Bill Pacheco teaches product management, innovation, and design thinking at Babson College, where he is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Technology, Operations, and Information Management division. His courses run on one rule: people learn by doing the work, not by reading about it. He builds simulations, games, and live client projects that force students to decide something real with incomplete information, then defend the call.
He teaches this way because he spent thirty years on the other side. Bill led product design, engineering, and innovation teams at Cybex International and Keurig Dr Pepper, where he shipped products and built the teams that shipped them. He brings that work into the classroom, including the parts that did not go well.
Through Open Until 8, LLC, where he is Founder and CEO, Bill works with organizations on innovation, customer discovery, and product strategy. Recent clients span consumer goods, banking, pharmaceuticals, energy, and logistics. He also teaches for Harvard Professional and Executive Development and coaches executives at the Stanford d.school. Much of his current work centers on how teams build products with AI, and on helping people get useful at it fast.
Outside of work, Bill is an avid traveler who has spent time in Korea, Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden, and who plans trips around the food. He has a deep appreciation for great food, red wine, and a good musical. At home, Bill enjoys life with his wife, their four children, and two energetic Labrador retrievers.
