2010 Women's Executive Summit

Speaker: Robert Wolcott

The accelerating rate of innovation within the global economy requires corporations to employ new methods to achieve sustainable, innovation-led growth. Innovation must be a focus of senior management; unfortunately, few managers achieve the innovation competencies necessary to manage the portfolio of innovation required by global firms to achieve growth and profitability objectives. In these sessions, we will explore Innovation Strategy & Management from the perspective of the senior corporate manager.

We will examine innovation from the perspective of corporate strategy; discuss best practices from a number of leading firms, including DuPont, IBM, Herman Miller and P&G, and explore an emerging organizational toolset for enabling and encouraging innovation. The focus will be on real world issues, tools and organizational solutions.

Speaker: Gregory Carpenter

Professor Carpenter’s presentation will provide an overview of recent developments in marketing, such as a new perspectives for understanding customers, what they value and how they make choices, building powerful brands, and creating enduring competitive advantage though these concepts.

Speaker: Sonia Marciano

The topics of value creation and sustaining growth, particularly in times of economic turbulence, are drawing together business leaders from wide-ranging industries. Successfully meeting current challenges requires a deep understanding of where firm value arises from and where it may be getting destroyed. For firms well positioned post-recession, an understanding of the value consequences of various firm decisions is beneficial in setting priorities. The goals of this session are to describe tools for evaluating components of firm value, to consider the implications of different ways of organizing and managing activities and to examine critical dynamic issues that affect sustaining advantage over time.

Gregory Carpenter

Chair, Marketing Department, Kellogg School

Gregory S. Carpenter joined the faculty of the Kellogg School in 1990. He was named James Farley/Booz Allen Hamilton Professor of Marketing Strategy in 1999, founded the Center for Market Leadership in 2004 and was elected chair of the marketing department in 2006. Previously he taught at the University of California, Los Angeles; Columbia University and the Yale School of Management.

Professor Carpenter’s research on competitive marketing strategy has appeared in leading academic journals in addition to being featured by Harvard Business Review, Financial Times (London), and National Public Radio. The American Marketing Association has recognized his contributions to marketing with four awards. His research has been cited in cases before the United States Supreme Court.

He teaches marketing strategy in Kellogg’s MBA, doctoral and executive programs. He received Kellogg’s Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award and the Kellogg Managers’ Program voted him Outstanding Professor of the Year. He is one of a handful of Kellogg faculty to be recognized by BusinessWeek as an outstanding faculty.

In addition to his research and teaching, Carpenter is an Academic Trustee of the Marketing Science Institute and he served as member of the board of advisors of Terlato Wine Group. He has advised many organizations on marketing strategy, including Advanced Micro Devices, Cadbury-Schweppes, Carnival Corporation, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Federal Reserve Bank, General Electric, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, Sara Lee and Visa.

Carpenter received his B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University and M.B.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University.

Sonia Marciano

Clinical Associate Professor of Management and Organizations, New York University Stern School of Business

Sonia Marciano is a Clinical Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at New York University Stern School of Business.

Prior to joining NYU Stern in 2007, Professor Marciano taught Strategy at Columbia Business School and was an Institute Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Harvard University’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. In Chicago, Professor Marciano also was a Clinical Professor of Management and Strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management for eight years, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Strategy at the University of Chicago.

Professor Marciano has worked in the consulting, banking and insurance industries, and has taught executive education courses for Ernst & Young and Abbott Laboratories, among others.

Professor Marciano received her B.A. with honors, her M.B.A. and her Ph.D. in Business Economics and Industrial Organization, all from the University of Chicago.

Michael S. Rawlings

Managing Partner, CIC Partners

Mike Rawlings is Managing Partner of CIC Partners, a Dallas private equity fund with a 25-year heritage of investing in more than 40 companies with combined revenues of $2.5 billion. He joined the firm in 2004.

He has been a Director of many of CIC’s investments, including Ace Cash Express, Quizno’s, SignStorey, River Point Farms and Red Mango. He is also Chairman and CEO of Legends Hospitality Management, a sports services business partnering with the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys.

From 1997 until 2003, Mike served as President and Chief Concept Officer for Dallas-based Pizza Hut, Inc, where he directed a major turnaround in the company’s business.

