Innovation & Disruption

Why organisations work with Chris Griffiths He brings a named, tested method. GRASP and the Solution Finder process, published across The Creative Thinking Handbook and GRASP The Solution, give teams a four-step route from problem to decision that can be run again without him in the room. He has built the tooling, not just the theory. OpenGenius turned the mind mapping method into Ayoa, a commercial platform used across Pfizer, the NHS, the European Commission and the State Bank of India, which gives his frameworks an operating record outside the keynote. He treats neurodiversity as a creative asset. Through the Inspire Genius Foundation and Ayoa’s neuroinclusive design, he connects creative thinking to the way neurodivergent minds actually work, giving leaders a practical angle on inclusion that is tied to output rather than compliance. He has run the playbook at scale. With Tony Buzan he built a global network of more than 1,000 licensed instructors operating inside Sony, the Ministry of Defence and the NHS, which is unusual evidence that his method transfers beyond the author. His work has been stress-tested in serious rooms. He facilitated a Nobel Laureate brainstorm at the Petra Nobel Conference convened by HM King Abdullah II of Jordan, and has coached senior teams at the European Commission. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of OpenGenius, the company behind the Ayoa mind mapping and productivity platform. Author of The Creative Thinking Handbook (Kogan Page), GRASP The Solution, and Mind Maps for Business (with Tony Buzan), with titles translated across more than 15 countries. Co-creator, with Tony Buzan, of the ThinkBuzan Licensed Instructor Course, a global network of more than 1,000 accredited mind mapping instructors. Founder of start-ups that have ranked in the Deloitte European Fast 50 and The Sunday Times Fast Track 100. Facilitator of a brainstorming session with Nobel Laureates at the Petra Nobel Conference, hosted by HM King Abdullah II of Jordan. Contributor and cited expert in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, BBC, The Telegraph and GQ. Biography Creativity inside most organisations is still treated as a talent rather than a process. Chris Griffiths has spent nearly three decades arguing the opposite, and building the books, frameworks and software to prove it. His published work sets out a specific method. The Creative Thinking Handbook, published by Kogan Page and now available in more than ten languages, lays out the Solution Finder model. GRASP The Solution distils a four-step process that teams can run on any live business problem. Mind Maps for Business, co-authored with Tony Buzan, remains a standard text on applied visual thinking. The frameworks have a commercial track record attached. As founder and CEO of OpenGenius, he turned the method into Ayoa, a mind mapping and productivity platform used inside Pfizer, the NHS, the European Commission and the State Bank of India. With Tony Buzan he built the ThinkBuzan Licensed Instructor Course into a network of over 1,000 accredited instructors operating inside Sony, the Ministry of Defence and the NHS, a rare piece of evidence that the method works without the author in the room. His businesses have ranked in the Deloitte European Fast 50 and The Sunday Times Fast Track 100. He has facilitated a Nobel Laureate brainstorm convened by HM King Abdullah II of Jordan at the Petra Nobel Conference, and through the Inspire Genius Foundation he funds young neurodivergent entrepreneurs, the group Ayoa’s neuroinclusive design was built around. Key speaking topics Applied creative thinking in business Systematic innovation and problem solving Mind mapping for leadership and strategy AI as a creative partner for human teams Productivity and focus for knowledge workers Neuroinclusive approaches to innovation Entrepreneurship and venture building Ideal for CEOs, founders and senior leadership teams who want a shared method for problem solving across the executive group. Chief Innovation Officers, Heads of Strategy and transformation leads tasked with making innovation repeatable rather than episodic. L&D and People leaders building creative-thinking capability and neuroinclusive practice across the workforce. R&D, product and commercial teams preparing for a specific planning cycle, offsite or innovation sprint. Audience outcomes A named four-step process (GRASP) that leaders can apply to a live business problem the day after the session. A working grasp of the Solution Finder model from The Creative Thinking Handbook and how to run it with a team. A practical introduction to mind mapping as a decision tool, not a sticky-note exercise. A view of where AI fits alongside human creativity, drawn from the design choices inside Ayoa. A clearer read on how neurodivergent thinkers contribute to creative output and how to design sessions that use that.

