JAMES LISICA: MORE THAN A FUTURIST
STRATEGIC FORESIGHT GROUNDED IN 30 YEARS OF GLOBAL EXECUTION.
The Practical Advantage
What sets James apart is that his perspective is not built on theory alone. It is shaped by more than 30 years working across operational, tactical, and strategic environments within some of the world’s most complex organisations. This depth of frontline experience allows him to connect big-picture change with the realities of execution, from the boardroom to operations.
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The Practitioner vs. The Academic
Unlike many speakers in this space, James is not a vendor selling a solution or a high-level academic speaking from a distance. He combines futurist insight with real operator credibility, strategic depth, and commercial understanding.
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His audiences gain more than inspiration; they leave with:
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Practical Frameworks: Actionable models for navigating disruption.
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Sharper Thinking: A clearer sense of how to respond to 2030 forces.
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Complexity to Clarity: Trends translated directly into business outcomes.
A Proven Pedigree
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30+ Years Experience: A career spanning operational and strategic leadership in high-performing global organisations.
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300+ Keynote Presentations: Delivered to thousands of attendees worldwide, focusing on the forces reshaping business through 2030.
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Thousands of Strategy Sessions: Direct experience leading boardrooms and executive teams through complex transformations.
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Hundreds of Facilitated Workshops: Hands-on expertise in leadership, innovation, and resilient supply chains.
Core Expertise
​James speaks on the critical forces defining the next decade:
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The Future of Work & Human-Machine Collaboration
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Artificial Intelligence & Autonomous Operations
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Resilient Supply Chains & Digital Ecosystems
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Sustainability & ESG Leadership
The Result
James offers content that is credible, memorable, and immediately relevant. He makes the future feel practical for attendees, ensuring they leave with a stronger sense of what comes next and how to respond.
James Lisica is a world leading futurist, innovation strategist and keynote speaker helping leaders navigate technological disruption, AI, sustainability and the future of business.
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WHAT JAMES DOES
FUTURIST
As a futurist, James helps organisations make sense of the trends, technologies, disruptions, and strategic shifts shaping the business landscape of tomorrow. Grounded in formal training in futures thinking and strengthened by decades of real-world experience across some of the world’s most advanced supply chains, he brings a rare ability to connect emerging change with operational and commercial reality. He works with leaders to anticipate what is coming next, challenge conventional thinking, and build the capabilities required to stay competitive, resilient, and relevant in a rapidly changing world.
STRATEGIST
James has built a formidable reputation as a strategic visionary and pioneering force in the global supply chain arena. He has developed industry-leading research across corporate strategy, future trends, digital transformation, and capability development. His methodologies, maturity models, and strategic frameworks are used by the world’s leading organisations to shape strategy, accelerate transformation, and build the capabilities required to lead in the markets of tomorrow. James helps organisations turn insight into execution, converting big-picture thinking into practical action.
SPEAKER
James is an internationally recognised keynote speaker, trusted by organisations around the world to challenge thinking, energise audiences, and leave a lasting impact. From large auditoriums to smaller executive and leadership sessions, his commanding presence, compelling communication style, and powerful storytelling create memorable “aha” moments that stay with audiences long after the event. Blending inspiration, practical insight, and real-world credibility, he helps people reimagine the future while equipping them with the clarity, confidence, and motivation to act and win today.
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Eileen Coparropa, Starbucks
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Director, Strategy & Business Optimization, Global Supply Chain
"James is one of the best speakers I’ve had the pleasure of hearing throughout my career. He is an expert, a strategic thinker and has a very unique ability to connect strategies with the specific tactics necessary to reach a vision. Genuine, engaging and authentic he will leave you feeling not only inspired but also empowered."
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JAMES LISICA CAREER
MORE THAN YOUR TYPICAL FUTURIST,
A TRUE INDUSTRY PRACTITIONER.
With more than 30 years of experience spanning frontline operations, senior leadership, global strategy, and advisory work, James brings a perspective that is rare in the market: he has not only studied transformation, he has lived it from the ground up.
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He began his career in the supply chain industry in the 1990s, building deep operational expertise before moving into senior leadership roles with global organisations including Agility, OOCL, and Maersk. This early grounding in execution gave him something many futurists and strategists lack, a genuine understanding of how complex organisations actually work, where change succeeds, where it stalls, and what it really takes to turn vision into measurable outcomes.
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In 2012, James joined Gartner, where he spent over a decade helping shape and elevate its global supply chain research and advisory capability. During his time there, he played a foundational role in building out Gartner’s supply chain offering and led the development of maturity models and strategic frameworks that have since been used by organisations across the world to assess capability, guide transformation, and accelerate performance.
He became widely recognised not only for the depth of his insight, but for his ability to make complex ideas practical, commercially relevant, and immediately actionable. Clients consistently rated him among Gartner’s leading supply chain speakers, and his conference sessions became known for combining strategic foresight with real-world credibility.
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Today, James is the Founder and CEO of Supply Chain On-Demand, a future-focused think tank and advisory platform dedicated to helping organisations navigate disruption and unlock new value at the intersection of supply chain, AI, digital transformation, sustainability, and the future of work. Through keynote presentations, executive workshops, advisory engagements, and thought leadership, he works with multinational corporations, governments, universities, industry associations, and technology providers to help leaders rethink what comes next and how to prepare for it.
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His work sits at the intersection of strategy and execution, helping organisations move beyond theory to build more intelligent, adaptive, autonomous, and sustainable operating models. Whether speaking on digital twins, decision intelligence, ecosystem orchestration, agentic automation, resilience, or profitable sustainability, James is known for connecting bold future thinking with practical steps leaders can act on now.
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Over the course of his career, he has advised hundreds of organisations around the world and earned a reputation for challenging conventional thinking, cutting through noise, and helping executives see around corners. More than a futurist, James is a strategic partner to leaders who want to understand not just where the future is heading, but what it will take to win in it.