Künstliche Intelligenz & Generative KI speakers

Why organisations work with Ella Sy She reads consumer, retail, and technology change as a working strategist rather than a trend curator. She ran global strategy inside Publicis, then built an independent futures practice briefed by retailers and brands to call where behaviour is heading and to defend that call commercially. She pairs a futures lens with delivery discipline. Alongside the strategy work she runs programme at Elevate, so her view of change includes what it takes to operationalise it, not only name it. Her brief is genuinely cross-sector. Named client work spans Google, Microsoft, Jaguar Land Rover, Costa Coffee, Preferred Hotels, and KSL Resorts, which gives her material from both B2B technology and consumer-facing brands. She brings a non-Anglosphere cultural read. French-born, Asian heritage, London based, working in English, French, and Mandarin. Useful for boards with EMEA and APAC exposure who want more than a US-centric view. She is comfortable with soft territory that leadership teams often duck: meaning, purpose, human growth inside commercial strategy. Named bookings in this register rather than retrofitted from a trends talk. Biography highlights Former Business Futures Strategy Director at GDR, a retail and brand futures consultancy. Strategy Director and Head of Programme at Elevate, and Chair of its Youth Board Committee. Former Global Strategy Director at Zenith Worldwide, part of Publicis Groupe. 13+ years of strategy across retail, technology, wellness, banking, luxury, and FMCG. Client engagements include Google across LatAm markets, Microsoft, Jaguar Land Rover, Costa Coffee, Preferred Hotels, and KSL Resorts. MA in International Marketing and Communication. Works in English, French, and Mandarin. Biography Most organisations treat foresight as a slide at the start of strategy offsites. Ella Sy has spent her career selling it as a product: reading consumer and cultural signals for retailers and brands that need to place commercial bets on where behaviour is heading next. That is the discipline she brings into the room. Earlier she was Global Strategy Director at Zenith Worldwide inside Publicis Groupe, running strategy for large advertising clients. The thread running through her work is translation: taking messy, contradictory signals from culture, technology, and consumer behaviour and turning them into positions a leadership team can defend and a business can execute against. She also holds an operational role: Strategy Director and Head of Programme at Elevate, a UK youth mentoring organisation where she chairs the Youth Board Committee. That side of the work keeps her close to delivery rather than only advice, which is unusual for a speaker working in the futures space. Her client record crosses categories that rarely share speakers: Google across Latin American markets, Microsoft, Jaguar Land Rover, Costa Coffee, Preferred Hotels, KSL Resorts. French-born, of Asian heritage, based in the UK, she works in English, French, and Mandarin, and the cultural range shows up in how she frames audiences outside the Anglosphere default. Key speaking topics Strategic foresight and business futures Consumer and cultural signal reading Customer experience and brand strategy in an AI-shaped market Organisational culture under technological disruption Purpose-driven leadership and human growth Cross-cultural strategy across EMEA and APAC Ideal for CSOs, chief strategy officers, and transformation leads deciding where to place medium-term bets. CMOs and customer experience leaders in retail, hospitality, and consumer technology. Boards and executive teams setting a three-to-five year direction under technology and consumer volatility. International leadership groups that need a non-US-default reading of culture and consumer change. Audience outcomes A sharper read on which emerging signals in consumer behaviour and technology actually matter for the business in the room. Working language for talking about culture and customer experience together rather than as separate agendas. Examples from retail, luxury, hospitality, and technology clients that test the ideas against real commercial pressure. A more honest view of the gap between seeing change and executing on it inside a large organisation. Cross-cultural context for leaders whose markets extend beyond the US and UK.

Why organisations work with Emma Louise A working BBC presenter on Newsround and Radio 1, not a former broadcaster trading on past credits. The on-camera and on-mic discipline is current. Hosting range that crosses formats few presenters cover credibly: literary (#Merky Festival), industry (Series Mania Forum main auditorium, Radio Academy Festival), arts (Arts Council Awards) and corporate stages. Editorial production background at BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra. She can shape a run of show and rewrite a script under pressure, not only read what is in front of her. Comfortable with technical and policy content for non-specialist audiences, evidenced by presenting work on AI literacy for BBC Bitesize and climate and ocean science films for WWF, The Eden Project and the National Oceanography Centre. Brand-side hosting and content credibility with Samsung, HSBC, Nokia, KFC and Save the Children, which translates into a host who understands the commercial brief, not only the editorial one. Biography highlights Presenter, BBC CBBC Newsround Presenter, BBC Radio 1, including a four-series run of “Radio 1 Relax in Love” and regular cover on the Early Breakfast show Weekend presenter, Fun Kids Radio Radio Academy 30 Under 30 alumna Host credits include #Merky Festival, Series Mania Forum main auditorium, Arts Council Awards, and Radio Academy Festival Branded content and on-camera work for Samsung, HSBC, Nokia, KFC, Save the Children and WWF; BBC Bitesize Guide to AI; long-form environmental films for WWF, The Eden Project and the National Oceanography Centre Biography A live event lives or dies in the hands of its host. Emma Louise is a working BBC presenter, not a hired voice, and she runs a stage with the editorial instinct of a journalist who has produced as much as she has presented. She is on screen as a presenter on CBBC Newsround, broadcasting live from the BBC’s Salford studio and reporting across the UK. On Radio 1 she has fronted “Radio 1 Relax in Love” for four series and covers the Early Breakfast show on rotation. Her weekends sit on Fun Kids Radio. The Radio Academy named her in its 30 Under 30 cohort, the industry’s primary signal of presenters and producers on a serious trajectory. Her hosting roster is unusually wide. She has held the main auditorium at Series Mania Forum, anchored panels at the Radio Academy Festival, hosted #Merky Festival for Stormzy’s literary platform, and fronted the Arts Council Awards. The same host moves between literary, broadcasting industry, arts and corporate stages without changing register. That portability matters when a programme needs one presenter across a varied agenda. Subject range is the second differentiator. She has presented the BBC Bitesize Guide to AI for younger audiences and long-form environmental and ocean science content for