Why organisations work with Ashley Dudarenok She runs the operating relationships most foreign executives only read about. Alarice and ChoZan, both founded and led by her from inside China, give clients direct access to working partnerships with Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, ByteDance and Tencent. Thinkers50 placed her on its Radar list and labelled her a “Guru on digital marketing and fast-evolving trends in China,” a designation reserved for thinkers shaping the next wave of management ideas. She translates Chinese commerce into board-room decisions, not headlines. New retail formats, livestream commerce, KOL economics and platform mechanics are framed as actions a Western CMO or COO can take, not as cultural curiosities. A library of books and a working agency, not a single thesis. Eleven titles across consumer behaviour, KOL marketing, B2B and cross-border ecommerce mean the content is regularly refreshed against active client work, not frozen at publication. Western frame, Chinese context. She is a naturalised Chinese national with native-level Mandarin and Russian, English and German fluency, which means she can interrogate Chinese platforms in the language they operate in and explain them in the language Western boards make decisions in. Biography highlights Founder of Alarice (2011), a China digital marketing agency with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and ChoZan (2016), a China digital transformation consultancy. Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2021. Author of eleven books on digital China, including New Retail Born in China Going Global and Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs. Recognised among the World’s Top 100 Retail Influencers 2023 by RETHINK Retail and named a LinkedIn Top Voice in Marketing. Clients and audiences include Alibaba, LVMH, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, BMW, HSBC, Disney, Huawei and Adobe. Featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC, South China Morning Post, Business Insider and CGTN. Biography Most Western executives still understand China through a 2015 lens: factory floor, growth market, regulatory headache. The actual commercial picture has moved on. Livestream commerce is a meaningful share of retail, mini-programs have replaced apps, KOL economics drive product launches, and consumer expectations on speed, personalisation and service have re-set what “good” looks like. Ashley Dudarenok built a business interpreting that gap for global firms. She founded Alarice in Hong Kong in 2011 and ChoZan in 2016, running both as operating businesses with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen. That structure matters. Her commentary draws on live client work with the platforms she is describing, not on observation from outside the system. Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Tencent and ByteDance are working relationships, not case studies pulled from the FT. The intellectual contribution is recognised externally. Thinkers50 placed her on its 2021 Radar list, the cohort it tracks as the next wave of management thinkers, with the designation “Guru on digital marketing and fast-evolving trends in China.” She is a LinkedIn Top Voice in Marketing and was named to RETHINK Retail’s Top 100 Retail Influencers in 2023. Eleven books, including New Retail Born in China Going Global and the Digital China mini-book series, give her arguments a published spine that conference appearances alone do not. What she offers a board is the ability to treat China as a leading indicator. Boards walk away with a sharper read on how Chinese consumer behaviour is likely to surface in their own market, where their digital and customer-experience playbook is now structurally behind, and which platform mechanics, livestream, social commerce, AI-driven retail, are worth piloting before competitors close the gap. Key speaking topics China consumer trends and digital commerce New retail and social commerce KOL, livestream and influencer economics Customer centricity and the modern Chinese consumer Digital transformation lessons from China Innovation playbooks from Chinese tech and brand companies Future of marketing and retail Ideal for CMOs and brand leaders setting customer experience and digital strategy in consumer-facing industries Retail, luxury, FMCG and automotive boards with material China exposure or China ambitions Innovation and digital transformation leads benchmarking against Chinese platform standards Strategy and corporate development teams assessing how Chinese commercial models are likely to enter their home markets Audience outcomes A current, board-level read on the Chinese consumer and the platforms they live on Concrete examples of Chinese retail, marketing and product mechanics that Western firms can translate into pilots A clearer view of where their own digital and customer playbook is lagging the Chinese benchmark A working list of categories, BYD, Mixue, Labubu, DeepSeek, TikTok parent ByteDance, where China has set the new commercial standard Confidence to challenge internal assumptions that treat China as a sales market rather than a strategic teacher

Why organisations work with Scott Amyx Active deep tech investor with personal capital in D-Orbit (space logistics), Brightseed (plant bioactives), Bloom Diagnostics, Omnitron Sensors and Lunar Station Corp. His read on which technologies matter is filtered through real investment decisions. Range that few speakers credibly hold: climate adaptation, longevity science, the space economy, quantum computing and autonomy. The breadth lets him connect technologies most boards still see as separate silos. Forbes innovation columnist for nearly four years and a Harvard Business Review Advisory Council member. His frameworks have been published and stress-tested in serious commercial venues. Active judge at SXSW Pitch and a Singularity University Smart City Accelerator mentor. He sees the next wave of deep tech startups well before the press cycle catches up. Biography highlights Chair and Managing Partner at Astor Perkins, a New York based deep tech and sustainability venture capital firm. Founder and CEO of Uplifty AI. Author of Strive (Wiley, 2018), endorsed by Tony Robbins; co-author of academic publications with John Wiley & Sons and IGI Global on the Internet of Things and wearable technology security. Forbes innovation columnist, 2019 to 2022; Harvard Business Review Advisory Council member. TEDxRutgers speaker on Strive; co-organiser of TEDxWallStreet; SXSW Pitch judge; Tribeca Disruptor Foundation Fellow; Singularity University Smart City Accelerator mentor. Featured in The New York Times, TIME, Forbes, The Washington