Alex Goryachev is an author of Fearless Innovation and an award-winning Silicon Valley veteran whose resume reads like a brief history of tech disruption.
ALEX GORYACHEV
GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE
Over the past 20 years, Alex made it his business to turn disruptive concepts into successful ecosystem-centric business models. He has an extensive track record of building and leading global cross-industry business & technology teams focused on revenue and market share growth, increasing customer acquisition and profitability through new digital products and offerings.
The co-innovation strategy and programs that Alex created continuously reinvented the capabilities of the Internet by empowering employees, building ecosystems, and creating new offerings inside and outside the traditional product and partnership portfolios.
Defining Today's Innovation Best Practices
Alex is passionate about leveraging innovation purposefully and pragmatically to create opportunities for all. Today, he is serving as Innovator-in-Residence at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Tulane University. He is an active venture partner with Interlock Capital, a community-driven venture fund primarily investing in underrepresented founders and geographies. Alex is also a US delegate and Technical Advisory Group member in the International Standards Association (ISO), defining global common standards for Innovation Management.
Reshaping Innovation in the Corporate World
Prior, as a Managing Director of Global Innovation Programs and Strategy at Cisco, a $50B technology powerhouse, he pioneered the concept of ecosystem co-innovation, creating and later leading 16 networks of global co-innovation centers in North and South America, Europe
Middle East, and the Asia Pacific. He held senior leadership roles in the Office of the CTO, Emerging Technology Group and Corporate Development, and led core innovation programs, unifying, and advancing strategic co-innovation partnerships and programs with internal and
external customers, partners, developers, academia, and governments. He created award-winning employee innovation and development offerings, providing ~70,000 employees with meaningful opportunities to innovate, regardless of their grade or function.
In the past, Alex had extended gigs with revolutionary music services Napster and Liquid Audio, pioneering digital music distribution, and bringing it to millions around the world. He also adapted innovations to other industries, digitizing business processes at IBM and Pfizer.
Alex got transplanted to the US as a teenager. He rapidly discovered new freedoms all around him, as well as the power of the ultimate equalizer - the Internet. He immediately set out on a life course far different from his upbringing as the son of a high-ranking official in the Soviet diplomatic corps. His journey started early when he got to know the local internet community, and taught himself as a teenager to master UNIX operating systems and design web pages.
Innovation Awards and Recognition
Fast forward 30 years, Alex Goryachev has been the recipient of numerous industry awards for innovation and culture transformation. He is a Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author of Fearless Innovation: Going Beyond the Buzzword to Continuously Drive Growth, Improve the Bottom Line, and Enact Change. He is sought after by the press as an expert on innovation, digitization, and employee engagement, and is a contributing writer for Forbes and Chief Executive Magazine, and an Editorial Advisory Board Member for Innovation Leader Magazine.
Digital Transformation and Innovation Keynote Speaker
Alex Goryachev often speaks on the topic of pragmatic innovation. His candid, thought-provoking, yet entertaining speeches and workshops demystify innovation, and encourage the audience to re-think corporate norms to survive, grow and prosper. Alex masterfully combines best industry practices with his own international startup and corporate experience, equipping the audience with actionable steps that can change the culture and turn any organization into an innovation machine.