Helen von den Steinen

Human centered innovator who both practices and teaches skills to advance winning innovation through human centered design.

About

Helen is an innovator and action-oriented business partner with a unique ability to connect “non-obvious dots” across people, ideas and domains to bring clarity to the fuzzy front end of innovation enabling teams to achieve meaningful success. She leverages her extensive global innovation experience, at P&G and beyond, across diverse products, services, business models to unlock insightful and life-improving innovation. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University. Helen practices, coaches and teaches Human Centered Design and Lean innovation.

Publications

THE PERSHING-MARCH CONFLICT IN WORLD WAR I

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

1981

Education

Cambridge University Sidney Sussex College

Bachelor of Arts (B.A. Cantab. Bachelor of Science Equivalent), Natural Sciences Biochemistry

Experience

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Adjunct Professor Segal Design Institute / July, 2016 — Present

Educates the next generation of innovators and product designers leveraging partnerships with industry. Teaches 2 graduate level classes: Human Centered Design Studio and CPG Product and Business Model Innovation. Develops class content that combines lean innovation design thinking and business model innovation in a hands-on studio-based approach. Advises on industry-academia partnerships best practices with both corporations and academia. Mentors students for thesis projects and innovation career questions. Led PG-Northwestern University Connect and Develop partnership to accelerate and screen 10 innovations per year. Functioned as a thought leader for PG innovation bringing new theories and tools from academia into PG.

PROCTER & GAMBLE

Principal Scientist - Director Level Transformative Platform Technologies / February, 2018 — June, 2023

Insightful innovation leader for new ventures driving pre-FEI transformational innovation by connecting new technologies with consumer and market insights. Co-founded EC30 one of PGs first direct-to-consumer businesses with a new brand and technology positioned on sustainability and spanning multiple categories. Identified EC30 consumer insights via qualitative and quantitative research. Defined strategic target and brand positioning along with product package design and innovation pipeline and drove product-based messaging. Incubated EC30 brand to demonstrate viability and support further investment. Grew the business to above 1M sales. Envisioned holistic innovations across 6 additional opportunity areas connecting consumer and business needs with new technologies. Used Lean Innovation and Growthworks principles and leveraged Minimum Viable Prototypes to learn quickly at low cost. Applied behavioral science knowledge to drive adoption of new technologies. Trained and coached multi-functional teams on leading-edge innovation tools and design thinking mindsets.

Principal Scientist - Director Level Baby Care / July, 2016 — January, 2018

Conceptualized and executed the Packaging Innovation Strategy for the Global Pampers Diapers business (more than 10B turnover) grounded in consumer and technical insights. Championed quality improvements for Pampers packaging. Developed an improved re-closable diaper package that was introduced in Europe and NA. Created a pipeline of packaging innovation to elevate the role of the Pampers package in the consumer experience.

Principal Scientist Director Level BabyCare / December, 2009 — June, 2016

Champion of global Pampers Diapers product quality improvements and revolutionizer of quality processes and methods. Developed consumer and sensory olfactory methods models and product development achieving a turnaround of the business in China with over 3B in sales bringing Pampers back to market leadership. Invented a new method for defining product quality parameters based on real-time consumer feedback and technical measurements resulting in 2 patents. Architected global ethnographic research for Pampers providing new brand positioning and segmentation strategy. Coached and mentored RD staff globally. Co-led PG Germany technical talent development.

Join Helen on NotedSource!

Join Now

At NotedSource, we believe that professors, post-docs, scientists and other researchers have deep, untapped knowledge and expertise that can be leveraged to drive innovation within companies. NotedSource is committed to bridging the gap between academia and industry by providing a platform for collaboration with industry and networking with other researchers.

For industry, NotedSource identifies the right academic experts in 24 hours to help organizations build and grow. With a platform of thousands of knowledgeable PhDs, scientists, and industry experts, NotedSource makes connecting and collaborating easy.

For academic researchers such as professors, post-docs, and Ph.D.s, NotedSource provides tools to discover and connect to your colleagues with messaging and news feeds, in addition to the opportunity to be paid for your collaboration with vetted partners.