Post, WIRED, TechCrunch and Inc. Biography Most boardroom conversations about innovation traffic in the same handful of headline technologies. The deep tech that will actually reshape the next decade is being funded quietly by a much smaller group of investors. Most executive teams have no real view of what they are betting on. Scott Amyx is one of those investors. As Chair and Managing Partner at Astor Perkins, he runs a New York based deep tech and sustainability venture firm. The portfolio backs companies in space logistics, longevity science, climate adaptation and the space economy, including D-Orbit, Brightseed, Bloom Diagnostics, Omnitron Sensors and Lunar Station Corp. Beyond the fund, he writes prolifically. He spent nearly four years as a Forbes innovation columnist and now sits on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council. His Wiley book Strive, endorsed by Tony Robbins, argues that consistent achievement comes from deliberately seeking discomfort. The thesis traces his own move from impoverished Korean immigrant to deep tech investor. For corporate audiences, the value is specific. Boards routinely struggle to discriminate between technologies that are loud and technologies that are commercially serious. Amyx makes that call on his own balance sheet, with active positions in space logistics, climate technology, longevity science and the broader space economy. Key speaking topics Deep tech and exponential technologies The space economy and frontier markets Climate adaptation and sustainability technology Artificial intelligence and the future of work Innovation strategy for large organisations Longevity and human health technology Venture capital and the next industrial revolution Ideal for Boards and C-suite leadership setting five to ten year strategy under technological uncertainty Chief Innovation Officers, CTOs and Chief Strategy Officers evaluating emerging technology bets Corporate venture capital and M&A teams scoping deep tech partnership or acquisition targets Government agencies and sovereign innovation programmes shaping national technology priorities Audience outcomes A working view of which exponential technologies are commercially serious and which are still speculative A current map of where venture capital is actually placing bets in deep tech A more rigorous lens for board level decisions on technology and capital allocation Specific examples from Astor Perkins portfolio companies that ground abstract trends in real businesses

Key speaking topics Future of work Human-AI collaboration Innovation strategy Radical adaptability Leadership in times of change Generative AI and team creativity Ideal for C-suite executives and senior leadership teams Strategy and innovation leaders HR and talent development leaders Organisations navigating AI and workplace transformation Audience outcomes Clear understanding of radical adaptability and its organisational implications Practical perspectives on integrating AI into team workflows Insights into innovation-driven leadership Greater clarity on building trust and collaboration in changing environments Why organisations work with Kian Gohar Combines research, leadership development, and advisory experience Bridges innovation strategy with practical workplace application Brings executive-level experience from global institutions Provides commercially relevant insight on AI and organisational change Biography Kian Gohar works with senior leaders navigating innovation, workplace transformation, and the integration of artificial intelligence into organisational strategy. As founder and CEO of Geolab, he leads a research and leadership development firm focused on helping organisations adapt to structural change, rethink team performance, and compete in a rapidly evolving business environment. His perspective is grounded in executive experience at globally recognised institutions. He previously held executive director roles associated with the XPRIZE Foundation and Singularity University, where he worked at the intersection of emerging technology, leadership, and large-scale innovation. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Kian is co-author of Competing in the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest, published by Harvard Business Review Press and widely recognised as a Wall Street Journal bestseller. His work explores how organisations build adaptability, integrate generative AI into team workflows, and sustain performance amid disruption. He has also contributed to Harvard Business Review on generative AI and team creativity. A Henry Luce Scholar with a placement in Shanghai and a graduate of Northwestern University, Kian combines global perspective with strategic rigour. He has delivered a TEDx talk examining trust and collaboration in the future, further reinforcing his focus on how organisations build resilient, high-performing cultures in times of change.

Why organisations work with George Nagle He built his innovation method inside oil and gas water chemistry, one of the most conservative industrial sectors there is, and used it to launch 19 products in 14 months across a portfolio worth more than $352 million. His Breakthrough Thinking series gives leadership teams a named, codified methodology to use after the keynote, not a set of slogans to remember. He is a certified FORTH method instructor with black and green belt credentials in Innovation and Growth Systems, Green Belt for Growth, and Value Innovations. The toolset is academically accredited, not invented for the stage. He has applied the same approach across more than 24 industries, which makes him a credible voice for boards and executive teams that want innovation discipline transferred into their context, not borrowed from a single sector. Biography highlights Former global executive and strategy lead at a multi-billion-dollar industrial services company, with portfolio responsibility above $352 million. Launched 19 products in 14 months in the oil and gas water chemistry sector. Founder of The Ideation Emporium of Creativity, LLC, and author of the Breakthrough Thinking series. MS in Biology and MBA in Marketing and Management from Duquesne University; BS in Biology with honours from the University of Pittsburgh. Certified online instructor in the FORTH method; black belt and multiple green belt certifications in academically accredited innovation systems. Published interviews with Authority Magazine on communication, attention, and creative habits. Biography Innovation in heavy industry is hard for a reason. The cultures are engineered for safety, repeatability, and risk avoidance, which are exactly the traits that make new ideas die quietly in a meeting. George Nagle spent his executive career inside that environment, in oil and gas water chemistry, and built a method to move past it. As a global executive, he carried a portfolio of more than $352 million and led the launch of 19 products in 14 months in a sector where most launches take years. That operating record sits behind everything else he does. He went on to found The Ideation Emporium of Creativity, codifying the approach into the Breakthrough Thinking series, including “The Five Letter F Word”, “Miserable At Work? Why? You Don’t Have To Be”, and “How Are Kids Innovating Faster Than You?”