Maureen graduated Cum Laude from Chestnut Hill College in 1987 and is a graduate of the Program Management Program, Penn State University. She began her career with the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Philadelphia Regional Office where she was assigned to a team special projects team initiated by the Office of the Director to improve the processes associated with the delivery of benefits to veterans. In 1990 Maureen joined M. Technologies, a small defense engineering firm focused on developing new technologies for the US Department of Defense. Between 1990 and 1999 Maureen was a principal and managing partner at M. Technologies. Among her various responsibilities during this period, she was Program Manager for the company’s largest contract, the BRU-55 “smart rack” Engineering and Manufacturing Development.

In November of 1999 EDO Corporation acquired M. Technologies. Maureen became the Operations Manager for EDO’s M. Tech business unit in Pennsylvania. In this role Maureen was responsible for managing all aspects of the business including P&L and execution of all the business unit’s major programs. In December of 2001 Maureen moved into the Business Development role supporting legacy products and new product development initiatives for EDO M. Tech. In January 2006 she joined EDO Corporation’s Washington Operations staff. Responsibilities included supporting Business Development initiatives across EDO’s diverse portfolio of defense focused products. On 20 December 2007, ITT (Exelis) Corporation acquired EDO Corporation to form a top-ten U.S. defense supplier.

ITT (Exelis) – Engaging and Empowering the Organization to Innovate Successfully

In her presentation Maureen will overview the work ITT (Exelis) has undertaken to create an enabling innovation environment. Highlights will include sharing why it was necessary at ITT (Exelis) to strategically customize their Stage-Gate process to meet the challenges presented by Integrated Structures unique business needs. Her presentation will also cover the following key areas:

1. Role of the Process Owner initiating and leading change
2. Empowering people to “contribute” not just “participate” – introduction to a variety of techniques, programs and tools
3. Continuous enhancements to engage and empower the organization
4. Enabler for many people to contribute to the strategy
5. Purpose-built and designed to help support a bolder growth strategy

Barry J. Novotny has worked at Kennametal Inc. for the last 14 years, currently serving as the Manager of the Technology Operational Excellence team. He is a graduate of Penn State University, 1992, with a B.S. Accounting and earned his M.B.A. in 1999 at the St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. In 2000 he joined Kennametal's Corporate Technology group where he first became involved with the implementation of Kennametal's New Product Development Process. Over the last eleven years he has been intimately involved with institutionalizing Stage-Gate throughout Kennametal on a global basis. His leadership and expertise in Stage-Gate has helped Kennametal remain competitive in the markets they participate as can be seen in the dramatic increases in Revenues from New Products from 17% to consistently over 40% since implementing Stage-Gate at Kennametal.

Kennametal – Measuring and Managing Innovation Process Performance

In his presentation Barry will laser focus on the importance measuring and managing innovation process performance can have on innovation success. Barry will be placing particular emphasis on the following topics:

1. Incremental and venturous innovations: insights into how and why they are managed differently
2. Kennametal’s prioritization methods: allocating resources and managing gates
3. Kennametal’s disciplined approach to continuous self assessment, improvements and the results acheived

Blaine Taylor is Merck's US Market Strategy Execution Leader, of which responsibilities include leading the Lean Six Sigma team, Change Management team and the Program Realization Office, as well as the Delivery Leader for Strategy Execution.

Over the past five years at Merck, Blaine has led the deployment of Merck's Sigma Program across the Global and US Pharmaceuticals' organizations, delivering over a billion dollars in incremental value to the business. In addition, Merck has gone through a transformational change in how we do business and as part of that transformational change Blaine has led the US Program Realization Office in support of the implementation of the US New Commercial Model and the merger/integration with Schering Plough. Currently, Blaine leads a team in support of delivering on the US Market Strategy intent.

Prior to Merck, Blaine led Sales and Services' Strategic Sales Programs and the Services Lean Six Sigma programs at Sun Microsystems as well as held multiple positions at Westinghouse, in areas including Engineering, R&D, Operations, and Strategic Planning.

