previously a Merrill Lynch Forum Innovation Fellow, Schrage founded and was executive director of the Merrill Lynch Innovation Grants Competition for doctoral students worldwide. An angel investor in several digital media and machine learning startups, he has been a featured and top-trafficked blogger on the Harvard Business Review site. Schrage’s work has been published in MIT Sloan Management Review, Fortune magazine, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Nikkei Asia, and Communications of the ACM, as well as other peer-reviewed publications.
Since 2017, Schrage has been a guest editor for MIT SMR’s Big Ideas initiatives, including Future of Leadership, Future of the Workforce (2019-2020), Performance Management (2018-2019), and Strategic Measurement (2017-2018). Explore his work with MIT SMR below.
Nicolas Chapman
Nicolas Chapman is Teradata’s Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). In this capacity, Nicolas is responsible for working collaboratively across the organization to develop Teradata’s strategic plan and annual operating plan, while overseeing the ongoing measurement and refinement needed to achieve our strategic goals. Additionally, his team ensures that strategic actions are completed to achieve desired results.
In his most recent role as SVP of Strategy at Imperva Inc., an enterprise cybersecurity software and services company, Nicolas successfully led a team to help transform Imperva into a world-class, highly profitable growth company. Prior to that, Nicolas held leadership roles at McKinsey & Company, helping technology companies around the world execute successful business turnarounds.
During his time with Imperva and McKinsey, Nicolas was actively involved as an executive sponsor for various inclusion communities. Fluent in French, Chinese, and Hungarian, Nicolas has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in International Relations & Economics from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He currently resides in San Diego.
Prashant Kelker
Prashant Kelker is Chief Strategy Officer of ISG, Partner of ISG Americas Consulting and a member of the ISG Executive Board (IEB). He was named to the IEB in January 2023. Prashant was appointed Chief Strategy Officer in 2018, responsible for developing the firm’s three-year strategic blueprint, and he was instrumental in the development of our highly successful ISG NEXT operating model in 2020.
In January 2023, he was named to the expanded role of Partner, Americas Consulting, bringing together all our advisory capabilities in the region to support our commercial and public sector clients in response to the growing convergence of digital technology and enterprise operating models, business processes and revenue-generating connected products and services.
Prashant joined ISG in 2012 from Accenture, initially working for our DACH business and based in Germany. He moved with his family to the United States in 2018. Prashant earned his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and a BE in electronics from Bangalore University in India.
Rich Haas
Rita McGrath
Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, a sought-after advisor and speaker, and a longtime faculty member at Columbia Business School. Rita is one of the world’s top experts on strategy and innovation and is consistently ranked among the top 10 management thinkers in the world, including the #1 award for strategy by Thinkers50. McGrath’s recent book on strategic inflection points is Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). Rita is the author of four other books, including the best-selling The End of Competitive Advantage (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013).
At Columbia, Rita directs the popular Executive Education course Leading Strategic Growth and Change. She guest-lectures in a number of other courses, including the flagship Advanced Management Program, and is active in other Columbia initiatives such as the launch of its Think Bigger Innovation Hub. She also acts as faculty director for some of Columbia’s prestigious custom programs offerings, learning experiences designed specifically for individual organizations.
Rita is one of the most frequent contributors to the Harvard Business Review. Her most recent article is The Permissionless Corporation (Jan/Feb, 2023). She also publishes regularly in other premier journals such as the MIT Sloan Management Review. Her work on discovery-driven growth was praised by the late legendary management thinker Clayton Christensen as offering “some of the most important tools of management and strategy that have ever been developed.”
Rita was awarded the prestigious C. K. Prahalad award from the Strategic Management Society, an award for scholarly impact on practice. She has won many other awards for her work and impact, including the “Theory to Practice” award from the Vienna Strategy Forum, the “best paper” award from the Academy of Management Review and multiple “best book” awards for her work.
McGrath received her Ph.D. from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and has degrees with honors from Barnard College and the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. She is active on all the main social media platforms, such as Twitter @rgmcgrath, Linked in and Instagram. For more information, visit RitaMcGrath.com.
Roopa Unnikrishnan
Roopa is SVP of Strategy and Corporate Development for IDEX. She is responsible for leading enterprise strategy and the corporate development (M&A) function. In this role, she helps to build strategy and business development capabilities for IDEX. Roopa has more than 20 years of corporate strategy experience across a variety of industries, through a mix of consulting roles and corporate leadership positions. Most recently, she served as Chief Strategy Officer for Vontier, a global industrial manufacturing company focused on smarter transportation and mobility. Previous strategy positions have included roles with Harman International, Citi, BlackRock, and Katzenbach Partners – which was formed by past members of McKinsey & Co. consulting. At Pfizer she also stepped outside her traditional strategy and innovation roles to lead the Talent and Organization capability for the pharmaceutical division. She often serves as a professional coach and is the author of the book, “The Career Catapult.”
