Opening Session

Mike Walsh

Featuring Keynote Speaker Mike Walsh
8 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Oregon Convention Center

Mike Walsh is the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing companies for the 21st century. For the past twenty years, he has been a leading authority on disruptive innovation, digital transformation, and new ways of thinking. A global nomad from a diverse ethnic background, futurist, and author of three bestselling books, Mike advises some of the world’s biggest organizations on reinvention and change in this new era of machine intelligence.

A specialist in AI-powered transformation, Mike’s work and research was recently profiled by the Rotman School of Management. His talent is being able to bridge the two worlds of disruptive technology and business leadership, translating deep tech into pragmatic recommendations for leaders to seize new opportunities, transform their organizations, and change their own thinking.


Mike is a prolific researcher who interviews innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs, and corporate revolutionaries every year. Many of these conversations feature in his popular podcast, Between Worlds. A skilled facilitator, he excels at fireside chats with CEOs, customers, and other thought leaders. He brings this consultative approach to personalizing insights and recommendations for his audiences, specializing in identifying ‘mind grenades’ or provocative questions that will challenge your team and stretch their thinking.

A prolific writer and commentator, Mike’s views have appeared in a wide range of international publications including Inc. Magazine, BusinessWeek, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal. Recently, LinkedIn invited Mike to publish his weekly newsletter Tomorrowist about next generation leadership. A regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, his articles explore a wide range of cutting-edge leadership topics including data-driven decision making, agile organizations, algorithmic management, and AI ethics.

Mike’s latest book, The Algorithmic Leader, offers a hopeful and practical guide for reinventing leadership and organizations. The book has been a global hit and is now available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Polish and Russian. In 2019, The Algorithmic Leader was selected to be given to the world leaders and executive attendees of the Ambrosetti Global Forum at Villa d'Este in Cernobbio, Italy.

Futuretainment, Mike’s first book, was published by Phaidon and was the winner of the design award by the Art Director’s Club in New York. Released in 2009, it predicted how the smartphone would reshape the media and marketing industry, and the imminent rise of social media, digital influencers, and streaming entertainment. In The Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas, Mike anticipated breakthroughs in micro satellite networks, cryptocurrencies, remote work, digital protest movements, self-driving cars, drones, and digital biology. A dynamic and engaging keynote speaker, Mike has given more than 1,000 talks over the last decade, from strategic briefings for the boards of companies like Verizon and Raytheon, to an employee summit for a healthcare corporation that filled a sports stadium with an audience of over 25,000 people. In addition to both in-person and virtual presentations, Mike also works with enterprise learning and development leaders to create compelling programs to up-skill teams for a world of AI-powered competition.

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