Speaker kit

Everything your event team needs.

Bios, images, keynote descriptions, and an emcee introduction — ready to copy into your conference page, program, or internal proposal.

Downloads

  • Portrait — stage, 1090 × 720Download
  • Stage photograph — wide, 2400 × 1350Download
  • Main stage with audience — 1090 × 720Download
  • Book cover — 1195 × 1800Download
  • Faculty profile & CVwlu.edu
  • Print-resolution files & one-sheet PDFRequest
  • AV requirements & recording policyRequest

Copy and paste

Introduction — for your emcee

Our next speaker studies what happens after a company buys AI and discovers that the software was the easy part. He is an Associate Professor at Washington and Lee University, an advisor to executives, founders, and private equity teams, and the author of AI Will Take Your Job. Please welcome Jeff Schatten. (Pronounced SHAT-en.)

Short bio — 50 words

Jeff Schatten is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Washington and Lee University and author of AI Will Take Your Job (and It's for the Best) (Emerald, 2025). He advises executives, founders, and private equity teams on the organizational side of AI adoption. His writing appears in The Chronicle of Higher Education and The LA Times.

Full bio — 150 words

Jeff Schatten is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Washington and Lee University, where his research and consulting explore the intersection of artificial intelligence, organizational behavior, and leadership. His consulting and speaking engagements guide executives and private equity firms through the cultural and operational challenges of AI adoption. He is the author of AI Will Take Your Job (and It's for the Best) (Emerald Publishing, 2025), written during a year in Barcelona. His academic work appears in journals including Leadership Quarterly and Negotiation Journal and has earned the Southern Management Association's Best Paper in Organizational Behavior; his thought leadership has been published in The Chronicle of Higher Education and The LA Times. He hosts the Demystifying Organizations podcast and teaches "Leading Teams," which pairs students with incarcerated individuals to explore leadership in extreme contexts.

Keynote descriptions

Flagship

The Company After AI

What happens after the demo works.

AI initiatives rarely stall because the software cannot perform. They stall because sales, service, training, incentives, decision rights, and management were designed for a different company. The tools arrive quickly. The organization does not.

This keynote shows leaders how to identify the workflows AI genuinely changes, and how to redesign the organization around them. The core argument is proven across industries; the examples and case material are rebuilt for the room.

  • Separate the workflows AI actually changes from the ones it only decorates
  • Locate the operating-model constraints that quietly block adoption
  • Name what has to be redesigned first — and who owns that decision
Audiences

Who this has been built for

The flagship keynote has been rebuilt for founders and entrepreneurs, private equity and portfolio companies, CEOs of small and mid-size companies, sales organizations, marketing and creative agencies, and industry associations and conferences — as well as for security and monitoring, HVAC and field service, senior living, and logistics and distribution.

The named sector versions below are the ones that have been given a title. Any audience can be served by the flagship, rebuilt around their operating reality.

For security companies

AI Has Left the Camera

For decades, security systems created value by preventing loss. AI is pushing those same cameras and sensors deeper into the business, revealing where demand is building, how staff and space are being used, and where revenue can grow. But a security company cannot sell intelligence while continuing to run on memory, manual handoffs, and disconnected systems.

  • Where existing sensor data can become a higher-value service
  • The operating-model constraints preventing that transition
  • Reframing sales and monitoring around intelligence, not equipment
For HVAC and field service

The Intelligence Layer

HVAC is not constrained by demand. It is constrained by how slowly expertise travels. AI creates an intelligence layer from what customers report, what past visits reveal, and increasingly what equipment signals. Technicians arrive better prepared, and each job strengthens the next.

  • Why the real constraint is expertise transfer, not lead generation
  • How each service call can compound into institutional knowledge
  • What changes for training, dispatch, and the veteran tech's role
For executive and cross-industry audiences

AI Will Take Your Job

A practical leadership agenda for the age of automation. The question is not whether to reassure people or frighten them — it is what organizations should redesign before the transition redesigns them by default. This keynote separates jobs from tasks, productivity from prosperity, and technological possibility from organizational choice.

  • A framework for determining which work changes first
  • Language for discussing automation without hype or denial
  • Choices that protect adaptability, dignity, and performance

Engagement formats

Signature Keynote

45–60 minutes, built for an opening or closing general session.

Keynote + Executive Session

Add a 60–90 minute working session for 15–30 senior leaders.

Leadership Offsite

A half- or full-day engagement built around an executive team's operating questions.

Every engagement includes an organizer briefing, pre-event research, and industry-specific customization. Fees are quoted per engagement, based on format, location, and scope.

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