AIM INSTITUTE - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Vice President, Operations
• Vice President of Operations With

Ann Eiden is Vice President of Operations with The AIM Institute. As such, Ann is the central point for coordinating whatever needs to be done to keep AIM the smooth-running organization that it is. With AIM since its founding, Ann is ready to answer any question, organize any workshop, or get anything needed to the client (or prospective client) as quickly as possible. She would like your interaction with AIM to be a great experience. Prior to AIM, Ann worked in the chemical industry at BFGoodrich for 19 years, working with Dan for 10 of those years. She worked in many different areas - with most time spent as a Marketing Manager for a variety of industries including pharmaceutical, personal care and specialty industrial products. She also worked in the Compliance Group, helping to integrate ‘Responsible Care' within Goodrich, and had key roles in the Business Development and Strategic Planning Group. After leaving Goodrich, Ann was the President of ‘The Strategy Source', consulting in areas of new business development. She soon realized that it was much more fun to be a part of a larger dynamic organization… so rejoined Dan at AIM after several years on her own. Ann has a MS in Industrial Administration from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, and a BS in Professional Studies from the University of Notre Dame. Ann loves to keep busy - whether it be walks in the parks or golfing with her husband Bob, or going on beach vacations escaping the snowy Cleveland winters. They also enjoy attending Notre Dame football games.

Job Titles:

• Founder
• President
• B2B Innovation Speaker, Author, Trainer Dan Adams

Dan Adams: B2B Innovation Speaker, Author, Trainer Dan Adams Dan Adams is the Founder and President of The AIM Institute, and author of Business Builders, New Product Blueprinting, Awkward Realities blog, and B2B Organic Growth video series. In over 40 years working within and with Fortune 500 corporations, he has explored all aspects of B2B innovation, building New Product Blueprinting from the ground up. He is a chemical engineer and holder of many patents and innovation awards, including a listing in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. One of the foremost experts in B2B innovation, Dan has taught tens of thousands of B2B professionals in every region of the world in hundreds of workshops. An award-winning speaker, he has lectured at Wharton's Executive MBA program and other North American & European universities, and is a popular industry keynote speaker. In addition to pioneering New Product Blueprinting, Dan Adams has created two other methodologies: SalesPrep to help B2B salespeople prepare for deeper customer conversations…. and Minesweeper® project de-risking to detect and avoid "landmines" in transformational projects. In recent years, Dan Adams and his team have conducted significant original research into the behaviors that drive B2B organic growth. Because he regularly works with the largest B2B firms in the world, he can help your leadership team establish a dependable roadmap to profitable, sustainable organic growth. A good starting point is the B2B Growth Diagnostic developed by Dan and The AIM Institute team.

Job Titles:

• Coach

Dan serves as a consultant coach with The AIM Institute. Together with Dan Adams, Dan published the story of DuPont's successful implementation of New Product Blueprinting in the Product Development Management Association's Visions Magazine, receiving the award for Best of Visions for 2010. During Dan's 36 years at the DuPont Company, he helped over 100 DuPont business teams consider different types of business models as they recognized the challenges from limiting their offerings to individual products. This allowed many businesses to reinvent themselves and extend their business and product life cycles. Dan received a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. He also served as the key leader for the Knowledge Intensity Program (KIU) aimed at sparking significant growth for the DuPont Company. In 2003 and again in 2004, at the annual meeting of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets at Penn State, Dan gave presentations on the KIU program. Then, in 2006, the Corporate Strategy Board published a case study on the KIU program as part of their annual strategy workshops, using examples from DuPont's Building Innovations' success. During this same time, Dan served as DuPont's Emerging Markets Innovation Leader, helping businesses in Latin America and Asia to find ways to tap into DuPont's global network of experts in order to develop solutions targeting needs specific to Emerging Markets. This work was especially successful in Latin America, where DuPont's growth rates dramatically exceeded the economic growth in the region.