WWF, The Eden Project and the National Oceanography Centre. Branded work for Samsung, HSBC, Nokia, KFC and Save the Children gives her a working understanding of how a commercial client wants its content shaped. A buyer is hiring a host who can interview a CEO, a scientist and a creative on the same stage and make all three sound their best. Key speaking topics Live event hosting and main-stage MC Awards ceremony hosting Panel moderation and on-stage interviews Conference and summit anchoring Broadcast journalism and on-camera presenting Environment, climate and ocean science communication AI literacy and technology storytelling for non-specialist audiences Ideal for Corporate conferences and internal summits looking for a senior, BBC-credentialed host Awards ceremonies and gala dinners Industry festivals and panel programmes needing a moderator who can carry technical content CMOs, comms directors and event leads briefing for a host who handles brand-side and editorial sensitivity in the same room Audience outcomes A confidently anchored programme that lands its key messages on schedule Panel conversations that surface specific points rather than drift Technical and policy material made accessible to a mixed audience without losing precision A host who absorbs late changes to the run of show without visible cost to the audience

Why organisations work with Emmanuel Gobillot His «Disciplined Collaboration» framework reframes organisational silos as a structural problem rather than a cultural failing, naming four specific fears that prevent collective work and providing a tested four-step method for removing them – replacing the generic language of culture programmes with operational tools senior teams can actually deploy. Alive Inside (Routledge, 2026) provides a named seven-principle model for the human leadership qualities – compassion, courage, intuition, presence, storytelling – that AI cannot replicate, giving executive teams a practical basis for deciding where to invest human leadership effort in an AI-enabled organisation. Follow the Leader identifies eight specific elements of charisma that followers respond to, starting from what followers need rather than what leaders should do – a structural inversion that produces more usable diagnostics than prescriptive leadership frameworks. His consulting record at Hay Group, leading both the Consumer Sector practice and the Leadership Services function, and subsequent client work with Google, Vodafone, AstraZeneca, Carlsberg, and the United Nations, gives his frameworks a testing ground that spans sectors, governance structures, and organisational scale. Ten books published with Kogan Page, Routledge, and De Gruyter over twenty years track how leadership must adapt through successive phases of technological change – mass collaboration, networked organisations, and now AI – giving organisations a framework that is cumulative rather than reactive to the latest disruption. Biography highlights Former Director at Hay Group, leading both the Consumer Sector Consulting practice and the Leadership Services function, advising Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 organisations Named corporate clients include Google, Vodafone, Carlsberg, Hilton, AstraZeneca, Zurich Financial Services, and the United Nations Author of ten published books, including Alive Inside (Routledge, 2026), an updated edition of The Connected Leader (De Gruyter, 2024), and earlier titles Leadershift, Disciplined Collaboration, and Follow the Leader (Kogan Page) Contributor to Chief Executive (chiefexecutive.net) on leadership and AI Educated at UWC Atlantic and the University of St Andrews; also holds a Diploma in Management Science from Nottingham Trent University Founder of Emmanuel Gobillot Limited; co-founder of Collaboration Partners consultancy Biography The gap between collaboration as a stated priority and collaboration as an operating reality is one of the most consistent problems in organisations. Most attempts to close it add process or culture without addressing the structural conditions that prevent people from working collectively in the first place. Emmanuel Gobillot has spent twenty years diagnosing that gap – and building the frameworks to close it. At Hay Group, he led the Consumer Sector Consulting practice and then the Leadership Services function, working directly with Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 organisations. Named clients – Google, Vodafone, Carlsberg, AstraZeneca, Zurich Financial Services, the United Nations – span sectors and governance structures. That breadth is the evidence base on which his frameworks are built. The best-known outputs of that work are The Connected Leader (updated edition, De Gruyter, 2024) and Disciplined Collaboration (Kogan Page). Both are built around a consistent argument: that leadership and collective performance require structural architecture, not cultural exhortation. Follow the Leader sharpens this through a specific focus on followership, identifying eight elements of charisma that followers respond to and asking what followers need rather than what leaders should do. Disciplined Collaboration names the four fears that make most collaboration programmes ineffective and provides a tested four-step method for removing them. His most recent book, Alive Inside (Routledge, 2026), extends this thinking into the AI era. Where most leadership responses to AI focus on skills and adaptation, Gobillot asks a more fundamental question: which human leadership qualities cannot be replicated by an algorithm, and how do leaders build authority around them? The answer – a seven-principle framework built on compassion, courage, intuition, presence, and storytelling – gives executive teams a practical model for investing human effort where it is most durable. Key speaking topics Disciplined collaboration and the architecture of collective performance Human leadership advantage in AI-enabled organisations Leadership and followership dynamics Connected leadership and trust-based influence Organisational culture and collective performance Leading through successive phases of technological disruption Ideal for Senior executive and C-suite teams addressing collaboration breakdown across divisions or functions CHROs and people leaders building leadership development programmes that account for AI-driven change Boards and transformation leads evaluating leadership models in AI-enabled environments Organisations where silos, cross-functional friction, or low collective performance are named strategic problems Audience outcomes A structural framework for diagnosing why collaboration initiatives fail and what architecture is missing A named set of human leadership qualities that AI cannot replicate, with a practical model for building authority around them Clarity on the distinction between the performance of teamwork and the structural conditions that produce genuine collective effort Tools drawn from the Disciplined Collaboration and Alive Inside frameworks that apply directly to existing leadership and culture programmes A reframe of the leader-follower relationship that shifts the design question from «what should leaders do?» to «what do followers actually need?»

