US-based consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G) has named 22-year P&G veteran Laura Becker head of P&G’s global business development group, responsible for the company’s Connect+Develop innovation programme.
Becker has worked for P&G in a wide range of roles since 1990 and wasmost recently the finance director for global feminine care.
Becker said in a statement: “We want Connect+Develop to help deliver a dozen more Swiffer Dusters [one of the best known products recently developed by P&G] – really breakthrough innovations that change the marketplace, grows a category, and have consumers saying: ‘I need this product.’”
Becker added: “We have a depth of innovation talent inside our walls. We’ve build razor-sharp networks linking creative minds from all over the world. We are connected with consumer needs. We have all the ingredients for real innovation magic. Let us accelerate delivery.”
The global business development group employs about 80 people globally, and is linked to every business unit in the company. It exists to build relations between innovation outside of P&G and the company.
P&G’s Connect+Develop programme has developed a range of P&G’s more recognisable products, such as Swiffer Dusters, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, and Olay Regenerist.
P&G CTO Bruce Brown said: “Connect+Develop has helped deliver some of P&G’s leading innovations, and is critical in helping us deliver on our renewed growth strategy moving forward – including a sharper focus on our 20 largest and most promising innovations.”
He added: “Connect+Develop has proven to be a winning strategy, with still more room for growth.”