Susan Penta, Chair

Susan is an engineer, entrepreneur, educator and consultant with a passion for products, technology and teams that has underscored her 33-year career. In her capacity as Co-Founder and Managing Partner at MIDIOR, Susan oversees the delivery of professional services and MIDIOR’s operations. For her clients, Susan is uniquely able to cross organizational and cultural boundaries to facilitate a common product and technology perspective, inspire innovative thinking, optimize organization output and improve financial performance. For 18 years, Susan has also served as an Executive Professor on the adjunct faculty at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business as well as in Northeastern’s Corporate Education programs where she teaches graduate courses in entrepreneurship and innovation. Susan is a frequent speaker on the topics of innovation, entrepreneurship and product organizations.

Susan is an active supporter of non-profit organizations in the Boston area with a particular focus at the intersection of education, entrepreneurship and disadvantaged populations. Susan currently serves as a Director and immediate past Chairman of the Board for the Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE), as Trustee and past Chairman of the Board for Schools for Children, as an active member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network Advisory Board, as a trustee with the Children’s Trust, as the Chair of PDMA’s Webcast Committee and as a Program Committee member for The Possible Project. Susan is a founding member of WPI’s Women’s Impact Network (WIN), was a founding board member for WPI’s Collaborative for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and has served on the Management Executive Council for WPI’s Foisie Business School and the Technology Advisors Network. Susan also serves as an advisor to The Third Piece, a retail store and internet property focused on women’s high end accessories and fashion. In the past, Susan served as Treasurer, Chair of Finance and Trustee for Belmont Day School, as Director on the International Board of Directors for the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), as President of the New England Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and as a Trustee for the Healthworks Foundation.

Susan has received multiple awards including, in 2017, the Center for Women & Enterprise Advocate of the Year award and in 2016, the prestigious Pinnacle Award for Achievement in Entrepreneurship from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. Other past awards include in 2004, being named to the Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40” and in 2001, receiving the Ichabod Washburn Young Alumni Award for Professional Achievement from WPI.

Prior to founding MIDIOR, Susan held founding, executive, product management and engineering roles at companies including MODA Systems, IDEAssociates, Alcatel and Sprague Electric Company. Susan holds a BSEE degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and an MBA from The CASS Business School in London, England. When not supporting a MIDIOR client or one of her favorite non-profits, Susan can be found outside, in an exercise class or in her kitchen, testing and optimizing recipes.

Marlon Hernandez, Secretary-Treasurer

Marlon is a seasoned beverage executive and innovation leader with over two decades of international experience in product development, brand strategy, and portfolio management. Currently, he is leading the efforts to shape the future product portfolio for the $1B+ USA Ocean Spray Beverage business as Director of Innovation.

With a strong background in consumer-packaged goods, Marlon has held pivotal leadership roles, including Director of Innovation and Head of Non-Alcohol Portfolio at Molson Coors Beverage Company. He was instrumental in strengthening Molson Coors’ innovation pipeline and led strategic initiatives to expand the company’s portfolio beyond beer. Earlier in his career, Marlon held strategic marketing roles at Pernod Ricard Venezuela & Canada, managing iconic beverage brands' market positioning and activation.

Marlon holds an MBA from IESA, a Master's in Statistics from Simón Bolívar University, and a New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification. Recognized for his ability to deliver innovative solutions quickly and efficiently, Marlon has received numerous accolades, including the 2021 Living Leadership Award at Molson Coors and the LCBO Elsie Award for Best New Product Launch.

During his time off, Marlon enjoys outdoor activities, biking, cooking (he claims to prepare a delicious paella), and exploring new restaurants with his wife Janeth and their three children—two of whom are twins in their final years of high school, while his daughter is a promising pop star!

Rosanna Stokes, Secretary-Treasurer

Rosanna Stokes is an innovator with a record of leading businesses to enhanced profitability; growth oriented new product portfolios and radically improved business processes. As an entrepreneurial leader, Rosanna is passionate about leveraging technical and commercial teams to drive growth with unique products that change global market dynamics in the chemical industry.

