Keynote Presentations

Tuesday, January 26
Connected Innovation: The Power of Many

Connected Innovation helps General Mills deliver a consistent stream of timely innovations to consumers. Peter Erickson will share case studies from the General Mills journey that will demonstrate the tools and techniques that have been successful, as well as his vision of what will be needed in the future to fully realize the promise of “The Power of Many.”

General Mills is the world’s sixth largest food company and markets more than 100 consumer brands including Cheerios, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Green Giant, Betty Crocker and Progresso. Erickson is responsible for the identification, development and commercialization of new food products and technologies that can help in nourishing the lives of consumers by providing increasingly higher levels of health, taste, and convenience.

As senior vice president of Innovation, Technology and Quality, Peter Erickson is responsible for the invention and commercialization of new food products and technologies by providing increasingly higher levels of health, taste and convenience. Erickson's responsibility for the General Mills Quality organization is focused on delivering brands that its consumers can trust and value through its global leadership in consumer and product safety, in addition to its product quality, regulatory and technical excellence.

Erickson has been employed by General Mills for the past 20 years. Prior to that, he worked in product development as a senior food scientist at General Foods Corporation in White Plains, N.Y. Erickson received both a B.S. and M.S. degree in food science at the University of Massachusetts, where he continues to serve as a member of the university’s food science external advisory board.

Tuesday, January 26
Tools and Capabilities Necessary for Successful Open Innovation at Unilever

As one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, Unilever has the power to reach millions…approximately 160 million times a day, someone, somewhere in the world, buys a Unilever brand. With that level of global reach, working in innovation at Unilever can be enormously exciting and yet uniquely challenging. Unilever’s focus on Vitality requires its new products to contribute to quality of life and wellbeing of consumers in all sorts of ways, from nutritional advances, to new toothbrush technology, to inventing a handy, low-cost water purifier for parts of the world where clean water is scarce.

Unilever has a long history of collaboration with internal and external partners which has provided rich insights and resulted in a broadening of skills, expertise and access to new technologies and products. In this presentation, Jon Hague will examine some of Unilever’s successful collaborations, illustrating Unilever's approach to open innovation and in particular highlighting the following key learnings:

• what makes a successful partnership

• organizing for success

• the tools and capabilities Unilever uses

• how the experience to date drives his vision for the future

Jon Hague assumed his current role at Vice President of Open Innovation for Unilever in October 2008. He holds a first Degree and PhD in Materials Science from the University of Sheffield. Jon spent the first seven years of his career at Unilever as a research scientist in Hair Research at Port Sunlight Laboratory, UK. During the 1990’s Jon was responsible for building Unilever’s regional innovation for Skin Cleansing and Care in Indonesia. Between 2001 and 2006 Jon led the Global Technical Centre for Deodorants in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, North America, and was part of the team that delivered the innovation to make Unilever the leader in the North American Deodorants market. In 2006 Jon returned to the Port Sunlight Laboratory in the UK and operated as Strategy and Operations Director for Home and Personal Care R&D. This role evolved into Strategy and Operations Director for the Chief R&D Officer, and encompassed project managing the recent 1-Unilever organization design and implementation.

Tuesday, January 26
Piloting New Innovation Strategies to Transform R&D

Alberto Culver has transformed its R&D organization and strategies over the past several years to create a more “proactive” innovation operating model. The new R&D organization developed new capabilities, piloted several innovation approaches, and tailored unique solutions to open innovation. One critical element was the establishment of a differentiated Technology and External Alliance approach.

Alberto Culver’s Technology and External Alliance organization oversees both internal and external innovation for the company. Unique engagement models have been created to effectively interact with cross functional partners. In this presentation, Mr. Linares will discuss how Alberto Culver reframed its R&D organization and will outline the company’s unique approaches to external alliance innovation.

Carlos Linares is the Senior Vice President of Global Research & Development and a member of the Executive Committee for the Alberto Culver Company. Carlos leads all strategies and functions for Alberto’s worldwide R&D organization. As a part of those responsibilities, he has most recently overseen the creation of a new technology/external alliance department and the development of new approaches across R&D to drive the company’s innovation programs. Carlos joined Alberto Culver in 2005 as Vice President of Product Development. In 2008, he was named to his current position. He has over 23 years of consumer product experience, starting his career with Procter & Gamble. Prior to joining Alberto Culver he held the position of Senior Director with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies.

Wednesday, January 27
The Evolution of Open Innovation at Kraft

Kraft recognizes that valuable solutions can come from anywhere. They have built the capabilities required to integrate ideas and inventions into winning business propositions that delight their consumers. On their journey, they have learned that processes and tools are a start. To be successful, you must have engaged leaders and cultivate a culture for innovation. In this presentation Todd Abraham will share some of the things Kraft is doing to get to market more quickly andhow their open innovation strategy is helping them create new product platforms, reinvent iconic brands, improve features and quickly adapt to the latest consumer trends.

Todd Abraham is currently Senior Vice President of Research and Nutrition for Kraft Foods with global responsibility for long term, cross-business, cross-category innovative research and nutrition programs as well as analytical, sensory, statistical, consumer guidance research, culinary support and fundamental science support to Business Units. In this role, Todd is a member of the North American New Products leadership group and leads the R&D Growth and Open Innovation Collaboration Councils. Additionally, Todd is responsible for the Kraft’s Open Innovation efforts and a series of groups focusing on innovative consumer methodology and the Innovative Applications group. Todd has responsibility for Research and Nutrition Groups at the Glenview, East Hanover, Tarrytown, Munich, Banbury and Madison sites. Todd completed his Sc.B. in Chemistry at Brown University in Providence, RI; Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.B.A. from The Wharton School in Philadelphia, PA concurrently in May, 1981.

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