Why organisations work with Eric O’Neill He has run the highest-stakes counterintelligence operation in modern US history. When he describes how a long-running insider threat actually unfolds, he is describing his own case file, not a model. His framing reorients cyber defence around the human, not the firewall. Hanssen was an FBI veteran with full system access. Most of today’s breaches still begin with someone trusted being manipulated. He translates espionage tradecraft into language CFOs, general counsel and HR leaders can act on. Deepfake CEO fraud, voice cloning, social engineering and ransomware are explained as familiar intelligence techniques running on new infrastructure. He brings two published books from major trade houses, Gray Day (Crown, 2019) and Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime (HarperCollins, 2025), giving audiences a substantive body of work to follow up with. He is one of the few cybersecurity speakers buyers can hand to a non-technical executive audience without losing them. The Hanssen narrative carries the room; the security argument arrives inside it. Biography highlights Conducted the FBI undercover investigation that led to the arrest of Robert Hanssen, a 25-year FBI veteran convicted on 15 counts of espionage. Author of Gray Day (Crown, 2019) and Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime (HarperCollins, 2025). Founder of The Georgetown Group, a Washington DC investigative and security consultancy, and Nexasure AI. Portrayed by Ryan Phillippe in the 2007 Universal Pictures film Breach. Honours graduate of Auburn University and the George Washington University Law School; admitted to the Maryland and DC bars. Featured across NPR Fresh Air with Terry Gross, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox, Newsweek and TechCrunch. Biography Robert Hanssen had been spying for Moscow for almost two decades when a 26-year-old FBI operative was placed in the office next to him. Hanssen was a 25-year bureau veteran with full clearance, deep technical fluency and a track record of compromising US assets. The operation that exposed him hinged on a single quiet act, the download of an encrypted Palm Pilot, returned to the desk before it was missed. The arrest came on 18 February 2001. That case sits at the centre of Eric O’Neill’s work, but it is not the product. The product is what the case taught him about how serious adversaries actually operate. They study the organisation. They build trust. They exploit the people closest to the asset, not the perimeter. The same logic now drives AI-generated deepfakes, voice-cloned executive fraud, synthetic identity attacks and supply chain compromise. He has built a second career around that translation. The Georgetown Group, his Washington DC consultancy, handles counterintelligence, economic espionage, internal investigations and security risk for corporate clients. Nexasure AI focuses on AI-era threat advisory. Gray Day (Crown, 2019) is the inside account of the Hanssen case. Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime (HarperCollins, 2025) is the operating manual that followed it. He is also a lawyer, admitted to the Maryland and DC bars after law school at George Washington University. That matters in the room. He briefs general counsel, CISOs and boards on cyber and insider risk in language that lands legally as well as operationally, and he does it with the rare authority of someone who has actually run the case. Key speaking topics Cybersecurity and the human attack surface AI-enabled fraud, deepfakes and synthetic identity Insider threat and counterintelligence for corporates Economic espionage and intellectual property protection Ransomware and extortion economics National security lessons for private sector boards Social engineering in the age of generative AI Ideal for Boards, audit committees and CEOs reframing cyber as enterprise risk rather than IT spend CISOs, CIOs and CSOs briefing non-technical executives on insider threat and AI-era attack methods General counsel and CFOs exposed to deepfake fraud, business email compromise and wire authorisation risk Industry conferences in financial services, defence, technology, healthcare and critical infrastructure Audience outcomes A working mental model of how adversaries plan and execute insider compromise, drawn from a real FBI case A practical view of where AI is changing the cost and speed of social engineering, deepfake and identity attacks Specific behavioural and procedural defences against voice cloning, deepfake video and CEO fraud A board-level vocabulary for cyber and counterintelligence risk that does not depend on technical jargon

Why organisations work with Eric Ries He authored the operating method most used by modern product teams. When a CFO asks how an innovation portfolio should be measured and governed, the answer most large companies reach for is his. He has tested the method inside GE, IBM, Intuit, and the US federal government, not just early-stage startups, so the case studies he draws on are at enterprise scale. He founded the Long-Term Stock Exchange, a SEC-approved national securities exchange. That gives him a working perspective on how ownership structure and reporting cadence shape executive behaviour, well beyond a consultant’s view. His new book Incorruptible reframes corporate governance as a strategic act, addressing why successful companies drift from the principles that built them. Useful for boards under pressure on mission, accountability, and long-term value. Biography highlights Author of The Lean Startup, The Startup Way, and Incorruptible (Authors Equity, distributed by Simon & Schuster, 2026). Founder and Executive Chairman of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, approved by the SEC in 2019. Architect of GE’s FastWorks program under CEO Jeff Immelt, applied across thousands of GE executives. Former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School and IDEO Fellow; advisor to Pivotal. Ranked #12 on the Thinkers50 list (2019); The Lean Startup on the Thinkers50 Management Classics Booklist (2023). Biography Most large companies are excellent at running the business they already have and unreliable at building the next one. The systems that govern the core business, budgets, milestones, quarterly review, were not designed for ventures whose value is mostly unknown at the point of funding. Eric Ries spent two decades turning that mismatch into a working method. The Lean Startup, published in 2011, codified validated learning, the minimum viable product, and innovation accounting as a portable management discipline. The book has been translated into more than thirty languages and now sits on the Thinkers50 Management Classics Booklist. Its follow-up, The Startup Way, captured what happens when those ideas are pushed into established companies. The case studies are drawn from inside GE, where Ries worked with CEO Jeff Immelt on the FastWorks program, alongside