Rockstar Insight:

Nathan Yang
Vice-President, Digital Products and Technology
Carrier
 
Why You Should Listen to Nathan:
Nathan led transformative and multi-disciplinary efforts on a global scale across a range of industries comprising test & automation, connected home, workplace collaboration, connected cars, and climate control. Nathan’s unique blend of software, hardware, and cloud, combined with engineering, product and design experience affords Nathan a unique perspective to realize Carrier’s vision of becoming the global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions.

Abstract:
One of the challenges of creating an Innovative organization is determining when you’ve become “innovative”; if it’s a collective effort, who’s defining success? An environment with a thriving Innovation Community must be specific about what good looks like, supported by defined KPIs the entire organization is aware of and aligned to, and a culture that is constructively collaborative. In this session, hear about LivaNova’s operating model, culture, and Innovation Scorecard, and how they support clarity of innovation’s success criteria.
 
Action Items:

• Understand the benefits of an operating model that promotes a single point of accountability for projects and a streamlined Core Team
• Learn about an Innovation Scorecard with possible applications to your own organization’s innovation efforts
• Consider the new rules of Innovation, which promote constructive, intentional collaboration

 

Headliner:

Christy Overall
Director of Innovation
LivaNova
 
Why You Should Listen to Christy:
Christy spent 15 years in consulting, convincing teams and departments to implement change they didn’t ask for (often successfully). She has worked with a broad range of companies from Coca Cola to Johnson and Johnson and has found that the common denominator in successful change is that people want to be told the truth and want to be inspired. Now in industry, her current role focuses on driving innovation transformation in Medical Technology.

Abstract:
Despite unprecedented investment in innovation, many organizations struggle to turn bold ideas into real business impact. This panel explores the hidden forces that stall progress – organizational bottlenecks, cultural friction, and misaligned incentives – and where innovation truly breaks down. Through cross-industry insights and real examples, leaders will learn how to identify friction points, reset operating models, and accelerate outcomes without adding complexity or risk.

Action Items:

• Identify the root causes of stalled innovation, from governance overload to decision paralysis
• Diagnose friction points using practical frameworks to uncover where momentum is being lost
• Apply proven leadership actions to align teams, streamline execution, and scale innovation successfully

Moderator:

Evan Sevel
Executive Director, Transportation Product Management
Carrier
 
Why You Should Listen to Evan:
Evan is Executive Director of Product Management at Carrier Corporation, leading global strategy across transport refrigeration and cold chain intelligence. He drives innovation that connects equipment with IoT, analytics, and software, advancing Carrier’s shift to end-to-end cold chain solutions. He oversees a portfolio spanning equipment, hardware, telematics, and data-driven services, focused on solving challenges like temperature control, compliance, and asset utilization. Evan plays a key role in growth initiatives and is known for turning emerging technologies into scalable, customer-focused solutions through data-driven, outcome-oriented leadership.
 

Panelists Include:

Shashank Kadetotad
Global Senior Director, Enterprise Data Science and AI
Mars
 
Why You Should Listen to Shashank:
Shashank is the Global Senior Director of Enterprise Data Science & AI Delivery at Mars, where he leads the design and deployment of agentic and generative AI across one of the world’s largest consumer businesses. Over a 17+ year career spanning Mars, Walmart, Amazon, and Mu Sigma, he has architected enterprise AI platforms — including MarsGPT, Brahma.ai, and the Mars AI Workbench — that have unlocked tremendous business value. A 5-time patent holder in agentic and generative AI, Shashank brings a distinctive perspective on how foundational AI, platform thinking, and delivery discipline converge to turn emerging technology into durable enterprise impact.
 
Dr. Hitesh Mehta
Director of Innovation and Translation
Shepherd Center
 
Why You Should Listen to Hitesh:
Hitesh’s career spans across the entire medical device lifecycle for last 15 years with focusing on translating complex clinical needs into validated engineering concepts and functioning medical devices. At Shepherd, he is excited to help build out the innovation infrastructure and integrate new technologies into patient care.
 
Nitesh Soni
Global AI Solutions Leader (Commercial)
Sanofi
 
Why You Should Listen to Nitesh:
Nitesh has been a leader in enterprise AI and digital transformation for more than two decades. His work across advanced AI technologies, large‑scale platforms, and global organizations provides a distinctive perspective on how leadership, strategy, and innovation converge to create meaningful business impact.
 
Illya Thomas
Vice President, Research & Development
The J.M. Smucker Co.
 
Why You Should Listen to Illya:
Throughout his 20+ year career, Illya has driven innovation and technology strategy, portfolio optimization, and leadership development across global paper, food, nutrition, and pet care businesses. As Head of R&D for JM Smucker’s ~$2B cat food and dog treats business, he leads multi-disciplinary R&D organization, driving end-to-end innovation lifecycle, catalyzing seamless technical community to deliver excellent technical design and delivery, and partnering with commercial leadership to translate consumer insights into innovations that accelerate pipeline productivity and maximize organic growth.

Abstract:

Sustainable innovation requires processes that evolve without losing what works. In this session, learn how the Wells Fargo Patent Group used the introduction of AI as a catalyst to assess, enhance, and expand its existing processes — raising the bar on what’s possible — while staying true to its core mandate of helping innovation thrive across the organization.

Action Items:

• Share examples of how a structured process audit can reveal where AI enhances existing workflows, fills capability gaps, and opens new opportunities
• Identify the key criteria for determining whether a new or enhanced process is generating enough value to become embedded practice
• Rethink how innovation-support functions can more tightly integrate with the teams and initiatives driving innovation across your organization

Rockstar Insight:

Ben Taylor
Executive Director, Strategy Lead, Patents Team
Wells Fargo
 
Why You Should Listen to Ben:
Ben leads patent program strategy and AI development at Wells Fargo, where he is building the next generation of invention workflows powered by artificial intelligence. With 20+ years in IP strategy spanning both corporate and consulting environments, he brings a practitioner’s lens to the intersection of strategic IP management and emerging AI capability.

Abstract:
Only a fraction of the most profound cognitive and technological evolutions are captured by history and science books. The most relevant knowledge that caused non-linear evolutions and accelerations in human history is still unknown or poorly understood.

Novel ways of connecting the dots from multi-disciplinary knowledge and ancient technologies across time and spaces of history, combined with the latest technologies and materials, can lead to a new Renaissance. Fresh perspectives from recombinant innovation can seed emerging innovation ecosystems with high-diversity, resilience and longevity.

Action Items:

• Train and activate your brain like a polymath and listen to your “second brain”(the guts) like a wizard!
• Connect the dot across time, disciplines and cultural spaces, transcend the limiting perspective of “here and now”
• Escape the logic of linear evolutions, nurture serendipity by design and embrace technological exaptations

Rockstar Insight:

Andrea Mills
Chief Advisor, External R&D and Emerging Technologies for Science and Innovation
Philip Morris International
 
Why You Should Listen to Andrea:
Andrea is an international executive with a robust background in open innovation, external R&D, business transformation, and technology investments in various regulated Industries over the last 20+ years. Having held key roles such as Chief Innovation Officer, Head of Technology Intelligence, and Senior Advisor for Open Innovation, Andrea has developed a deep expertise in multiple areas including open innovation, global technology intelligence, creating new technology ventures, forming cross-industry strategic alliances, and corporate venture capital.
 

Abstract:
AI-powered automation is no longer science fiction — it’s a competitive differentiator executing right now across enterprise operations. This session delivers a battle-tested framework for identifying where automation creates the highest ROI and how to move from pilot to scale without getting trapped in proof-of-concept purgatory.
 
Action Items:

• Implement a Value Opportunity Mapping exercise to rank your top automation targets by process complexity, labor cost, and error rate — leaving with a prioritized hit list
• Evaluate your organization’s agentic readiness using a structured scorecard covering data infrastructure, integration architecture, and governance maturity to expose your gaps before they kill your deployment
• Build a 90-day pilot sprint framework with a defined ROI baseline, executive sponsor, and success metrics that turns a single automation win into a scalable enterprise playbook

 

Rockstar Insight:

Ross Wilson
Senior Data Scientist
HF Sinclair
 
Why You Should Listen to Ross:
Bio is forthcoming.

Abstract:
This interactive session will explore how leaders can align outcome based KPIs and incentives to accelerate digital initiatives and innovation—moving beyond activity tracking to measurable value realization. The discussion will focus on ensuring that leadership incentives reinforce speed to impact, cross functional collaboration, and disciplined execution across digital, data, and AI investments.