He also had a successful career in advertising and marketing communications, which culminated in his position of CEO of Tracy-Locke. During his tenure as CEO he built it into the DDB Dallas Group, a multi-agency marketing communications company, which was then the largest agency in the South.

Rawlings is the City of Dallas Homeless Czar, a Mayor-appointed position, and he was awarded the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 2007 Innovation Award and the Dallas Historical Society’s Award for Excellence in Humanities. He has also served as Chairman for the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is on the Board of Trustees of Jesuit College Preparatory and has been an active lecturer at many universities, as well as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University.

Rawlings received a Bachelor's degree in philosophy and communications, Magna Cum Laude, from Boston College.

Elizabeth A. Smith

Chief Executive Officer, OSI Restaurant Partners, Inc.

Elizabeth A. Smith, Chief Executive Officer of OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC, is responsible for developing and executing the company’s long-term objectives, growth strategies and initiatives for its family of casual dining brands, which include Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar and Roy’s restaurants. A 25-year veteran of the consumer industry, Smith has a long history of bringing a consumer focus and innovation to building brands.

Smith joined OSI Restaurant Partners following a tenure with Avon Products Inc., where she served most recently as President. In that role, she successfully led the company’s global marketing, supply chain, information technology and global sales business units.

Before joining Avon, Smith worked for 14 years at Kraft Foods Inc, where most recently she served as the Group Vice President and President of the U.S. Beverages and Grocery Sectors, overseeing $6 billion in sales. Previously, she served as Group Vice President of Kraft Foods North America and President of Kraft Beverages, Desserts and Cereals.

In 2009, Smith was ranked #29 on Fortune Magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” list, which she has been on since 2007. She is also ranked on the Forbes’ list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” She is a member of the Board of Directors of Staples Inc. and Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America. She holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Sally J. Smith

President & Chief Executive Officer, Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc.

As President and Chief Executive Officer of Minneapolis-based Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc., Sally J. Smith leads one of the top ten fastest-growing national restaurant chains, which includes more than 680 restaurants across 43 states.

Smith joined Buffalo Wild Wings as Chief Financial Officer in 1994 when it was a fledgling chain of 35 restaurants. With tenacity and keen financial and leadership skills, Smith established a sound infrastructure and built the talented team that has helped the company grow from a regional chain to a thriving national brand.

In 2009, Smith’s achievements were recognized when she received one of the restaurant industry’s highest awards, the Gold Plate Award, presented by the International Food Manufacturer’s Association (IFMA). Honored with the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Women in Business Career Achievement Award for 2010, she has also received many other prestigious awards. In addition, under Smith’s leadership, Buffalo Wild Wings has received many honors and distinctions.

Before joining the chain, Smith sharpened her business acumen with positions at the international accounting and consulting firm, KPMG, LLP, and at Dahlberg, Inc. (now Miracle-Ear, Inc.).

Smith, a CPA, is a graduate of the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accounting. She is Vice Chairman of the National Restaurant Association Board of Directors, serves on the University of North Dakota College of Business and Public Administration Advisory Council and is a director of Alerus Financial Corporation. She also is a member of World Presidents' Organization and Women Corporate Directors.

Robert Wolcott

Executive Director, Kellogg Innovation Network, Lecturer of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Kellogg School of Management

He co-wrote, with Dr. Michael Lippitz, the book Grow From Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (McGraw-Hill, 2009). Wolcott’s work has appeared in MIT Sloan Management Review, The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, BusinessWeek, The Financial Times (UK/European Edition) and The New York Times. He is a frequent speaker at events worldwide.

In 2003, Wolcott began leading the Kellogg Innovation Network, created as a key program within Professor Mohan Sawhney’s Center for Research in Technology and Innovation. The KIN’s annual summit includes leaders from around the world from business, government, academia, non-profits and the arts who collaborate around issues significant to their organizations and humanity.

Wolcott also co-founded and serves as Managing Partner of Clareo Partners LLC, a corporate strategy and innovation management consultancy specializing in new business creation and growth. Subsidiary Clareo Capital owns equity in companies in social enterprise and luxury markets.

Wolcott received a B.A, European and Chinese History; and an MS and Ph.D., Industrial Engineering & Management Science, from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois