Onno Rom­ijn

Presentation and academic fields
Innovation leader and educator focused on how organizations design, manage, and scale innovation. My work sits at the intersection of strategy, problem-solving, and organizational decision-making, with a particular emphasis on turning insight into action through structured experimentation and disciplined decision-making.

I bring a multidisciplinary foundation spanning psychology, engineering, and business, holding an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience, an EngD in User-Centered Design, and an MBA in General Management. This combination allows me to connect insights across domains and translate them into practical frameworks that resonate with both students and executives.

I am especially interested in three interconnected dimensions of innovation management:

• Strategy – defining direction and ambition: what should we aim for, and why? 
• Resources & Insights – improving decision quality through data, tools, and structured experimentation 
• Culture & Processes – shaping the organizational context that enables innovation, including how firms support, govern, and embed new ways of working 

Professional and/or academic experience
I bring over 20 years of experience across academia, consulting, and industry, with a consistent focus on innovation, transformation, and customer-centric strategy.

My career started in R&D and design engineering, followed by management consulting roles focused on customer value and transformation. I then moved into leadership roles in global organizations, including American Express and eBay, where I led initiatives in strategic planning, business intelligence, customer experience, and innovation portfolio management.

As Executive Development Director at Cranfield School of Management, I was responsible for designing and delivering customized executive education programs for senior leadership teams globally.

I am the founder and principal of ThinkStrait, where I advise and coach senior leaders and teams in multinational corporations and public sector organizations on strategic innovation, business transformation, and customer insight. Alongside this, I serve as a lecturer in Innovation Management at Copenhagen Business School and as a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University.

Pedagogical experience/method skills/supervision
My teaching focuses on bridging rigorous theory with real-world application. I design learning experiences that emphasize experimentation, reflection, and active problem-solving.

I have developed and delivered courses in areas including:

• Strategic Innovation 
• New Product and Service Development 
• Innovation Leadership 
• Design Thinking 
• Managing Innovation in Organizations 

My teaching spans MSc, MBA, Executive MBA, and I regularly work with senior leaders in customized programs.

Pedagogically, I emphasize:

• Experiential learning through real-world cases and business experiments 
• Interdisciplinary thinking to connect concepts across domains 
• Evidence-based decision-making grounded in data and structured frameworks 

I have experience supervising Master’s theses and mentoring participants in both academic and executive settings.