Strategyn

San Francisco, CA

Tony Ulwick

San Francisco, CA

Tony Ulwick is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Strategyn. He is an innovation pioneer and has spent 25 years creating Outcome-Driven Innovation with his Strategyn team. His work has helped launch some of the fastest-growing products in history with the world’s leading companies. His best-selling book, “What Customers Want,” defined a new era in customer-centric innovation based on the jobs-to-be-done innovation theory. His articles in the Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review have been cited in hundreds of publications. Contact Strategyn

Jay Haynes

San Francisco, CA

Jay Haynes

San Francisco, CA

Jay is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Strategyn Ventures. He has been an entrepreneur and private equity investment professional for the past 20 years. He is an award-winning CEO with extensive experience formulating and executing growth strategies. Jay graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors from Brown University, and he received his MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Contact Strategyn

Mitch Auran

San Francisco, CA

Mitch Auran

San Francisco, CA

Mitch is Strategyn’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer. He has over 20 years of executive and management experience in medical and technology markets. Prior to Strategyn, he served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for VasCon and was President of APA Wireless Technologies. Mitch has a BA in business administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.
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Maurizio Beltrami

Zürich, Switzerland

Maurizio Beltrami

Zürich, Switzerland

Maurizio has more than 35 years experience in innovation, working with Fiat, Philips Italy, Philips Consumer Electronics Netherlands, and Philips Semiconductors / NXP Switzerland. Before joining Strategyn, Maurizio enjoyed a successful career in the electronics sector, where he specialized in managing innovation in consumer electronics, telecommunications and information technology. He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano. Contact Strategyn

Bruce Burton

Melbourne, Australia

Bruce Burton

Melbourne, Australia

Bruce has extensive innovation experience with a focus on helping global companies grow in new markets. Bruce was a founding member of the innovation board of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence and is a past president of the Melbourne chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. A former Air Force and 747 pilot, Bruce holds a Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Melbourne. Contact Strategyn

Rita Dummer

Vienna, Austria

Rita Dummer

Vienna, Austria

Rita has extensive experience in innovation and product development. Before joining Strategyn, Rita worked as a product manager for an international electronic goods company. She is author of three books and scientific articles about market oriented product development and holds a master’s degree in business administration and communication sciences. Contact Strategyn

Eric Eskey

San Francisco, CA

Eric Eskey

San Francisco, CA

Eric has extensive innovation experience and has focused on technology, financial services, medical, information and industrial companies to identify growth opportunities and bring breakthrough solutions to the market. Prior to joining Strategyn, Eric led and managed the R&D program team at Hewlett-Packard. He currently holds several patents in imaging and printing architecture, subsystem technologies, and industrial design. Eric holds a BA in mechanical engineering from the University of Portland and MBA from Purdue University. Contact Strategyn

Dietfried Globocnik

Vienna, Austria

Dietfried Globocnik

Vienna, Austria

Dietfried has extensive innovation and research experience and has focused on medical devices, energy, and construction. Prior to joining Strategyn Dietfried worked as a university research associate supervising academic and practical studies for the retail, wood, food industries and public institutions. He holds a master’s degree in business administration and earned his PhD in social sciences from the Karl-Franzens-University. Contact Strategyn

Bart Gras

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Bart Gras

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Bart has 20 years of innovation, knowledge management and process improvement experience in business-to-business environments mainly in the food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. Before joining Strategyn, Bart worked as with companies including Akzo Nobel, SCA, Shell, Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Avebe, Wavin, Numico (now Danone), Organon (now part of Merck). Earlier in his career, Bart worked with DSM Research and Cap Gemini’s Bolesian. Bart has degrees from Universiteit Twente and Menso Alting College. Contact Strategyn

Lia Hanson

San Francisco, CA

Lia Hanson

San Francisco, CA

Lia has more than 10 years of experience in technology and software marketing. Before joining Strategyn, she was Director of Marketing and Sales at dotCMS, a leading Java-based, open source wCMS software company. Lia was also an award-winning TV producer at WNYT-TV (NBC Affiliate) covering the software and technology industry. She holds a BA in communication from the University of St. Thomas and an MBA from University at Albany. Contact Strategyn

