PDMA Connections - September 2025

Check out the photo gallery!

What an igniting several days it’s been! Thank you to those who were part of the 2025 PDMA Ignite Innovation Summit & JPIM Research Forum, held September 13-16 in Chicago. Make sure to check out the daily and full summit recap videos, along with the photo gallery that captured the highlights, key moments, and powerful takeaways. Your energy and insight helped make this event a resounding success. Here are some of the highlights and key takeaways:

Speakers & Thought Leadership
We heard from innovation leaders across industries—including folks like Ben Brenton, Robin Champ, Jod Kaftan, and many more. Their sessions, lightning talks, and workshops brought fresh perspectives on product leadership, foresight, design, and digital experience.

OCI Award Winners
Congratulations to Moleaer and Tempur Sealy International for being named Outstanding Corporate Innovators. Their work is pushing boundaries in sustainability, science-driven innovation, and delivering real customer value.

New Session Formats
We rolled out several new engagement styles:

Mastermind sessions—expert-facilitated discussions tackling real innovation challenges.
Lightning Talks—short, energetic, idea-packed presentations.
Research to Reality—pairing academic research with practitioners to bridge theory and application.

Skills & Credentials
Two micro-certification courses tied to the PDMA Body of Knowledge allowed attendees to deepen specific skills, earn digital badges, and immediately apply what they learned.

Thank You to Our Sponsors & Exhibitors
We extend our deepest gratitude to our sponsors and exhibitors whose partnership helped make this year’s Summit possible. Your support not only enhanced the attendee experience through engaging exhibits, resources, and connections, but also reaffirmed the importance of collaboration in advancing innovation worldwide. We are proud to have showcased such a strong network of organizations committed to empowering product development and management professionals.

Thank you again for making the 2025 PDMA Ignite Innovation Summit & JPIM Research Forum so special. We look forward to staying connected, putting ideas into practice, and continuing the journey together.

PDMA’s 6th Annual Global Student Innovation Challenge 2025 Finalists presented their ideas at PDMA’s Ignite Innovation Summit and JPIM Research Forum September 13 and 16 in Chicago to determine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize money and bragging rights.

And the winner is...

1st place: Uplift Team team from Duke University, North Carolina, USA
Kishen Mitra, Sara Taube, Lokesh Manivannan, Sameer Kunte, Shruhi Parameswaram with academic advisor Eric Richardson
2nd place: Smart Shower Team from Rice University, Texas, USA
Sasha Ovalle, with Academic advisor Sophie Randolph
3rd place: WattMaintain Team from Technical University Berlin, Germany
Kaushika Saravanan, Somya Garg, Mathilde Dignard, Nisha Verma with academic advisor Soren Salomo

Congratulations to all 150 students representing 22 universities and 45 teams from 10 countries that submitted their understanding of product development to compete for prize monies by submitting a product/service/software idea and detailing the unique value proposition, evidence of demand, and mockup or embodiment of that product. GSIC 2026 will be open for submissions early December 2025 through June 1, 2026.

Tristen Cox
PDMA Nashville, Communications Chair

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a product manager with a background in creative direction and product design. The transition to product has given me an opportunity to provide more strategic direction to our team’s work, which is something I’ve greatly enjoyed.

What is your role on the chapter board/committee?
I joined PDMA as Communications Chair on the founding board of our Nashville chapter, led by Brett Woodall.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your volunteer experience so far?
PDMA has been a tremendous opportunity to connect with and learn from other product leaders in our area, and getting to help start this chapter has been truly rewarding.

What advice would you give to members looking to become more active in PDMA?
I’d encourage them to dive in! We all can point to those in our life who have been pivotal in our career, and for those of use fortunate enough to be established in a career path, it’s a chance to give back to the community that’s done so much for us. Product, ultimately, is about people, and so too is the work we do with PDMA.

Above you’ll find a photo of my wife and me at the most famous course in the world, The Old Course at St Andrews, from our recent trip to Scotland.

Recent kHUB Postings:

- Every business, no matter its size or sector, thrives on one thing: the ability of its people to work together. As a leader, you’re not just managing tasks—you’re shaping an environment where collaboration isn’t just encouraged but expected, natural, and rewarding. Read How Business Owners and Leaders Can Elevate Collaboration in Their Companies by guest contributor Alonso Whittaker to uncover five deeply practical, field-tested ways to strengthen collaboration across your company and unlock the kind of energy that drives results.
We have found and added links to some new Blogs to kHUB’s additional resources! Follow articles and insights from:

The HYPE Innovation Blog—an innovation platform that connects strategy, ideation, and execution—powered by proprietary AI.
GNPSolutions is committed to helping you and your organization do the most. Improve Time to Market - Customize your innovation management process, Make Better Decisions - Manage your existing and new product portfolio effectively, and Increase Team Collaboration - Build creativity within your teams and enhance your leadership skills.
And check out the other blogs and podcasts the kHUB curators recommend.

- PDMA’s local chapters continue to hold online events. We post the recordings and presentations from the local events on kHUB’s Local Chapter Content - on Demand for you to access and view at your convenience. Check out some of the recent presentations:

St. Louis Chapter, June 10, 2025: Bug-Free Is a Myth…Unless You Predict It
Minnesota Chapter, June 18, 2025: Unlock the Power of IP Strategy in New Product Development
Carolinas Chapter, June 24, 2025: AI-First Product Strategy: Building for the Next Era

- We’re continuing to update the highlighted content on kHUB’s landing page. We’ve added a feature to highlight new, relevant, interesting content. This week we’ve added the an article by kHUB curator Rose Klimovich: Developing a Product Innovation Strategy. Rose shares clear steps and tips for organizations to develop an innovation strategy as a process leading to a cohesive and effective approach to innovation.

kHUB Most Popular Content:

See what your competitors and peers have viewed in kHUB recently. The following content is among the most accessed last month:

Along with these still-popular classics:

PDMA is growing! Meet and connect with our new members by signing into the PDMA community on our website.

PDMA welcomed these new members in August 2025. We look forward to working with you!

Individual Members
Juanita Alvarez
Benjamin Atkinson
Kate Chen
Pochuan Cheng
David Eden
Jen Haley
Andrii Klubov
Erica Ji Hyun Lee
Martina Legnani
Prabal Lunavat
Davide Moiana
Basheer Shaik
Gus Valen
Yi Zhao

Student Members

Carley Adamson
Shensihan Cheng
Sean Clancy
Cody Damico
Isaac Edwards
Aidan Gardner
Cailin Hasson
Blake Knight
Ashley Monroe
Pierce Morgan
Cameron Pontoon
Sanjana Sharma
Hayford Teye
Connor Watson
Layton Welsh
Richard Wilbanks
Ran Xin

Academic Members
Ting Zhang
Shiyu Zhu

Corporate Team Member
Jeff Culhane