Dr. Marc H. Meyer
noted author of The Power of Product Platforms: Building Value and Cost Leadership

"The long-term success of an enterprise depends on a stream of new products – some replacing older ones, others pioneering new markets. …. exploiting advances in both product technologies and technologies used to manufacture, distribute, and provide support …[this stream] is what provides the fuel for corporate growth and renewal."

As Marc Meyer writes in The Power of Product Platforms, long-term success does not hinge on a single product but on a continuous stream of robust products that target growth markets. In his keynote address, he will provide a framework for you to apply the concepts of product family and platform management to leverage development investments for long-term profit and continuous rejuvenation.

Drawing on his work with companies such as Hewlett Packard, Black & Decker, EMC and his newest research with IBM, Honda, State Street, and others, he will describe market, technology, organization, and business modeling methods for deriving maximum profitability from your product lines.

Marc H. Meyer is Professor of Management at Northeastern University, teaching and conducting research in the areas of new product development and technological entrepreneurship. Co-author (with Alvin P. Lehnerd) of The Power of Product Platforms, Dr. Meyer focuses on the development of next generation products, systems, and services. He has studied product development within computer manufacturers, software firms, financial and health care providers.

Nahed Ahmed
Senior Vice President of Global Productivity, Portfolio, and Project Management (PPPM), Aventis Pharmaceuticals

In this featured presentation Dr Ahmed will describe how to continuously leverage product portfolios. From her extensive experience she will share best practices in project and portfolio management, the relationship between project and portfolio management and estimation of risk; how to create a process for creating strategic alternatives -- estimating the value and understanding implications of each alternative-- and linking business strategy to portfolio composition, operations, and resource allocation.

Dr. Ahmed is Senior Vice President of Global Productivity, Portfolio, and Project Management (PPPM) for Aventis Pharmaceuticals where she is responsible for overseeing five major global functions of the business including: Strategic Planning, Portfolio Management,Project Management, Outsourcing Management, and Process Improvement/Team Effectiveness.