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Executive Education

Adjunct Professor of Executive Education

Portrait of Robert Wolcott, Faculty at the Kellogg School of Management
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Wolcott is a Adjunct Professor in Executive Education at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and formerly a visiting professor at the Keio Business School (Japan). Wolcott won Teacher of the Year from Kellogg's EMBA program in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.  He serves on the Digital Advisory Board of ZF, the German global industrial enterprise; Open Innovation Lab of Norway; and H-Farm, the leading digital innovation ecosystem in Italy. Wolcott is also a managing partner with Clareo, a growth strategy consultancy serving senior executives at global corporations such as Exelon, BHP Billiton, Castrol, Johnson Controls, Owens Corning and others.

Wolcott is a regular contributor to Forbes regarding the impact of technology change on business, leadership and society. His book with Dr. Michael Lippitz, Grow From Within:  Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (McGraw-Hill, 2010) shares a decade of research and has been published in Chinese and Japanese.  Wolcott's work has appeared in MIT Sloan Management Review, strategy+business, The Harvard Business Review, TheHill.com, Quartz.com, The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, Business Week, The Financial Times (European Edition), The New York Times and numerous overseas publications.  He is a frequent speaker at events worldwide.

In 2003, Wolcott founded the Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN), a network of senior executives dedicated to driving sustainable innovation, now an independent organization known as The World Innovation Network (TWIN).  TWIN's annual summit, TWIN Global, takes place in September and includes leaders from around the world who collaborate around issues of significance for their organizations and for humanity (www.twinglobal.org).  Wolcott is also an active angel investor in enterprises such as crowd funding leader Indiegogo (www.indiegogo.com), student loan innovator Lumni (www.lumni.net), legal documentation platform Page Vault (www.page-vault.com/), healthcare data and analytics providers SA Ignite (www.saignite.com) and ClearCare Online (exited to Battery Ventures in 2016; www.clearcareonline.com), cyber security provider MagicCube (www.magiccube.co) and international art exposition EXPO Chicago (www.expochicago.com).

Wolcott received a BA, European and Chinese History; and an MS and Ph.D., Industrial Engineering & Management Science, Northwestern University.

About Robert
Teaching interests
  • Corporate Innovation & New VenturesSocial InnovationStrategy in Emerging Technology MarketsImpact of technology change on established industries
  • PhD, 2001, Industrial Engineering & Management Science, Northwestern University
    MS, 1997, Industrial Engineering & Management Science, Northwestern University
    BA, 1991, European & Chinese History, Northwestern University
  • Clinical Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Executive Education, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2008-present
    Executive Director, Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN), Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2003-present
    Co-Founder, Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN), Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2003-present
  • Founding Partner & Managing Director, Clareo, 2003-present