Panel: Looking Inside Your Organization for Innovation (Internal Corporate Startups)
Gustavo Lopez
General Manager for MSA’s Safety io, Portable Gas Detection and Sierra Monitor businesses
Gustavo oversees a broad range of product group responsibilities, both short- and long-term, including managing product offerings and product positioning, establishing product launch pricing, driving operating margin performance, managing all voice-of-customer activities, establishing product development priorities, and enhancing MSA’s global technical selling capabilities. Gustavo joined MSA in 2004 as a Staff Engineer tasked with leading a new product development project for portable instruments. Over his 15-year tenure with the company, he has held several roles of increasing responsibility, including Portfolio Analyst; Product Line Manager for Detection products; and Product Group Manager for Portable Instruments, where Gustavo and his team were tasked with building MSA's wireless and connectivity group, thereby solidifying the foundation for the various connectivity platforms MSA is launching today. Gustavo received both his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, and his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, from the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.A native of Venezuela, Gustavo is fluent in Spanish and resides in the Franklin Park area of Pittsburgh, Pa., with his wife and three children.
David Passavant
CEO, numo
David is the CEO of numo— a fintech incubator subsidiary of PNC Bank.
numo finds new ideas in fintech— then builds products & businesses around those ideas with a team of in-house entrepreneurs & engineers. Successful products are spun out into standalone companies.
David was previously an early employee at billion dollar Silicon Valley startups Deem and SquareTrade Inc. Prior to his startup work David held consulting positions with Accenture and Stone Yamashita Partners.
David holds a degree in Computer Science from Washington & Lee University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.
Bios Coming Shortly:
Currie Crookston
Head of Innovation Management, Covestro LLC
Mary Beth Green
Head of Innovation, Sheetz
Moderator: Laurie Barkman
Founder & CEO, SmallDotBig
Laurie Barkman is the Founder and CEO of SmallDotBig, a growth consultancy for companies with a mandate for change. Laurie has 20+ years of experience bridging traditional and digitally disruptive environments at venture-backed startups and enterprise companies.
Laurie is the former CEO of GENCO Marketplace acquired by FedEx in 2015. She was Managing Partner of a private equity firm focused on early-stage technology, and held senior management roles at American Eagle Outfitters, The Art Institutes, Burns White, JazzHR, and MediaSite, where she launched new platforms and services to accelerate revenue and profitability.
She serves on the Advisory Board of Safety io, a subsidiary of MSA Safety, and is a project mentor at the Corporate Startup Lab at Carnegie Mellon. Laurie has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and BS from Cornell University.