engagements with IBM, Intuit, and the US federal government. The governance question runs through all of his work. In 2015 he proposed the Long-Term Stock Exchange in The Lean Startup; the SEC approved LTSE as a national securities exchange in 2019, and Ries serves as Executive Chairman. His 2026 book Incorruptible, published by Authors Equity and distributed by Simon & Schuster, argues that good companies fail predictably because ownership, incentives, and accountability quietly reshape behaviour as they scale. The book was selected for the Thinkers50 Best New Management Booklist. What separates Ries from other innovation speakers is range. He has authored the methodology, run the corporate transformations that test it, and built a regulated capital-markets venue to address the structural problem his books diagnose. For senior teams that want innovation handled as a portfolio discipline, not a culture programme, he is the source. Key speaking topics Lean Startup methodology Innovation accounting and the management of internal ventures Entrepreneurial management inside established companies Corporate governance and long-term value AI applied to product validation and customer acquisition The Long-Term Stock Exchange and capital-markets reform Ideal for CEOs and boards of public companies wrestling with quarterly pressure versus long-horizon investment. Chief innovation, strategy, and transformation officers responsible for portfolios of new ventures inside large organisations. Founders and senior leaders of scale-up companies preparing for institutional ownership. Corporate development and venture teams looking to apply validated-learning discipline to internal investment decisions. Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for measuring new ventures separately from the core business, drawn directly from innovation accounting. A clear diagnosis of why most corporate innovation programmes fail at the governance layer rather than the creativity layer. A view of how ownership structure, board cadence, and reporting rules quietly shape executive behaviour over time. Specific case material from GE, IBM, Intuit, and US federal agencies that audiences can map onto their own structures.

Why organisations work with Erica Dhawan Three named frameworks, each with a book behind it: Connectional Intelligence, Digital Body Language, and the Critical Thinking Intelligence argument in Use Your Brain, out from St Martin’s Press in January 2027. Thinkers50 ranked her among the world’s top management thinkers in 2025, having featured her in 2023 and 2021, and shortlisted her for its Digital Thinking Award in 2021. Real Leaders ranks her the number one female keynote speaker. Audiences leave with named tools they can run the next morning, including the Think Sandwich, the Friction Meeting, and a Decision Filter for what to automate and what to protect. The frameworks have been applied at the World Economic Forum, the US Army, Coca-Cola, FedEx, Goldman Sachs, Walmart and Cisco, across sector, hierarchy and culture. Biography highlights Author of Use Your Brain: Think Deeper in a World on Autopilot, St Martin’s Press, January 2027, on protecting judgment as AI accelerates everyday work. Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Digital Body Language, published in nineteen territories, and co-author of Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence with Saj-nicole Joni. Ranked by Thinkers50 among the world’s top management thinkers in 2025, previously featured in 2023 and 2021, shortlisted for its Digital Thinking Award in 2021, and named to its Best New Management Booklist in 2022. Ranked number one female keynote speaker by Real Leaders; TED talk on connection across distance has passed two million views. Writing has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Fortune, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Fast Company. Founder and CEO of Cotential, with degrees from Wharton (BS), MIT Sloan (MBA) and Harvard Kennedy School (MPA). Biography Most organisations adopted AI faster than they built any habit of questioning it. When a tool can draft the document and summarise the meeting in seconds, approving the output becomes the default. Erica Dhawan argues that the real cost falls on capable people who quietly stop thinking for themselves. Use Your Brain, out from St Martin’s Press in January 2027, is built for that problem. It hands teams three named rituals: a Think Sandwich that puts human judgment at both ends of any AI-assisted task, a Friction Meeting where one person is assigned to argue how the work is wrong, and a Decision Filter for what to automate, what to augment, and what stays human. The argument sits on more than a decade of research into how people actually work together. Digital Body Language, a Wall Street Journal bestseller now licensed in nineteen territories, decoded the cues that replace tone and eye contact when teams work across screens. Thinkers50 gave it a place on its Best New Management Booklist in 2022 and shortlisted her for its Digital Thinking Award the year before. Her earlier book with Saj-nicole Joni, Get Big Things Done, introduced Connectional Intelligence. Thinkers50 ranked her among the world’s top management thinkers in 2025, having featured her twice before, and Real Leaders has ranked her the number one female keynote speaker. She has briefed the World Economic Forum at Davos and the US Army, and worked with teams at Coca-Cola, FedEx, Goldman Sachs, Walmart and Cisco. Her November 2025 Fortune essay asked what happens to leadership when a generation grows up outsourcing its thinking. Key speaking topics Use Your Brain: judgment and human thinking in the age of AI High-performing teams in the age of AI Connectional Intelligence and cross-silo collaboration Digital Body Language and hybrid communication Trust and engagement across distributed workforces Multigenerational and cross-cultural communication Connectional Intelligence for sales and client relationships Ideal for CEOs and executive teams setting the tone for how AI is adopted across the organisation. CHROs and heads of culture building human capability alongside AI rollout. Learning and leadership development heads building judgment and collaboration at scale. Cross-functional and cross-geography teams that need to think and decide together, faster. Sales and client-facing leaders translating Connectional Intelligence into stronger customer relationships. Audience outcomes A shared language for using AI as an amplifier of human judgment rather than a substitute for it. Practical tools for recognising cognitive autopilot and interrogating what AI hands you. The Four Laws of Digital Body Language for cutting ambiguity and building trust across distance, channel and generation. A clearer read on where speed without judgment is quietly costing the organisation in decision quality. A sharper understanding of how AI changes, but does not replace, the work of human connection.

