Thomas Kuczmarski
Thomas Kuczmarski, senior partner and president of Kuczmarski & Associates, is a nationally recognized expert in the innovation of new products and services. Over the course of his career he has helped hundreds of clients, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations, learn to systematically unlock the value of innovation.
The author of six books and many articles, Tom has also taught product and service innovation at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management for the past 31 years. His executive education courses at the Kellogg School attract students from around the world.
Tom is founder, with Dan Miller, of the Chicago Innovation Awards, which recognize each year the most innovative new products and services developed in the upper Midwest. The awards, which are endorsed by every major business association in the Chicago region, showcase the creative spirit of America’s heartland.
Thought Leadership
Books:
2011, Innovating...Chicago Style
2007, Apples are Square: Thinking Differently About Leadership
2001, Innovating the Corporation
1996, Innovation
1995, Values-Based Leadership: Rebuilding Employee Commitment, Productivity, and Performance
1988, Managing New Products (3rd Edition: 2000)
Mr. Kuczmarski is extensively published and cited in radio, television, and national periodicals, including: The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Newsweek, Bloomberg Business Week, The Today Show, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Marketing News, Advertising Age, Crain’s Chicago Business, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and many more.
Richard Strezo
Rick Strezo is a Senior Partner with Kuczmarski & Associates, specializing in new product and service development for both consumer and B2B companies. Working with clients ranging from NASA to Betty Crocker and all points in between, he has helped create scores of commercial innovation successes in a breadth of industries including food, financial services, specialty and process chemicals, pharmaceuticals, personal care, energy, and telecom.
With over 20 years experience in the discipline, Rick believes that successful innovation is all about problem solving—and that correctly defining the problem is half the battle.
Prior to joining Kuczmarski & Associates, Rick served as CFO for Arlington International Racecourse, Inc., a premier thoroughbred horse racing facility. Previous to that, he was a Manager in the Strategic Services practice of Andersen Consulting, where he focused on strategic planning and marketing strategy. Additionally, Rick has been an organic chemist at DeSoto, Inc. and The Stepan Company, working in both new product development and applied research for polymers and surfactants, as well as hazardous waste management.
Rick earned his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Chicago where he was elected to the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. Rick obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Loyola University of Chicago and there received the American Institute of Chemists Award as “the outstanding undergraduate student majoring in chemistry.”
Thought Leadership
December 5, 2011, “What’s New Pussycat? Whoah Whoah Whoah,” K&A Innovation Blog
November 3, 2011, “Science and Art and Innovation,” K&A Innovation Blog
Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski
Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski is an educator, lecturer, and expert on values-based leadership. During the course of a career spanning three decades, she has conducted innovative, iterative workshops and seminars on leadership, taught at seven universities, worked in three nonprofit organizations, including the United Nations, and co-founded in 1983 the innovation consulting firm, Kuczmarski & Associates.
Susan currently teaches an executive course, Creating and Leading a Culture of Innovation, at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She began teaching in 1975 at Columbia University, followed by teaching positions in education, sociology, and anthropology as Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Dominican University, Concordia University, Colorado College, and National-Louis University. She has also held leadership positions with the World Studies Data Bank, the Academy for Educational Development, and the Constitutional Rights Foundation.
Susan has been listed in Who’s Who in the World for 12 years and was recently selected for inclusion in Outstanding People of the 21st Century, 500 Leaders of World Influence, and International Who’s Who of Professional and Business Women.
Thought Leadership
Books:
2007 Apples are Square: Thinking Differently About Leadership
2002 The Sacred Flight of the Teenager
2000 The Family Bond
1995 Values-Based Leadership: Rebuilding Employee Commitment, Productivity, and Performance
Dr. Kuczmarski has been interviewed on radio and television, including The Today Show, serves as an expert on numerous Websites, and is widely quoted on cable, the Web and in national and international print, including Fast Company, First Business, American Management Association, Consulting Magazine, and The Hindu.
Rosalyn King
Rosalyn King, Vice President of Finance & Operations, is a finance and human resource professional with more than 27 years of experience and demonstrated success in a variety of analytical, operational and planning positions.
Rosalyn is responsible for the administration of the day-to-day operations of the firm as well as financial reporting and human resource management. To ensure client satisfaction, she coordinates contract agreements, travel, IT, scheduling, and communications. She also serves as the liaison with the client's finance and legal departments.
Prior to joining Kuczmarski & Associates, Rosalyn worked for GE North American Life and Health as a Tax Analyst. She has also worked for GE Money as a contractor in the human resource department, as well as the finance department. In addition, Rosalyn has worked as an accounting professional at Ogilvy and Mather Chicago advertising agency.
Rosalyn earned a Master of Science from Roosevelt University in May 2005 with a concentration in Human Resource Management. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Chicago State University.
Amy Larson
Amy Larson is a Principal with K&A, specializing in bringing together cross-functional teams to deliver breakthrough innovation results. Amy combines her unique R&D, Marketing and Consulting experience to help clients build innovation as a core competency through establishing an Innovation Strategy, implementing an Innovation Process, and nurturing an Innovation Culture. She has worked across a wide range of industries from consumer packaged goods to industrial products to energy and telecomm services.
With over 16 years of innovation experience, Amy believes that customers are at the heart of all successful innovations, even when they can’t articulate their needs. Amy is passionate that everyone on an innovation team gains from immersing themselves in the customer experience and uses their unique perspectives to collaboratively create innovative solutions.
Prior to joining Kuczmarski & Associates, Amy drove top-line and bottom-line growth on the St. Ives and Alberto VO5 brands as a Brand Manager at Alberto-Culver. Amy built the foundation for her innovation career at Procter & Gamble where she was responsible for the launch of Crest Extra Whitening and developing the Global Denture Care Innovation Strategy and Platforms.
Amy earned her MBA with Honors from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She graduated with Honors from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Biomedical Engineering.
Thought Leadership
January 11, 2011, "Consultants Don't Kill Innovation, but Risk Aversion Does," K&A Innovation Blog
November 4, 2011, “If You Want to Innovate, Stop Ideating,” K&A Innovation Blog
2009, Leaders in Innovation panelist, Chicago Product Development and Management Association
2009, Culture of Innovation panelist, Kellogg School of Management
Megan Portanova
Megan Portanova is a Senior Associate at Kuczmarski & Associates. She leads project engagements for both domestic and international clients, and provides strategic insights and guidance. Megan has worked with clients across many industries in establishing Innovation Systems and creating portfolios of new products, services, and business models targeted at their customers and end-users.
Megan believes that tangible results are key to fostering a culture of innovation, and she specializes in directing pilot projects to implement innovation strategies and processes that ultimately contribute to the bottom line. Throughout her time at K&A, Megan has developed new products and services and has repositioned brands across a number of industries including consumer packaged goods, wholesale, retail, electricity, MLMs, telecommunications, and healthcare.
Megan graduated from Northwestern University with Honors, where she majored in Anthropology. She has enjoyed continuing to study culture and people through ethnographic research aimed at identifying intense, unmet needs and opportunities within the marketplace.
Thought Leadership
November 18, 2011, “Innovation Requires Willingness to Change,” K&A Innovation Blog
October 24, 2011, “Innovation in Education,” K&A Innovation Blog
Marci Jacobs
Marci Jacobs is a Consultant at Kuczmarksi & Associates, where she leads client teams in the development of innovation strategy and new product and service offerings.
While at K&A, Marci has specifically focused on applying innovation best practices to the area of communications strategy. She has worked with clients in both the US and Europe to develop innovative messaging techniques that resonate with the preferences, perspectives, and lifestyle patterns of end users.
Marci has also worked with clients in executing projects involving primary, in-field consumer and customer research that have surfaced new product, service, and business model opportunities across a number of industries, including healthcare, consumer packaged goods, and food service.
Marci holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, where she graduated with Honors. Her passion for in-field ethnographic research took root while studying the Maasai tribe in Tanzania’s Serengeti bush as a student at the U of C.
Thought Leadership
December 16, 2011, “From the Cattle Ranch,” K&A Innovation Blog
November 7, 2011, “Business Model Innovation is Chicago’s New Frontier,” Chicago Sun-Times
November 7, 2011, “Steve Jobs – A Few More Lessons Learned,” K&A Innovation Blog
Rishu Mandolia
Rishu Mandolia is a Consultant at K&A. He specializes in leading client teams through the development and implementation of innovation strategies and processes, and creating portfolios of new offerings.
At his time with K&A, Rishu has worked with domestic and international clients across a range of B2B and B2C industries, including commodity products, synthetic materials, consumer packaged goods, and distribution and retail operations. Rishu believes innovation is possible in any industry, and through a deep and clear understanding of customers’ unmet needs, problems and challenges, companies can connect the dots between creation and innovation, and deliver tangible value to customers as well as the company.
Rishu received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Concentration in Information Technology from the Illinois Institute of Technology where he graduated with Honors and was named a Kaplan Scholar. He earned his Masters in Business Administration from IIT with a concentration in Marketing. Rishu is also the recipient of an International Business Certificate from Pforzheim University in Germany, and is a member of the team planning and carrying out the Chicago Innovation Awards.
Thought Leadership
January 16, 2012, “Introducing New Ideas into the Innovation Funnel,” K&A Innovation Blog
October 2011, “The New Recipe for the Restaurant Industry,” Independent Restaurateur
October 2011, “Supporting Local Innovation,” K&A Innovation Blog
Luke Tanen
Luke Tanen is the Director of the Chicago Innovation Awards, the region's foremost recognition of the most innovative new products and services introduced in the Chicago region.
As the Director of the Chicago Innovation Awards, Luke is responsible for supervising the entire judging process, a complex task that iteratively narrows down a pool of hundreds of nominees to the final honorees. Luke is also responsible for coordinating the awards ceremony, which is attended by more than 1000 civic, business, and cultural leaders; and a special recognition event at which every nominee is recognized for their commitment to innovation.
Before joining the Chicago Innovation Awards, Luke was the Director of Event Marketing for Platform One Entertainment, the Chicago-based entertainment industry marketing group well-known for innovative marketing campaigns for music groups from around the world, and for firms wishing to associate their brands with the music industry. While at Platform One, Tanen conceived, developed and managed its Cause Marketing Division. He produced sold-out charity events that brought together big name bands, sponsors, media, the public, and high profile personalities to raise large amounts of money for his charity partners.
Luke is a graduate of Northwestern University and is currently enrolled in the MBA program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Thought Leadership
2012, Innovating Chicago-Style, co-author, Book Ends Publishing