About Bruce

Bruce Vojak founded Breakthrough Innovation Advisors, LLC to help companies survive and thrive in a volatile, complex, and increasingly ambiguous world.

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 and industries.

As a leading authority on innovation in general, and Breakthrough Innovation in particular, Bruce brings a unique and powerful combination of deep and broad expertise—and a rich network of other experts—to guide his clients in harnessing its benefits.

Bruce is the co-author of two highly-regarded books on innovation:

• Vojak & Herbst, No-Excuses Innovation: Strategies for Small- and Medium-Sized Mature Enterprises (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2022)
• Griffin, Price & Vojak, Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012)

Further, he has co-authored five book chapters—in addition to numerous peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations—on innovation. He serves on the Advisory Board of Midtronics, Inc., the Advisory Board of JVA Partners, 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 in his career, he was Director of Advanced Technology for Motorola’s non-semiconductor components business, held research and business development positions of increasing responsibility at Amoco Corporation, and was on the research staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He holds BS (with Highest Honors), MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA, with concentrations in finance and marketing, from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

A copy of Bruce’s full resume is available upon request.