Why organisations work with Fabian Hemmert He brings a working academic’s depth to a question most strategy teams treat too lightly: what does good human-computer interaction actually look like when AI is in the loop. His “Research Through Design” approach produces tested prototypes, not slideware. The “Data Touch” project, a finger ring that advances presentations by recognising objects, is the kind of artefact that shifts how a leadership team thinks about interface design. He speaks fluently across audiences. A PhD from Berlin University of the Arts, prior commercial work at Nintendo and Marvel, and stage time at SXSW, Lift and the Chaos Communication Congress give him range from board to design floor. He reframes AI as a design problem rather than a deployment problem. For organisations wrestling with adoption, that reframing tends to unlock conversations the technical roadmap cannot. Biography highlights Professor of Interface and User Experience Design, University of Wuppertal, heading the department since 2016. Dr.-Ing. from Berlin University of the Arts, with doctoral research at the Design Research Lab in collaboration with Telekom Innovation Labs. TEDxBerlin speaker; talk “The shape-shifting future of the mobile phone” hosted on TED.com. Conference platforms include SXSW, Lift, Chaos Communication Congress, EuroVision TV Summit, CeBIT, TEDxSalzburg and TEDxInnsbruck. Earlier industry experience at Nintendo of Europe and Marvel Comics during interface design studies. Published academic work on tangible interfaces and design research methodology, including a PhD thesis and book chapter on the Repertory Grid Technique. Biography Most digital products are built for the system, not the human using it. That mismatch is becoming harder to hide as AI moves from the back office into daily work. Fabian Hemmert’s research at the University of Wuppertal is a sustained attempt to close that gap through design rather than user training. He runs the Interface and User Experience Design department at Wuppertal’s industrial design school and earned his Dr.-Ing. at Berlin University of the Arts, working alongside Telekom Innovation Labs. The methodology is “Research Through Design”: build a prototype, put it in front of people, learn what changes. Projects such as “Data Touch”, a finger ring that controls a presentation by recognising the objects in a speaker’s hand, are how the research becomes argument. Earlier in his career he worked for Nintendo of Europe and Marvel Comics, which gives the academic frame a commercial spine. His public platform includes TEDxBerlin, SXSW, Lift, the Chaos Communication Congress, the EuroVision TV Summit and CeBIT. The through-line is consistent across all of them: intuitive technology is a design outcome, not an accident. For senior leaders, the value is a corrective. Strategy decks treat AI and digital tools as capability questions. Hemmert’s work makes the case that adoption, engagement and trust are decided much earlier, at the interface, and that organisations underestimate how much of their digital strategy is being shaped by design defaults they never examined. Key speaking topics Human-computer interaction Designing for AI in everyday use Tangible and embodied interfaces The future of mobile and personal devices Research Through Design methodology Design education and creative capability Play as a method for innovation Ideal for Chief design officers, heads of product and CX leaders rethinking digital interfaces in light of AI. Innovation and R&D teams looking for an academic perspective grounded in built prototypes. Leadership audiences at technology, telecoms, consumer electronics and media organisations. Universities, design schools and conferences focused on the future of human-machine interaction. Audience outcomes A sharper sense of why interface design, not model capability, often decides whether an AI deployment lands. Exposure to working prototypes that reframe assumptions about how digital systems should feel to use. A vocabulary for discussing tangibility, embodiment and intuition as commercial design variables. Confidence to challenge default assumptions about screens, devices and digital workflows in their own organisation.

Why organisations work with FC He is one of a small number of speakers who can describe live, named-method physical and digital intrusion against the kinds of organisations sitting in the audience, because that is his day job at Cygenta. His Wiley-published book “How I Rob Banks” gives a senior audience a credible, written reference point for the work, with more than seventy documented intrusion accounts behind the keynote. He held the Head of Offensive Cyber Research role at Raytheon Missile Systems, which gives him a defence-grade perspective on nation-state threat actors that most commercial security speakers cannot match. He treats cyber security as a culture and behaviour problem, not a technology problem, which is the framing senior leaders need when they are asked to own cyber risk at board level. His material translates from technical demonstration to executive insight without losing either audience, which is rare in the cybersecurity speaker market. Biography highlights Co-founder and co-CEO of Cygenta, a cyber security firm specialising in offensive testing, defensive consulting and security culture. Former Head of Offensive Cyber Research at Raytheon Missile Systems. Author of “How I Rob Banks: And Other Such Places,” published by Wiley in 2023. Featured on Darknet Diaries, Episode 66, one of the most listened-to cyber security podcasts globally. Mainstream media contributor including the BBC (Fake Britain) and ITV. Keynote speaker at named industry events including CPX360, CERN and Intersec. Biography The bank’s physical security policy is usually well written. The CCTV is monitored. The access cards are issued through HR. None of that has prevented FC from walking into the vault, more than once, in jurisdictions across the world, with the bank’s permission and a signed scope of work in his pocket. That is the work behind “How I Rob Banks: And Other Such Places,” published by Wiley in 2023, which collects more than seventy authorised intrusion stories from a career spent breaking into banks, government buildings and multinational corporations to prove how their defences actually fail. The book is a practitioner record, not a thesis, and it is the most credible written artefact in the speaker market on the question of how breaches really happen. The credibility behind the book is operational. FC is co-founder and co-CEO of Cygenta, the cyber security firm he runs alongside Dr Jessica Barker. Before Cygenta, he was Head of Offensive Cyber Research at Raytheon Missile Systems, working on the kind of nation-state threat picture that almost no commercial security speaker has direct line of sight to. He has briefed audiences at CPX360, CERN and Intersec, and his work has been profiled on the BBC, ITV and