Shekhar Mitra – SMU IIE Distinguished Speaker 20 Aug 09

Innovation and branding are core competencies of the world’s largest consumer goods company, Procter & Gamble. Innovation is the “life blood” of how P&G has sustained its strong growth for over 176 years. Senior Vice President, R&D, P&G, Dr. Shekhar Mitra will share case studies of launched products exemplifying how consumer inspiration, breakthrough technology and design comes together in touching/improving lives to the global marketplace.

Distinguished Speaker: Dr. Shekhar Mitra, SVP – Research & Development, Global Beauty & Grooming, Materials Science & Technology and Global Fragrances & Flavors, The Procter & Gamble Company

Dr. Mitra will talk from his personal experience of how:

– Multifunctional teams engage in a creative, yet disciplined process to create delightful experiences for consumers

– How “open” innovation, environment creates value and illustrates knowledge-based leadership as a winning organization model.

Event details

Date: Thursday, 20 August 2009
Time: 6-730 pm
Venue: Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, Level 2, (Schools of Accountancy & Law), SMU

Register here.

About the Speaker

Shekhar Mitra is a Ph.D. Life Scientist who joined Procter & Gamble in 1984 moving up the leadership ranks to become the first Asian to be Senior Vice President of Global R&D. He is a member of P&G’s top executive team, the Global Leadership Council.

In his global leadership role, Shekhar has been a “trailblazer” in creating strategic partnerships in many countries and with leading institutions. He was on-ground in China starting P&G’s well recognized global technical center in Beijing, China, and the strategic partnership with Government of India’s Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).

Shekhar’s contributions include leading the creation and development of “game-changing” technology platforms and innovation strategies that have resulted in well-known consumer products like Crest Whitestrips and ProHealth, Aleve Analgesic, Prilosec, Olay Regenerist, Olay Definity Skin Care, Hugo Boss Fragrances and Metamucil (cholesterol lowering) to name a few. Several of these, i.e., Crest Whitening Expressions, Whitestrips, Olay Regenerist and Prilosec were named among the top ten consumer product innovations by the Industrial Pacesetter Awards in the past few years. These innovations have created and grown major P&G brands and their equities with the help of noticeable benefits provided to global consumers fulfilling their unmet needs in a superior way.

Shekhar Mitra has been awarded 25 patents to date in various fields and is an invited speaker on topics ranging from game-changing innovation approaches and organization development.

Currently, Shekhar’s passion lies in enabling younger generation of professionals across all cultures, companies, and businesses to achieve their full potential in the field of science and engineering. Consistent with this, he is the founder and President of the first North American Society for Asian Scientists & Engineers (registered as SASE). In addition, he continues to collaborate with his wife, Anu, and children over the past 20 years to coordinate the efforts of the Asian community volunteer work with the free food store and soup kitchen in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.