. His credentials are unusual for an innovation speaker. He holds an MS in Biology and an MBA from Duquesne University, a BS in Biology with honours from the University of Pittsburgh, and academically accredited certifications in Innovation and Growth Systems, Green Belt for Growth, and Value Innovations. He is also a certified FORTH method instructor. The toolkit is borrowed, tested, and labelled, not improvised. What distinguishes him is the breadth of application: more than 24 industries have used the same set of ideation tools, from industrial chemistry to consumer-facing services. For leadership teams that want innovation treated as a managed discipline rather than a creative-culture initiative, that record makes him a practical voice. Key speaking topics Innovation as a managed discipline Creative ideation and the FORTH method Commercial product launch under operating constraint Strategy communication across organisational levels Breakthrough Thinking methodology Workplace engagement and creative culture Ideal for Chief innovation officers, R&D leaders, and product portfolio executives looking to convert pilots into shipped revenue CEOs and executive teams in mature, process-heavy industries trying to install repeatable ideation Strategy and transformation leads responsible for cross-functional innovation programmes Senior HR and culture leaders pairing innovation capability with employee engagement work Audience outcomes A named, repeatable ideation method audiences can put into a project the next week A clearer view of why innovation efforts stall in conservative organisations and which mechanisms unblock them Specific tools for separating real strategic priorities from organisational noise Practical examples of how a structured innovation cadence produced 19 product launches in 14 months Language for connecting creativity, engagement, and commercial outcomes in a single business case

Why organisations work with Andrea Iorio Operator credibility from inside a platform business: five years running Tinder across Latin America, where consumer-tech decisions had to be made under real commercial pressure, not theorised about. A published, peer-reviewed thesis on the AI-human boundary. Between You and AI (Wiley) made the USA Today bestseller list and gives him a defensible point of view that maps to a three-part framework executives can use. Bilingual, dual-market authority. He writes the MIT Technology Review Brasil column, hosts NVIDIA Brazil’s official podcast, and lectures on the MBA at Fundação Dom Cabral, while delivering globally in English to Fortune 500 audiences. A working CX and digital-transformation playbook drawn from his time as Chief Digital Officer at L’Oréal Brazil, useful for any consumer-facing organisation rebuilding its phygital journey. A delivery cadence at Fortune 500 scale. Repeat clients include Abbott, Bayer, Cargill, Dow, IBM, Roche, Syngenta, and Tetra Pak. Biography highlights USA Today bestselling author of Between You and AI: Unlock the Power of Human Skills to Thrive in an AI-Driven World (Wiley). Author of two #1 Amazon Brazil bestsellers in People Management and Leadership: 6 Competências para Surfar na Transformação Digital and O futuro não é mais como antigamente. Former Head of Tinder, Latin America (5 years) and Chief Digital Officer, L’Oréal Brazil. MBA professor at Fundação Dom Cabral. Columnist at MIT Technology Review Brasil; host of NVIDIA Brazil’s official podcast. Economics, Bocconi University (Milan); MA International Relations, Johns Hopkins SAIS (Washington, DC). Biography AI capability is no longer the scarce resource inside large organisations. Human judgement is. Between You and AI, the Wiley book that put Andrea Iorio on the USA Today bestseller list in 2025, makes that case for senior teams trying to convert pilots into operating advantage. The argument runs along three axes: cognitive, behavioural, and emotional. Each carries a practical set of skills that AI tools cannot supply on their own. The operator credentials behind that argument are unusual for someone now working primarily as an author and educator. Iorio spent five years as Head of Tinder for Latin America, then served as Chief Digital Officer at L’Oréal Brazil. Both roles forced commercial decisions about consumer technology under real revenue pressure, not the conference-room version of digital transformation. The academic platform sits alongside. He teaches on the MBA at Fundação Dom Cabral, writes the MIT Technology Review Brasil column, and hosts NVIDIA’s official Brazil podcast. His first book in Portuguese, 6 Competências para Surfar na Transformação Digital, set out a framework of six competencies, from cognitive flexibility to digital altruism, that became the most-read leadership title on Amazon Brazil. Clients book him for Fortune 500 keynotes in English and Portuguese. The roster includes Abbott, Bayer, Cargill, Dow, IBM, Roche, Syngenta, and Tetra Pak. The work that follows the keynote is usually a board-level conversation about which human skills the organisation now needs to build, fast, alongside its AI deployment. Key speaking topics Artificial intelligence and human skills Digital transformation and leadership Customer-centricity and phygital experience Innovation culture Future of work in the age of AI Ideal for Boards and CEOs setting the human-skills agenda alongside an AI roadmap. CHROs and learning leaders redesigning capability programmes for an AI-augmented workforce. CMOs and CX leaders rebuilding the customer journey across digital and physical touchpoints. Latin America regional executive teams of multinational consumer and B2B businesses. Audience outcomes A three-part framework for the cognitive, behavioural, and emotional skills that matter most when AI enters the workflow. A concrete set of decisions about which managerial behaviours to keep, change, or retire in an AI-augmented operating model. Reference examples from Tinder, L’Oréal, and other consumer-facing businesses that have rebuilt the phygital customer journey. A working definition of innovation culture that distinguishes managed practice from creative theatre.

