Galler to speak on ‘What Drives Innovation Excellence?’
 

March 1, 2019 - Eric Galler, whose leadership spans nearly 30 years at 3M, General Mills, and Pillsbury in key operating positions, strategic marketing assignments, and innovation strategy roles is the Innovator in Residence for Spring 2019 at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Galler will speak on “What Drives Innovation Excellence?” at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, in the Riverview Ballroom, University Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Galler, corporate officer, General Mills and 3M-Marketing Corporate and Innovation Strategy (retired), most recently has been 3M chief marketing strategy officer, building benchmark functional strategic marketing capabilities across the $32B global giant.
 
At 3M, Galler oversaw strategic planning, marketing MBA recruiting, global competencies/career development, annual marketing planning processes, eLearning, and marketing community events for over 5,000 marketers worldwide. His focus on strengthening 3M innovation processes resulted in the creation and implementation of a global new product success drivers framework and the 3M Insights To Innovation (“i2i)” approach to enhance early customer insight.
 
Galler’s career started in 1989 at the Pillsbury Company where he held a number of operating roles on the Pillsbury Baked Goods & Progresso Soup businesses. At General Mills in 2003, he led customer collaboration on new product development and pioneered a new lean spiral innovation process with rapid, in-market ‘vitality testing.’

Galler currently serves on the Board of Directors of Shape Corporation, a pioneer in custom roll forming and injection molding for the automotive industry. He has been involved with the Minnesota Zoo Foundation for 15 years, including chairman from 2013-15, and is a member of the Minnesota 2018 Super Bowl Host Committee Marketing Task Force. He is an angel investor with Gopher Angels in Minneapolis.

He holds a BBA from UW-River Falls and a MA from Augsburg College, Minneapolis. For over a decade, Galler has worked with the executive board for the UW-Madison’s graduate school/MBA program.
 
The Innovator in Residence program is hosted by the College of Business and Economics at UW-River Falls. For more information, contact Danielle Campeau, director of the Center for Innovation and Business Development at danielle.campeau@uwrf.edu or call 715-425-4775.