About Us

Larry’s passion for innovation is a driving force for Inovo, which he co-founded and leads as CEO. He lives and breathes innovation through active participation in client projects, the advancement of innovation thinking, development of new methods and tools and collaboration with other innovation thinkers. All of his activities are fueled by his desire to help organizations gain the capabilities and insights to solve their critical innovation problems.

Larry draws upon years of experience in both large corporations and startups that wrestled with being innovative. He saw firsthand how, if you don’t push your boundaries and constantly innovate innovation itself, you fall behind. This observation has informed Larry’s guiding philosophy at Inovo and keeps the company continually creating, developing, testing and learning to push the boundaries of strategic innovation itself.

Larry is a voracious reader with wide and diverse interests. He regularly posts his thoughts on innovation on Inovo’s blog, Linked In Group Innovate Innovation Now and in numerous articles and white papers. He is frequently invited to speak about innovation at conferences, on webcasts, at private events and for colleges and universities.

Born and raised in upstate New York, Larry loves the outdoors and exploring new places with his globetrotting family. He holds a BS in computer science from the University of Michigan and an MS and PhD in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Steve is an engineer by training, but an entrepreneur by disposition. He has 30 years of experience in technology and commercialization, and is fascinated by the art and science of innovation. What can new technologies make possible? What do people really want? How can innovators get better at answering these and so many other related questions? Pursuing questions like these keeps Steve passionate about his work with clients and about innovation in general.

Steve began his career in the cellular industry during its early days of explosive growth. It was hard to keep up and harder still to predict. That experience led him to other industries on the verge of similar growth and change: semiconductors, e-commerce, machine vision, and life science. Inovo is now a chance to share what he’s learned – and to keep learning.

He holds a BSE in computer engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; an MS in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

A lifelong Midwesterner, Steve is active with his family and enjoys sailing, triathlons and playing piano. His school-age daughters keep him busy and remind him everyday of just how much he has yet to learn.

Brian is a managing partner and co-founder of The Inovo Group. In addition to working closely with clients, Brian serves as Inovo’s chief operating officer. In that role, he focuses on building Inovo’s administrative capabilities and, most importantly, the organization’s cultural foundation in order to best serve clients. The culture that he, with partners Larry Schmitt and Steve Schwartz, strive to create suffuses the organization with the same sense of curiosity, possibility and Test-and-Learn mindset that Inovo brings to its clients.

Brian rediscovered his passion for innovation while a vice president at Whirlpool more than a decade ago. He left Whirlpool in 2005 to pursue the dual challenge of helping large companies accomplish their ultimate challenge – strategic innovation – while simultaneously growing an innovation consulting firm. The Inovo Group reflects his belief that large, mature organizations can indeed create nimble new businesses and innovative cultures but often need a catalyst to do so.

Brian and his wife moved back to Ann Arbor a few years ago. They first met as students here in a physical chemistry course (no kidding) at the University of Michigan, where he earned a BS in chemical engineering. He also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is an avid reader, runner, Hobie Catter and fair-weather golfer.

Since joining the Inovo team early in 2013, Vinny has researched and delivered strategic business opportunities on behalf of our clients in a number of areas, including consumer products, health care, energy, and advanced materials.

Before he came to Inovo, Vinny spent eight years working in technical and management roles at start-ups as well as multinational companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biomedical software industries. Vinny’s broad knowledge base in engineering and scientific disciplines, paired with his diverse global business experience, provides a strong foundation for his passion around strategic innovation.

Vinny holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and an MS in Electrical Engineering, both from the University of Cincinnati.

A native of France, Diane applies her experiences working and living on three continents (as well as her ability to communicate in six languages) to help foster strategic innovation. Since joining Inovo in 2011, she has drawn upon her research ability, business savvy, and global perspective to bring novel opportunities to clients in the health and wellness, food and agriculture, energy, and consumer product industries.

Prior to joining Inovo, Diane worked as a medical scientist in academia and as a consultant in industry, researching and publishing ground-breaking results on the two biggest killers of the Western world: cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Diane holds a PhD in Oncology from the University of Groningen (Netherlands) and an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Since joining Inovo in 2012, Dustin has developed strategic business opportunities for Fortune 500 clients in the energy, health care, and consumer products sectors. With his passion for technology and innovation, Dustin brings a highly dynamic perspective to all client projects.

Earlier in his career, Dustin spent six years as COO of The Armadillo Group (now part of SMS Assist), where he focused on R&D with a heavy emphasis on clean/green tech innovation and product design experimentation.  Prior to Armadillo, Dustin was a program officer at Christo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, where also he founded and taught high tech courses.

Dustin completed his undergraduate work in Philosophy at Villanova University in Pennsylvania and holds an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Scott is a veteran of product innovation, business development, marketing strategy and entrepreneurship.  He has experience across many industries and has held leadership positions with Whirlpool Corporation, Fortune Brands and Burger King Corporation.  In addition to The Inovo Group, Scott has worked along side innovation thought leaders including Strategos, Doblin and Strategic Horizons on client engagements focused on top and bottom line growth through strategic innovation.  Scott has also started three companies including The SearchLite where he is CEO and Founder.  Scott received his M.B.A. from Wayne State University and his B.A. from Michigan State University.

Since joining Inovo as an Analyst in 2014, Hannah has worked on projects in the energy, food, chemical, and petroleum industries, bringing her attention to detail, passion for technology and thirst for learning to the team.

Prior to joining Inovo, Hannah worked as an engineer with companies in the food, pharmaceutical, and automotive industries, working on a variety of projects involving process engineering and regulatory verification.

Hannah is passionate about lifelong learning. Outside of school, she has studied topics such as systems engineering, rhetoric, management, and outdoor survival. She is fluent in Spanish and is studying German.

Hannah holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Western Michigan University, with a focus on sustainability and renewable energy development.