Experienced Vice President with a demonstrated history of working in the luxury goods and jewelry industry. Skilled in Brand Implementation, International Relations, Market Research, Management, and Marketing Strategy. Strong professional with a BA focused in Creative Industries Practice from University of the West of Scotland.

Mauro Porcini is PepsiCo's first ever Chief Design Officer. He joined the food & beverage corporation in 2012 and in said role he is infusing design thinking into PepsiCo’s culture and is leading a new approach to innovation by design that impacts the company’s product platforms and brands, which include Pepsi, Lay’s, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Sodastream, Doritos, Lifewtr, Bubly, Aquafina, Cheetos, Quaker, 7Up, Mirinda, amongst many others. His focus extends from physical to virtual expressions of the brands, including product, packaging, events, advertising, fashion and art collaborations, retail activation, architecture, and digital media. He leads teams based in New York City, Purchase, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, Miami, London, Dublin, Moscow, Il Cairo, New Delhi, Shanghai, Bangkok, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Cape Town.

Ms. Gustetic is a senior executive who architects innovation systems for impact.
Currently she is the Director of Early Stage Innovations and Partnerships for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. In this role she leads a portfolio of technology programs that engages diverse sources, creativity and innovation across the country, awarding more than $300M in funding annually through prize competitions, SBIR/STTR, research grants , internal innovation team projects, advanced concepts studies, and technology transfer. She is also a founding co-chair of the Partnership for Public Service's Innovation Council (2018-today).

Previously she has served in various program executive roles at NASA HQ, as the Assistant Director for Open Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and throughout her career has led numerous communities focused on incentive prizes, citizen science, design thinking and the maker movement.

As VP of Global Marketing in the Global Commercial business at Shell, I manage a diverse team of over 140 people operating in more than 80 countries. With a passion for keeping ahead of the ever accelerating digital transition, I champion teams to review smart data systems and strategies, personalized targeted marketing and customer-centricity to continue to change the way our business communicates and maintain growth across all lines of business as we lead the path through the energy transition.
With 20+ years experience in P&L, brand building, business strategy, full commercial acumen and multi-cultural team leadership, I have built high performance teams in 4 different regions: Greater China (based in China), North American (based in Canada & US HQ), Asia Pacific (based in Singapore) and Global (now based in London HQ).
I joined Shell in 2014 and have since focused on 3 key pillars that contribute to our ever growing success, firstly the critical role that global lubricants play in keeping the world moving while ensuring this is achieved through more and cleaner energy solutions and by continuously reducing our carbon impact, secondly I have an unwavering view on the importance of digital transformation and the role of smart data, and third I am an ambassador for gender equality, striving for a more balanced future where women have the same opportunities and influence as their male colleagues.
To achieve these goals I am continuously looking to professionalize our marketing capabilities and upgrade our team capability through building, developing and empowering people to reach their full potential - together, Let's Make The Future.

Jessica is leading Marketing and Communications for Mastercard in the Nordics and Baltics with a team spread across multiple markets. The team drives the Mastercard brand, supports the company’s customers and partners, works with loyalty, and contributes to the overall business objectives. On top of this, during the latest years Jessica and her team have been focused on working with the brand’s purpose, making sure being a local force for good is part of the core business. She has led educational initiatives internally on how this has a positive impact on the business results and revenue. She is also one of the leading forces behind the Swedish initiative Betalningshjalpen, which aims at educating the older population within digital payments and increasing awareness around the importance of digital inclusion. An initiative that is now expanding internationally.

Jessica has over 22+ years of experience from Marketing and Communications, where she has spent most of the time within the financial industry. Before joining Mastercard she was Head of Marketing at ICA Banken in Sweden.

She holds a Diploma in marketing from Påhlmans Handelsinsitut, has been studying Executive branding and Business strategy at Bergh’s School of Communication and has taken a Mini Mastercard MBA at Mastercard University.

Mina Bastawros is the VP of Creative and Digital Marketing at Airbus. He oversees how to do better marketing, but also marketing better at Airbus. As an aerospace enthusiast, he made it his mission to generate excitement to enable aircraft sales.

Amy Chen is SVP – Chief Innovation Officer at KONE. With the mission to improve the flow of urban life, she leads the company’s customer-centric innovation unit, focusing on consistently bringing new solutions to the market. Prior to joining KONE, Amy has extensive experience in corporate and startup innovations, as founder of Car2Share and CEO of car2go China with Daimler, COO of Didi and Li Auto’s mobility EV joint venture, and as strategy head for Volkswagen China’s software and digital services arm.
Amy’s other professional experience includes Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company in Germany, while she started her career with Motorola in the US. She holds an MBA from RSM Erasmus University in the Netherlands, and a BA in International Finance from Renmin University of China.

