Description
Jo Lepore business speaker sessions bring one of the world’s leading voices in corporate foresight. Known as an “in-house futurist,” Jo has built futures capability at some of the world’s most iconic companies, including McDonald’s and Mars Wrigley, working directly with global CEOs, regional leadership and market directors across more than 60 countries. She now serves as Executive Vice President at Dig, an international insights company helping organisations translate foresight into practical strategy, innovation and growth.
Why book Jo Lepore as your business speaker
With more than 15 years of strategic experience, Jo has consistently helped businesses create transformative growth pathways by combining foresight with commercial insight. Her background also spans marketing and innovation across FMCG, retail and food industries, with leadership roles at General Mills, SCA Hygiene and Devondale. She has launched innovation initiatives that generated millions in retail sales and identified billion-dollar white space opportunities for global brands.
In her keynotes, Jo cuts through the noise around “the future” and gives leaders a practical, evidence-based way to plan for it. Signature sessions include Thinking Long Term, 5 Consumer Forces, The Case for Curiosity and Staying Human in an AI World, each designed to help audiences prepare for 10 to 30 year horizons while staying agile in the present. She draws on real case studies from McDonald’s, Mars Wrigley and the wider Foresight Inside network to keep the ideas concrete rather than theoretical.
In 2024, Jo co-founded the Foresight Inside Group alongside peers from Disney and JLR. The network now supports 11 multinational organisations, including Nestle, PepsiCo, Shell, Google and AXA. She is also a Friend of the Forum on the Dubai Future Foundation’s organising committee for the Dubai Future Forum, the world’s largest gathering of futurists, and hosts the Looking Outside podcast.
Book Jo Lepore business speaker for your next conference, offsite or leadership event. See Jo Lepore’s full profile, keynote topics and testimonials on the Corporate Speakers Australia speaker page, or browse other business keynote speakers.
Keynote Topics
From Zero to Foresight: building future-ready organizations
How to embed futures thinking across enterprise organizations, without sacrificing short-term execution.
Most businesses claim they want long-term thinking, but reward quarterly results. This session reveals how to break that cycle by embedding foresight capability that drives both immediate business growth and sustained competitive advantage.
Drawing on experience establishing foresight functions from scratch at the global headquarters of Mars Wrigley and McDonald’s. This talk provides a practical playbook for transformation: the organizational battles won, the cultural shifts evidenced, and the metrics that convinced skeptical C-suite executives.
Takeaways: The roadmap for building foresight capability (and the mistakes that kill it); where to start and how to measure meaningful impact.
Signature Keynote.
The global brand playbook
Translating macro global trends to local consumer strategies.
The time of “universally loved” global brands is ending. Multinationals face a strategic paradox: macro forces like climate change, technological disruption, and demographic shifts are universal – but their consumer impact is profoundly local. Brands today require a different playbook to operate successfully across diverse geographical environments.
This talk draws from experience building localized strategies for global brands within General Mills, Mars and McDonald’s, with ways to navigate complex macro forces and shifting local consumer behaviours.
Takeaways: Macro forces reshaping consumer behaviour globally, and how they manifest differently locally.
Future-ready skills
Why asking better questions is your competitive advantage.
As organizations race to adopt AI for efficiency gains, they’re inadvertently creating a new strategic risk in organizational intelligence: cognitive atrophy and creativity bust.
This talk dives into the necessary skills of future organizational leaders: curiosity, futures thinking and adaptability. Drawing on futures thinking and design principles, this talk identifies the distinctly human capabilities that will separate winning organizations from efficient ones.
Takeaways: Core competencies of great future leaders that can be practically enhanced in corporate environments.
Testimonials
Olivier Desbiey
Head of Foresight, AXA
Jo is a true futurist and master connector, seamlessly integrating foresight into corporate strategies. Curiosity and openness make her a passionate professional.
Michelle Gansle
Chief Data & Analytics Officer, McDonald’s
Jo is an absolute star and the world’s best at seeing around corners! She has built foresight capability from scratch. When Jo speaks, people listen.
Andrew Leakey
General Manager, Mars Wrigley Australia
Jo’s foresight ability is world class. She is prepared to challenge the thinking of senior executives and the industry in general, to ensure foresight is an activity that cannot be left out of the strategy.