Blaine was awarded a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering (ME) from Lehigh University, an MBA (Finance/Strategic Programs) degree from University of South Carolina, a Master of Science (ME) degree from Clemson University as well as Bachelor's of Science (ME) degree from Rutgers University. Blaine also holds a Professional Engineering (PE) License from multiple states as well as is a credentialed Project Manager Professional (PMP) and a Certified Master Black Belt.

Merck & Co. - A Tale of Two Methodologies: Strategy Execution and Lean Six Sigma lead to Transformational Efficient Change

In his presentation Blaine will weave together how lean six sigma and a disciplined approach to strategy execution enabled Merck & Co. to achieve dramatic results from innovation and NPD within the context of Merck’s Commercial Model Process. Presentation highlights to include:

1. Key improvements made to Commercial Model Process: organizational structure, selling model, performance incentives)
2. Assessment of the degree of change that would impact stakeholders of the Commercial Model Process
3. Strategies employed to achieve stickiness/adoption rate of these changes (training, communications)
4. The few metrics chosen to validate whether the change was actually sticking and achieving desired business results

As the Director of Organizational Development, Janey is responsible for the performance management processes, leadership development programs and the sales training agenda for the PepsiCo Foods Canada (PFC) organization. In addition, Janey provides change leadership support to teams preparing to implement large-scale change across the organization. Most recently she provided change leadership support to the implementation of the PFC Stage-Gate process.

Janey began her career with Hostess Frito Lay in 1997 as a new grad student. Her Environmental Engineering degree from the University of Guelph led her to the role of Maintenance Manager at the Cambridge Manufacturing facility. After two years in Operations, Janey took on a cross-functional assignment with the Ontario Sales organization as an Account Development Manager and then a Small Format District Sales Leader. In 2001, Janey took on another cross-functional assignment and began her HR career as the Ontario Sales Training Manager. This is where she connected with her true passion – Learning and Leadership Development!

In this role, Janey focused on building her functional capability through continuing education and worked to obtain both a Teacher/Trainer of Adults and HR Certification. In 2006, she took on the assignment of Manager, OMD where she continued to grow and build her capabilities as an OD professional. Her most recent learning journey took her to the campus of the Royal Roads University where she obtained a Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching.

Janey enjoys spending quality time with her family including many walks to the park with her two American Bulldogs, Bazel and Fiona. Her personal hobbies include reading, cycling, hot yoga, golf.

PepsiCo Foods Canada – High Performance Teams

In her presentation Janey will share insights learned from PepsiCo’s recent innovation process re-design and will offer advise on what others can do to accelerate a successful implementation. Presentation highlights include:

1. Stage-Gate –process improvement journey
   1. Selecting the design team
   2. Importance of role clarity in the process
   3. Handling different types of projects
   4. Project types and personality types – benefits of knowing this information
2. Team and leadership development

Damian Killen is managing director and founder of thrive, an international human resources consultancy based in Dublin, Ireland. Damian has over twenty years' experience consulting for top organizations in the public, non-profit and business sectors in Ireland and internationally. His corporate experience includes work with finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, service and pharmaceutical industries. In addition, he has contributed extensively to the fields of adult education and training, as well as serving as Executive Director of a non-profit organization.

Damian is recognized world-wide for his work and research using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator^®. An expert in conflict resolution, change management, intercultural learning and team building, Damian has used the MBTI^® instrument for over twenty years, both as a consultant and as a member of the European Qualifying Programme Faculty. He has co-authored Introduction to Type^® and Conflict, MBTI^® Conflict Management Program and most recently Introduction to Type^® and Innovation. He continues to lead workshops on the personality type throughout the world and is currently developing work on the personality of brands and the impact on marketing spend.

Damian has travelled across the globe delivering keynote speeches at various international conferences and events on a range of topics, covering all areas of development.

