Innovation Quorum
The BU Innovation Quorum (BUIQ) Fellows program sponsored by Innovate@BU convenes corporate innovation leaders charged with defining their company’s future, and connects Fellows with students and faculty of Innovate@BU to further corporate and academic engagement. BUIQ provides a unique opportunity for practical and scholarly exchange plus networking among leading innovation executives, innovation scholars, faculty, and students.
Bridging the gap between academic teaching, research, and the real-world innovation challenges faced by industry, the mission of BUIQ is to accelerate mutual learning on corporate innovation and forge opportunities for connection and learning among industry leaders, faculty, and students. Fellows are invited to join the BUIQ community for a two year term.
BUIQ Goals
- Convene corporate innovation leaders to create networking opportunities and accelerate learning on the real-world challenges Fellows face
- Provide corporate innovation leaders with a portal to tap into the latest academic research on innovation, opportunities for engagement, and experiential learning
- Further long term relations with a network of corporate leaders who share common interests with Innovate@BU
- Facilitate productive exchange among corporate innovation leaders, students and faculty through Innovate@BU
- Create opportunities for faculty, students, and BUIQ Fellows to collaborate on activities of common interest such as live projects, sponsored projects, or research
- Foster alignment between teaching and research on innovation and the management realities of corporate innovation
Engagement Opportunities with Innovate@BU
BUIQ Fellows can engage with Innovate@BU in the following ways:
- Learn from convening opportunities with other fellows in the network
- Receive updates on Fellow events, academic research, seminar/webinar invitations and research insights
- Speak or guest lecture in University panels, forums or classes
- Attend invitation only innovation and entrepreneurship panels and speaker series
- Access to participate in student case and innovation and entrepreneurial competitions
- Offer live projects for students to work on in courses or co-curriculars
- Participate in subject matter expert office hours to help students with innovation challenges
- Post internships or job opportunities to a multi-disciplinary network of student innovators
- Opportunities to engage in customized research projects in line with Fellows’ corporate interests
- Post internships or job opportunities to a multi-disciplinary network of student innovators
Meet the Fellows
Raul Aldrey
Raul Aldrey is a seasoned executive in Digital Products, Media and Telecom, who has extensive experience in product innovation, strategy, development, and management. Raul is a proven leader who has managed and led high performing global teams responsible for building market-leading digital products and operating them at scale. He is well known for driving user centric design and value creation through partnerships and ecosystems.
Raul is currently the Head of Digital Channels and Ecosystem within USCD organization. In his role, he is focused on building a common platform approach to not only power internally developed web and mobile channels, but also drive and scale our internal and external partnership capabilities. His team oversees both external partnership ecosystem strategy, including Google and Workplace Banking, as well as internal partnerships with TTS, ICG and others. It includes: Web / Mobile Platforms and common services, Workplace Banking, Partnership Development, Multivariant Testing, Open Banking, Partnership Platform & Ecosystem, Tagging and Social Monitoring & Voice.
Prior to Citi, Raul served as Chief product Officer and Chief Business Officer at MediaKind; a global leader in Media Technology and innovation. He was responsible for Products, Strategy, Marketing, Sales and Business Development. Prior to that he worked at Ericsson driving Media, IoT and 5G initiatives. He also held multiple executive positions at Verizon leading Product Innovation, Design and Development, System Integration and Product Management.
Raul has always been in the forefront of technology innovation. He holds more than 40 Patent applications and 34 Patents granted in the U.S. and Europe. He has a Master’s Certificate in Technology and Innovation from MIT. He has an MBA from Boston University Graduate School of Management as well as Master’s Certificates from George Washington University in Information Technology Management and Program Management. He possesses a very strong technology and business acumen and vast Global experience in highly innovative segments: mobile apps, wireless, video & network services. He has extensive experience in all facets of agile product development and design thinking.
Dipali Desai
Dipali is currently Director of Product at Sherlock Biosciences, a start-up focused on disrupting diagnostics by providing engineering biology products that help consumers control their own health decisions. In this role, she leads portfolio and product strategy that guides innovation and shapes a newly forming market. Her career has consistent of crossing a series of bridges – she started in a vertical textile organization where she gained experience in manufacturing logistics and supply chain. She transitioned over to a decade in management consulting working for Kepner-Tregoe, a boutique firm, where she trained and consulted with pharmaceutical and consumer products clients in the strategy, problem solving, decision-making and project management areas. She took this experience to cross over to innovation and product management in medical devices and has held successive roles at ConvaTec, provider of high-end wound dressings, Integra Lifesciences, provider of surgical grafts and then to Ortho Clinical Diagnostics where she led their infectious disease portfolio of tests that covered solutions ranging from HIV, tropical diseases and then COVID-19. She believes that the post-pandemic world is primed to accept real innovation that truly impacts social and behavioral change.
Nick Dougherty
Nick Dougherty is the VP of Digital for AllWays Health Partners, the health plan of Mass General Brigham. Prior to joining AllWays Nick was the VP of Strategic Growth at MassChallenge and Managing Director of MassChallenge HealthTech, a digital health accelerator that matches startups with over 30 partners like the City of Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Vertex, Takeda, AARP, MGH, and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to address health’s massive challenges.
Prior to MassChallenge, Nick was Co-Founder and CEO of VerbalCare, helping non-verbal and verbal patients communicate effectively with caregivers and care providers. He became General Manager in 2015 after VerbalCare was acquired by Medical Specialties Distributors, a McKesson company.
John Herrera
John Herrera currently leads a number of large scale transformation programs at Booking Holdings, the world’s leader in online travel who’s brands include Booking.com, priceline.com, agoda.com, Kayak, Rentalcars.com & OpenTable.
Prior to joining Booking Holdings, John spent 18 years with the EMC Corporation. During his career at EMC, John held numerous executive roles with responsibilities that included: Transformation and Cost Savings, Launching Centers of Excellence in locations such as India, China, Russia and Israel, the launch of EMC’s Solutions Development organization and scaling EMC’s Information Technology and Cyber Security organization.
John has also acted as an advisor for several startups and a board member for a number of nonprofits.
He holds an MBA from Boston University and a BA from the University of Washington.
Ashley Nagle
Ashley Nagle is a senior vice president at Eastern Bank, where she is the chief digital strategist and head of Eastern Labs. She is responsible for driving innovation and connecting Eastern Bank to the broader fintech ecosystem through experimentation, partnership and investment. She also holds board level positions at multiple fintech companies. Ashley received a B.S. in Business Administration from Boston University and an M.B.A from Northeastern University.