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Certified Coach for New Product Blueprinting

Dave Loomis is a certified coach for New Product Blueprinting, and was instrumental in AIM's growth as its Senior VP from 2012-2014. In this capacity, he trained over 500 engineers, marketers and sales professionals in voice-of-customer and product-launch techniques. During this time, he traveled throughout the US, Europe, Asia and Australia helping companies. He is founder and president of Loomis Marketing, a marketing consulting and executive coaching firm focused on enabling personal and corporate growth. Dave has a track record of transforming brands, processes and profitability…as well as people. His experience covers a broad range of industries and companies, including many well-known global brands. He has particular expertise in market analysis, segmentation, strategy, innovation, branding and communications. Dave coaches companies and executives to achieve their potential. Previously, Dave was CMO of Dix & Eaton, a strategic communications firm, where he helped the company establish a business development function. For 15 years, Dave worked as an internal consultant at the holding company office of NACCO Industries, a $3.5 billion public diversified corporation with subsidiaries in industrial equipment, coal mining and housewares. While at NACCO, he focused much of his time on the Hyster-Yale lift truck business, helping craft dozens of strategies for products, industries, channels, key accounts and countries. Dave began his career in Chicago, where he worked at Leo Burnett Advertising and was a consultant for the Richmark Group, a consulting firm specializing in distribution channel optimization for B2B firms. He was an adjunct professor of marketing from 2008-2012 at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management, where he developed a class called Market Value Creation. Dave was an inaugural member of the Berkeley Innovation Forum, a member of the Kellogg Innovation Forum and a voting representative to the Industrial Research Institute. Dave has devoted a considerable amount of time during his career to giving back to his community, serving on a number of boards in strategy and marketing roles. He currently sits on the board of Breakthrough Schools, a non-profit charter school system and Maximum Accessible Housing Ohio. He previously served on the boards of the Cleveland Play House, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust in Chicago. Dave is based in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.

Job Titles:

• AIM Trainer & Coach
• Vice President of Client Coaching

Deborah Hensley AIM Trainer & Coach Deborah Hensley, Vice President of Client Coaching, has been a certified New Product Blueprinting Trainer and Coach for The AIM Institute... Deborah Hensley, Vice President of Client Coaching, has been a certified New Product Blueprinting Trainer and Coach for The AIM Institute since the company's first anniversary in 2006. In this role, she delivers New Product Blueprinting workshops and provides individual coaching to participants. She is passionate about New Product Blueprinting and LaunchStar principles and tools and applying them to new product development projects. Debbi leads many of the post-workshop client-team web-conferences and provides individual team coaching. She is committed to the success of her teams! Prior to joining AIM, Debbi worked 23 years in the chemical industry, starting at the Monsanto Company, later joining BFGoodrich which became Noveon, Inc. and then was purchased by Lubrizol. She has held management roles in technical service, sales, new business development and business management; primarily in the plastics, process chemical and coatings industries. End-use applications include: Automotive, Electrical/Electronics, Small Appliances, Medical, Residential Construction, Paints and Coatings, Wire and Cable and Consumer Products. She has enjoyed learning about the business models in each one.

Job Titles:

• Manager, Accounts Receivables

Emily Noatch has been with The AIM Institute since 2007 and is responsible for accounts receivables as well as integration of internal AIM...

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Leader

Ivan is a dynamic leader who challenges and inspires sales professionals to reach their full potential, delivering unforgettable experiences to their clients. In 2023, he joined The AIM Institute with a vision to make New Product Development methodologies more accessible and applicable for sales professionals, empowering them to unleash their customer-centric strengths. Passionate about personal development, Ivan's relentless drive for growth has earned him several certifications, including Erickson Professional Coach from Erickson Coaching International, Certified Strategic Account Manager from the Strategic Account Management Association, Learning Experience Design from NovoEd, Measuring the Impact of Learning & Development from Training Industry, and Neethling Brain Instrument Practitioner from Maverick Consulting. Ivan enjoyed an adventurous 18-year corporate career at 3M, a global corporation operating in manufacturing, healthcare, and consumer goods. During his tenure, he created unique value through roles in sales, sales management, key account management, training, and coaching. He left 3M as the Global Sales Training & Development Manager to pursue a new path as a Global Sales Excellence Coach. Fluent in English, Spanish, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin, Ivan holds a master's degree in marketing from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, where he was born. He recently relocated with his wife, two children, and their dog to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, where he is embracing life to the fullest.

