Lisa Ryan, CSP, MBA

Lisa Ryan is a keynote speaker, bestselling author, and founder of Grategy®, whose work explores how organizations can adopt AI and automation while protecting the human judgment, workforce knowledge, and leadership their operations rely on. Her perspective is rooted in 13 years of industrial sales, seven of them in the welding industry, where she saw firsthand that a plant's success depends as much on what experienced people notice and know as on its equipment and processes.

Lisa's early work centered on appreciation, engagement, leadership, and employee retention, and that foundation still informs everything she does. As host of The Manufacturers' Network podcast, she has held more than 200 in-depth conversations with CEOs, plant leaders, operators, and technology experts, which led to her latest work, Smart Plant™: Aligning AI, Automation, and People. Today she helps leaders make sure that as technology takes on more responsibility, experienced workers still have the knowledge, trust, and authority to question what the system is telling them.

Lisa has spoken at more than 1,000 conferences and events across North America for organizations including Honeywell, Ferguson, and Associated Equipment Distributors, and has been named Corporate Event Speaker of the Year. She has written 13 bestselling books and holds the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP®) designation, the highest earned designation from the National Speakers Association. She is a past president of the NSA Ohio Chapter, earned her MBA from Cleveland State University, and has served on the boards of the American Welding Society, the Association for Equipment Manufacturing Professionals, and Toastmasters International. She is based in Cleveland, Ohio.