Sky Mangin
Sky Mangin joined Emerald in October 2022 as Senior Vice President of Strategy and is responsible for supporting the Company’s overall corporate strategy and leading the implementation and performance of key strategic initiatives that drive value for all stakeholders. In this role, Sky oversees cross-functional efforts to ensure that Emerald and its brands deliver the three pillars of the Company’s growth strategy - customer centricity, 365-day engagement, and portfolio optimization.
Prior to this role, Sky led cross-functional strategic initiatives at Blend Labs and was responsible for supporting the CEO and President to set overall strategy, plan, and execute special projects. Notably, she has led post-merger integration efforts and partnered with the CFO to establish the investor relations function. Prior to Blend, she was an investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, and served in a Deputy Chief of Staff role at Atlas Mara.
Over the course of her career, she has become known for her strategic mind, finance expertise, and bias for action and coalition-building. Sky is an MBA graduate of The Wharton School and earned her B.A. from Occidental College. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her loved ones, traveling and learning about different cultures, and exploring new hobbies.
Stephen Von Oehsen
Founded a journal of international affairs in college; also ran Dartmouth Dialectic Society. Master’s thesis in Executive and Presidential Decision Making. He went to DC and worked in foreign relations – worked for a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Volunteered for Society of International Development, doing Lunch & Learn. He has done a lot of strategy work for membership organizations. He decided to go to business school – Kellogg. Then Carney Consulting Group. Became a consultant for CSC Index. Joined a client – Southern Glazers 18 years ago. Grown from $6B to $22B. He’s also teaching at FIU Hospitality.
Teerna Khurana
Tess Caputo
Tess Caputo joined Zoetis in February, 2020 as the Head of Corporate Strategy. Tess is responsible for driving the strategic planning process for the business, developing analyses and strategies to create long-term value for Zoetis, and executing certain strategic projects and ventures. Prior to Zoetis, Tess spent seven years at the Boston Consulting Group. As a core member of BCG’s team serving biopharma and biotech clients, Tess gained experience in corporate strategy, transaction, brand strategy and transformation topics. Prior to BCG, Tess worked for Capgemini Consulting and provided strategic counsel to pharmaceutical, biotech and vaccine manufacturing companies. Tess has an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Duke University.
Tomas Sholes
Tom Gallo
Valerie Radford
I am an experienced executive leader who operates at the intersection of the future of work, financial security and retirement. I do things that "can't be done" and have a successful track record of translating novel concepts into growth opportunities for some of the largest financial services institutions.
I see both the vision and the details and innovate through creation (not destruction). No breaking glass here. Design thinking and agile development are my tools. I also thoroughly enjoy building new teams and creating new business models.
My interests are: Future of Work, Financial Security, Retirement Solutions, Lifetime Income, Role of Employer, Strengthening 401k, IRA, Portability, Digital Transformation, Agile Leadership.
Valery Yakubovich
Professor Valery Yakubovich oversees all the Mack Institute’s programs and day-to-day operations. He focuses on bolstering synergy between the research, teaching, and practice of innovation management within the School; fostering dialogue between corporations and academics; and connecting with our corporate and regional partners’ innovation ecosystems.
Previously, he served as the founding executive director of Penn’s Computational Social Science Lab, where he oversaw the development of an innovative IT, data, and institutional infrastructure for large-scale open collaborative social sciences. He has diverse academic experience ranging from leading a national summer work program for university students in the former Soviet Union to conducting research, teaching, consulting, and fundraising at major academic and corporate institutions in the U.S. and Europe. Professor Yakubovich was on the management faculty of the Wharton School for several years, as well as the ESSEC Business School, where he was a full Professor of Management.
Professor Yakubovich holds an MS in mathematics from Moscow State University, an MA in sociology from the University of Warwick, and a PhD in sociology from Stanford University. His research on organizational innovations and social networks has appeared in top academic and practitioner journals, including American Sociological Review, Human Relations, Organization Science, Harvard Business Review, and California Management Review, and been featured in mass media, including the Financial Times and the New York Times.
*CSO Emeritus
Vidur Bhandari
Background: post MBA, consulting for 10 years associate to partner (CPG & retail, beauty, alcohol), growth strategies, commercial excellence, marketing ROI improvement. At shiseido: strategy & value creation (improve operating profit, efficient investments) and brand specific strategies (ie profitability improvement of bare minerals; also M&A process.