In his current role as CMO, Rik Strubel is responsible for global marketing activities, innovation, digital transformation and the direct-to-consumer business of 100+ Henkel Beauty Care brands.
Before moving to Henkel, Mr. Strubel worked at Unilever for 17 years. He held various management positions in the USA, Italy, UK and Germany. Most recently he steered the successful repositioning of one of the world's largest male grooming brands AXE as Global Vice President Axe/Lynx.
In addition to 20 years of diverse marketing experience in large corporations, Mr. Strubel has co-founded a fashion brand and held the co-CEO position at a Beauty Holding company.

Victoire is VP, User eXperience for Danone, focusing on identifying User eXperience insights and co-designing with users to create delightful Food experience that people will adopt. She has been active in the sensory and consumer field for more than 20 years and is now a recognised leader in this space. She is obsessed by putting human perception and behaviour at the center of design to create meaningful and positive innovations.
She began her career in 2000 in the automotive industry with Renault as R&D Sensory Scientist, focusing on improving safety systems. She moved on to the strategic marketing team to lead the development of intuitive cockpit and Human-Machine Interaction for connected vehicles using design-thinking approaches. She joined l’Oreal in 2012 to create a unified R&I consumer and sensory team. She defined, with her team, the L’Oréal winning products design process based on consumer engagement from the word Go. She actively promoted User centricity for more disruptive and sustainable innovation relevant for consumers.
In 2018, she joined Danone as global VP Sensory and Behavior Science-R&I, to embrace as well as contribute to leading the food revolution movement and put User Experience at the heart of food innovation design.
She holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and an M.S. in Food Science from Paris 7 University and Paris 11 University, respectively, as well as a Ph.D. in Sensory Science from Agro Paris Tech. She is married with 3 children.

Dr. Thomas Salditt is heading the Digital Business Enabling Department at BSH Home Appliances Group. In his position he is driving two major topics globally: analytics (Touchpoints Analytics like Websites, Apps, CRM // IOT // Advanced Analytics & Data Science). He is part of the Global Digital Transition team of BSH, Europe’s leading producer of white goods and one of the globally leading players in this sector. Prior to joining BSH Dr. Salditt worked for ProSiebenSat1 Media SE, Zooplus AG and A.T. Kearney and looks back on more than 15 years of experience in Digital Business, Digital Transition, eCommerce and Retail.

The design has the power to transform obstacles into new business opportunities, because its essence is innovative. I have dedicated the last 20 years to innovation, first studying at the Politecnico di Milano and then working for major technology companies, which have chosen to change the market with innovative and beautiful products: Samsung Electronics, Whirlpool Corporation and now 3M, the temple of innovation, where not only we design products but solutions. From Milan, one of the world capitals of design, I’m leading the Design Europe Center, where a team of industrial designers, packaging designers, and strategic designers each day translates weak signals into business opportunities for our customers and for the corporation create sustainable business and innovation both B2B and B2C business.
I have previously held various roles of increasing responsibility, Design Manager at Samsung Electronics, Whirlpool Europe Design Centre where several projects have been awarded by ADI, Red Dot, ADA and IDSA. In 2014 I’ve been awarded with the “Merit and Talent “ Award by the Executive Management Association in Italy. Lecturer in Design Management and speaker at international conferences. Since 2012 Board member of the Alumni Association of Politecnico di Milano University.

