Nelson Soken, Ph.D., is systems strategist, senior engineering manager at Medtronic, a medical device manufacturer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Macalester College and his doctorate in experimental child psychology from the University of Minnesota. He has published in academic psychology journals, presented papers at various professional technology conferences, conducted training workshops on design and innovation topics, and has been an invited speaker on the topic of innovation. Dr. Soken has also taught psychology courses at the university level and has conducted internal corporate workshops in the U.S. and Europe on product planning and human factors topics. Throughout his career, he has been involved in a variety of activities, such as new opportunity identification, product planning, human factors strategy and management, innovation initiatives, knowledge management, competitive intelligence, and leadership development efforts. Prior to joining Medtronic, he was manager of information resources at Honeywell International as well as serving in various senior technical positions both in Europe and the U.S. where he participated in corporate strategy initiatives along with executing on technical human factors activities.

Wil Wengert is the president of a consulting firm, C4 Planning, Inc (www.C4planning.com). He has successfully assisted numerous Fortune 500 companies in identifying new business opportunities. Wil has completed product planning, product development and strategic market research projects in Australia, Europe, the Far East, and the U.S. since 1993. His experience and studies in the area of next generation strategic product planning and disruptive innovation led to the definition of the complementary innovation strategy. He has interfaced with numerous Fortune 500 companies such as Agilent Technologies, American Express, DuPont, Hewlett-Packard Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Motorola, United Technologies, and Volvo. Wil has experience working in a variety of industries such as medical, aerospace, transportation, telecommunications, electronics, and utilities. Prior to becoming a consultant, Wil graduated from the business school at the University of Colorado and has worked for United States Surgical Corporation, American Hospital Supply, and Baxter in sales, marketing, and product development.