American Innovation Conference

November 15th, 2022 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET

Fordham University School of Law - Costantino Hall 150 West 62nd Street New York, NY 10023

The American Innovation Conference is dedicated to sharing, collaborating, and celebrating customer-focused innovation and its impact on company success. Companies that are perceived to be innovative by their customers are more attractive, enjoy higher loyalty, and are ultimately more successful than companies that lag in innovativeness. Join us to hear success stories and lessons learned from the most innovative companies in America, as well as insights from the authors of the American Innovation Index. Previous year’s speakers and attendees included many award winners, such as Amazon, Stanley Black and Decker, Toyota, IKEA, and Trader Joe’s!

Agenda

11:00-11:10 - Welcome, Lerzan Aksoy, Interim Dean, Gabelli School of Business

11:10-11:45 - Keynote, Fran Horowitz, CEO Abercrombie & Fitch

12:00-1:00 – Lunch

1:00-1:30 - 2022 American Innovation Index Results

1:30-2:00 - INNOVATION PANEL: Inserting the “Voice of the Customer” into the Design of Your Offer

Moderated by Bill Sickles, Professor and Senior Lecturer, Ground Floor & Career Exploration IP, Gabelli School of Business
Kim Majerus, Vice President, US Public Sector Education, State, and Local Government, Amazon Web Services
Brian Kiser, Vehicle Training Specialist, Toyota

Customer-focused innovation requires creating products and services that meet customer needs and doing so better and faster than competitors. Consistently meeting customer needs requires including customer feedback into the design process to understand customers’ expectations and preferences. Learn from innovation leaders how they include the voice of customer insights to deliver innovative products and services.

2:15-2:45 - SOCIAL INNOVATION PANEL: Making ESG Meaningful for Consumers

Moderated by Timothy de Waal Malefyt, PhD, Clinical Professor of Marketing; Program Director, online MS in Strategic Marketing Communications, Gabelli School of Business
Ellis Jones, VP, and Chief Sustainability Officer, Goodyear
Mark Moran, Head, John Deere Technology Innovation Center
Courtney Thompson, Executive Director, Global Sustainable Finance, Morgan Stanley

Environmental, Social, and Governance issues and metrics have risen in prominence since their introduction. Research finds that consumers overwhelmingly support the goals of ESG efforts, but few consumers know much about ESG or how the companies they purchase from perform on various ESG initiatives. Hear from social innovation leaders how their firms make ESG-related initiatives relevant to their customers.

2:45-3:15 - SERVICES SOCIAL INNOVATION PANEL: Making Sustainability Everyone’s Job in the Company

Moderated by Kelly Ann Ulto, MBA CPA, Associate Clinical Professor of Accounting, Gabelli School of Business
Katherine Hunter, Impact Finance & Advisory; Head of Advisory, JP Morgan
Pam Piligian, Chief Marketing Officer, SVP, Navy Federal Credit Union
Buffy Swinehart, Senior Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, Aflac

In some firms, social innovation is primarily handled by a small group within the organization. More socially innovative companies, however, have broad involvement throughout their organizations. Learn from leading services companies how they encourage employees across functions to be involved in social innovation efforts, and to feel that they personally invested in the success of the firms’ sustainability efforts.

3:15-3:45 - Awards Ceremony & Celebration