Deloitte innovation strategist RJ Sherman comes to the Blackstone LaunchPad September 25 to recruit innovators

RJ sherman

RJ Sherman, Innovation and Technology Strategist at Deloitte, the world’s largest consulting firm, is coming to the Blackstone LaunchPad Tuesday, September 25 at noon, to meet students and talk technology strategy and innovation.

Sherman is a Syracuse University alumnus ’09 (triple major in Information Studies and Technology, Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises, Finance) and G’12 (Information Management).  He will share his insights over a “Lunch and Learn at the LaunchPad” from his experience at Deloitte Consulting, as well as his experience as part of the founding team of one of Syracuse University’s first student ups, Brand Yourself.

While visiting Syracuse to recruit innovators, Sherman will talk about how to use startup thinking to become an intrapreneur – a person who brings entrepreneurial skill sets to a large corporation in order to launch new products or processes that disrupt the status quo and create breakthrough change.

Within Deloitte, Sherman empowers practitioners to harness their innovation potential and identify new opportunities to capitalize on emerging technologies. He has led in projects that range from the reimagining of core systems, to blockchain, robotic process automation, and to defining corporate innovation operating models within and outside of the healthcare industry.  His area of expertise is identifying new market opportunities for emerging technologies.

At Deloitte, Sherman launched StartUp Deloitte, a program enabling over 650 practitioners and an additional 750 external participants to build and pitch strategically aligned innovations.  He defined and implemented the innovation strategy for a Fortune 50 healthcare company, evaluated 294 companies for partnership, and supported more than 200 ideas through different stages of the innovation process including building a business case for multiple products.

He has published and contributed to whitepapers related to emerging technologies and project management methodologies including blockchain and crowd-testing, and oversaw the planning and execution of a machine learning hackathon which resulted in 10 proof of concepts developed by 41 practitioners. He also built the Innovator’s Garage, a program to support teams looking to build machine learning, cognitive, and blockchain proof of concepts on multiple cloud platforms

Before joining Deloitte, Sherman founded Charles River Web Connections, LLC, a boutique IT strategy consulting firm, where he was the CEO.

As a SU student, he was part of the original founding team of BrandYourself.com, the first platform that enables individuals to control personal search results.  He helped shape early operations for the highly successful company before moving to the Boston area to launch his own venture.

He is now focused on mentoring Syracuse University’s next generation of startups, and being an ambassador for innovation, inspired by his time as a Syracuse University student Engagement Fellow, and student startup who befitted from SU’s innovation ecosystem.  Now, as an innovation recruiter, he is “paying it forward” to current students.  Last winter, Sherman hosted a group of SU entrepreneurs through Career Services and the Blackstone LaunchPad for an entrepreneurship “Career Trek” to Deloitte’s Innovation Center at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC.

RJ Sherman

Photo:  RJ Sherman speaking to SU student entrepreneurs at Deloitte Innovation Center at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, NYC earlier this year, as part of a “Career Trek” organized by Career Services and the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at Syracuse University.

Beyond work, Sherman has a passion for learning and has achieved professional status in areas such as aviation where he is a commercial aircraft pilot, motorcycles where he was a sponsored racer for many years, and in scuba diving where he is a dive master.

Sherman embodies the entrepreneurial spirit, and the Blackstone LaunchPad is pleased to bring him back home to share his passion with current SU student entrepreneurs.

The interactive workshop is open to all students, from all disciplines.  Seating is limited, so to reserve your spot, RSVP to LaunchPad@syr.edu