When the Mack Center became the Mack Institute in 2013, thanks to a major gift from William and Phyllis Mack, our name wasn’t the only thing to change. We received a mandate to expand the institute’s reach as the central hub of an extensive learning network, connecting researchers, business leaders, and students in the study of innovation management.
To help achieve our goals, the Mack Institute team has had to grow as well. We’ve added several new roles designed to enhance engagement with all members of our network and widen the scope of our thought leadership. We are pleased to introduce (or in some cases, re-introduce!) the faculty and staff who joined our team in the past year:
Christian Terwiesch is the Mack Institute’s newest Co-director, joining George Day, Nicolaj Siggelkow, and Harbir Singh. Christian is Professor of Operations and Information Management as well as a Senior Fellow at Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics. Much of his current work relates to innovation management in the health care space, with recent projects including the management of the clinical development portfolio at Merck and the design of patient-centered care processes in the VA hospital system.
As the Mack Institute’s first Executive Director, Saikat Chaudhuri works to expand the Mack Institute’s impact within the University of Pennsylvania and beyond. Under Saikat’s leadership, the institute has begun unrolling several new initiatives, such as an annual Spring Conference at Wharton | San Francisco, expanded opportunities for student sponsorship, participation at Wharton Global Forums, a Mack Talks video series, and the upcoming Collaborative Impact Program.
Iris Magid manages initiatives with industry and corporate partners as Associate Director for Industry Engagement. Her role includes engaging corporate partners in institute research, organizing conferences (and other relevant activities), and connecting Mack Institute corporate partners with community partners, faculty, and other Wharton/Penn Departments.
The newest member of our team, Laura Kitson, is responsible for fostering collaboration with the Mack Institute among scholars and students of all levels, both here at Penn and at outside institutions. In her role as Associate Director for Scholar and Student Initiatives, Laura works to develop new programming to engage students, faculty, and researchers.