With a ‘feet-on-the-ground’ practitioner approach, she brings a seasoned understanding for the complexities of a successful new product launch and the critical role for business processes to drive commercial launches. Working closely with product developers, Rosanna has launched new products in both large corporations such as GE, and LANXESS, as well as in smaller companies such as Emerald Performance Materials. As an entrepreneur, Rosanna, has successfully co-founded and sold a UV LED Systems company, Dot Metrics Technologies.

Currently, Rosanna serves as the Americas Business Development Leader at LANXESS for the Flavor and Fragrance Business Unit. In her current position, Rosanna focuses on the development of biodegradable, nature identical ingredients for applications in the personal, industrial and home care sectors. Additionally, Rosanna is active in the Product Development and Management Association where she currently serves as a Director. She holds an MBA in New Product Development from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BS in Chemistry from UNC Charlotte.

Spike Ross Corbett, Director

Michael "Spike" Ross-Corbett has over five years of experience in product management, focusing on SaaS platforms that deliver data-driven insights and operational efficiency. As Product Manager at Portland Marketing Analytics (PortMA), Spike leads the development and enhancement of the RecapIQ platform, driving innovation and guiding cross-functional teams to meet client needs. In addition to his product management work, Spike serves as the Conference Committee Chair for the Annual PDMA Conference, where he plays a key role in shaping the event’s vision and execution.

Spike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Southern Maine. Prior to his career in product management, he served in the United States Coast Guard, managing ordnance programs and facilitating training across multiple units. This background sharpened his skills in project management, operational planning, and team leadership.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Spike is actively involved in community development as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Lake Arrowhead Community in Waterboro, Maine. An avid outdoor enthusiast, he spends his free time exploring Maine’s landscapes with his trusted companion, Lenny.

Kristyn Corrigan, Director

Kristyn is a principal and co-owner of Applied Marketing Science, a Boston based market research consultancy that helps companies develop better products and services through harnessing the power of customer insights.

In her over 17 years of product development consulting experience, Kristyn has led and designed customer insights engagements for leading global B2B and consumer brands. She specializes in helping companies not only understand stated and latent customer needs through in-depth interviewing and ethnographic observation, but also with how to measure their criticality to innovation.

In addition to consulting work, Kristyn trains companies to create and implement their own in-house insights and Voice of the Customer programs. Her published work has been featured in Fast Company and Marketing News. She has guest lectured at several institutions, including the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Professionally, Kristyn is most energized when she’s helping clients uncover meaningful customer insights that change the way they think and that create real business impact. Personally, she enjoys traveling and spending as much time as she can with family and friends.

Kristyn holds a B.S. in marketing and sociology from Providence College and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Bentley University, with a concentration in Marketing Analytics.

Greg Coticchia, Director

Greg Coticchia is an award-winning entrepreneur, business leader, professor and author, with over thirty years’ experience in tech products and services. He serves as the President of Sopheon (LON: SPE), a leader in enterprise innovation management software and service. Prior to Sopheon, he created and launched Carnegie Mellon University’s Master’s Program in Product Management (MSPM), the world’s first product management degree, serving as it's founding executive director. Earlier in his career, Greg was a serial entrepreneur, participating in fourteen start-ups (founding four), and participating as an executive in various size organizations, from '$0M to over $1B' in revenue. He has raised over $73M in venture capital in his career and has actively participated in over seventeen mergers and acquisitions. He has served as CEO (four times), President and COO, and has been involved or responsible for the launch of over 100 products and solutions, and several companies. Greg has served on many boards, both profit and nonprofit. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh in Industrial Engineering, where he also received his MBA, he teaches several courses including B2B marketing at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business. He holds certificates in Entrepreneurial Management from Carnegie Mellon University and Professional Coaching from Duquesne University. Coticchia was named as a finalist three times for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and for the Tech 50 CEO of the Year. He was also named a 2006 Distinguished Graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (Katz). His book, ‘Start Your Startup Right’ is available on Amazon.

Rolando Cruzado, Director

Rolando Cruzado is an Industrial Engineer with 10 years of experience developing and accelerating more than 2 thousand R&D and innovation projects of different technologies funded with over USD100M through global programs such as Newton Fund (UK), IDB, World Bank, USAID (USA), and the Global Fund (Switzerland).

