PDMA Board of Directors |
Executive Committee![]() Allan Anderson, NPDP, Chair ![]() Ernie Harris is the Founder of Interesting Blazer, a consulting agency focusing on product management and strategy, go-to-market analytics and interim leadership staffing. A veteran of both the enterprise and the startup community, Ernie has spent his career helping drive growth for the organizations he has had the privilege of working with. Prior to starting Interesting Blazer, Ernie worked with companies like TDAmeritrade where his product team built one of the first real-time streaming data platforms delivered via the Internet and Baltimore Gas and Electric where he built and deployed one of the first automated software distribution and version control systems for the enterprise. Ernie’s history with PDMA started in 2008 while at Raymond James Financial where he joined a local chapter to enrich his understanding of Product Management. Since then he has held positions at all levels within the organization from chapter President, VP of Events and Board Member. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Ernie holds a degree in Computer Science and numerous certifications including PDMA’s NPDP. He currently resides in Florida with his wife BriAnna. ![]() Meredith Baratz, Secretary-Treasurer Previously, Ms. Baratz led UnitedHealthcare’s Strategic Insights Group, a team dedicated to providing actionable information to support strategy, innovation and growth. She provided operational leadership for the company’s Innovation Council, driving cultural change, cross-enterprise development, and reputational enhancement. As a leader of our consumer-driven health business, she worked regularly with policy, legislative and media communities to create shared understanding of consumerism in health and UnitedHealthcare’s role in transforming health care. She has served as a frequent source of strategic expertise in public forums, client discussions and business coalitions. Working as an industry partner with the National Business Group on Health, America’s Health Insurance Plans, and URAC, Ms. Baratz contributed to driving transformation in health benefits through effective consumerism. She represented health care in the Berkeley Innovation Forum, hosted by the University of California, Berkeley. After leading the company to a successful bid for the Outstanding Corporate Innovator award from the Product Development and Management Association, Ms. Baratz is now a member of PDMA’s Board, and serves as Secretary/Treasurer. She has been quoted in trade publications and national press (The Washington Post). Ms. Baratz’s career encompassed account management, sales/marketing leadership, and innovation with MetLife, MetraHealth and UnitedHealth Group. She graduated magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, and holds an Executive MBA from New York University. Directors![]() Mark Adkins is the CEO of LeanMed, a medical device company dedicated to bringing essential treatment to remote, underserved regions through innovative technologies. Lean Med's first product, the O2 CUBE, delivers vital supplemental oxygen to patients of rural health clinics in developing nations. With respiratory infections killing millions of patients each year, the O2 CUBE is a landmark step in improving care and saving lives. Mark is also the founder & president of Smart Hammer Innovation, a management consulting business that helps companies apply best practices to Innovation Management. During his career, Mark and his teams have led development projects that have launched numerous new products with lifetime sales of over $1B. Mark is an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Medical Innovation https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/CMI/. Professor Adkins teaches on Innovation Management to educate the next generation of innovators in the design, development, and commercialization of medical technologies. Before founding Turnkey Marketing, Mr. Adkins was a Director at Cincinnati Machine where he spearheaded the design of their new product development process that was recognized in 1998 as the best in the world by the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA). Mark was also a director at Kennametal where he successfully integrated independent development teams from Europe, Asia and North America and launched three new next generation product lines. Mark has a degree in Business Administration from Xavier University and is certified by the PDMA as a New Product Development Professional (NPDP). Mark currently serves on the PDMA board of directors and in 2010 founded PDMA Pittsburgh. ![]() Sudhi Gulur, NPDP, Director, Ex-Officio Sudhi’s skills and experiences include leading, coaching, and managing teams, partnering with internal and external customers across various domains to understand their needs, leading innovation, product discovery, product strategy and planning, software product management, and new product development. Prior to joining Boeing, Sudhi worked for Dassault Systèmes and led new product development of product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions for the aerospace, automotive, structure, shipbuilding and architecture and engineering construction (AEC) industries. Sudhi has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in industrial and manufacturing engineering and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Sudhi is a continuous learner and is actively learning through books, blogs, courses and new assignments. ![]() Ernie Harris, Director Prior to starting Interesting Blazer, Ernie worked with companies like TDAmeritrade where his product team built one of the first real-time streaming data platforms delivered via the Internet and Baltimore Gas and Electric where he built and deployed one of the first automated software distribution and version control systems for the enterprise. Ernie’s history with PDMA started in 2008 while at Raymond James Financial where he joined a local chapter to enrich his understanding of Product Management. Since then he has held positions at all levels within the organization from chapter President, VP of Events and Board Member. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Ernie holds a degree in Computer Science and numerous certifications including PDMA’s NPDP. He currently resides in Florida with his wife BriAnna. ![]() Bob Johnston, Director Clients have included IBM, BMW, Carl Zeiss, Center for Creative Leadership, 3M, United Way Worldwide, Procter & Gamble and Barclays Global Investors, among others. Bob has lectured on innovation at the Harvard Business School, Brown University, Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and quoted on his work by Fortune, INC., Industry Week, Entrepreneur, the Journal of Creative Behavior, and CIO magazine. He is a past President and Board Chair of the Product Development and Management Association and has been inducted into the Creative Education Foundation’s Hall of Fame, where he served on the Board for eight years. Bob is the author of numerous articles on innovation and the book, The Power of Strategy Innovation: A New Way of Linking Creativity and Strategic Planning to Discover Great Business Opportunities, with Doug Bate. The book is full of stories about their collaboration with companies like 3M, Eli Lilly, Procter & Gamble, IBM, Carl Zeiss, Barclays Global Investors, Nokia, and Moen, among others, and the strategy innovation methodology we provided to drive their innovative growth. The updated version of the book describes the global emergence of a new role in the C-Suite, Chief Innovation Officer, and a trend toward Enterprise-wide Innovation. Bob enjoys speaking on the topic of Strategy Innovation and Enterprise Innovation and in the recent past has given presentations or keynotes for Washington DC’s AdWeek, the African Creativity Conference, the Host Hotel’s General Manager’s Conference, the United Way Worldwide Leadership Conference and Regional Conferences and continues to guest lecture each semester in the Brown University Entrepreneurship Program. He has been invited to rejoin the Product Development and Management Board for 2017 and serves on the Board of the Vineyard Montessori School. Bob lives with his wife, Ty, on Martha’s Vineyard where they are a short ferry and car ride from their adult children, Danielle, Rob and Emily, daughter-in-law, Andrea, and grandson, Cameron in Massachusetts. The family shares a passion for being together and New England sports! ![]() Kenneth Kahn, Director ![]() Suzanne Thompson, Director A native of Missouri, Suzanne holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ![]() Yasmine Winkler, Director She attended Northeastern Illinois University and received her B.A. in English and Environmental Studies. She has a M.S in Health Care Delivery Science from the Tuck School of Business and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. She is an alumna of the Chicago-based Leadership Greater Chicago program, served on the NHHF Board and is a member of Women in the Boardroom, National Hispanic Latina Institute (NHLI), The Alumni Society, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses – Council of Business (NAHN CoBA) and PDMA. PDMA JPIM Co-Editors![]() Jelena Spanjol, Ph.D., PDMA JPIM Co-Editor ![]() Charlie Noble, PDMA JPIM Co-Editor,
Ex-Officio PDMA Operations Committee![]() Minu Kumar, Vice President of Academics ![]() Ernie Harris, Vice President of Events Prior to starting Interesting Blazer, Ernie worked with companies like TDAmeritrade where his product team built one of the first real-time streaming data platforms delivered via the Internet and Baltimore Gas and Electric where he built and deployed one of the first automated software distribution and version control systems for the enterprise. Ernie’s history with PDMA started in 2008 while at Raymond James Financial where he joined a local chapter to enrich his understanding of Product Management. Since then he has held positions at all levels within the organization from chapter President to Conference Planning Committee Member to Treasurer for the PDMA Board of Directors. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Ernie holds a degree in Computer Science and numerous certifications including PDMA’s NPDP. He currently resides in Arizona with his wife BriAnna. ![]() Aruna Shekar, Ph.D., Vice President of Global Affiliates – Asia-Pacific She has taught at Massey for more than twenty years and coordinated the final year product development projects with industry. Her educational focus is on teaching product development through project-based learning experiences and fostering creative thinking. She has led the re-designed first year humanitarian engineering course in conjunction with Engineers Without Borders (EWB), a non-profit social organization, for four years, and every year her students have won National and International awards. She has been nominated by students as ‘lecturer of the year’ in 2015 and 2016, as part of a recent initiative by students. ![]() Egbert-Jan van Dijck, VP of Global Affiliates - Europe Alongside his position as VP of Global Affiliates – Europe, he serves as Acting Chairman of PDMA Netherlands since 2015 and Treasurer since 2013. He has earned degrees from two Dutch universities: Erasmus University (MBA, Finance), Leiden University (BA, Law), and York St. John University in the United Kingdom (MA, Leading Innovation and Change). In his corporate life, Egbert-Jan has worked for more than 30 years in new business development, innovation management for leading organisations in the profit and (semi-) public sector. Egbert-Jan lives with his wife, Nicolette, near the Dutch coast. In his spare time he enjoys taking long walks on the beach, driving their classic car and playing golf. He is based in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). ![]() Karen Dworaczyk, NPDP, Vice President of Marketing Over the course of more than 30 years in sales, product marketing and new product development, Karen has led and participated in the product development efforts of numerous Fortune 500 companies, in consumer packaged goods, the chemical industry, consumer durables, ingredient brands and software development. She received executive training at The Kellogg School of Business, James L. Allen Center for Executive Training and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University. She has received many awards and scholarships including Kodak Scholar, Conrail Scholar, Regents Scholar, Society of Women Engineers Scholar, Chemical Engineering Honor Society, and the prestigious Emersonian Award from Procter & Gamble’s Global Oleo Chemical Group. She is an active member of PDMA, Product Development and Management Association since 2013 and a PDMA registered Education Provider since 2017. ![]() Mark Adkins, NPDP, Vice President of Chapter Activity Smart Hammer Innovation also partners on designing and deploying innovation software programs that provided clients IT systems that support the automation of Stage Gate, Portfolio Management, Resource Planning and the Front End of Innovation business processes improving our client’s Time-to-Market and Product Success Rates. Mark is also an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Medical Innovation. Professor Adkins teaches on Innovation Management to educate the next generation of innovators in the design, development, and commercialization of medical technologies. Before founding Turnkey Marketing, Mr. Adkins was a Director at Cincinnati Machine where he spearheaded the design of their new product development process that was recognized in 1998 as the best in the world by the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA). Mark was also a director at Kennametal where he successfully integrated independent development teams from Europe, Asia and North America and launched three new next generation product lines. Mark has a degree in Business Administration from Xavier University and is certified by the PDMA as a New Product Development Professional (NPDP).Mark served on the PDMA board of directors from 2006 – 2013 as VP of Marketing and in 2010 founded PDMA Pittsburgh where he serves as their volunteer executive director. He currently mentors entrepreneurial students in the Pitt Blast Furnace. ![]() Ludwig Bstieler, Vice President of Publications Ludwig Bstieler, Ph.D., is Professor of Marketing at the Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), where he teaches new product development in the MBA program. Prior to joining UNH, he was on the faculties of the University of Innsbruck, McMaster University, MIT's Sloan School of Management, and the European School of Management (ESCP Europe) in Paris. Ludwig researches the design and marketing of new products with a particular emphasis on close buyer-supplier collaboration in product development. Specifically, he examines how relational and contractual governance mechanisms can facilitate productive research collaborations between firms and between academia and industry. In his latest research, Ludwig explores the question of whether sustainability-minded firms can achieve better innovation outcomes and the circumstances that lead to these outcomes. His research is published in Journal of Product Innovation Management, Technovation, Journal of Business Research, Journal of World Business, and Asia Pacific Journal of Management, among others. He served as co-chair of the PDMA Academic Research Forum and the PDMA-UNH Doctoral Consortium. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management and serves on the Scientific Committee for the Innovation & Product Development Management Conference of the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management in Brussels. Ludwig’s industry experience includes work in international marketing research and consulting and conducting executive education with numerous European companies. |
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