Job Titles:

• Virtual Events Producer

Kati Sweigard joined The AIM Institute in 2020 as Virtual Events Producer, managing virtual New Product Blueprinting and Project De-risking workshops. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University, Kati spent four years as an English teacher at a kindergarten in rural Japan. Upon returning to the United States, she began working in professional theatre as a member of her local chapter of the Theatrical Wardrobe Union. She considers herself extremely lucky to have turned a lifelong love of theatre into a career as a wardrobe attendant for touring concerts, musicals, and other productions. When theatre isn't keeping her busy, Kati spends her time reading and writing. She enjoys traveling, music, and continues to study Japanese.

Job Titles:

• AIM Trainer & Coach

Kelly Lawrence joined AIM in 2020 after more than 20 years of end-to-end marketing expertise. The Founder & CEO of Lawrence Innovation, LLC, Kelly is passionate about collaborating with clients to accelerate their business growth. Driven by the voice of the customer, Kelly has a career history of converting insights into practical, actionable plans that yield higher revenues, higher margins and increased market share for her clients and their downstream customers. She strives to build win-win value chain partnerships and connections. Kelly has coached global cross-functional teams and C-level executives in commercial improvement efforts that built competitive advantage in front-end-of-innovation processes. Kelly has led strategic business accomplishments in both start-ups and multi-national corporations including industrial B2B giants Berkshire Hathaway's Lubrizol Corporation and Fortune Brands' Moen Inc. Her industry experience spans both manufactured goods and services including: specialty chemicals, packaging, textiles, digital printing, building products, industrial manufacturing, financial services, real estate, and C-level education. Kelly holds an MBA from Cleveland State University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management & Marketing from Case Western Reserve University. Passionate about making the world a better place, Kelly lives and plays in Chardon, Ohio with her husband and two daughters. She is an avid learner who enjoys outdoor activities, baking and active volunteering in youth development programs.

Job Titles:

• Certified Coach for New Product Blueprinting
• Director of Client Coaching

Marc Benevento is a certified coach for New Product Blueprinting. He joined AIM in 2018 after 22 years in the automotive and chemical industries. He is also the founder of Industrial Market Insight, a consultancy that helps industrial companies identify and explore new market opportunities. Marc held several product management and business development roles at Ashland before becoming director of Marketing of Performance Materials, a $1B manufacturer of composite resins and adhesives. In this role, he helped overhaul the front end of innovation, including the implementation of New Product Blueprinting across multiple lines of business. Earlier in his career, Marc worked as a materials engineer at Honda R&D Americas, where he helped find ways to make vehicles such as the Acura MDX and Honda Pilot lighter, safer, and more appealing to customers. He was awarded the Honda "Golden Circle" for his role on a skunkworks team that identified a need for and developed a material properties database that remains in use across Honda today. Mr. Benevento holds a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science & Engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA. Marc and his wife, Sheila, live in Columbus, Ohio. When he is not working, Marc enjoys ice hockey, golf, home repair, and volunteering in the local community.

Job Titles:

• Director of Operations
• Director of Marketing Communications

As Director of Marketing Communications, Marilyn Thomas is responsible for developing and implementing the marketing communications plan for The AIM Institute. In her three years with AIM, Marilyn has worked on various marketing campaigns, targeting current and prospective clients and providing marketing support in the distribution of AIM's print and digital materials, including the New Product Blueprinting book, e-books, newsletters, and white papers along with managing blogs, emails, mailings and social media. Her work also includes focusing on operations support of client training, including marketing subscriptions, software licenses and overseeing a client and prospect database. Previously, Marilyn's experience was in education at a private high school and in corporate compensation for a large electric utility. Marilyn has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Marketing concentration from the University of Akron. Northeast Ohio is where Marilyn and her husband Dave make their home. They can be found on most weekends enjoying a hike or bike ride in the Cuyahoga National Park or exploring any of the local parks.