Rolando holds a master's degree in Innovation and Change Management at York St. John University (United Kingdom) and is a fellow of Intel (Silicon Valley, USA) and Fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering (London, United Kingdom) with postgraduate studies in Technology Transfer by UC Davis.

Rolando is passionate about product innovation. He serves as Accelerator Product Manager at Conservation X Labs, a technology and innovation company that develops initiatives and empowers innovators to revolutionize conservation and prevent the sixth mass extinction. In his role, he supports the Amazon CoLab, an accelerator program that helps innovative teams to develop solutions to protect people and ecosystems in the Amazon rainforest.

He serves as a professor and mentor in topics of Technological Innovation, Acceleration, and Incubation at the academy field. And, supports as a Researcher at RoboticsLab from NFM Robotics, a Research & Development Center, exploring novel approaches through robotics technologies.

Earlier in his career, he has been Supervisor of the Peruvian Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation's fund; Associate Consultant for the Department of Innovation and Technology of the Peruvian Government; and Knowledge Management Coordinator at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), building Open innovation programs and global solutions worldwide.

Claudio Dell’Era, Director

Claudio Dell’Era is Professor of Design Thinking for Business at the School of Management - Politecnico di Milano, where he serves also as Co-Founder of LEADIN’Lab, the Laboratory of LEAdership, Design and INnovation. He is also Director of the Observatories “Design Thinking for Business” and “FUTURES | Sense Making by System Thinking” of the School of Management –Politecnico di Milano. Research activities developed by Claudio are concentrated in the areas of Future Making and Design Thinking. He has published more than 100 chapters in edited books and papers published in conference proceedings and leading international journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Long Range Planning, Technology Forecasting and Social Change, R&D Management, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Industry & Innovation, Creativity and Innovation Management, Business Horizons, and many others. Claudio is Associate Editor of the European Management Review and active member of the Editorial Review Boards of Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Business Research, and R&D Management. Claudio joined the PDMA for the first time in 2022 and is currently a member of the PDMA Academic Committee. He co-chaired the PDMA Dissertation Proposal Competition in 2022, 2023 and 2024. He is an active member of the Scientific Committee for the International Product Development and Management Conference (IPDMC), which is hosted by the European Institute for the Advanced Study of Management (EIASM) in Brussels.

Wayne Fisher, Director

Wayne Fisher, Ph.D., founded Rockdale Innovation after spending 27 years as an R&D manager at Procter & Gamble. While at P&G, Wayne created a series of popular innovation workshops for all phases of new product development, training thousands of managers across P&G’s diverse business units and regions. These workshops and related tools provide a common language and framework for innovation, fostering collaboration across P&G’s diverse business units and regions. He served as a full-time innovation consultant and Creative Problem Solving facilitator at The GYM, an IDEO-inspired design studio that remains a key enabler of P&G’s innovation capability.

Rockdale Innovation guides have successfully reapplied these innovation best practices across diverse industries including consumer products, business-to-business, manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare. Wayne is a sought after trainer, speaker, and writer on the topic of innovation best practices, including the chapter, “Applying the Creative Problem Solving Process to Open Innovation”, published by Oxford University Press.

Wayne is also active in the Product Development and Management Association, where he serves on the Outstanding Corporate Innovator award selection committee. He is Past President of the Tri-State Chapter. Wayne received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and has been granted 18 US patents.

Ruby Lee, Director

Dr. Ruby Lee is Professor of Marketing and the Director of International Programs in the College of Business at Florida State University. She holds a PhD from Washington State University, a MPhil from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a BSW (Hons) from the University of Hong Kong. She is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, honored with a 2023-24 Fulbright Scholar Award to visit Kosovo’s University of Pristina and a 2016-17 Fulbright-Hanken Distinguished Chair Award to visit Finland’s Hanken School of Economics. Prior to joining academia, she worked for multiple international companies based in Hong Kong and China. Over the last two decades, she has given lectures, seminars, and research presentations to numerous universities such as those in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam, and others. She has published in leading business journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Decision Sciences, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of World Business, and Journal of Product Innovation Management. She is currently on multiple editorial boards including Journal of Product Innovation Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of World Business. Her recent research focuses on interfirm relationships, marketing strategy, and innovation for a good cause. She co-chaired the PDMA Dissertation Proposal Competition in 2021 and the JPIM Research Forum in 2016 and 2023.