Darknet Diaries. What a senior audience leaves with is a re-framed view of where their organisation is actually exposed. Cyber security as a board-level capability sits inside the human and procedural layer of the business. FC shows that layer being defeated, with the methods named and the lesson made specific to the people in the room. Key speaking topics Cybersecurity as a board-level risk Physical penetration testing and social engineering Ransomware and phishing as operational threats Nation-state cyber activity Security culture and human behaviour Artificial intelligence in offensive and defensive security Ideal for Boards, audit committees and CISOs reviewing cyber risk ownership at executive level Banking, insurance and critical infrastructure leadership teams hardening physical and digital defences Heads of internal audit, risk and operations responsible for security culture across the workforce Defence, government and regulated-sector audiences engaging with nation-state threat scenarios Audience outcomes A specific picture of how attackers, both criminal and state-sponsored, actually get inside organisations like theirs A reframing of cyber security as a leadership and culture problem, with concrete examples, not as a technology checklist Named methods used in real-world physical and digital breaches, with the defensive lessons drawn from each A clearer view of where board oversight of cyber risk is currently failing, and what it should look like instead

Why organisations work with Fiona Passantino Her AI Integration Roadmap gives organisations a structured, sequential process for embedding AI across teams, not a list of tools, but a governance-aware framework that accounts for readiness, culture and communication at each stage She addresses the segment most AI programming leaves behind: the competent, non-technical professional who is capable of meaningful AI adoption but has no entry point designed for them Her 15 years inside major European multinationals – including Philips, NN-Group and Danone – means she understands the internal resistance, governance gaps and anxiety that follow AI announcements from the inside AI-Powered Leader (2026) and AI-Powered Professional (2025), part of her award-winning Comic Books for Executives series, are practical, illustrated resources audiences leave with, extending a session’s impact beyond the room She connects AI adoption directly to the disciplines organisations already invest in: internal communications, employee engagement and culture; making the case for AI readiness in language leadership teams already use Biography highlights Creator of the AI Integration Roadmap, a structured framework for practical, organisation-wide AI adoption Author of AI-Powered Leader (2026) and AI-Powered Professional (2025), the latest titles in the Comic Books for Executives series; the series’ Handbook for Post-Covid Engagement won the 2023 UK Business Book Awards and a Goody Award for Thought Leadership MBA in Management with an AI concentration from the University of Amsterdam 15 years in corporate HR and internal communications at Danone, Philips, NN-Group, PostNL and Achmea TEDx speaker; has addressed audiences at events for the European Commission, Business Insider and Vodafone Host of the Working Humans podcast; founder of Executive Storylines Delivers sessions in English, Dutch and Italian Biography Most AI adoption programmes are built for the technically literate. Fiona Passantino built her practice around everyone else – the HR director, the communications lead, the team managers – the non-technical majority on whom successful AI integration actually depends. After fifteen years in corporate HR and internal communications at companies including Philips, NN-Group and Danone, Passantino understands what AI announcements look like from inside an organisation: the anxiety, the governance gaps, the employees who wait to be told what to do. Her MBA from the University of Amsterdam, with a concentration in AI, gave her the technical vocabulary. Her career gave her the people knowledge. The AI Integration Roadmap, her signature framework, brings both together in a structured, staged process that organisations can apply without a technical team leading it. Her books make the argument in concrete form. The Comic Books for Executives series won at the 2023 UK Business Book Awards; AI-Powered Professional (2025) is a practical, illustrated guide for the professional who has no technical background and limited tolerance for abstraction. AI-Powered Leader (2026) takes the same approach to the leadership team driving adoption across an organisation, built around her AI Integration Roadmap. As host of the Working Humans podcast and a speaker at events including the European Commission and TEDxLuxembourgCity, she consistently speaks to the audience most AI commentary bypasses. Her sessions cover AI adoption, communication, employee engagement and organisational culture, connecting AI readiness to the disciplines serious organisations already understand. She delivers in English, Dutch and Italian. Key speaking topics AI integration for non-technical professionals Human-AI collaboration and co-creation AI literacy and organisational readiness Employee engagement and culture in the age of AI AI and internal communications Workforce upskilling and future skills Professional communication and storytelling Ideal for HR directors and people teams leading AI adoption or workforce readiness initiatives Internal communications and employee engagement leads managing AI change programmes L&D professionals designing AI upskilling curricula for non-technical workforces Senior leadership teams navigating the cultural and communications challenges of organisation-wide AI integration Audience outcomes A clear mental model of how AI applies to non-technical roles and everyday workflows, reducing anxiety and increasing practical confidence Working familiarity with the AI Integration Roadmap and how to begin applying it within their own team or organisation Practical strategies for managing employee resistance and uneven adoption across a workforce Sharper understanding of how to communicate AI initiatives in ways that land with non-technical colleagues and teams Two concrete resources, AI-Powered Leader and AI-Powered Professional, that extend the value of the session beyond the event itself

