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Thomas Kuczmarski
Thomas D. 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 five books and many articles, Mr. Kuczmarski has also taught product and service innovation at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management for 27 years. His executive education courses at the Kellogg School attract students from around the world.
Mr. Kuczmarski 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.
Mr. Kuczmarski is the author of five books. Apples are Square: Thinking Differently about Leadership (Kaplan), co-authored with Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski and published in 2007, explores the qualities of the ideal leader and how to build those qualities into one’s own career. Innovating the Corporation (NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group) reveals the seven steps for achieving growth through innovation. Managing New Products (Book Ends Publishing), now in its third edition, is endorsed by the American Marketing Association and widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive treatises on the development of new products. Values-Based Leadership: Rebuilding Employee Commitment, Productivity and Performance (Prentice-Hall) was also co-authored with Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski. His book Innovation was co-published by NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group and the American Marketing Association.
He is extensively published and cited in radio, television, and national periodicals including: The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Newsweek, Business Week, The Today Show, Planning Review, Investor's Business Daily, USA Today, Marketing News, Advertising Age, Crain's Chicago Business, Business Marketing, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and many more. He has a chapter published on new products and services in the Marketing Encyclopedia, a publication of the American Marketing Association. He serves on the editorial review boards for The Journal of Product Innovation Management and The Journal of Consumer Marketing. In addition, Mr. Kuczmarski is a highly regarded speaker on innovation management and leadership, and lectures nationally and internationally to a broad range of corporations and associations.
Before founding Kuczmarski & Associates, he was a Principal at Booz · Allen & Hamilton. While there, Mr. Kuczmarski assisted more than 100 U.S. consumer and industrial goods companies in the areas of marketing, new product development, strategic business analysis and organizational planning. In addition, he led the firm's in-depth research of the best practices employed by more than 700 U.S. firms in their new product management processes. His prior experience as a brand manager at Quaker Oats Company also provided a solid and broad-based foundation unique to his consulting specialty.
He earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, and holds a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University's Graduate School of International Affairs, where he was named an International Fellow of the University. He received a B.A. in French from the College of the Holy Cross.
Richard Strezo
Rick Strezo is a Senior Partner with Kuczmarski & Associates, specializing in new product development for manufacturing, technology, and consumer packaged goods companies. His professional achievements encompass a breadth of industries, including specialty and process chemicals, food, biopharmaceuticals, financial services, personal care, high-tech, and telecommunications. Beyond extensive work in the development of new products, Mr. Strezo's experience includes new product and market assessments/feasibility studies, overall marketing strategies, market segmentation, and stage gate and portfolio management processes.
Mr. Strezo led an engagement to assist a major consumer packaged foods company in the creation of a new product development process as well as in the actual development of new products. During this project, Mr. Strezo and his team generated a new products strategic vision for the organization; conducted extensive customer and competitive primary and secondary research; created a predictive model of consumer behavior; led the generation of several hundred new product ideas; identified and developed the highest potential product concepts; and authored new product business cases for each concept. The strength of these product concepts developed by Mr. Strezo's project team has led the company to move the most promising candidates into full product development and to recognize them as top corporate priorities.
Previously, Mr. Strezo headed an engagement with a private investor and NASA to identify commercial investment opportunities that could derive the greatest benefit from R&D access to microgravity (i.e., Earth-orbiting) environments. In this very unique project, Mr. Strezo and his team determined the benefits of microgravity research; identified broad-based scientific disciplines most closely aligned with these benefits; conducted extensive primary and secondary research to explore specific areas and applications within each discipline relative to needs and potential problem/solution fit; identified the most viable applications; and translated them into actionable business opportunities with recommendations for execution. As a direct result of this work, the client and NASA signed the latter's first major contract with the private sector to develop commercial and medical biotechnology products. In turn, this licensing agreement allowed the investor to joint venture with a biotech organization identified in the engagement's recommended business models in order to pursue research of certain infectious diseases and the development of a liver-assist device for transplant patients.
Prior to joining Kuczmarski & Associates, Mr. Strezo 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, marketing strategy, supply chain analysis, and business process re-engineering. Additionally, Mr. Strezo worked as an organic research chemist at DeSoto, Inc. and The Stepan Company, specializing in new product development, applied research, and hazardous waste management.
Mr. Strezo earned his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Chicago where he was elected to the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. His areas of concentration were Marketing, Finance, and Policy Studies. Mr. Strezo 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.
Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski
Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski is an educator, lecturer, and authority on values-based leadership. During the course of a career spanning three decades, she has conducted innovative, interactive 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, in Chicago. She currently teaches in a newly created Kellogg Graduate School of Management Course for executives entitled "New Leadership For an Innovative Edge."
Trained as a cultural anthropologist, she has done extensive research on how leadership skills are learned. She specializes in leadership training and in developing growth strategies for non-profit and educational organizations. Her areas of expertise also include facilitating teams and groups; guiding the implementation of shared leadership constructs; understanding organizational culture, effectiveness and change; and designing marketing strategies for non-profit audiences.
Susan is the author of four award-winning books. Fifteen years ago, she collaborated (with Tom Kuczmarski) to write their pioneering book, Values-Based Leadership (1995), which launched the values in the workplace movement. They collaorated again to kick off the next leadership frontier with Apples Are Square: Thinking Differently About Leadership (2007), which boldly champions six uncommon - but very human - leadership qualities: humility, transparency, compassion, inclusiveness, collaboration, and values-based decisiveness. Apples Are Square was selected by Fast Company Magazine as a "2007 Best Business Book," nominated for the CEO Read 2007 Best Business Book Award, and received critical acclaim as a 2007 Book of the Year Award from ForeWord Magazine. In addition, she is the author of the best-selling The Sacred Flight of the Teenager (2002) and The Family Bond (2000). Both received the prestigious "Seal of Approval" award from the National Parenting Center.
Susan holds a Doctorate in Education from Columbia University in New York City, where she was named an International Fellow and a Fellow of the School of International Affairs. She holds two additional masters degrees in sociology and education from Columbia University. She 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.
Dr. Kuczmarski began teaching in 1975 at Columbia University, followed by teaching positions in education, sociology and anthropology at University of Illinois at Chicago, Dominican University, Concordia University, Northwestern University, Colorado College and National-Louis University, where she taught graduate students/teachers in their master of education program. She has also held leadership positions with the World Studies Data Bank, the Academy for Educational Development, and the Constitutional Rights Foundation where she served as their National Teacher Trainer. She currently teaches at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
She has been interviewed on radio and television, including The Today Show, serves as an expert for numerous websites, and is widely quoted on cable, the Web and in national and international print, including Fast Company, CNN Money, 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.
Ms. King 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, Ms. King worked for GE North American Life and Health as a Tax Analyst serving as a liaison with the various states and the internal legal department to ensure compliance with timely premium tax return filings in 50 states. She also worked for GE Money as a contractor in the human resource department to ensure the compliance of all personnel records, as well as the finance department assisting with the compliance and documentation of the escheatment process and reconciliation of accounts across GE businesses. In addition, Ms. King has worked as an accounting professional at Ogilvy and Mather Chicago advertising agency.
Ms. King 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 Kuczmarski & Associates. She is a veteran of the consumer packaged goods industry specializing in the exploration, development and commercialization of new products, brand management, and the development of marketing strategies.
In her most recent engagement, Ms. Larson worked with a large, international pet foods manufacturer to develop a new portfolio of products expected to generate over $200MM in sales within the next 3 years. Ms. Larson led a cross-functional, client-integrated team in a customized, consumer-centric process including management of primary research among over 300 consumers, retail employees and customers, leadership of solution generation and development and refinement of new product concepts. The success of this project has led the organization to adopt this project's process as a model for future innovation efforts and to help create a culture of innovation throughout the company.
On another project, Ms. Larson worked with a large, international food manufacturer to implement a new product innovation process, generating a portfolio of concepts that met the strategic goals of the client and expanded the target audience and usage occasions of the company's brands. Ms. Larson conducted ethnographic research among a wide range of consumers and analyzed the data to develop consumer frameworks that deepened the client's consumer understanding. She was instrumental in translating this consumer learning into tangible consumer problems and unmet needs and then generating a portfolio of concepts that is expected to generate $300MM in revenues.
Prior to joining Kuczmarski & Associates, Ms. Larson worked for Alberto-Culver Company in Marketing and R&D. As a Brand Manager, she led cross-functional development and commercialization of numerous new products including St. Ives Whipped Silk and Aroma Steam Body Washes, driving 15 percent growth on the brand. She also led cross category efforts on the brand strategy, including a complete redesign of the brand to improve consumer perceptions as well as the development and commercialization of the brand's 2006 cross-category new product platform for Body Wash and Hand & Body Lotion. Ms. Larson also developed and delivered a professional development program in consumer driven product development for the entire R&D department. This effort was a critical part of changing the organizational culture and process of innovation.
