Merchants Fleet has launched and innovation department and hired Lisa Bonacci as its director, the Hooksett, N.H.-based fleet management company has announced.

Bonacci's department has been tasked with providing resources to further develop the skills, behaviors, and processes needed to continue to drive an innovative client experience, according to the company.

She will oversee and support a wide range of efforts within Merchants Fleet to collect and nurture ideas, test and prototype, establish norms of collaboration, and education associates about creative problem-solving.

Merchants Fleet has been establishing dedicated spaces for innovative thinking, including its Innovation Center in Chicago and collaborative spaces in its new headquarters that will open by Sept. 1. Merchants is also developing idea bootcamps, innovation resource libraries, trainings, and workshops that employees can use to drive innovative outcomes in their day-to-day work and for clients, according to the company.

Bonacci joins the fleet management company after a role as engagement manager with Southern New Hampshire University and its Sandbox ColLABorative research and development lab.