• CERAWEEK 2025 | March 10-14, 2025
  • CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Susan Hakkarainen

Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.

Chairman & Co-Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Susan Hakkarainen is Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Lutron Electronics, the premier global manufacturer of lighting, shade, and temperature controls and smart bulbs for residential and commercial applications. She began her career as a research scientist and engineer and quickly catapulted to senior roles. Dr. Hakkarainen has led both domestic and global business units and created growth trajectories for both. As Chief Marketing Officer, she led the digital transformation of Lutron, launching the company’s entry into social media, creating an electronic tools group, and establishing the company’s user experience unit. She has also run the product design group. Dr. Hakkarainen built Lutron’s consumer marketing function and developed the foundational work for launching Lutron’s International Asian Business (Japan, China, Southeast Asia). As Vice President of International Marketing, Dr. Hakkarainen developed business opportunities, channels, and markets worldwide. She is on the boards of the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum and Asia Society, and on the Economic & Community Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. She is also a Trustee of the Eisenhower Fellowships. Dr. Hakkarainen holds a BS and a master’s degree from Cornell University, and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sessions With Susan Hakkarainen

Tuesday, 10 March

  • 11:30am - 12:20pm (CST) / -

    Customer-Driven Innovation
    Innovation & Technology

    Innovation is a wonderful, inspiring goal—and a great way to sell a lot of books. In reality, it is a lot of hard work and never easy. However, when innovation comes out of deep customer needs then it can have real impact, and at scale. Today technology is moving so fast many customers may not know how to ask the right questions or be able to imagine what is possible—which can result in incremental action. What is needed to achieve truly breakthrough innovation? What is the role of the customer in shaping future disruptive technologies? What does it mean to “listen to the customer” in a world of growing complexity and connections? How do leading innovators engage customers in their innovation processes now and in the future?