Sustainable competitive advantage comes from the creation and nurturing of an innovation engine that develops and brings to market products and services that provide customer value on an ongoing basis. Innovation is the creation of customer value through invention. However, simply thinking up potential new products or services is not enough - the customer's unmet & sometimes unexpressed needs must be considered - in fact, incorporated into the product creation processes that a firm implements. How do we best consider customer needs & include them into the product creation process, without running the risk of just providing known approaches and incremental improvements?

And, in an era when customers no longer evaluate & select products and services based solely on their features, functions, and technical specifications, attention must also be given to the overall experience they have with the company. Those companies that can best engage with their customers by providing them with rich, meaningful experiences will have a distinct, differentiated and sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Our next TechBiz Connection panel will bring together senior technology executives across multiple disciplines who have successfully built innovation cultures within their organizations.

Moderator:

Gregg Gallagher | Group VP | Quantum Leaders
Heading Quantum Leaders’ Deman Practice, Gregg Gallagher focuses on innovation that creates exciting products to meet customer needs and creative marketing that helps businesses successfully deliver on those needs. With over 25 years experience in all aspects of marketing, Gregg led the strategic marketing and product innovation for cutting edge products such as Graphnet’s first PC-based telex software, Western Union’s first Postscript-to-fax network delivery service, and the AT&T Worldnet ISP service. Gregg serves clients via a holistic approach to marketing and management, where customers play an intrinsic role in the overall product ideation and development. Gregg graduated from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration and is active in professional associations in Orange County.

PANELISTS:

Mark Long | Founder | SuperLab
Mark Long is a practicing attorney and founder of SuperLab. SuperLab serves new ventures by accelerating the accuracy and adjustment of their Core Strategy-the keystone resource dictating the requirements and applications for the science/technology and marketing/sales resources. See www.mysuperlab.com. Mark has served as securities counsel on over 700 investment ventures. He is former House Counsel to Ventana Global Funds and former National Marketing Director for Kemper Insurance Company’s direct investment division. Mark has syndicated 52 investment programs, authored 5 books and taught his seminars to over 15,000 executives in 5 countries. In 2000 his book “Financing The New Venture” was one of Amazon.com’s top 3 new venture finance books.

Kevin Boyle | Platform Strategy Advisor | Microsoft
Kevin creates strategic partnerships with the most promising local startups and Microsoft's Enterprise customers. Kevin analyzes a company's goals, strategies, and capabilities to figure out what Microsoft partnerships and technology might accelerate its business goals. When an opportunity which will benefit both Microsoft and the client company surfaces, Kevin advocates for the customer inside of Microsoft to develop the appropriate business relationship and/or fund a jump-start using Microsoft's bleeding-end technology.

Steve Gladstone | Director, Applications and Services | Panasonic Avionics
Steve currently leads the organization that innovates and defines next-generation In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) applications and services for Panasonic Avionics Corporation. Steve has held senior leadership positions spanning multiple fields: engineering, real estate, financial, automotive, health care, and technology professional services. Serving in roles within IT, systems, product, program, and software development, he leverages vast knowledge and expertise to lead focused, commitment-based teams to innovate and deliver comprehensive solutions. At NRT, he planned and built a complete corporate IT organization for the largest real estate company in the United States. Most recently, Steve led the team at Panasonic Avionics that created "neXperience", an innovative, paradigm-shifting software suite that enables next-generation IFE interactive solutions. In 2009, neXperience was selected as the winner of the prestigious ITCA Mercury Award in the Innovation category. In 2010, FlightPath also garnered an IDEA award.

Steve Treibel | President | Treibel Partners
Steve provides a diversified executive search practice for C-level through manager level leaders and for hard-to-find technologists. Prior to launching Treibel Partners, Steve was a Partner with the retained search firm, McCormack & Farrow. His most recent corporate roles were Director of Human Resources for Emulex Corporation and Manager of Human Resources at MAI/Basic Four. In addition to leading a flourishing search practice, Steve is President Emeritus and acting President of the Southern California chapter of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA). He is also a published author on "Career Management" in Visions Magazine and has written StandOUT Interviewing, a job interviewing guide.