BRINK Innovation Conference Seeks Area Business, Community Input

Newport, KY -- October 14, 2010 – In preparation for the Northern Kentucky Chamber’s BRINK Innovation Conference on Wednesday, November 17, the chamber is asking business leaders and community organizations to submit their most pressing issues to act as idea starters and case studies for the breakout sessions at BRINK. The BRINK conference will be held at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington from 7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. and will bring together a host of innovation experts, business executives, organizational leaders and entrepreneurs from throughout the region.

Simply send the case study ideas to Kelly Jones at kjones@nkychamber.com by October 27, 2010. Everyone who submits and idea will receive one free ticket for each case study idea submitted that is utilized at the conference, a $125 value.

In the afternoon breakout sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to be directly involved in solving some of the community’s hottest issues. This unique hands-on learning experience will give them the opportunity to test what they have learned from morning speaker Dr. Drew Boyd and apply it to the community they call home. Areas of focus include talent attraction and retention, innovation, developing entrepreneurship, community design and civic engagement.

About BRINK

The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has announced the creation of the First Annual Innovation Conference, BRINK. BRINK will inspire, but more importantly, it will teach participants innovation tools in the morning and in the afternoon they will use those tools to develop solutions to community issues. Dr. Drew Boyd and Thomas D. Kuczmarski will be speaking and taking even the most uncreative minds through the creative process with innovation as the driver.

Tickets for BRINK are available for only $125 per person at www.NKYChamber.com/BRINK or by calling the chamber at 859.578.8800.


About Keynote Speaker Thomas D. Kuczmarski

Thomas D. Kuczmarski, founder, senior partner and president of Kuczmarski & Associates, is a nationally recognized expert in the innovation of new products and services. Over the course of his career he has helped hundreds of clients, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations, learn to systematically unlock the value of innovation. The author of five books and many articles, Mr. Kuczmarski has also taught product and service innovation at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management for 30 years. His executive education courses at the Kellogg School attract students from around the world.

Mr. Kuczmarski is founder of the Chicago Innovation Awards, which recognize each year the most innovative new products and services developed in the upper Midwest. The awards, which are endorsed by every major business association in the Chicago region, showcase of the creative spirit of America’s heartland.

Mr. Kuczmarski is the author of five books. Apples are Square: Thinking Differently about Leadership (Kaplan), co-authored with Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski and published in 2007, explores the qualities of the ideal leader and how to build those qualities into one’s own career. Innovating the Corporation (NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group) reveals the seven steps for achieving growth through innovation. Managing New Products (Book Ends Publishing), now in its third edition, is endorsed by the American Marketing Association and widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive treatises on the development of new products. Values-Based Leadership: Rebuilding Employee Commitment, Productivity and Performance (Prentice-Hall) was also co-authored with Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski. His book Innovation was co-published by NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group and the American Marketing Association.

About Drew Boyd

Drew Boyd is a recognized authority, thought leader, educator, and practitioner in the fields of persuasion, innovation, and social media. He is the Executive Director of the Master of Science in Marketing Program and Assistant Professor of Marketing and Innovation at the University of Cincinnati.

Boyd retired from Johnson & Johnson in 2010 after a seventeen year career in marketing, mergers & acquisitions, and international development. He founded and directed J&J's acclaimed Marketing Mastery Program, an internal “marketing university” benchmarked by companies such as GE, P&G, Kraft, and Merck. Boyd's focus was on raising competencies in the areas of strategic marketing, product innovation, and principles of persuasion. Of particular focus was teaching employees how to systematically invent new medical products and integrate the inventions into long-range strategic plans. Boyd is an inventor himself, earning his first patent for a device that makes spine surgery easier.

Before Johnson & Johnson, Boyd spent ten years with United Airlines, gaining managerial and leadership experience in sales, marketing, and strategic planning. Boyd was one of the early pioneers of strategic partnerships between carriers that led to the creation of the Star Alliance.

Boyd served as an officer in the United States Air Force and completed distinguished tours of duty as a crew commander in the Nuclear Missile Force and a war planning officer of the Strategic Air Command. He was top Minuteman III Crew Commander in the “Top Gun” competition in 1980.

Boyd is a former Trustee of the Marketing Science Institute, a member of the Product Development & Management Association, American Marketing Association, National Speakers Association, and an affiliate of the Global Executive Learning Network.

Boyd graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1976 with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Management Science and Operations Research. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago graduating with High Honors. In 2008, Drew joined an elite group of trainers credentialed as a Cialdini Method Certified Trainer (CMCT).

About BRINK

The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has announced the creation of the First Annual Innovation Conference, BRINK. BRINK will inspire, but more importantly, it will teach participants innovation tools in the morning and in the afternoon they will use those tools to develop solutions to community issues. Dr. Drew Boyd and Thomas D. Kuczmarski will be speaking and taking even the most uncreative minds through the creative process with innovation as the driver.

Tickets for BRINK are available for only $125 per person at www.NKYChamber.com/BRINK or by calling the chamber at 859.578.8800.

Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
300 Buttermilk Pike, Suite 330
Fort Mitchell, KY 41017

This release was published on openPR.