SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

A globally recognized innovation leader and futurist, Lisa founded futurethinkin 2003 to provide a simple approach to the otherwise complicated topic of innovation. Working with leading brands such as Starwood, Merck, and Bosch, futurethink has become the largest source of innovation research, tools, and training curricula in the world. She is the author of Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters; and Kill the Company: End the Status Quo, Start an Innovation Revolution, which was named one of the Best Business Books of 2012 by booz&co.

After earning her business degree from the University of Michigan, Lisa launched her career at Leo Burnett in Chicago, where she discovered a gift for uniting strategically driven ideas with forward-thinking themes. She went on to build two successful businesses before moving to New York and focusing on the simplification and innovation space with futurethink.

With time-management skills that border on an art form, Lisa currently serves as an adviser on the boards of the Institute of Direct Marketing in London; the Association of Professional Futurists; the Institute for Triple Helix Innovation; and Novartis’ Diversity and Inclusion Board in Basel, Switzerland. Among her many academic activities, Lisa is a finalist judge at Idea Crossing’s Innovation Challenge held at University of Virginia, and has taught innovation and creativity at both American University and Fordham Universities.

A respected thought-leader on simplification and innovation topics, Lisa has appeared on FOX News, and in publications such as Fast Company, Forbes, Crain’s, Business Week, The New York Times, WIRED, Investor’s Business Daily, Harvard Business Review, and The Futurist.

In her own life, she’s known for solving word scrambles, brain teasers, and logic puzzles with the speed of an Olympian. She can whip up five-course gourmet meals, though she’s yet to master a perfectly grilled burger. After traveling through more than 40 countries, Lisa has set her sights on visiting the North Pole so she can stand in every time zone—simultaneously.