Job Titles:

• AIM Trainer and Coach

Growing up in London, Mark has experience of the melting pot of cultures that this environment provides and now enjoys the quiet village life in Gloucestershire, South West of England with his wife and 2 children. With a strong belief in everyone should strive to ‘live your purpose', he volunteers his time helping people articulate their own personal purpose and lives his own purpose by helping teenagers become better at public speaking through science communication. Mark emboldens leaders, managers and change-makers within organizations so that they can achieve the seemingly impossible. He joined AIM...

Job Titles:

• AIM Trainer and Coach
• Certified Coach for New Product Blueprinting

Nick Sakakibara is a certified coach for New Product Blueprinting and LaunchStar. Before joining AIM, he provided training for employees at a 60 billion dollar global chemical company. He is also the founder of Strategild LLC, in Tokyo, Japan. The company offers various marketing programs and consultation for strategy development for B2B clients, especially American and European companies operating in the Pacific area and managing the investments in place… Nick was instrumental in building Dow Chemical's innovation capabilities in the Pacific for more than 30 years and active in Dow's Marketing Excellence group for more than 10 years. In these roles he helped Dow marketers improve their skills and helped the business develop its strategy. Before he retired from Dow, he held the additional role of investment manager for Dow Venture Capital, identifying various investment opportunities and also managed the investments in place in the Pacific for 4 years. Nick served as Global Strategy Development Manager and guided Dow businesses in developing strategies using the VBM (Value Based Management, EVA) concept from his Area Marketing Manager role in Hong Kong. He held various roles at Dow, such as Technical Service, R&D, Sales and Country Marketing in Gotemba, Tokyo and the USA. Nick started his career as an application development engineer at Sumitomo Envirotech Co. Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) and Envirotech Corporation, Menlo Park, CA, USA before joining Dow Chemical in Japan. Nick Sakakibara holds a MS (Master of Science) and ME (Master of Engineering) in Chemical Engineering from Nagoya University, Japan and University of Utah, USA, respectively, and a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Nagoya University, Japan. He also studied at the Berean Bible College, San Diego, CA, USA when he was 19. He received an oversea study fund from Murata Oversea Scholarship Foundations, Kyoto, Japan. He lives with his wife and a son who has been seeking his life-time job, residing in Tokyo, Japan.

Job Titles:

• Chief Product Officer

Scott is the author of The Statue in the Stone: Decoding Customer Motivation with the 48 Laws of Jobs-to-be-Done Philosophy.

Job Titles:

• AIM Trainer and Coach
• Coach for New Product Blueprinting

Simon Waddington is a European-based coach for New Product Blueprinting. He joined AIM in 2014 after a career spanning over 20 years in the chemical industry, encompassing product development, market management and business development. Just a few of Simon's accomplishments throughout his career include inventing the technology for Voranol, leading the team to first sales of Syntegra and leading the strategy for Voramer - all well-known Dow brands. Simon also holds patents for polyurethane packaging foam and for low-emissions polyurethane polymers. Simon has a BSc degree (with honors) in Material Science and Polymer Chemistry from Brunel University in the UK. He also has a Diploma in Business Development from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He speaks French and German, aside from his mother tongue, English. If Simon's intellectual credentials were not enough, he may be in the best physical shape of all the AIM coaches. He is an avid biker, having taken part in open stages of the Tour de France, participated in a 7-day race from Geneva to Nice, and rode across India to raise funds for disaster victims. Of course, he also enjoys running and triathalons. When he's not on his bike - or helping companies innovate - Simon lives with his wife in Ebertswill, Switzerland, where they raised their two children.