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INNOVENTURE Announces Featured Speakers from PandG to Discuss Lessons Learned from a World Leader in Open Innovation

Submitted by: John Warner on Mar 12, 2009 at 1:48 am Tagged with: Entrepreneurship, Innovation Source: Swamp Fox

Thoen and Hernick to Discuss Lessons Learned from a World Leader in Open Innovation

GREENVILLE, SC—InnoVenture Southeast 2009 announced today that featured speakers on March 24, 2009, will include Chris Thoen and Mike Hernick of Procter & Gamble discussing “Connect + DevelopSM: A New Innovation Business Model - Lessons Learned from a World Leader in Open Innovation.”
Chris Thoen joined Procter & Gamble in 1988 in Brussels, Belgium and currently holds the position of Director of the Corporate Global Open Innovation Office in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He is a senior R&D, Innovation and Consumer Products executive with extensive international, technical and global program leadership experience in consumer products, technology development and supplier relationship building. Chris spent 6 years in Belgium, 4 years in the United Kingdom and 12 years in the USA. During his P&G career, Chris has worked on a variety of product categories including fabric & home care and personal health care products, including new business development. He was a driving force to establish open innovation (Connect + DevelopSM) and 'company without walls' modalities in his organizations. Chris holds a PhD. Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Prior to joining P&G, Chris worked for 2 years at Plant Genetic Systems (now part of Bayer CropScience), a biotech start-up company in Ghent, Belgium.
Mike Hernick has spent his entire 29+ year career at Procter & Gamble. He started his P&G career in Sales and has held a variety of Field Sales management roles, and Internal Sales Planning leadership roles. Mike spent 6 years in Latin America, working in Mexico for 3 years, and then moving to a role as Sales Manager for P&G’s corporate business in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean for 3 years. He’s currently an Associate Director in P&G’s External Business Development organization. In this role, Mike is focused on connecting and collaborating with external partners in innovative ways to create value for both P&G and our external partners. Mike is a graduate of the University of Delaware and holds a BS degree in Marketing.
“For years, the foundation of InnoVenture has been that there is an explosion of opportunity at the intersections of diverse organizations, cultures and disciplines,” said John Warner, CEO of Jute Networks and Chairman of InnoVenture Southeast. “We are excited that two global thought leaders in open innovation will share lessons companies and universities can learn from to create a vibrant innovation culture.”
About Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG)
Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Actonel®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 138,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
About InnoVenture Southeast 2009
In its sixth year, InnoVenture Southeast will be held March 24, 2009 at the Carolina First Center in Greenville, SC. InnoVenture is one of the United States’ largest innovation conferences, attended by hundreds of people providing expertise, resources and customers to entrepreneurial companies, researchers, and innovators. 2009 Diamond Anchors include Michelin, Milliken, GE, BlueCross BlueShield of SC, SC Launch!, and Zeus. Additional information can be found at http://www.swampfox.ws.