Hands-on design management executive with a passion to build products that delight people, she has a Customer oriented mindset with the final objective to create value for her Company and the Clients through innovation strategies. Lead product vision, strategy, and building of next-generation of physical and digital products. She has experience in 4 Top Corporations of 3 Nationalities in 4 different Industries (Consumer Electronics, Telecommunications, Innovation Industry, Healthcare, Automotive, Advanced Materials B2B-B2C, Home Appliances): Deutsche Telekom AG, 3M, Samsung Electronics, Whirlpool Corporation-Kitchen Aid. Monica Dalla Riva has also extensive experience in innovation strategy, marketing, technology, and future vision (eg. Ecosystem design, AI, Data-driven design, consumer electronics design, marketing design strategies). Currently VP of Design and VP of Customer Experience at the biggest Telecommunications company in Europe, Deutsche Telekom AG. Forrester CX Pro (CX-1) certified professional. Monica Dalla Riva is the award-winning of the Deutsche Telekom Global “Lead to Win” Award 2020 and of the Woman Leader Award at the Executive Leadership Association, got featured in several prestigious design and business magazines, and her product designs received 20+ design awards in her career. With a vision to change the way businesses think, act, and operate, to innovate while becoming customer centric, she is world-renowned as one of the few Design Corporate Executives in innovation corporations. Monica works with Board Member and Innovation leaders and organisations in nearly every industry to help transform company culture into innovative and customer centric. Former Head of Design at the most innovative company 3M, for Europe. Former Board member of the Alumni Polimi Association, Politecnico Univertity of Milan. Former Design Manger at Samsung Electronics, and Samsung-Armani Alliance design leader Former Design Leader at Whirlpool Corporation and IKEA collaboration. Fast Track Management Program as global talent at Whirlpool. Lecturer of Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano University, SDA Bocconi Economic University and at IED European Institute of Design.

Lindsay Brennan leads Demand Generation for ABB Robotics, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of industrial robots. She joined in 2020, developing and driving adoption of new technologies and marketing strategies to serve both long-standing and rapidly-developing industries.
Lindsay has spent the majority of her career working on a global scale in engineering/manufacturing multinationals focused on digitalisation and driving change. She is based in Amsterdam, NL and is originally from the United States.

Can has 15 years of experience in various marketing and consulting roles. In his nearly 4 years at Uber, helping to lead the brand, first at Uber Eats, and then across both Delivery and Mobility businesses. Prior to Uber, he spent nearly 10 years in marketing roles at Philips, including as Global Director of Consumer Marketing for Domestic Appliances and Sr. Manager for Digital Marketing and Innovation. And before that, he honed his strategic mindset as an Associate at Boston Consulting Group where he worked on strategy assignments for global financial services and energy companies.

As Head of Customer Experience for health technology leader, Philips, Tina lives and breathes what it means to be – and stay - customer-centric, especially in the transforming healthcare domain where clinicians are customers and patients are increasingly taking charge of their own health journeys.
As a data-driven big picture thinker & changemaker, Tina enjoys the challenge of steering and executing business strategy and helping transform global organizations by keeping the focus on people as well as process and technology. And Tina is hands on at making change stick. Throughout her career, she has held global roles headlining customer experience, customer service, supply chain, M&A projects and business transformation and she’s studied the theory at Harvard, North Western, INSEAD, Göttingen and Lund.
Tina loves working with and learning from people who are passionate about what they do and strive to make a real difference. In her spare time, you’ll find her seeking out the perfect, quiet beach, reading everything she can get on her Kindle, and spending time with family and friends.

Lawrence has headed up Consumer Insights in a Samsung HQ Strategy and Innovation team since its creation five years ago. With a particular mission to effect cultural change within a Tech-driven company, his role is to help make customer experience the guiding thread throughout. Previously he held insights roles at HTC at during the launch of VR notably, and prior to that at Cocal-Cola.

Karin headed up Product Planning globally for a major Product Line of the Electrolux Group for a number of years. This involved an integrated, x-functional 5-year planning of products, platforms, investments and resources - and more critical: innovation and technologies.
In 2021 she moved into a new role leading the Groups Technology Portfolio Strategy - where one of her key tasks became the global steering of a Portfolio of Sustainable Solutions.
Karin was also Director in the Groups Consumer Innovation Program, a team in charge of driving the company’s consumer innovation agenda. Previous positions included Change Management/Business Re-engineering, after 10 years of operational and strategic Product and Marketing Management experience.
Karin studied business administration in Germany and France. Her passion is to help ‘landing’ great technologies and innovation in market launches through x-functional collaboration, delivering a distinct consumer experience.

With a broad background in design leadership, product innovation, user centred design thinking and launch of innovative global products and services, Michael now focuses on building human centered innovation cultures in large size organisations. His hands-on leadership approach has brought him to companies like Amazon, PayPal, eBay, Nokia and Lego as well as several startups. He currently leads the UX and design thinking practice at Ørsted, a leading renewable energy company. At Ørsted, Michael oversees the creation of the Design Thinking strategy while maturing the UX design function for the company. This includes operational, strategic and cultural ways to embed design and design thinking in a program at global scale in conjunction with
the agile transformation into SAFe (Scaled Agile Frameworks).
Michael lectures and teaches at several design schools and MBA programmes in design thinking and design strategy. He has recently been appointed adjunct professor of Design at the Royal Academy of Architecture and Design in Copenhagen (KADK). Furthermore he actively pursues communities and partnerships that rethink design in concert with the fields of Psychology, Business development and Marketing in an effort to create new frameworks for change."