Earlier, Ms. Larson worked at Procter & Gamble where she led development of many new product ideas and prototypes in Healthcare division, including Denture Care, Dentifrice and Neutraceuticals segments. Her work encompassed a broad range of the product development cycle from evaluating consumer relevance of proprietary technology to commercialization of new products, such as Crest Extra Whitening. She participated in a strategic program to develop the global new product strategy for the Denture Care business. This project, conducted on 3 continents, resulted in a consumer model that was used to generate new product ideas and product performance requirements. This work was visionary for the category and was used as a model for other Health Care businesses. Ms. Larson was responsible for deploying the learning from this project across the organization through a training program she led with a colleague.
Ms. Larson completed her Masters of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in March 2007, with concentrations in Marketing, Management and Strategy, and Analytical Consulting. Ms. Larson graduated with Honors from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Biomedical Engineering.
Timothy Wilson
Tim Wilson is a Senior Associate with Kuczmarski & Associates. In his role as a Project Manager at Kuczmarski & Associates, he specializes in the strategic development of new products and services for competitive advantage, as well as the execution of innovation best practices in brand management, marketing strategy, and customer research.
Mr. Wilson has extensive experience in various CPG industries, ranging from confectionaries to electronics, and also with business-to-business service companies. His most recent projects have focused in CPG food retail and he has worked in other diverse fields such as software development, foodservice, and petrochemicals.
On his most recent project, Mr. Wilson worked with a major U.S. food manufacturer to develop a portfolio of new-to-the-category products across multiple brands and temperature states. He led the development of a comprehensive innovation strategy in cooperation with an integrated client team, and then managed the execution of primary consumer research, opportunity area identification, and subsequent new product ideation, development, and optimization in pursuit of those innovation goals. This effort included analysis of key category trends, understanding of competitive products and adjacent market landscapes, and moderation of primary consumer research which led to foundational, new-to-the-company insights on new product opportunities and brand extendabilities. Additionally, a number of the recommended concepts enabled dramatic reinvention of price point, value proposition, and brand identity on a number of the client’s major consumer brands. The project ultimately resulted in delivery of a concept portfolio of retail products valued at over $250MM in potential sales which are currently progressing through the client’s commercialization pipeline.
On another previous engagement, Mr. Wilson worked with the food service division of a large, international food manufacturer to develop a portfolio of new products and services. On the engagement, he managed the entire market research design and execution as well as the analysis of primary data, comprised of over 300 data points from both consumers and executives. He also helped develop and refine new product and service concepts and conduct volumetric and financial analysis on high-potential concepts. Mr. Wilson also led the skills transfer of the K&A methodology to the client, who has since fully adopted the process as their own.
Mr. Wilson also served as project manager for the 2005 and 2006 Chicago Innovation Awards, founded by the Chicago Sun-Times and Kuczmarski & Associates, selecting the 10 most innovative products/services in the Chicago area. Mr. Wilson acted as event coordinator and supervisor in the months leading up to the ceremony, which is attended by over 500 of Chicago's business and cultural leaders, and worked as a liaison between the Chicago Innovation Awards and its host of supporting organizations, such as the Wrigley Company, Microsoft, and Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and the Chicago Board of Trade.
Prior to joining Kuczmarski & Associates, Mr. Wilson worked for the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City, where he performed targeted issue analysis and media management. He helped in strategic planning on a wide variety of issues and events, including the Lower Manhattan Economic Development Conference and the Mayor's 2003 City-Wide Budget initiative. In addition, he was responsible for Mayor's daily news briefing. Mr. Wilson has also worked with the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., performing issue analysis and project initiative recommendation.
Mr. Wilson graduated with honors from Northwestern University, where he earned a double Bachelor's of Arts in both Writing and Political Science.
Megan Portanova
Megan Portanova is a Senior Associate with Kuczmarski & Associates. She specializes in the creation of innovation strategies and processes, as well as the creation of primary qualitative research plans and analysis of data.
On her most recent project, Ms. Portanova worked with an international conglomerate to create an innovation strategy and process within the corporation and each of its business units. She played a key role in conducting the diagnostic audit to determine areas of strengths and weaknesses of the organization as well as developing recommendations for strategy, process, culture, and governance. After the diagnostic audit was completed, Ms. Portanova began work on a pilot innovation project with the company’s food business unit. She was a key contributor to the research collection and analysis, and helped develop a portfolio of products up through prototype testing. The company plans to launch 3-4 of the products, with the rest to be placed in the pipeline.
