Jean Ryan

I am a learning and talent development leader with 25 years of experience in consumer products. Currently, I serve as Senior Director of Global Leadership Development at PepsiCo, where I am responsible for leadership development from our first-time managers up to our executives. My focus is on ensuring that we're building the right skills for our leaders across the organization to be successful.

I started my career in sales, holding various sales positions for around 10 years before I was tapped to train other salespeople. That experience morphed over time to include sales, marketing, supply chain, and strategy across different functional areas, and then ultimately evolved into leadership development.

I hold a Master's degree in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in Marketing and Business from Illinois State University. I am an active member of professional share groups including The Learning Forum and the Conference Board, where I connect with other executives who do the same work I do in the industry.

One of the biggest challenges I see today is ensuring that our leaders can make the pivot to a more AI-driven workplace. This involves understanding how the workforce and workforce requirements are changing, while also focusing on change leadership and leading change with agility. I believe there's a critical balance between the technical side of how work is changing and the human side of things, which has become so critically important for leaders in the future.