| PDMA Board of Directors |
Executive Committee
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. 
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. 
Susan Penta, Secretary-Treasurer 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. Directors
Gloria Barczak , Director Dr. Barczak is former Editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), a Senior Advisor to Creativity and Innovation Management and a member of the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. She has been a Visiting Professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney, University of Bath, and Delft University of Technology. Dr. Barczak has published over 30 academically refereed journal articles in numerous journals including the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, British Journal of Management, Information and Management, and Business Horizons, among others. As Editor of JPIM, Dr. Barczak was invited to be a keynote speaker at six conferences, participated in approximately 25 doctoral workshops/consortiums, and was an invited speaker at 40 universities. Due to her Editor role, she also served on the IPDMC Board and Scientific Committee and the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) Board and Publications Committee. Dr. Barczak was an academic co-organizer of the ISPIM Boston Innovation Forum in 2016 and 2018. She has been actively involved in the PDMA serving twice as Chair of the PDMA Research Forum, twice as Chair of the PDMA Research Competition, twice as a member of the PDMA Academic Committee, and as a member of the PDMA Nominations Committee. At Northeastern University, Dr. Barczak served on the Faculty Senate for 3 years, was Co-Chair of the Enrollment and Admissions Policy Committee for 2 years, Co-Director of the Institute for Global Innovation Management, Chair of the Marketing Group, Co-Director of the Executive MBA Program, and Co-Chair of the Dean Search Committee for the School of Business. Over her career, Dr. Barczak has taught courses in Marketing and Innovation primarily at the Masters’ level. She has taught in the Executive MBA, High Tech MBA, Evening MBA, and MBA in Accounting programs. She has also taught in the MS in Innovation program, both on-the-ground and online versions and in numerous executive education programs. 
Karen Dworaczyk, NPDP, Director 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. 
Wayne Fisher, Ph.D., Director 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 
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. 
Michael O'Connor, Director 
Suzanne Thompson, Director Prior to Diversey, she worked in Research & Development at the Clorox Company for 29 years. Clorox roles included Vice President R&D, Growth labs where Suzanne led a cross-functional team to help identify, assess and create pipelines for potential adjacencies as well as led global technology, design, and open innovation. Suzanne also had roles leading Cleaning and Speciality Division R&D teams for Clorox. She has had experience in process development, product development and packaging development for divisions such as Kingsford Charcoal, Laundry, Home Care, Auto, Foods, Litter and Professional products. In addition to leading the Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award Selection Committee, Suzanne is on PDMA’s board of directors. 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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