Linda Bernardi
Challenge conventional wisdom, break free from comfort zones, and imagine the impossible with Linda Bernardi, speaker, innovation activist, and technology disruptor.
Seattle, United States
Enquire Now
Send us your event details
.svg){kind=icon}
Linda Bernardi lives and breathes technology disruption and innovation. Today, technology is evolving like never before, and Linda is involved in cutting edge technologies across all sectors, such as Finance, Retail, Healthcare, High Tech, Logistics, Automotive, Consumer Goods, and all others. Her focus is to enable all enterprises to imagine, disrupt, innovate at record pace, and make the impossible become possible. She works with startups all around the globe, as well as large companies, to enable and inspire enterprises to build a culture of mindful innovation. She loves to practice the beautiful Art of Imagination – the first step towards innovation.
Linda believes that the best ideas are the ‘crazy’ ideas stemming from a keen sense of unbounded imagination, and she works to unleash people’s imaginations. Over the last few years, she has focused a lot of her work on how to disrupt and innovate in today’s (possibly permanent) virtual/disconnected world and the art of Leveraging the Digital Workforce to enhance innovation in companies. Unless we mindfully and creatively adopt new ways of thinking about innovation, we will not succeed in this new world.
Linda’s background is equally focused on her history as a highly successful serial entrepreneur, as well as a serial high-level executive. She is a very active technology disruptor and a passionate innovator. She helps clients imagine, develop a vision, build products, reshape, and re-imagine their future. As a well-known author in technology disruption and innovation, she reaches thousands of people each year, helping reshape companies. Today, she is embarking on her most ambitious startup – connecting the world of video gaming and music dynamically via AI and machine learning. Like many other ideas, she is told this is ‘crazy’ and impossible, and she welcomes the challenge!
Linda’s academic and professional background is in data and AI. She was the founder and CEO of the very first IoT company in the world, where she helped people imagine/realise a world where everything would be connected to the internet and how this would change the world. She was told it was impossible! Her other startups have disrupted numerous areas of technology. In her role as Chief Innovation Officer at IBM, she introduced Watson to the world and enabled IBM’s Fortune 100 companies to disrupt and innovate rapidly. She was SVP and head of products at Element AI in Montreal, building AI products for enterprises. As Head of Strategy at Consensys, Linda was involved in the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency (Ethereum), especially by the financial sector. She also built the largest clinical trial software product used by all pharmaceutical companies today and large-scale satellite detection and pattern recognition systems used by Aerospace and Defense today. Linda purposefully works across all sectors, never limiting the possibilities of disruption and innovation and always practising the art of imagination.
To further promote the concepts of disruption and innovation, she authored her first book, ProVoke (2011), which discussed the necessity of innovation cultures. Her second book, The Inversion Factor (2017), received the Best Business Theory Award at MIT in 2018 and high praise from the WSJ.
Linda’s graduate degree is in Applied Mathematics from UCLA. She is an avid learner, a relentless innovator, and excited to be part of your disruption and innovation journey.
Linda brings a wealth of experience as a serial entrepreneur and high-level executive, with a proven track record in leading groundbreaking innovations across multiple sectors. Her insights into leveraging digital transformation and fostering a culture of mindful innovation can empower your team to think creatively and stay ahead in today's fast-paced world. Booking Linda as a speaker will not only inspire your team with 'crazy' yet feasible ideas but also equip them with practical strategies to turn imagination into impactful innovation.
Topics, Sessions And Talks
Step into the future with this riveting keynote that redefines leadership for the Age of AI, by equipping audience members to adapt, innovate, and dance with today’s relentless pace of change. — Escape the confines of binary thinking:Merge immediate and future-focused goals to create resilient, agile strategies that promise sustainable success — Turn disruption into opportunity – Proactively shape the future, transforming potential threats into compelling strategic advantages — Access the future today – Master five potent tools of modern leadership to navigate today’s complexities and command tomorrow’s opportunities
The healthcare industry has traditionally resisted technological change, but AI, blockchain, and other innovations are now revolutionizing it. Linda Bernardi, former Chief Innovation Officer at IBM and Watson Co-Lead, explores how technologies like intelligent robotics, personalized medicine, and IoT-enabled services are transforming research, patient data, clinical trials, and drug approval. She emphasizes the need for hospitals to align with the consumer-driven "Know Me" economy, beyond just patient portals. Linda's expertise and enthusiasm will inspire attendees to embrace disruption and futureproof their businesses as these technologies reshape healthcare. Attendees will learn how to leverage disruptive innovation effectively.
In the C-Agility topic, Linda Bernardi explores the rapid growth of disruption and innovation. In her book ProVoke, she emphasizes the need for humans to embrace these changes to foster capable and confident cultures. Bernardi argues that while we are currently disconnected, we share common objectives, speed, and purpose. C-Agility unites us like never before, but true success requires embracing challenges and rethinking organizational bonds. Beyond virtual connections, meaningful engagement is essential to sustain positive disruption and innovation. Attendees will learn how to create dynamic, innovative cultures that thrive in today's fast-paced environment.