Andreas Maihoefer, Director

Andreas is an accomplished product management leader with broad experience from concept to commercialization. He has a demonstrated track record of product and program development.

Andreas currently dedicates his time to three causes: One, he is founder and principal of EnSo Consulting LLC, a small consulting business that partners with its clients to help realize organizational goals with proven tools and methodologies in strategic planning and product management. Two, he is an academic educator with experience developing and teaching master level classes in strategy, academic writing, and product development at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Three, he is a board member at the Product Development and Management Organization where he helps develop and execute professional development programs on a national and international level, supports global PDMA chapters, and organizes student pitch competitions.

Andreas acquired his experiences and practical knowledge during nearly 30 years in leadership and contributing roles in product management and product development predominantly in the medical device industry. Andreas has worked for international Fortune 500 companies such as 3M, Bayer, and Philips and also in midsize companies and startups. He has helped develop and introduce product lines that have surpassed $1B in lifetime revenue on the global market in cardiovascular surgery, diagnostic and interventional imaging, interventional therapeutics, digital pathology and he has supported adjacent expansions in all of those fields as well as in sleep and respiratory care. Andreas is co-author of sixteen national and international patents.

Andreas holds a Master of Business Administration from the Henley Business School, formerly Henley Management College, in the UK. He has a German degree of Diplom Kaufman, which can be equated to a Master of Economics and Social Sciences.

Michael O'Connor, Director

Michael O'Connor is the Director Strategy and Project Management with Medtronic Corporate Science and Technology in Minneapolis, Minnesota (17 years of Medtronic experience). He has over 34 years of professional work experience and 29 years of professional experience (mainly in project, program and portfolio management) in the Medical Device Industry. O'Connor received his B.A. and minor in Project Management from Metropolitan State University. He holds Graduate degrees in Project Management, Technology Management and Business Administration. O'Connor earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, majoring in Project Management, from the University of Maryland, College Park, A. James School of Engineering. He was selected as an American Society for Quality Fellow (ASQ), selected as a Medtronic Technical Fellow, selected as an American Academy of Project Management Fellow (AAPM), selected as an Association for Project Management Fellow (APM) and selected as a Biomedical Engineering Society Fellow (BMES). He is a (PDMA) NPDP, (PMI) PMP®️, PgMP®️, (IPMA) IPMA-B certified, (IPM) CPD, (AAPM) MPM, CIPM and CPRM. He is currently on the Board of Directors as a Director at large for the Minnesota PMI chapter and he is the Medtronic liaison for the Minnesota PMI chapter. He is also the representative for Medtronic on the PMI Global Executive Council. He will be a Director at large with the Product Development and Management Association in 2020-2023 and is a former Director at Large for the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA). He is a Community Faculty Member at Metropolitan State University and an Adjunct Faculty instructor at the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Wisconsin, Platteville that is teaching Graduate level Project Management, Portfolio Management, Project Capstone, Procurement, and Culture / Organizational course(s).

Bill Reid, Director

Bill Reid, has over 30 years of experience in all phases of product development, helping companies bring new products to the market. Over Bill’s career he has worked for many innovative large multi-national companies including Ford, General Electric Aircraft Engines, General Motors, and Covidien. Furthermore, Bill has had extensive involvement with companies as small as single entrepreneur start-up ventures. Throughout his career, he has found enjoyment in being able to teach others about innovation methods. Bill has worked as a consultant in product development and innovation for his company Immersed, since 2007. Currently, Bill is Vice President at Boulder Imaging.

Bill is a certified New Product Development Professional with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati. Bill is named as the inventor or co-inventor on 22 US patents. Bill has self-published his own book on innovation, titled “Immersed in the Cave.” Bill’s passion for innovation and creativeness extends beyond the workplace to his hobbies, where he is an award-winning homebrewer who has had a beer featured at the Great American Beer Festival.

Luigi M. De Luca, PDMA JPIM Co-Editor

Luigi M. De Luca is Professor of Marketing and Innovation at Cardiff University Business School, where he also serves as Associated Dean for Doctoral Studies and Director of the PhD Programme. Luigi received a PhD in Business Administration and Management from Bocconi University (Italy). Prior to joining Cardiff University, he was Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at Aston Business School and visiting doctoral student at Hong Kong City University and CEIBS.