Nobody knows the future but we have the agency to shape it. Last decade with Ingka Group (IKEA) working with people, planet and digital transformation through converging design-, innovation-, strategy-, storytelling- and foresight practices.

Camilla Damgaard-Sørensen is a UX Design Specialist and Design Thinking Expert with Novo Nordisk Device Delivery Solutions where she leads the design of digital and physical user experiences for tomorrow’s medical devices. She believes in the power of design and focuses on health care innovation and other areas where design can drive positive change for people and the planet.

Eduardo Andrade is Professor of Marketing at Imperial College Business School and the co-Director of the MSc Programme on Climate Change, Management & Finance. He was previously Assistant and Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of Consumer Psychology at FGV-EBAPE in Rio de Janeiro.

As a behavioural researcher, Prof. Andrade has been interested in how individuals feel, think and make decisions in contexts related to sustainable consumption, inequality, and health. His articles have appeared in leading marketing (Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Marketing Research), medicine/public health (Lancet, Public Health Nutrition, Preventive Medicine, JAMA Network Open), and psychology journals (Psychological Science, Nature Human Behaviour), among others.

Amit Joshi is a Professor of AI, Analytics and Marketing Strategy at IMD. He is the Program Director of the Digital Analytics open program, and the co-director of the program on Artificial Intelligence. In 2020, he was named a ‘Digital Shaper’ in Switzerland, as one of a handful of individuals who would shape the digital economy in the future.
Amit is an award-winning professor and researcher and has interacted with a variety of corporate clients in several industries, including telecom, banking and financial services, media, manufacturing, retailing, pharma, education and automobiles. Previously, he worked for Cadbury India Ltd., a company that is now a part of the Mondelez International group.
Amit’s research, which focuses on long-run marketing strategy, analytics and AI applications, has been published in top journals, including Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Culture, Journal of Cultural Economics and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His research has twice won the MSI / H. Paul Root Award, for the best paper in the Journal of Marketing (2010 and 2015) the Robert D. Buzzell Best Paper Award (2006) for the MSI publication with the most long-term impact and bee nominated for the Sheth Foundation Award for long-term contributions. His dissertation won an honorable mention in the 2004 Alden G. Clayton Dissertation Proposal Competition. He is also an award-winning case writer.
His research and opinions have been extensively covered in the popular press and media, appearing in outlets including NPR, CNN, NBC, Nikkei, Fast Company, Business Standard, Fox News, Bloomberg, Forbes, Investor Relations Magazine, The Conversation, and Science Daily.
Amit earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pune, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (P.G.D.M.) from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India, and a Ph.D. is from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Wolfgang ULAGA is a Senior Affiliate Professor of Marketing at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. He is a global B2B thought leader on service and solution strategy design and execution. Wolfgang regularly consults with companies, serves as a frequent keynote speaker, and leads executive education workshops worldwide across many industries.
Wolfgang’s research focuses on how B2B firms strategically move from products to services and solutions, develop data-driven service business models, excel in service pricing, turn free services into profit engines (Free-to-Fee), and transform product-centric into service-savvy sales organizations. Recent projects focus on monetizing digital innovations that combine products and services, hardware and software, analytics and data.
Wolfgang has published numerous articles in leading journals, including Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review, He is the author of several books, including Monetizing Data: A Practical Roadmap for Framing, Pricing, and Selling your B2B Digital Offers and Service Strategy in Action.

Michael is a Professor at ESCP Business School, where he teaches Customer Value Management and the impact of digital technologies on firms' Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies. He is leading in the Responsible Research in Business & Management (RRBM) movement, holds the chair in Responsible Research in Marketing at University Liverpool Management School, and visiting position at Trinity College Dublin & Kozminski University. Michael is one of the world's 10 most influential Marketing thinkers and is part of the Top 50 people in Marketing (Google Scholar). In 2020 he was included in the Clarviate highly cited researcher ranking. He is the most cited researcher in the field of "Word-of-Mouth," among the top three in the field of "Customer Relationship Management," and among the top ten in the area of "Social Influence." Prof Haenlein is a well-known consultant with cross-industry sector expertise from telecommunications to private equity. Michael holds a Ph.D. from the WHU, Otto Beisheim School of Management (2004), and a habilitation from the Pantheon-Sorbonne University (2013).