Key speaking topics Extended reality (XR) strategy and applications Artificial intelligence use cases in business Emerging technology validation and experimentation Digital product design and user experience Customer-centric innovation Digital fashion and immersive virtual production Ideal for Innovation and digital transformation leaders Corporate strategy and technology teams Startup and scale-up founders Organisations exploring XR and AI adoption Audience outcomes Clear understanding of practical XR and AI use cases Insight into validating emerging technology opportunities Perspective on integrating user-centric design into innovation work Greater clarity on immersive and digital product possibilities Why organisations work with Krista Jäntti Combines executive leadership experience with hands-on digital product expertise. Brings cross-disciplinary insight spanning life sciences, technology and business education. Advises startups and organisations on structured exploration of emerging technologies. Offers commercially grounded perspectives on XR, AI and immersive innovation. Biography Krista Jäntti works at the intersection of emerging technology and business strategy, advising organisations on how to explore and validate practical use cases for XR and AI. As founder and CEO of EventuallyXR, she supports companies seeking structured approaches to immersive technology and digital innovation. Her work focuses on translating complex technologies into commercially relevant opportunities. Through consultancy and advisory roles, she helps organisations assess potential applications, test concepts, and align innovation initiatives with customer needs and business objectives. Krista is also publicly associated with Exthereal, a digital fashion and immersive production initiative that reflects her engagement with virtual environments and new forms of digital experience. This work complements her broader expertise in extended reality and AI-driven innovation. With more than a decade of experience in digital product design and customer-centric development, she brings a practical understanding of user experience, experimentation and product thinking. Her background spans life sciences and computing-related disciplines, underpinned by a Master of Science and an Executive MBA. In addition to her executive work, she serves as a Business Advisor at Aalto University/Aalto Startup Center, supporting early-stage ventures in navigating technology and growth challenges. She has also been recognised through selection to a Women of the Future Top 100 list focused on emerging technology.

Why organisations work with Sharon Gai She offers a working model for redesigning teams and reporting lines when agentic AI absorbs the work middle management was paid to do. Her book How to Do More with Less (Wiley, 2026) maps the shift from task-based to capability-based org structures, with named roles for what humans do once execution is automated. Most AI adoption speakers describe what is happening to organisations from the outside. As Head of Global Key Accounts at Alibaba’s Tmall, Sharon worked inside the operating core of one of the world’s most AI-integrated commercial platforms. The vantage gives her authority on AI’s organisational effects that advisers and analysts cannot manufacture. Her practitioner depth on China’s ecommerce ecosystem, built into Ecommerce Reimagined (World Scientific, 2022), gives commercial and transformation leaders a primary source on consumer-to-manufacturer models and AI-integrated logistics via Cainiao. For European boards looking five years ahead, this is the live case study Western markets are still catching up to. Her “Culture Fluid” framework gives leadership teams a way to address the human side of AI adoption without falling into change-management cliché. It explains why two organisations with the same technology stack will get different results. Her client list spans UBS, Deloitte, Nestlé, Walmart, LVMH, and Lenovo, with platform exposure on Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, TechCrunch, and Wired. Recognised as a LinkedIn Top AI Voice (2026) and a RETHINK Retail Top AI Leader. Biography highlights Author of How to Do More with Less: Future-Proofing Yourself in an AI-Driven Economy (Wiley, 2026) and Ecommerce Reimagined: Retail and Ecommerce in China (World Scientific, 2022) Former Head of Global Key Accounts at Tmall, Alibaba’s core commerce pillar, led omnichannel and ecommerce strategy for major international accounts including Adidas, P&G, H&M, and Xiaomi Selected for the Alibaba Global Leadership Academy, the internal programme designed to globalise Alibaba’s business units MS in Information & Knowledge Strategy, Columbia University; Honours BA in International Development, McGill University Former Global Shaper, World Economic Forum Named in AAE’s Top Keynote Speakers 2023; recognised as a RETHINK Retail Top AI Leader, LinkedIn Top Voice (2024), and LinkedIn Top AI Voice (2026) Media appearances on Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, TechCrunch, Wired, CBC, and CCTV; keynote clients include UBS, Deloitte, Nestlé, Walmart, LVMH, and Lenovo Biography The work middle management was paid to do is moving into systems. Reporting, status tracking, summarisation, performance feedback, project oversight: agentic AI now performs each of these to the standard a competent manager would have delivered five years ago. The org chart that organisations grew up with is becoming structurally redundant, and most leadership teams do not yet have a working model for what replaces it. That question is the centre of Sharon Gai’s recent work. Her book How to Do More with Less (Wiley, 2026) maps the shift from task-based org structures to capability-based ones, naming what concentrates in humans once execution is automated: judgement, taste, theory of mind, original problem definition. The book sits within an active body of writing on what she calls the Org Chart of the Future, drawing on the live restructures already underway at Meta, Microsoft, and others. Her authority on these questions comes from operational experience few AI speakers can claim. As Head of Global Key Accounts at Alibaba’s Tmall, she worked inside one of the world’s most AI-integrated commercial platforms, leading omnichannel and ecommerce strategy for Adidas, P&G, H&M, and Xiaomi. Selection for the Alibaba Global Leadership Academy, the internal programme tasked with globalising Alibaba’s business units, deepened that vantage. Her first book, Ecommerce Reimagined (World Scientific, 2022), remains the only practitioner account of China’s ecommerce ecosystem written from within Alibaba, examining how consumer-to-manufacturer models and AI-integrated logistics via Cainiao function inside the company. Her “Culture Fluid” framework addresses the parallel internal question: how to build the agility to compete across simultaneous cultural and technological shifts. The