Luigi’s research, teaching and executive education focus on the strategic and organizational antecedents, consequences, and contingencies of digital transformation. In particular, the links among digital technologies, marketing, innovation, and organizational culture. Over his career, Luigi has taught marketing and innovation courses at undergraduate, postgraduate, executive, and doctoral level. He has supervised and examined MBA, EMBA, PhD and DBA students in UK and internationally.

Luigi serves in the editorial board of Journal of Product Innovation Management (since 2014), Industrial Marketing Management, and Journal of Strategic Marketing, among others. He has published in the top academic journals in marketing and innovation, including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Research Policy, Journal of Service Research, British Journal of Management, Industrial Marketing Management, and Journal of Business Research, among others.

He joined the PDMA for the first time in 2006 and is currently a member of the PDMA Academic Committee. In 2014, he won the Thomas P. Hustad Best Paper Award from JPIM; in 2019 he was the co-chair (with Prof. Gina O’Connor) of the JPIM-PDMA Research Forum held in Orlando, FL.

Luigi has a strong track-record of initiating and delivering collaborative projects between industry and academia, including three flagship Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) funded by Innovate UK, on new product development (with BrikFab Ltd), data science innovation (with Centrica Plc) and machine learning in marketing (with ActiveQuote Ltd).

Gerda Gemser, PDMA JPIM Co-Editor

Gerda Gemser, Ph.D., is Full Professor and Chair of (Corporate) Entrepreneurship in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne (Australia). She enjoys working together with industry professionals to generate relevant work on the management of creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation. She teaches and gives workshops in these areas, next to publishing academic articles and books. She has published in leading academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Journal of Management, and Journal of Product Innovation Management, amongst others. She has co-written two books: one on strategic design (BIS Publishers, 2016) and one on design leadership (2022, Stanford University Press). She has been a Visiting Scholar at D’Amore-McKim School of Business (NorthEastern University), Sauder School of Business (University of British Columbia), and The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania).

She is currently Co-Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, after having served as an Associate Editor for this journal for six years. She is also Consulting Editor of International Journal of Management Reviews. She is a Member of the Board and Scientific Committee of IPDMC - Innovation and Product Development Management Conference.

Minu Kumar, PDMA JPIM Co-Editor

Minu Kumar is the Founder-Director of the Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Initiatives at the Lam Family College of Business (LFCoB) at San Francisco State University and serves as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Product Innovation Management. He received a B.S. in Pharmacy, M.B.A. Pharmaceutical Marketing, and a Ph.D. in Marketing. His primary scholarly interest lies in areas relating to new product design, development, and innovation management. Professor Kumar has published in journals such as the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, International Journal of Research in Marketing among others. He has also worked for or consulted with firms such as Barilla, SAP, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals (Now Daiichi Sankyo), Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic, Glaxo Smithkline, among others on product design & development, sales, and marketing projects. His work has directly helped LFCoB raise several millions of dollars for Innovation & Entrepreneurship programs. Learn more

Ruby Lee, PDMA JPIM Co-Editor

Dr. Ruby Lee is Professor of Marketing and the Director of International Programs in the College of Business at Florida State University. She holds a PhD from Washington State University, a MPhil from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a BSW (Hons) from the University of Hong Kong. She is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, honored with a 2023-24 Fulbright Scholar Award to visit Kosovo’s University of Pristina and a 2016-17 Fulbright-Hanken Distinguished Chair Award to visit Finland’s Hanken School of Economics. Prior to joining academia, she worked for multiple international companies based in Hong Kong and China. Over the last two decades, she has given lectures, seminars, and research presentations to numerous universities such as those in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam, and others. She has published in leading business journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Decision Sciences, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of World Business, and Journal of Product Innovation Management. She is currently on multiple editorial boards including Journal of Product Innovation Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of World Business. Her recent research focuses on interfirm relationships, marketing strategy, and innovation for a good cause. She co-chaired the PDMA Dissertation Proposal Competition in 2021 and the JPIM Research Forum in 2016 and 2023.