Lisa Bodell is the founder and CEO of futurethink, an internationally recognized innovation research and training firm that helps businesses embrace change and become world-class innovators.

Ms. Bodell founded futurethink on the premise that everyone has the power to innovate—they just need to know how. futurethink has spent years working with hundreds of leading innovators to create the largest catalog of innovation research and tools in the world, and the most in-depth training curricula on innovation anywhere. Clients such as 3M, GE, and Johnson & Johnson look to futurethink to develop new styles of thinking and generate innovative ideas. 

Bodell is globally recognized as a leader and pioneer in the field of futuring and innovation—creating a unique, straightforward approach to an otherwise complicated topic. She created the widely adopted SIPC Innovation Framework (STRATEGY, IDEAS, PROCESS, CLIMATE), which has helped innovators around the world easily embrace innovation, providing a clear method that breaks innovation down into manageable parts.

She is a seasoned futurist, teacher, and entrepreneur who has built three successful businesses. She began her career at Leo Burnett in Chicago, where she developed her appetite for marrying strategically-driven ideas with forward-thinking themes. She went on to start her own strategic-planning firm, Strategic InSites, and then marketing and branding firm, Harvest Partners, before focusing solely on the innovation space with her latest venture—futurethink.

In addition to running futurethink and lecturing, Lisa currently serves as an advisor on the boards of the Institute of Direct Marketing in London, The Women’s Congress, the Association of Professional Futurists, and the prestigious Institute for Triple Helix Innovation think tank, the only innovation initiative of its kind within the U.S. government. She serves as a finalist judge at the annual Idea Crossing Innovation Challenge and FIT’s innovation challenge (which futurethink co-created), has taught courses on marketing and creativity at American University, and serves as a faculty member of the American Management Association.

A respected thought leader on innovation topics, Bodell has appeared on FOX News, and in publications such as Crain’s, Business Week, The New York Times, WIRED, Investor’s Business Daily, Successful Meetings, Harvard Business Review, and The Futurist. She is also an author of Success Simplified, a collection of works featuring other chapters by Dr. Stephen Covey, Dr. Tony Alessandra, and Patricia Fripp.

Bodell earned her business degree from the University of Michigan, where she concentrated in business administration and marketing.