Top 100 Digital Influencer, Author Radical Business Model Transformation, Global Head Center for Digital Leadership. Carsten Linz is an entrepreneurial leader with more than twenty years of business experience and a proven track record for driving innovation, growth, and transformation.

He serves as digital advisory board member, advises CEOs of fast-growing companies, is an active business angel and member of the investment committee of Europe’s largest seed stage fund. He successfully built-up several €100 mio. businesses and led company-wide transformation programs affecting more than 60.000 employees. He is a sought-after keynote speaker (listed at London Speaker Bureau) and panelist at conferences around the world.

As adjunct faculty member, he teaches in Executive Programs at Mannheim Business School, University of St. Gallen and Stanford Graduate School. He published several books including his recent best-seller “Radical Business Model Transformation: Gaining the Competitive Edge in a Disruptive World” (Top-Business Book 2017, Translations: Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Hungarian). His articles appeared in renowned journals such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review/Manager, ZDNet, CIO Magazine, Computerwoche, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, D!gitalist Magazine.

As Business Development Officer at SAP SE he repeatedly leads the build-up and scale-out of new businesses. In his role as Global Head of the Center for Digital Leadership, he drives SAP’s own digital transformation and acts as advisor to other CEOs, Chief Digital Officers, and CIOs by showcasing next-generation digital innovation and transformation approaches.

Dr. Linz holds a PhD in Innovation Management from University of Bern/Switzerland (“summa cum laude”) and a Diploma degree in Economic Engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (“with honors”). He studied System Dynamics and Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, Leading Change and Organizational Renewal at Harvard Business School, and Corporate Strategy at INSEAD Fontainebleau.

He was named “Top-100 Digital Influencer”, awarded as “Innovation Landmark” by the German President, honored with the coveted “Award of Excellence” from the Global Institute of Logistics and ranked as “Leader” in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. He is an advisory member of the World Economic Forum’s “Digital Enterprise” and “Digital Platforms and Digital Ecosystems” projects.

He supports Social Entrepreneurs as Advisory Board Member of Social Impact, Berlin.

He is married, has one daughter, and lives in Frankfurt/Main.

Mauro Porcini is PepsiCo's first ever Chief Design Officer. He joined the food & beverage corporation in 2012 and in said role he is infusing design thinking into PepsiCo’s culture and is leading a new approach to innovation by design that impacts the company’s product platforms and brands, which include Pepsi, Lay’s, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Sodastream, Doritos, Lifewtr, Bubly, Aquafina, Cheetos, Quaker, 7Up, Mirinda, amongst many others. His focus extends from physical to virtual expressions of the brands, including product, packaging, events, advertising, fashion and art collaborations, retail activation, architecture, and digital media. He leads teams based in New York City, Purchase, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, Miami, London, Dublin, Moscow, Il Cairo, New Delhi, Shanghai, Bangkok, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Cape Town.

Ms. Gustetic is a senior executive who architects innovation systems for impact.
Currently she is the Director of Early Stage Innovations and Partnerships for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. In this role she leads a portfolio of technology programs that engages diverse sources, creativity and innovation across the country, awarding more than $300M in funding annually through prize competitions, SBIR/STTR, research grants , internal innovation team projects, advanced concepts studies, and technology transfer. She is also a founding co-chair of the Partnership for Public Service's Innovation Council (2018-today).

Previously she has served in various program executive roles at NASA HQ, as the Assistant Director for Open Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and throughout her career has led numerous communities focused on incentive prizes, citizen science, design thinking and the maker movement.

Amy Chen is SVP – Chief Innovation Officer at KONE. With the mission to improve the flow of urban life, she leads the company’s customer-centric innovation unit, focusing on consistently bringing new solutions to the market. Prior to joining KONE, Amy has extensive experience in corporate and startup innovations, as founder of Car2Share and CEO of car2go China with Daimler, COO of Didi and Li Auto’s mobility EV joint venture, and as strategy head for Volkswagen China’s software and digital services arm.
Amy’s other professional experience includes Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company in Germany, while she started her career with Motorola in the US. She holds an MBA from RSM Erasmus University in the Netherlands, and a BA in International Finance from Renmin University of China.

Ernesto Ciorra became the Enel Group’s Chief Innovability (Innovation and Sustainability) Officer in September 2014. He began his career as an Associate with the consultancy firm Busacca & Associati, supporting leading Italian and foreign telecoms companies in a number of innovative projects. In 2003, he founded Ars et Inventio, a consultancy specialising in innovation and creativity, which he headed until taking up his current position. Ars et Inventio has worked with leading companies in Italy and abroad on the conception and launch of innovations that have gone on to achieve worldwide success.

