Masters of Innovation

Kai Engel is Partner and MD Germany with A.T. Kearney. He is the Strategic Operations Practice Lead in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and the leads the competence team Innovation globally. He is based in the Dusseldorf office. Kai has over 24 years of industry and consulting experience. He links leading-edge innovation approaches with excellent strategic operations performance improvement capabilities to enable clients to benefit from close collaboration along their internal and external value chains.Violetka Dirlea is an A.T. Kearney partner and head of the firm's Innovation Practice for the Americas. She has more than 15 years of business and consulting experience, primarily in industrial manufacturing, with a focus on advising original equipment manufacturers and suppliers on how to improve performance. Violetka earned a dual master's degree in international business and business administration from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management, and Arizona State University.