Joan Szkutak

Joan Szkutak

Joan had a very successful 33 year career with Procter & Gamble as a Global Research and Development Executive with extensive experience leading organizations in basic research, consumer research, product development, process development, quality assurance, packaging development and alliance partnerships. Over her career she has led organizations across a variety of global consumer categories including Fabric Care, Home Care, Pharmaceuticals, Feminine Care, Oral Care and Personal Health Care. She was one of the thought leaders in the company on how to enable disruptive innovation and transformational innovation to thrive within large corporations. Additionally she was the leader of the Products Research Global Capability Organization for more than 10 years while continuing to lead a Category R&D organization.

Consulting Expertise

• Innovation Strategy and Portfolio Development – Translating business strategies into effective R&D programs that leverage Open Innovation to achieve business goals.
• New Business Development -– Extensive expertise in Disruptive and Transformational Innovation development and expansion as well as expertise in creating the multi-functional organization structures to enable these innovations.
• Consumer and Products Research – Creating the end to end understanding of “what’s needed to delight the consumer” with “what’s possible technically” to deliver a holistic winning proposition.

Experience

Associations/Affiliations

• Board of Trustees – Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Vice Chair of University Advancement, Member of Presidential Search Committee
• President’s Advisory Board – Xavier University
• Cancer Family Care – Executive Committee, Past Vice President
• UW Tocqueville Society Women’s Leadership Council – Executive Committee, Past Co-Chair

Education

BS Engineering Worcester Polytechnic Institute

MBA Xavier University –Marketing Concentration