Brett Jamison

San Francisco, CA

Brett Jamison

San Francisco, CA

Brett has an MBA from Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management and earned his BBA from the University of Georgia. Prior to Strategyn Brett worked in the real estate and construction industries, with a focus on technical services, sales and marketing. Contact Strategyn

Ian Janicki

San Francisco, CA

Ian Janicki

San Francisco, CA

Ian is a recent graduate of Cornell University’s Bachelors of Architecture program. As a User Interface Designer, Ian’s focus is on user experience, user interface and product design. Prior to Strategyn, he played a strategic role at two startups in New York involving local financing and a geotagging messaging service. Contact Strategyn

Siegrun Klug

Vienna, Austria

Siegrun Klug

Vienna, Austria

With nearly 20 years experience in market and consumer research, Siegrun has carried out numerous market research projects in the food, chemicals, construction, advertising and communication, and furniture industries. Siegrun has studied Psychology, Communication and Japanese and received her PhD for a research study conducted at the Canon Foundation in Tokyo. She is a University lecturer in the field of Consumer Research at the University of Applied Sciences at Wiener Neustadt as well as at conferences, and has published various articles on this topic. Contact Strategyn

Christopher Lawer

Cranfield, United Kingdom

Christopher Lawer

Cranfield, United Kingdom

Chris holds 20 years of experience in front-end of innovation processes and customer-centred marketing and business strategy. He has worked in multiple industries including materials, chemicals, IT, health care, medical devices, financial services, telecoms, consumer and retail. He holds an MPhil in front-end of innovation capability development from Cranfield School of Management, UK. Contact Strategyn

Bruno Levy

Paris, France

Bruno Levy

Paris, France

Bruno has extensive innovation experience and has worked with companies including Isodis Natura, Picanol, Garlock and Selecta. Prior to Strategyn, Bruno worked at ILOG, then a technology start-up. Bruno is an engineer from French École Polytechnique. He holds master’s degrees in electrical engineering and in industrial administration from Carnegie Mellon University with honors. He was the first Carnegie Mellon student to earn both degrees at the same time. He also won a Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbusho) scholarship that enabled him to study the economics of robotic systems at Tokyo University. Contact Strategyn

Sue Moorhen

Melbourne, Australia

Sue Moorhen

Melbourne, Australia

Sue has over 10 years of innovation experience and has worked with leading companies in chemicals, telecommunications, travel, consumer finance, power, education, medical devices, and medical insurance. Prior to Strategyn, Sue held key roles at Telstra and Ericsson Australia. She holds bachelor degrees with honors in communications and electrical engineering from the University of Canberra and a master’s degree in enterprise innovation from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship at Swinburne University. Contact Strategyn

Katherine Noesen

San Francisco, CA

Katherine Noesen

San Francisco, CA

Katherine is Executive Vice President of Strategyn. She has spent 22 years developing groundbreaking ventures in industries spanning consumer electronics, digital media, environmental technologies, and online services. Prior to Strategyn she served as VP of Flex New Ventures at Flextronics. She has worked with companies such as NetBooks, Phillips Electronics, Palm Computing and Cellular One. She also has a background in product design. Katherine earned a BA in Economics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead Scholar. She was a Rotary International Scholar at the Université de Paris IV (La Sorbonne), and earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
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Rick Norman

San Francisco, CA

Rick Norman

San Francisco, CA

Rick has over two decades of innovation experience with a focus on product development, engineering, design, and design-manufacturing automation. He has worked with leading companies including PG&E, Pacific Bell, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Raychem, Becton Dickinson, AT&T, Bose, Lockheed, and Harley-Davidson. Rick has a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
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Martin Pattera

Vienna, Austria

Martin Pattera

Vienna, Austria

Martin has over a decade of innovation experience. Prior to Strategyn he held key positions at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and Mayr-Meinhof Karton. Martin is a lecturer in the executive MBA program focused on entrepreneurship and innovation at the Vienna University of Technology and at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. He holds an MBA from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Contact Strategyn