Previously, Ms. Portanova worked with a large association management company in order to conduct the pilot program, with a gastroenterology nursing association, for their innovation center, previously developed by K&A. She played a key role in executing primary research with constituents of the association. Throughout both research and report-generation, she helped fine-tune the innovation process for future projects conducted through the innovation center. Additionally, Ms. Portanova helped create a portfolio and pipeline of new products and services that can be implemented for the members of the nursing association.
On another project, Ms. Portanova worked with a large food manufacturer to develop a portfolio of new products. She played a key role in analyzing consumer trends and needs and in designing, organizing, and executing primary consumer research. This included conducting in-depth consumer interviews and focus groups, analyzing consumer behaviors and needs, and understanding consumer trends. Additionally, she played an integral role in the development of new product ideas and concepts through solutions generation sessions, concept development, and concept testing.
Prior to joining Kuczmarski & Associates, Ms. Portanova worked at a multi-cultural marketing agency in Chicago. During her time there the company worked on the grand opening for a chain of restaurants from Guatemala. She was intimately involved in all aspects of the grand opening. Additionally, her work with Latino-market advertising at the multi-cultural marketing agency became the basis for her honors senior thesis which explored how identity was shaped through local and national media marketing images.
Ms. Portanova received her Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University, where she majored in Anthropology and minored in Spanish. She graduated with honors.
Marci Jacobs
Marci Jacobs is a Consultant with Kuczmarski & Associates. She specializes in the creation of primary qualitative research plans and shaping and developing concepts through qualitative analysis.
Ms. Jacobs’ recent project work includes a lead role in developing an innovation training program for a large international conglomerate. Her contribution to this project involved communicating the structure, objectives, and importance of innovation to both B2C and B2B areas of the company through hands on training sessions. The client is currently implementing these innovation models at all levels of the company.
Ms. Jacobs’ previous work includes the development of a strategic portfolio of new products aimed at enabling a large food manufacturing company entry into new meal occasions. She played a key role in arranging expert interviews with elite chefs, food editors, and leading nutritionists and in organizing and conducting ethnographic and focus group research. Her analysis contributed to the identification of key patterns and behaviors for target consumer segments and to the development and testing of new product concepts.
Prior to joining Kuczmarski & Associates, Ms. Jacobs worked for the American Bar Foundation, leading an investigative study concerning the lending practices of Chicago’s largest banks, the findings of which were published in the report Creating a Fair Playing Field for Consumers: The Need for Transparency in the U.S.-Mexico Remittance Market, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and The Center for Financial Services Innovation.
Ms. Jacobs graduated with departmental honors from the University of Chicago, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.
Rishu Mandolia
Rishu Mandolia is a Consultant at Kuczmarski & Associates. He specializes in the analysis of businesses and industries along with creation of primary qualitative research plans and analysis of data.
Mr. Mandolia has experience working across a variety of industries. On a recent project, he worked with client-integrated team from a major U.S. food manufacturer to develop a portfolio of new-to-the-category products that would expand the company into modern eating occasions. He worked to design and execute primary research plans and identify opportunity areas covering consumers’ unmet emotional and functional needs. These findings along with significant research in current brand equity and extendability helped the development of several new product concepts that would take the brands into new temperature states and eating occasions, along with improving the brands; value proposition and raising theirs price points. The resulting portfolio of new product concepts were valued at over $250MM in potential sales, and are currently in the process of development and commercialization.
In another project, Mr. Mandolia worked with a large U.S. Petrochemicals company in order to identify and address new areas of growth that would extend the company from commodity products into specialty products. The project involved primary research with customers, value chain members and market experts, along with extensive secondary research into the related industries. The research resulted into the development of expansion strategies along with a portfolio of new products and services leveraging the company’s unique strengths and expertise.
Mr. Mandolia is a graduate of the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Applied Science with a concentration in Information Technology. He graduated with honors, was named a Kaplan Fellows Entrepreneurial Studies Scholar at IIT and received an International Business Certificate from Pforzheim University in Germany.
Mr. Mandolia was also the first recipient of the Kuczmarski Innovation Scholarship, and is a member of the team planning and carrying out the Chicago Innovation Awards, the major recognition of product and service innovation in the Chicago region.
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, Tanen is responsible for managing the process through which the awards are announced and nominations gathered. He supervises the entire judging process, a complex task that iteratively narrows down a pool of hundreds of nominees to the final honorees. Tanen is also responsible for coordinating the event at the Goodman Theatre, which is attended by more than 800 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.
Tanen is a graduate of Northwestern University and is currently enrolled in the MBA program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.