Ernesto Ciorra has lectured in Innovation Management in Italian and Spanish Universities and Business Schools. He was Scientific Coordinator for the Master’s in Innovation Management at the Il Sole24Ore Business School and is a member of the advisory board for the Master’s in Strategic Innovation at Venice’s Ca' Foscari University. He is director of the Advanced Innovation Management Programme at the Istituto de Empresa in Madrid. He is also the author of three collections of poetry and a play that has been staged in several Italian theatres.

Maurits van Tol is Chief Technology Officer at Johnson Matthey, a global leader in science that enables a cleaner and healthier world. With over 200 years of sustained commitment to innovation and technological breakthroughs, we improve the performance, function and safety of our customers’ products. Our science has a global impact in areas such as low emission transport, pharmaceuticals, chemical processing and making the most efficient use of the planet’s natural resources.
Before joining Johnson Matthey, Maurits was Senior Vice President Innovation and Technology at Borealis. Maurits was responsible for shaping the Circular Economy business for Borealis as well as being part of the company’s management board responsible for their Plastics business. Maurits was a senior leader with Borealis since 2012. He spent 19 years with Royal DSM in a wide variety of R&D, Innovation and Business Management roles.
Maurits has a PhD in Catalysis and an MSc in Physical Chemistry and Catalysis, both from Leiden University, Netherlands. Parts of his studies were also performed at the University of East Anglia, and UC Berkeley. He shares our passion for science having achieved 18 patents and 30 publications and he sits on a number of Advisory Boards for Technology across the Chemicals Sector.

John Mullins is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School. He has published five books, dozens of cases and more than 50 articles in a variety of outlets, including Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal. He is a sought-after speaker and educator for audiences in entrepreneurship and innovation.

John’s first trade book, The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Executives Should Do Before Launching a Lean Start-Up, has become the definitive work on the assessment and shaping of entrepreneurial opportunities and is widely employed in universities worldwide.

His second book, the critically acclaimed Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model, co-authored with Randy Komisar, a partner at the esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, was named to “Best Books of 2009” lists by BusinessWeek and INC Magazine.

John’s third book, The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance or Grow Your Company with Your Customers’ Cash, was named one of five “not-to-be-missed books” for 2014 by Fortune magazine. It challenges the commonly held assumption that among an innovator’s first and most important tasks is that of raising capital. Its material provides the foundation for John’s widely viewed online course on Coursera.

John’s forthcoming book, Counter-Conventional: How the Six Break-the-Rules Mindsets of Entrepreneurs Can Help Anyone Change the World, enables practitioners to apply these entrepreneurial mindsets to their innovation challenges.

John has done executive education on five continents for a variety of organizations both large and small and has served on the boards of fast-growing companies in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.

In his current role as CMO, Rik Strubel is responsible for global marketing activities, innovation, digital transformation and the direct-to-consumer business of 100+ Henkel Beauty Care brands.
Before moving to Henkel, Mr. Strubel worked at Unilever for 17 years. He held various management positions in the USA, Italy, UK and Germany. Most recently he steered the successful repositioning of one of the world's largest male grooming brands AXE as Global Vice President Axe/Lynx.
In addition to 20 years of diverse marketing experience in large corporations, Mr. Strubel has co-founded a fashion brand and held the co-CEO position at a Beauty Holding company.

Carla Seidel is a Senior Vice President at BASF and leads the department Analytical & Material Science. She is a member of the board of the German Chemical Society GDCh and of the strategic advisory board on energy topics for the Helmholtz Society. Carla has served in a variety of leadership roles in BASF, including competitive intelligence & strategic planning, heading the personal care ingredients business in Asia Pacific, leading the growth field energy for BASF New Business and as Vice President Acids & Specialties Europe. She had joined BASF as a lab team leader in Central Analytics, Process Research & Chemical Engineering, in 1996, after completing her PhD in analytical chemistry at the University of Hannover, where she had studied chemistry.

Shahab has spent his professional career at the intersection of sport and healthcare supporting companies through change and transformation. Currently, Shahab leads Product and Design for Dick’s Sporting Goods, the largest sports retailer in the United States. Prior, he spent a decade at Nike in various roles across the innovation spectrum working across brand, product, digital and global technology. His last role at Nike was leading the Digital Transformation of the company, as Nike moved towards a digital first company with a greater focus on direct consumer engagement. Previous to Nike, Shahab held multiple roles within healthcare industries across business development and strategy roles.