Bruce Vojak

A leading authority on innovation in general and breakthrough innovation in particular, Bruce Vojak founded Breakthrough Innovation Advisors, LLC to help companies survive and thrive in a volatile, complex, and increasingly ambiguous world. Bruce brings a unique and powerful combination of deep and broad expertise—and a rich network of other experts—to guide clients in harnessing its benefits.

Spanning a career at the intersection of business and technology, Bruce has experienced and explored innovation purposefully and variously.

Having first established himself as a successful technical contributor and technology executive in industry, he understands first-hand the business need for and benefits of innovation. Having later transitioned to academia, he followed his passion by conducting groundbreaking research on innovation practice across a wide cross-section of mature companies in mature industries.

Bruce is the co-author of two highly regarded books on innovation, both published by Stanford University Press, as well as five book chapters and numerous peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. A Senior Fellow of The Conference Board, Bruce has served on the Advisory Board of JVA Partners, the Advisory Board of Midtronics, Inc., and the Board of Directors of Micron Industries Corporation. In addition, he consults on the topic of innovation, presenting to, leading workshops for, and advising various other companies.

Before founding Breakthrough Innovation Advisors, Bruce served as Associate Dean and Adjunct Professor in the top-ranked Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana?Champaign. Earlier, he was Director of Advanced Technology for Motorola’s non-semiconductor components business; held research, corporate development, and business development positions of increasing responsibility at Amoco Corporation; and was on the research staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.