Eric Acton is the Head of Innovation Ecosystems at R 2 Data Labs, the innovation catalyst, enabler and accelerator for Rolls-Royce’s digital transformation. His role can be summarized by 3 verbs: Connect, Commercialize, Co-Fund.
Eric can best be described as an entrepreneurial, pioneering, digital business & technology leader. A relentless change agent, always challenging the status quo, questioning the assumptions and looking for a better way. When he’s not off being the evangelist, or out leading the team, he’ll be behind the scenes, the collaborative, persuasive, lateral thinking guy that just makes it happen. Equally comfortable rolling up his sleeves in a start-up environment and navigating the cultural and bureaucratic landscapes of Global 100 enterprises, he’s a great believer in the Art of the Possible!
Eric’s specialty is being a generalist; he has had firsthand experience in disrupting and transforming businesses in different industries, he’s seen and influenced a number of different approaches to evolving traditional enterprises into a digital-first mindset. Inevitably, change (whether disruptive or transformative) comes down to 3 basic ingredients; Vision, Attitude and Action. With that, any team can believe in infinite possibilities.
The product of an Australian father and a French mother, raised bilingual, bicultural he naturally looks at business through the lens of multiple stakeholders and speaks the language of “international”. He has worked with a portfolio of some of the biggest global brands, including Rolls-Royce, Dell, PwC, CapitalOne, Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, Wells Fargo, HP, Cisco, DirecTV, BHP, Omnicom and others. Proud father of twins, he currently resides in Charlotte, NC.