Alia Crocker is an Assistant Professor of Strategy at Babson College. She holds a Ph.D. from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and earned an MA in International Relations from Boston University and a BS in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University. She is a member of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society. Professor Crocker’s research has been published in the Journal of Management, Strategic Organization, Academy of Management Learning & Education, the International Journal of Human Resource Management, and Harvard Business Review. She regularly presents research and organizes professional development workshops at the annual meetings of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society. Broad research interests include strategic human capital, social networks, multilevel theory, microfoundations of strategy, and behavioral theory. Other areas of interest include global health, social responsibility, and mentorship. At Babson, she teaches Strategic Problem Solving, serves as Faculty Advisor for the MBA Consulting Experience, and works with executive education clients on strategic development.

Sebastian Fixson is Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Innovation at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, and Professor of Innovation & Design, at Babson College. As Associate Dean, he oversees the management of current graduate programs and is also responsible for the initiation and launch of new initiatives. Dr. Fixson concentrates his work on helping people and organizations build innovation capabilities. Dr.Fixson teaches innovation, design, and operations management related courses and executive education programs at Babson College, USA, and Universities and Companies around the World. From 2014-2017, he served as the founding Faculty Director of Babson’s Master of Science in Management in Entrepreneurial Leadership (MSEL) program. He also works with industrial clients and partners in industries ranging from health care, to manufacturing, and to software. He writes for both academic and practitioner audiences, and his work has appeared in numerous books and journals. His latest book “The Innovation Navigator,” co-authored with Tucker Marion, provides guidance for executives on how to structure and organize innovation processes. Dr. Fixson holds a Diplom-Ingenieur (MSc) degree in mechanical engineering from Technical University Karlsruhe, Germany, and a PhD in Technology, Management, and Policy from MIT.

Gina O’Connor is a Professor of Innovation Management at Babson College. She conducts research and develops curricula that facilitates learning for graduate students and executives based on her findings on Breakthrough Innovation capabilities in large mature companies. Before joining Babson, she spent 29 years at the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she held the roles of Professor of Marketing and Innovation Management, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Director of the MBA program, Director of the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and Director of the Radical Innovation Research Program. Professor O’Connor has published papers in leading journals, five of which have received best paper of the year awards in their respective journals. Gina has co-authored three books on breakthrough innovation. In 2018 she was named a Crawford Fellow by the Product Development and Management Association, one of only six recipients of that award. Gina’s professional objective is to help large established companies learn how to renew themselves through organic growth via step-out, gamechanging, breakthrough, strategic innovation, which introduces high levels of uncertainty into the innovation process and is typically stamped out in organizations. Prior to earning her PhD in Marketing and Corporate Strategy at NYU, she worked as a contract administrator for McDonnell Douglas Corporation and as a research analyst for Monsanto’s Department of Social Responsibility in St. Louis, Missouri.

Jonathan Sims is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Babson College, where he teaches business strategy courses at the undergraduate and MBA levels. He holds a Ph.D. in Management from the University of Texas at Austin, an MBA from the University of Maryland, and a BA in Political Science and Economics from Emory University. Jonathan’s research and teaching programs lie at the intersection of strategy, entrepreneurship, and open innovation. Broadly, he is interested in how entrepreneurial companies develop and implement technology strategies in cooperation with external communities. His work has been published in journals including Strategic Organization, Industrial and Corporate Change, Innovation Organization & Management, R&D Management, Industry and Innovation, and MIT Sloan Management Review.