Ying McPherson
Ying McPherson is chief commercial officer and responsible for the commercial strategy and the development at Unifi. In addition, Ying also leads demand and resource planning, enterprise data analytics and customer solutions and marketing departments. She was most recently chief strategy officer responsible for corporate development and overall strategy of the company.
Ying began her career at PriceWaterhouse Coopers and spent the next seven years in investment banking joining SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (now Truist), and Citizens M&A Advisory. Prior to joining Unifi, Ying held several leadership positions at WestRock, including, corporate development, finance, supply chain optimization and commercial analytics.
Ying earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Goizueta Business School at Emory University.
Outthinker Intrapreneurs Network attendees and guests
Chris Brunone
Chris’s passion for supporting others is palpable. You see it in his dedication to developing the best in our leaders; how he fosters a vibrant service culture of new ideas and innovation; and his relentless commitment to keeping our talent engaged and fulfilled.
With a unique background in finance, sales, sales management and consulting, Chris boasts over 30 years of experience helping organizations navigate transformation. A highly-valued executive coach and mentor, he has introduced powerful development experiences and mentoring programs to Weichert that deepen our leadership pipeline and help colleagues unlock their potential.
Along with his efforts to support diversity, inclusion and learning, Chris is the architect of our Legendary Service strategy, which evolved from a customer service training program into a fully-integrated human operating system of skill development, performance management practices, feedback sharing and colleague recognition programs. This cohesive framework is ingrained in our corporate DNA, becoming an undeniable catalyst for our success.
Jessica Miles
Jessica Miles leads strategic planning and corporate development, focusing on M&A and investments, for the tech and science media verticals of a family-owned holding company.
In this role, she supports a tech company building AI-powered solutions for research, including custom LLMs focused on specific topics in science and medicine and AI-enhanced literature search (Digital Science) and a market-leading science media company known for Nature and Scientific American (SpringerNature).
Darcy Dement
Darcy Dement is Senior Director of Technologies Platform Management at NI. She has held several positions in general management, business leadership, and product management and has experience in starting up, scaling up, and turning around organizations. She applies her passion for resolving our global challenges through science and technology as an advisor to B2B startups. She is multilingual with experience working and living in the US and Europe.
Fariba Marvasti
Fariba Marvasti is a Chief Information Officer, who is dedicated to driving digital transformation and technology strategies on a global scale. She has a remarkable track record of achieving capabilities that enable Fortune 100 businesses to gain market competitiveness and agility. Her strengths lie in aligning business and technical objectives, promoting innovation, and modernizing platforms while prioritizing change management and fostering cultural collaboration. She consistently executes her tasks decisively, effectively resolving complex issues and delivering on her commitments.
As an award-winning and straightforward leader, she excels in effectively communicating statuses, issues, and necessary decisions to senior business leaders in a clear and concise manner. She guides her organization through significant IT challenges and ensures the stability of platforms during ongoing business transitions.
Furthermore, she is known for creating a culture of inclusion and accountability, adept at removing obstacles to progress and growth while consistently delivering results either on or ahead of expectations. She possesses the ability to build bridges with cross-functional teams, establishing connectivity and instilling trust and collaboration among team members. Her ability to inspire large, underperforming information technology departments to deliver excellence to customers is truly commendable.
Jennifer Miller
Strategy and corporate development professional with 18 years of buy-side and sell-side investing and mergers and acquisitions experience. Sourcing, due diligence, negotiation, and integration leader for pre-revenue technology companies, middle market businesses, and global S&P 500 corporations across numerous industries. Analytical and strategic thinker with BS and MBA from top-ranked programs.
Ronak Parikh
Ronak is currently the Director of Corporate Strategy at Amplify, a K-12 next generation curriculum and assessment company in New York. Prior to Amplify, Ronak has held roles at The Bridgespan Group (Bain's social impact consulting spinoff), the Gates Foundation, LearnZillion, and Deloitte. He began his career as a 12th-grade English teacher in Washington DC through Teach for America. Ronak received his MBA from The Wharton School, his MS in Education Policy from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, and his BS from Georgetown University.
Zoa Ordonez
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion leader and talent strategist with a drive for shaping future leaders, diversifying leadership pipelines, and creating a culture of belonging. Big picture thinker with the ability to set strategy and zoom into the details in the midst of ambiguity and complexity.
Avid learner and innovative researcher, recognized by the Society of Industrial Organizational Psychologists, for my efforts to bridge science and practice by collaborating with industry partners on evaluating the management and outcomes of global work experiences.
I am known to be a relationship builder and team player. With finesse, I establish effective partnerships with multiple stakeholders in complex matrixed organizations in order to ensure the success of talent management & organizational development initiatives and enable change.
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