Lessons Learned from Outstanding Corporate Innovators

Featuring Speaker: Sally Evans Kay, Strategic Product Development and Chris Swansegar, Product Management & Commercialization, Lennox International, 2017 OCI Winner

Session Description:

Lessons learned from proven successful practitioner companies provide valuable benchmarks for organizations wanting to improve their own new product/service development performance.

In 1988 PDMA established The Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award (OCI) to recognize companies which have achieved sustained and quantifiable innovation success and to learn from the practices which have contributed to their success. These practices provide valuable benchmarks for the innovation community.

In this webcast you will learn about the analyses conducted by The OCI Committee to look at the practices which have differentiated the winners over the 33-year history of OCI. You will learn that despite diversity in industry and size the winners share a common set of practices. You will learn about the evolution of innovation practices over time and how these companies have adapted their practices to reflect changing trends and market conditions. Attendees will also gain insights on how many of the OCI Winners are ahead of others in adopting next practices.

You will also have the unique opportunity to take an ‘under the hood’ look at how companies like BD, Church & Dwight, Clorox, Corning, DSM, Gorilla Glue, Lennox, Medtronic, and UnitedHealth Group actually implement innovation best practices. You will hear how past winners sustain success after winning OCI by creating a culture supportive of innovation and a constant focus on emerging best practices.

Don’t miss the opportunity to also hear from a past winner, Lennox International, about the OCI experience and the impact on the organization of participating in the process and winning the award.

About Sally Evans Kay

Strategic Product Development

Sally spent 36 years with The Dow Chemical Company and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. After assignments in R&D, Finance, Sales and Marketing her career was focused on various areas of innovation and new product development. Since retiring Sally has started her own consulting business, Strategic Product Development, which focuses on the front end of the innovation process. She also mentors start-ups and entrepreneurs through various programs in the Cincinnati area and at Purdue University.

Sally has been active in The Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) since 1988, both nationally and at the chapter level. She serves on the Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award Committee and is the past Chair of The Committee. She was an Associate Editor of the 3rd Edition of the PDMA Handbook of New Product Development and was the author of ‘Lessons Learned from Outstanding Corporate Innovators’, a chapter in the handbook. She was also a presenter in The University of Cincinnati’s MOOC on Innovation and Design Thinking.

Sally has a BS in Biology/Chemistry from The University of Pittsburgh and is an honorary Purdue Boilermaker.

About Chris Swansegar

Product Management & Commercialization

Chris Swansegar, Program & Project Portfolio Manager, Product Management & Commercialization for Allied Air Enterprises, a division of Lennox International, with over 40 years of experience in automotive and manufacturing industry.

A member of the Residential Product Management team. Chris is responsible for the Project Management Office (PMO); standardizing project portfolio management practices and processes, facilitating the launch and commercialization of new product to the market.

Prior to joining Allied, Chris has a long history in the automotive industry (32 years) with Bendix Commercial Vehicles in the capacity of Engineering, Change Management and Project / Program Management. A member of Project Management Institute (PMI) for more than 11 years, she has become a Subject Matter Expert of project and portfolio management practices.

Chris holds a Technical Engineering degree and bachelor’s degree in Business and Marketing Management. She is certified through Project Management Institute (PMI) as a Project Management Professional (PMP). She has been an active member of the PDMA OCI committee since 2018.