work connects the structural argument of the Org Chart of the Future to the human capability conditions that make any redesign executable. Without the second, the first remains an idea on a slide. Key speaking topics The Org Chart of the Future: AI-era team and role design AI adoption at organisational scale: from pilots to operating model The disappearing middle: agentic AI and management layers Future-proofing in an AI-driven economy China’s AI-integrated commerce ecosystem Culture Fluid: organisational agility across cultural and technological shifts Consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M) models and AI-integrated supply chains Ideal for CHROs, COOs, and transformation leads designing the operating model and workforce for an AI-augmented organisation Boards and executive committees confronting the structural implications of AI on management layers, headcount, and capability planning Chief Commercial Officers and heads of digital in retail, FMCG, luxury, and consumer brands looking at AI’s effect on platform commerce Leadership development programmes where AI adoption needs the perspective of someone who has worked inside an organisation operating at AI saturation Audience outcomes A structural model for redesigning teams and reporting lines when agentic AI absorbs the work middle management was paid to do Operating clarity on which AI use cases produce advantage and which produce vendor revenue A view of how China’s AI-integrated commerce platforms actually function, drawn from inside Alibaba, and what is genuinely replicable in Western markets A direct answer to the question of where human capability concentrates in an AI-driven organisation: judgement, taste, theory of mind, original problem definition A shared language, through the Culture Fluid model, for the human side of AI adoption

Why organisations work with Christian Berg A Club of Rome author whose report mapped the structural barriers blocking sustainability across economy, politics, law, and technology, giving boards a diagnostic rather than a slogan. Direct experience translating sustainability strategy into corporate practice as Chief Sustainability Architect at SAP, not commentary from outside the firm. Advisory standing at federal government level through the Sustainable Economic Activity and Growth taskforce within Chancellor Merkel’s Future Dialogue. Live exposure to capital-allocation decisions as an investment committee member at GLS Bank, Germany’s first social and ecological bank. Academic authority across two German universities and a transdisciplinary base in physics, philosophy, theology, and engineering, which lets him connect technical and ethical questions in the same conversation. Biography highlights Author of Sustainable Action: Overcoming the Barriers (Routledge), published as a report to the Club of Rome. Former Chief Sustainability Architect at SAP, responsible for the sustainability consulting function. Honorary Professor of Sustainability and Global Change at Clausthal University of Technology. Visiting Professor for Corporate Sustainability at Saarland University. Co-founder and board member of Think Tank 30 within the German Chapter of the Club of Rome. Investment committee member at GLS Bank. Biography The 2030 Agenda set the targets. It offered little guidance on which structural barriers stop organisations from meeting them. Christian Berg’s Club of Rome report, Sustainable Action: Overcoming the Barriers, was written to answer that question across economy, politics, law, and technology in a single integrated frame. That frame is not theoretical. He spent more than a decade as Chief Sustainability Architect at SAP, leading the sustainability consulting function inside one of the largest enterprise software firms in the world. He has also led the Sustainable Economic Activity and Growth taskforce within Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Future Dialogue, putting him in the room where federal sustainability policy was negotiated. His academic base sits at Clausthal University of Technology and Saarland University, where he holds professorships in sustainability and corporate sustainability. The transdisciplinary training behind the work, in physics, philosophy, theology, and mechanical engineering, is what allows him to move between the technical, ethical, and economic registers a board conversation actually requires. The capital allocation question is live for him too. As an investment committee member at GLS Bank, Germany’s first social and ecological bank, Berg sits inside the decisions that test whether sustainability claims survive contact with credit and risk. Key speaking topics Corporate sustainability strategy Sustainable finance and capital allocation Barriers to sustainability transformation ESG operating substance Climate action and resilience Innovation under sustainability constraints Ideal for Boards and executive teams setting or reviewing ESG and net zero strategy Chief sustainability officers, CFOs, and treasury leads navigating capital allocation under transition Investor and banking audiences working at the intersection of finance and sustainability Innovation and strategy leaders translating sustainability commitments into product and operating decisions Audience outcomes A clearer map of the structural barriers blocking their sustainability commitments, from incentives to regulation Sharper criteria for which sustainability investments are likely to compound and which will stall A working vocabulary for connecting net zero ambition to capital allocation decisions Reference points from corporate practice at SAP, federal policy, and the GLS Bank investment committee

Why organisations work with Alessandro Lanteri The CLEVER Framework and the Innovation Pyramid are named, peer-reviewed tools – not proprietary consulting models – giving leadership teams a shared analytical language for strategy in technology-disrupted markets that can be used well beyond the event itself. His PhD in Philosophy and Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam brings disciplinary rigour to AI ethics and strategic decision-making that management-trained advisors rarely provide; his arguments sit at the intersection of decision theory, ethics, and competitive strategy – a combination that is demonstrably scarce in this speaker category. Two commercially published books – CLEVER (Amazon #1 bestseller in Italy and the UK) and Innovating with Impact (The Economist Books, 2023) – confirm that his frameworks have been validated by mainstream leadership audiences, not just academic peer reviewers. Teaching engagements at Saïd Business School (Oxford), London Business School, and ESCP mean his content has been stress-tested against senior executive cohorts in multiple institutional contexts before it reaches the conference stage. His TEDx talk “Why Driverless Cars Need Philosophers” – over 200,000 views – demonstrates an ability