Why organisations work with Freddy Wexler A working hit-maker, not a commentator. Ten Billboard number ones with Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Post Malone, BLACKPINK and others give him a verifiable claim on how popular taste actually moves. The Billy Joel case study. Coaxing a thirty-year creative silence into a Grammy-stage single, including the full marketing rollout and an AI-directed music video, is a rare example of cultural reactivation that buyers can study end to end. Talent identification with a track record. Wexler scouted and pitched Stefani Germanotta as a future Madonna while she was still unsigned, and signed Rachel Platten before “Fight Song”. Useful for audiences thinking about how to spot signal early. A view on AI and creative work shaped by shipping product. The “Turn the Lights Back On” video was a Webby-winning AI-led production, which gives him a practitioner’s read on where machine generation helps and where it does not. Commercial track record across formats. Founder of The Brain Music with joint ventures involving Disney, Scooter Braun Projects, Warner Chappell and Prescription Songs, plus a first-look television deal with Disney. Biography highlights Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer with ten Billboard number one contributions Co-writer and producer of Billy Joel’s “Turn the Lights Back On” (Columbia Records, 2024), the artist’s first new pop single in roughly thirty years Album of the Year Grammy nomination for Justin Bieber’s Justice (2022); credited contributor on Laufey’s Bewitched, a 2024 Grammy-winning album Co-wrote “Stuck with U” by Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, a Billboard Hot 100 number one that raised over five million dollars for first responders’ families Founder of The Brain Music, with joint ventures involving Disney, Scooter Braun Projects, Warner Chappell and Prescription Songs; first-look television deal with Disney Webby Award (2024) for direction of the AI-led “Turn the Lights Back On” music video; Golden Globe nomination for “Forbidden Road” from the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man Biography Billy Joel had not released a new pop single for thirty years when “Turn the Lights Back On” arrived in February 2024 on Columbia Records. The song was co-written and produced by Freddy Wexler, who spent more than a year developing the material with Joel from a CD of unfinished sketches. The track debuted at number one on classic hits and classic rock radio, picked up a Grammy-stage performance, and was packaged with an AI-directed music video that later won a Webby. As a worked example of how a dormant creative voice gets reactivated and brought back to market, it is unusually complete. That collaboration sits inside a longer hit-making record. Wexler has ten Billboard number one contributions and Grammy nominations across three consecutive years, including Album of the Year for Justin Bieber’s Justice and contributor credit on Laufey’s Bewitched. He co-wrote “Stuck with U” for Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, a Hot 100 number one that raised more than five million dollars for first responders’ families during the early pandemic. His writing and production credits span Post Malone, BLACKPINK, Selena Gomez, Halsey, Diana Ross and Celine Dion. He is also a builder of companies. The Brain Music, founded in 2012, runs joint ventures with Disney, Scooter Braun Projects, Warner Chappell and Prescription Songs. The Freddy Wexler Company holds a first-look television deal with Disney and a slate spanning Nickelodeon’s Kid Cowboy, a Broadway production of The Last Five Years, and a Hulu special with Sebastian Maniscalco. The Variety Family Entertainment Impact Report has recognised the operation. For organisations, the relevant point is access to a practitioner who can describe how a cultural moment actually gets made, including the writing room, the artist relationship, the rollout, and the use of AI in production. Few speakers on creativity can point to a specific commercial artefact and walk a senior audience through the craft behind it. Wexler can. Key speaking topics Creativity as a working practice Storytelling across music, film and brand AI in creative production and music video direction Talent identification and early-signal spotting Cultural moments and the commercial rollout behind them Resilience and creative reinvention Philanthropy embedded in creative product Ideal for Marketing, brand and CMO leadership teams thinking about cultural relevance Creative and content function heads inside media, entertainment and consumer companies Innovation and product groups exploring AI-assisted creative production Senior offsites and leadership conferences looking for a practitioner perspective on craft Audience outcomes A working framework for how cultural moments are constructed, drawn from a specific recent case A practitioner’s read on AI in creative production, anchored in a Webby-winning video A more concrete sense of what early signal looks like in talent and ideas, before they are obvious Reference points from a hit-making catalogue that audiences can apply to their own creative briefs

Why organisations work with Fredrik Haren His formula IDEA = P(K+I) – a person combining existing knowledge with new information – converts creativity from an abstract value into a model that managers can act on; this is the foundation of how he runs workshops, not just a rhetorical device The Idea Book has been deployed as an internal training tool by HP, Ericsson, Volvo, China Mobile, and GE – demonstrating that his framework translates from conference platform to in-organisation application His research base is genuinely cross-cultural: 25 years of field interviews across 75 countries, including fieldwork in North Korea and Mongolia, gives him material that no Western-campus-based creativity theorist can replicate He holds the Global Speaking Federation’s International Ambassador Award – given to fewer than 15 speakers globally since 2001 and, at the time of his award, never previously to a non-native English speaker based in Asia – a peer-verified credential, not a self-declared one His most recent book, The World of Creativity (Capstone/Wiley), entered for The Business Book Awards 2026, signals that his thinking continues to develop rather than recycle the same material Biography highlights Author of 10 books including The Idea Book, listed among the 100 Best Business Books of All Time Recipient of the International Ambassador Award from the Global Speakers Federation – awarded to fewer than 15 speakers globally since 2001 One of approximately 30 Global Speaking Fellows (CSPGlobal) worldwide Speaker of the Year, Sweden (2007); founder of interesting.org 2,000+ speeches delivered across 75 countries and 6 continents over a 25-year career Clients include KPMG, Grant Thornton International, HP, IKEA, BMW, Ericsson, GE, Volvo, and American Express Biography Fredrik Haren’s starting point is a question most organisations avoid asking directly: if you need a new idea tomorrow, where does it come from? His formula – IDEA = P(K+I), meaning a person combining existing knowledge with new information – strips creativity of its mystique and reframes it as something organisations can design for. The Idea Book, first published in 2004, applied that thinking in a concrete format: 150 pages of frameworks combined with 150 blank pages for working. It became an internal training tool at HP, Ericsson, Volvo, China Mobile, and GE, and was listed