Action Items:

• Identify and implement three outcome based KPIs for digital and innovation initiatives
• Reimagine and integrate incentive structures by directly tying executive and digital leadership compensation to measurable innovation outcomes
• Collaborate with business, technology, and product leaders to build a recurring governance forum that evaluates digital KPIs and incentive effectiveness quarterly

Rockstar Insight:

Nitesh Soni
Global AI Solutions Leader (Commercial)
Sanofi
 
Why You Should Listen to Nitesh:
Nitesh has been a leader in enterprise AI and digital transformation for more than two decades. His work across advanced AI technologies, large‑scale platforms, and global organizations provides a distinctive perspective on how leadership, strategy, and innovation converge to create meaningful business impact.
 

Abstract:
What does it take to align your people’s best thinking with pressing market problems? In this session, we will explore the inherent tensions between culture-building and commercialization, utilizing a structured framework to align employee ideation with technological opportunities, market needs, and organizational priorities.

Action Items:

• Implement a Technology, Market, and Organization (TMO) framework to steer and filter employee concepts
• Evaluate your current innovation program ecosystem to identify critical gaps in employee engagement, commercialization, or the flows between them
• Establish matching governance, activities, and structures to support employee-driven innovation

Rockstar Insight:

Ben Little
DGCE Chair, Design Innovation
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Former Vice President, Head of Venture Strategy, Siemens Healthineers
 
Why You Should Listen to Ben:
Ben is a strategy leader specializing in corporate innovation, having previously led venture strategy at Siemens Healthineers and new product initiatives at Fidelity Investments. Today, he combines this operational experience with new technologies, like AI, to help organizations develop the next generation of approaches to launching bold, new offerings. He currently serves as the Chair of Design Innovation at MassArt and a Lecturer at both Boston University and Harvard, alongside running a strategic consulting practice.
 

Abstract:
While many organizations aspire to deliver transformative outcomes, the reality is that their technical, operational, and domain teams are often structured to support incremental improvements and legacy workflows. This misalignment can limit the ability to pursue breakthrough innovations—such as contactless monitoring solutions—that fundamentally change how services are delivered and experienced.

Action Items:

• Establishing clear criteria to distinguish incremental operational improvements (e.g., upgrading existing tools or processes) from transformative bets, such as frictionless, contactless monitoring solutions
• Navigating how organizations allocate investments between core operations and breakthrough, “Tricorder-style” technologies that redefine real-time insight and decision-making
• Determining where breakthrough innovation should reside within an organizational structure—whether in a centralized innovation hub, core technology teams, or embedded within specific business units
• Balancing short-term ROI pressures with long-term gains, including workforce relief, workflow automation, and improved end-user outcomes

Rockstar Insight:

Nayan Patel
Senior Vice President, Transformation & Digital Health
Neteera

Why You Should Listen to Nayan:
Nayan is an accomplished Healthcare IT Executive with a proven track record of navigating the intersection of clinical operations and digital innovation. With previous experience as a hospital Chief Information Officer (CIO), he brings practical “in-the-trenches” perspectives to executive-level IT strategy and governance. Currently serving as a Strategy Executive at Avis Advisors and as the SVP/GM of Clinical Transformation & Digital Strategy at Neteera, Nayan brings deep expertise in Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), Risk Adjustment workflows, and M&A integration. He is recognized for a transparent, advocacy-based leadership style that leverages technology to build organizational trust and improve patient outcomes.

Abstract:
Innovation is too important to leave to the Innovation team. Similarly, innovation accountability is company-wide, measuring your effectiveness in pursuing new growth opportunities. Innovation metrics apply to finance, HR, supply chain, and many more functions beyond the innovation team, ensuring a company-wide growth mindset (entrepreneurship). Mindsets, agility, comfort with ambiguity, and measured risk-taking are critical to the entrepreneurial spirit, yet it is well – recognized that entrepreneurial doesn’t mean unstructured (cross-functionally). Without cross-functional structure and accountability, innovation becomes chaos without results.

Action Items:

• Understand innovation structures that facilitate, not stifle, successful growth
• Identify value-generating cross-functional metrics that drive innovation accountability
• Evaluate your company’s Innovation readiness using the Innovation Scorecard

Rockstar Insight:

Paul Campbell
Founder, Start-Up Genie
Author, The Corporate Innovator’s Playbook
Former Vice President, Corporate Innovation
 
Why You Should Listen to Paul:
Paul is considered one of the world’s experts on Corporate Innovation, helping create more than 50 businesses for Fortune 100 companies. His experience across a broad range of business models, technologies, and products globally lends him a unique perspective on overcoming the challenges in business innovation and leadership inside corporations and delivering true impact and growth.