to make the ethics and competitive logic of emerging technology land with audiences who are not technical specialists, which is precisely the audience most organisations need to bring along. Biography highlights Full Professor of Strategy and Innovation, ESCP Business School (Turin campus) Author of the CLEVER Framework (CLEVER: The Six Strategic Drivers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Amazon #1 bestseller in Italy and the UK) and the Innovation Pyramid (Innovating with Impact, The Economist Books, 2023, with Ted Ladd) Contributing writer to Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, World Economic Forum Agenda, and Forbes TEDx speaker – “Why Driverless Cars Need Philosophers” (TEDxHultAshridge), over 200,000 views Executive education faculty, Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) and London Business School PhD in Philosophy and Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam; MSc in Economics, Bocconi University Biography The gap between technology adoption and competitive strategy is one of the most consistent failure points in corporate innovation – organisations make significant investments in AI, digital platforms, and emerging technologies without the strategic architecture to turn those investments into competitive position. Alessandro Lanteri’s body of work is a direct response to that problem. Lanteri is Full Professor of Strategy and Innovation at ESCP Business School, where his research and teaching focus on how organisations compete in environments shaped by technological disruption. He also contributes to executive education at Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) and London Business School. His PhD in Philosophy and Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam gives his strategic frameworks an analytical foundation that is uncommon in management education – his thinking on AI ethics, decision-making under uncertainty, and competitive logic draws on disciplines that sit well outside the standard strategy canon. His two books give organisations structured tools for navigating this terrain. CLEVER: The Six Strategic Drivers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, an Amazon #1 bestseller in Italy and the UK, identifies the deep forces reshaping competitive advantage in technology-driven markets and provides a diagnostic framework for leadership response. Innovating with Impact – co-authored with Ted Ladd and published in the Economist Edge series – introduces the Innovation Pyramid, a model that sequences the cultural foundations, methods, and strategic themes organisations need to move from isolated innovation experiments to systematic, measurable impact. His practitioner writing appears in Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, the World Economic Forum Agenda, and Forbes. A TEDx talk on the ethics and strategic implications of autonomous AI decision-making has been viewed over 200,000 times – evidence of an unusual capacity to make complex arguments about technology and strategy accessible to the leadership audiences that most need to hear them. Key speaking topics Innovation strategy and competitive advantage The CLEVER Framework and the Fourth Industrial Revolution Artificial intelligence and business strategy The Innovation Pyramid: from innovation experiments to strategic impact Digital transformation and emerging technologies AI ethics and responsible technology adoption in organisations Strategic foresight and scenario planning in uncertain markets Ideal for Strategy directors and C-suite leaders defining competitive positioning in technology-disrupted markets Corporate innovation and digital transformation leads Executive education cohorts at business schools and senior leadership development programmes Boards reviewing innovation governance and technology investment strategy Audience outcomes A named, structured framework (CLEVER) for diagnosing how AI, digital platforms, and emerging technologies affect their specific competitive environment A step-by-step model (the Innovation Pyramid) for building the organisational cultures, processes, and strategic themes needed for consistent, high-impact innovation Clarity on which technology investments are likely to yield strategic advantage – and the diagnostic tools to distinguish those from investments that produce activity without impact A framework for approaching AI and digital transformation through a competitive strategy lens, rather than a purely technical one Practical methods for aligning innovation activity with long-term strategic positioning

Key speaking topics Financial education and financial confidence Women and wealth WealthTech and financial innovation Personal finance and investing Financial inclusion FinTech and entrepreneurship Ideal for Financial services organisations FinTech and WealthTech conferences Women’s leadership and inclusion events Corporate employee financial wellbeing programmes Audience outcomes Clear understanding of the barriers to financial confidence. Practical perspectives on improving financial literacy and inclusion. Insight into trends in WealthTech and financial innovation. Greater awareness of the financial challenges facing women. Why organisations work with Emilie Bellet Combines entrepreneurial experience with financial sector expertise. Brings published author credibility and media experience. Offers commercially relevant insight into financial education and inclusion. Connects financial confidence with broader organisational and inclusion agendas. Biography Emilie Bellet is a recognised voice in financial education and WealthTech, bringing entrepreneurial experience and financial sector insight to organisations seeking to strengthen financial confidence and inclusion. As Founder and CEO of Vestpod, she has built a platform and community dedicated to improving financial literacy, particularly for women. Her expertise spans personal finance, investing and the evolving WealthTech landscape. She contributes to industry thinking through her published work, including her book You’re Not Broke, You’re Pre-Rich and her contribution to The WealthTech Book (Wiley), positioning her at the intersection of financial education and financial innovation. Emilie’s perspective is further informed by her experience as a former personal finance columnist for the Financial Times, where she translated complex financial topics into clear, accessible insight for a broad readership. This combination of media credibility and sector knowledge enables her to engage senior audiences with clarity and commercial relevance. Recognised within the FinTech sector, she has been listed in the Women in FinTech Powerlist and shortlisted for Disruptor of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards. For organisations focused on financial wellbeing, inclusion and innovation, Emilie provides informed, practical insight into building financial confidence at scale.