Linda Bernardi takes a deep-dive into the emergence of today’s consumer-driven “Know-Me” economy and the trends surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI), The Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and crypto technologies. She raises her audience’s comfort level with digital disruption and sparks optimism in the idea of futureproofing your business. Her focus is to engage you in a positive way with these transformational technologies. As author of the Amazon best-seller, The Inversion Factor: How to Thrive in the IoT Economy, Linda shares with audiences how to abandon the ‘product-first’ model and capitalise on a ‘customer-need’ model, as Netflix and many others have done.
Linda’s talks are a tour de force for audiences ranging from healthcare, retail, and insurance to financial, defense, and manufacturing. Linda’s enthusiasm will inspire your audience with optimism, empowering your organisation to futureproof your business in an increasingly disruptive, hyper-connected world.
Disruption is the key ingredient for innovation. Without disruption there is no innovation. Innovation is no longer an option. Across the board, all industries, are faced with immediate and meaningful innovation requirements, in order to exceed the expectations of their clients, to be ahead of competition and in order to thrive. In this keynote, Linda will explore the essential ingredients of disruption, blockers and success factors, key technologies to consider and how to meaningfully invert one’s business: to build products and service not only meet client needs (across industries) but to enhance their experiences. Linda will explore what key obstacles, tactics for impactful disruption and how to lead in the INVERSION game. She will be referencing my two books, first one ProVoke (regarding Disruption) and second book The Inversion Factor (regarding Inversion) and decades of experience and current ongoing projects, directly dealing with disruption.
.svg)
Book
.svg)
.svg)
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about booking an expert speaker, facilitator, host or entertainment for your event.
- If you'd like to book one of our expert speakers, email us at hello@peptalk.com, send us a chat message or give us a call, and we’ll help you out.
- We’ll take your event details — topic, audience, budget, date, and location — and create a custom speaker proposal for you within 48 hours.
- If you already have someone in mind, that’s okay too; just let us know their name! Even if they aren't listed publicly on our website, we have a huge network and work with almost everyone.
- Once you've reviewed our speaker propsal and have selected and expert shortlist, we'll double check availability and fees with your chosen expert.
- You're welcome to have a chemistry call with the speaker before making the final decision, too.
- Next, we'll send out contracts to confirm the booking. One of our experienced event producers will liase with both you and the talent on the finer details, and arrange travel if necessary, taking the stress off your plate.
Not necessarily. While the speakers listed on our website may not have worked with PepTalk in the past, they are recognized professionals in the industry and known to engage in similar events and engagements. We work with a wide variety of speaker agents and talent agencies to ensure we have the best selection of speakers, hosts, comedians and entertainers available.
We do not accommodate requests for birthday messages or any other personal, non-commercial contact with the speakers, comedians or entertainers.
We work with speakers across a variety of fee ranges, giving you the flexibility to choose someone who fits your event's needs. Virtual keynote fees in the UK and Europe typically start at £2,000, while in-person top-tier speakers can reach £25,000. In the US, virtual in-person fees range from $5,000 to over $100,000, depending on the speaker and format, such as after-dinner talks, conference keynotes, Q&As, or podcasts. Comedians generally start at £1,500 or $2,000 for a 20-minute set.
Our goal is to help you find the speaker who best matches your event’s goals and budget. We take the time to understand your event, objectives, and audience to recommend the right fit. The most expensive option isn’t always the best one, and our priority is finding the ideal speaker or expert for your needs; not the highest-priced one.
Reach out for personalised recommendations and detailed information on specific speaker fees. We’re here to offer a tailored service and are always happy to discuss your unique requirements!
There’s no additional cost for our services beyond the speaker fee — simply contact us to find the right speaker for your next business or team event. We can also work with your corporate procurement team to negotiate favourable long-term rates, simply email hello@getapeptalk.com for more information.
Partnering with PepTalk means elevating your events with our curated roster of top motivational speakers, industry experts, delivering punchy keynotes that leave a lasting impact. From talent selection, to contracts and logistics, we handle it all. We have global expert network, with over 3000 speakers from over 33 countries on our line-up.
We also provide a full range of talent, from event hosts and moderators to interviewers and corporate entertainment, ensuring your event’s success from start to finish.
PepTalk workshops are interactive learning experiences for leaders at all levels, blending theory with practical insights from industry experts. These programs, led by experienced facilitators, are designed to drive real mindset changes and equip participants with actionable skills. Workshops can be customised to meet your organisation's specific needs. Explore our workshop examples and contact us today to learn how your team can benefit.
If you notice something that needs attention or have any queries regarding an expert speaker profile, feel free to email us at experts@getapeptalk.com, and we’ll be happy to assist.