among the 100 Best Business Books of All Time. His most recent book, The World of Creativity (Capstone/Wiley), draws on 25 years of field research – interviews with thousands of people across 75 countries including North Korea – to map how creativity is both universal and shaped by culture. That fieldwork is the differentiator. Where most speakers on innovation draw from research or theory, Haren’s material comes from direct observation across markets and contexts that Western organisations rarely access. It gives global conference audiences – whose reference points span multiple continents – a framework that holds across cultures rather than one that travels badly. His credentials within the professional speaking community are a useful proxy for depth: Certified Speaking Professional, one of approximately 30 Global Speaking Fellows worldwide, and recipient of the Global Speakers Federation’s International Ambassador Award – given to fewer than 15 speakers since 2001 and, at the time of his award, the first to a non-native English speaker based in Asia. Key speaking topics Business creativity and idea generation Innovation as a repeatable organisational process Cross-cultural creativity and global mindset Creativity in the age of AI Building creative capability in organisations Future skills and the innovation-ready workforce Ideal for Global conference audiences spanning multiple nationalities where a single Western-centric perspective will not land CHROs and Learning & Development leads seeking to build creative capability beyond individual talent acquisition Senior leadership teams of multinationals where innovation is a stated priority but no reliable process exists to support it Innovation and transformation executives accountable for sustaining competitive differentiation Audience outcomes A working model – IDEA = P(K+I) – for understanding how ideas are generated and how to apply it in their own context Practical techniques for stimulating idea generation individually and with teams, applicable on return to the office A cross-cultural perspective on how creative practice differs across markets – relevant for any organisation operating across geographies A reframe of creativity from personal talent to organisational skill, with direct implications for how teams are developed A clearer read on how AI changes – and does not change – the fundamentals of human creativity

Why organisations work with Garry Golden He is a credentialled futurist, M.S. in Futures Studies from the University of Houston and former board member of the Association of Professional Futurists, not a trend commentator. The discipline behind the talk is the product. He has applied foresight inside Microsoft, Accenture, American Express, Disney, CVS Aetna, Fidelity, and Boston Scientific, which means executives hear method tested against their own scale of complexity. His work concentrates on the two infrastructure shifts most likely to reset competitive position this decade, energy and transportation, paired with the demographic and AI dynamics that pull on them. He teaches the future of energy and environment at the University of Houston, so his framing of the energy transition carries technical detail rather than generic sustainability framing. Clients use him to install foresight as an internal capability, not as a one-off keynote: he leaves teams with a process for thinking about long-range change after he leaves the room. Biography highlights M.S. in Futures Studies, University of Houston Foresight programme. Adjunct Lecturer on the Future of Energy and Environment, University of Houston. Past Board of Directors, Association of Professional Futurists. Foresight and strategy work delivered for Microsoft (Bing/Cortana), Accenture, American Express, Disney, CVS Aetna, Fidelity, Dell, Boston Scientific, Verizon Wireless. Civic and cultural foresight engagements with AARP, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Walker Arts Center, and the American Alliance of Museums. Recurring focus on energy system decarbonisation, fuel cells, AI-driven software disruption, and global demographic transitions. Biography Most strategy decks treat the next decade as a longer version of the last one. The discipline of futures studies exists because that assumption has stopped holding, particularly in industries where AI, energy systems, and demographic structure are all shifting at the same time. Golden was trained inside that discipline. He holds an M.S. in Futures Studies from the University of Houston, one of the few graduate programmes in the field, and served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Futurists. He now teaches the Future of Energy and Environment at Houston as an Adjunct Lecturer, which keeps his work close to the technical detail of the energy transition rather than the marketing version of it. The client list reflects the breadth of where structured foresight earns its place. Microsoft has used him inside the Bing and Cortana groups; Accenture, American Express, CVS Aetna, Disney, Fidelity, Dell, and Boston Scientific have brought him in to stretch leadership horizons on AI, infrastructure, financial services, and talent. He works the civic side as well, with AARP, the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the American Alliance of Museums commissioning work on demographic and cultural shifts. The pattern across those engagements is consistent. Leaders arrive with a planning process built for incremental change and leave with a method, drivers, signals, scenarios, decisions, that lets them treat exponential change as something to plan around rather than react to. Key speaking topics Strategic foresight and long-range scenario planning The future of energy systems and decarbonisation AI and software-driven industry transitions The future of transportation and mobility infrastructure Demographic change and its strategic implications Future of work, learning, and talent development The future of civic and cultural institutions Ideal for CEO and executive teams running long-range strategy reviews in energy, financial services, healthcare, and technology. Chief Strategy Officers and corporate development leads building scenario capability inside the planning function. Boards and investment committees pressure-testing capital allocation against ten and twenty year horizons. Innovation, R&D, and learning leaders responsible for connecting talent and capability plans to coming infrastructure shifts. Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for distinguishing trend, driver, and signal, and using each appropriately in strategic conversation. A clearer view of which shifts in AI, energy, and demographics are likely to reshape their specific industry within the planning horizon. A repeatable scenario method the team can run again without external facilitation. Sharper questions for the next strategy cycle, in particular where current assumptions are most likely to fail.