Why organisations work with Ashley Edwards She has built, funded, and scaled a care model specifically for the populations most wellbeing strategies fail to reach, and can translate that design logic into enterprise benefits and DEI programmes. MindRight is one of the few mental health platforms to make a non-clinical, text-based coaching service Medicaid-reimbursable, a proof point leaders can use to argue for culturally responsive care inside their own benefits stack. She is the first Black woman founder in New Jersey to raise over $1M in venture capital, which gives her an unusually credible voice on what it takes to back and build underrepresented leaders. As the inaugural Visiting Social Entrepreneur at Stanford GSB’s Center for Social Innovation, she brings a practitioner view sharpened by coaching the next wave of founders, not a consulting framework. She speaks from inside the problem: an operator running payroll, payer contracts, and clinical safety decisions, not a commentator. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of MindRight Health, a venture-backed mental health startup delivering text-message coaching for underserved youth, with Medicaid-reimbursable pathways. First Black woman founder in New Jersey to raise over $1M in venture capital. Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur; named by Forbes among “Healers” shaping the next century. Inaugural Visiting Social Entrepreneur, Center for Social Innovation, Stanford Graduate School of Business. MBA and MA in Education, Stanford University (Miller Social Change Leadership Award); BA in Economics, Yale University. Previous platforms include Aspen Ideas, US Chamber of Commerce, Google, the WNBA, Harvard Business School, Stanford, and Yale; work covered in ELLE, Business Insider, and Inc. Biography Most young people in underserved communities never touch the clinical mental health system. They text. MindRight Health was built around that fact. Founded by Ashley Edwards in 2019 after she watched her students in Newark carry untreated trauma into school every day, the company delivers non-clinical mental health coaching by text, meets users where they already are, and has engineered its service to be reimbursed by Medicaid and commercial payers. That design choice is where the organisational lesson sits. Benefits and wellbeing programmes built for a narrow group of users rarely work for everyone else. MindRight’s published retention and usage data with BIPOC youth, which exceed industry benchmarks, make a concrete argument for culturally responsive, preventative care as the first line of support, not the fallback. Edwards brings the credentials to be heard by serious buyers. An MBA and MA in Education from Stanford, where she received the Miller Social Change Leadership Award, and a BA in Economics from Yale. She is the first Black woman founder in New Jersey to raise over $1M in venture capital, one of a small group to have done so in the United States, and serves as the inaugural Visiting Social Entrepreneur at Stanford GSB’s Center for Social Innovation, coaching a new cohort of social impact founders. For leaders responsible for employee wellbeing, DEI, and benefits strategy, her value is practical. She has made the trade-offs between clinical rigour, cultural fit, affordability, and scale, and she can explain, with numbers, what it takes to reach the workforce a wellbeing policy is supposed to serve. Key speaking topics Mental health in the workplace Employee wellbeing and benefits design Health equity and access to care Inclusive leadership and DEI strategy Social entrepreneurship and venture-backed impact Digital health and care delivery innovation Building and funding underrepresented founders Ideal for CHROs, Heads of Benefits, and Chief Wellbeing Officers redesigning mental health support for a multigenerational, multicultural workforce. Chief Diversity Officers and DEI leads connecting wellbeing strategy to equity outcomes. Healthcare payers, providers, and employer coalitions evaluating non-clinical, preventative, culturally responsive care models. Foundations, investors, and corporate venture teams backing social impact and health equity founders. Audience outcomes A sharper picture of why current mental health benefits fail the employees who most need them, and what design choices close that gap. A working understanding of how non-clinical, digital, culturally responsive care models fit alongside clinical pathways inside a benefits strategy. Specific evidence from MindRight’s payer partnerships and retention data that leaders can use to pressure-test their own wellbeing and DEI investments. A direct view from an operator-founder on what it takes to fund, build, and scale services for underrepresented populations.