Damian's energy and enthusiasm extends into a number of areas – football, food, etc. and he recently set up an organic ice-cream company which donates all its profits to charity. To keep his creative edge sharp, Damian writes poetry and is currently working on a novel.

Thrive – Why is Innovation in Everyone’s DNA and Not in Every Organization’s DNA

In his presentation Damian will introduce findings from an extensive research undertaking that combined questionnaires with direct interviews and has lead to some very interesting conclusions being drawn. Topics that will be covered include:

1. The challenge of defining innovation and its impact
2. Ideas and idea biases and how this influences innovation
3. Does type matter throughout the different stages of the innovation process

Heather Molitoris is TARDEC’s expert in the area of product development processes and is the TARGET process owner for the TARDEC Gated Evaluation Track Stage-Gate system. The TARGET Process is a 5 phase, 5 gate system that was developed leveraging a cooperative research agreement between the US Army and 3M. Ms. Molitoris served a 12-month work with industry assignment with 3M to design and develop a non-profit gated system encompassing best practices of government and industry.

Ms. Molitoris is a senior mechanical engineer with the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC). Ms. Molitoris holds a Masters of Engineering in Automotive Engineering from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; a Bachelors of Science in Engineering with a specialization in Mechanical Engineering; and a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology with a minor in mathematics from Oakland University. Ms. Molitoris is trained in the areas of Design for Six Sigma, Systems Engineering, and project management. She is level III certified in systems planning, research, development and engineering; level II certified in program management, and is an Army Acquisition Corps member.

Ms. Molitoris has been recognized for her support to the Solider through numerous awards including the Dr. Wilbur B. Payne Memorial Award for Excellence in Analysis for her support to MRAP rapid deployment efforts; the Louis Dellamonica Award for outstanding U.S. Army Materiel Command Personnel of the Year; and a Commander’s Coin recognition from TRADOC Capabilities Manager-Transportation for outstanding support to the soldier for Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Survivability.

U.S. Army TARDEC – In Search of Innovation Excellence

In her presentation Heather will provide an overview of how TARDEC’s comprehensive search for innovation best practices led to them undertaking a collaborative approach with 3M towards customizing and implementing a Stage-Gate process. Her presentation highlights include:

1. TARDEC’s unique approach to customizing Stage-Gate for military application
2. How TARDEC leveraged learnings through their exchange with 3M to impact their innovative culture
3. Key benefits and key learnings from this unique approach

Tom Gehring has been with 3M for 29 years. A Chemical Engineer by degree Tom has spent the last 15 years in the area of new product and technology development. Including roles in Manufacturing Technology Management & Laboratory Management. In his role as one of the first Design for Six Sigma Black Belts at 3M, Tom participated in the rewrite and corporate alignment of 3M's Stage Gate process. Tom managed the Project Office for 3M's Optical Systems Division where he was the author and process owner for the Stage-Gate and Project Portfolio Management process used by the division. In that role he also served as the champion for Project Management best practices. For the last 3 years Tom has been part of Industrial & Transportation Business's, Customer Inspired Innovation Group. This group focuses on finding opportunities in the "Fuzzy Front End" by working directly with key customers to introduce them to the full range of 3M's technology building blocks and product development capabilities. Tom's current customer focus is on the US Army and it's contractors and as part of this role participated in an 1 year employee exchange with the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive Research Development & Engineering Center.

Tom holds two product patents and has received nine Golden Step Awards given to new product developers whose products achieve 10 million dollars in sales within 3 years of launch.

3M – Sustaining an Innovative Culture at 3M

In his presentation Tom will introduce and discuss the four key elements that drive 3M’s new product engine – Culture, Customer, Technology, Process – and will juxtapose related critical success factors. Key areas to be covered include:

1. Four components of 3M innovation
2. Importance of 3M’s culture
3. Overview of new technology & new product innovations
4. Technology platforms & technology innovations