Bob Pennisi

San Francisco, CA

Bob Pennisi

San Francisco, CA

Bob has over two decades of innovation experience. He has led successful innovation projects in complex markets including biotechnology, chemical products, and microelectronics. Bob currently holds 50 U.S. patents. Prior to joining Strategyn, Bob spent 16 years with Motorola, leading the Advanced Material Technologies Group. He holds a BS in chemistry from Union College and a PhD in polymer science from the University of Akron. Contact Strategyn

Ce Poggenklas

Vienna, Austria

Ce Poggenklas

Vienna, Austria

Ce has extensive innovation experience. She earned her MBA degree with a Euro-Asian International Management focus. Ce’s focus is strategic planning, business development and market research. She has extensive experience with international market expansion, start-up business and market entries, including joint-venture operations in Asia with a focus on China. Ce is a founding member of the “Association for A Better World via Education”.Contact Strategyn

Petr Salz

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Petr Salz

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Petr has more than 25 years of marketing and innovation experience. In his role as innovation advisor, Petr has assisted leading Dutch companies including Philips, DSM and Océ in their quest to create new products and services that effectively address needs of their customers. Prior to joining Strategyn, Petr held senior marketing and sales positions at global industrial corporations. Petr holds a degree in physics from the University of Leiden. Contact Strategyn

Christopher Steele

San Francisco, CA

Christopher Steele

San Francisco, CA

Chris has over two decades of project management and production experience. Prior to joining Strategyn, Chris worked as a software project manager for a sustainability startup and as Executive Producer of The Blank Theater Company. Earlier in his career, he worked as writer and producer in the entertainment industry. Chris studied English at Sewanee: The University of the South.
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Gerald Steinwender

Vienna, Austria

Gerald Steinwender

Vienna, Austria

With 17 years of experience as a project leader in innovation management, R&D, and strategic business development, Gerald has worked in automotive, construction, mechanical engineering, medical engineering, paper, plant engineering, power supply, public transport and steel industries. He holds a master’s degree in process engineering and business administration from Graz University of Technology. Contact Strategyn

Nicki Sutton

Cranfield, United Kingdom

Nicki Sutton

Cranfield, United Kingdom

Nicki has 12 years experience in product and technology development, working closely with blue-chip companies helping them to generate business and market growth through innovation and exploitation of technology-based intellectual property, with a focus on medical devices and consumer products. She holds a master’s degree in strategic marketing from Cranfield University School of Management where she specialised in looking at the performance of different front-end of innovation methods.
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Holger Widenmeyer

Vienna, Austria

Holger Widenmeyer

Vienna, Austria

Holger has extensive innovation experience and significant knowledge in plant and mechanical engineering, the automotive, clothing, building, energy, furniture, and textile industries, information technology, administration and medical technology, and steel treatment. Holger holds a Masters Degree (Dipl.-Ing.) in Mechanical Engineering from Karlsruhe University of Technology and Stuttgart University of Technology. He is also an assistant lecturer on process management and creative system design at Nürtingen University and Reutlingen University.
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Meet Our Growth Team

Tony Ulwick

San Francisco, CA

Jay Haynes

San Francisco, CA

Mitch Auran

San Francisco, CA

Maurizio Beltrami

Zürich, Switzerland

Bruce Burton

Melbourne, Australia

Rita Dummer

Vienna, Austria

Eric Eskey

San Francisco, CA

Dietfried Globocnik

Vienna, Austria

Bart Gras

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Lia Hanson

San Francisco, CA

Brett Jamison

San Francisco, CA

Ian Janicki

San Francisco, CA

Siegrun Klug

Vienna, Austria

Christopher Lawer

Cranfield, United Kingdom

Bruno Levy

Paris, France

Sue Moorhen

Melbourne, Australia

Katherine Noesen

San Francisco, CA

Rick Norman

San Francisco, CA

Martin Pattera

Vienna, Austria

Bob Pennisi

San Francisco, CA

Ce Poggenklas

Vienna, Austria

Petr Salz

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Christopher Steele

San Francisco, CA

Gerald Steinwender

Vienna, Austria

Nicki Sutton

Cranfield, United Kingdom

Holger Widenmeyer

Vienna, Austria