Member since May 2023
Babs Ryan’s energetic, data- and behavior-based calls to action get your audience pumped to change the world, now.
Babs Ryan from Boston has been in 96 countries. The most lucrative of her many patents, while chief innovation officer of GE Capital’s largest division ($24 billion receivables), generated $800 million incremental retail sales. As board director and audit committee member for a $2.65 billion federal financial institution, she spent the past three years replacing a decade-long CEO and refreshing multiple board members, overseeing core tech conversion, and negotiating two M&As.
Babs was industry board member for the Motor Cycle Association of Great Britain Limited (now MCIA). As chief marketing officer at Kawasaki UK, she was the only major manufacturer increasing sales during a 15% market decline, achieving 65% market share 500cc+.
Babs is the author of hardcover "America's Corporate Brain Drain" about why top talent abandons big corporations and how to bring the spirit of innovation back.
She is GHIN golfer, PSIA ski instructor, tae kwon do black belt, and mentor to women entrepreneurs in the Middle East.
She's been a lead analyst at two research firms, including Forrester, serving Fortune 500 C-suites, private equity firms, startups, providers, and fintechs with strategies to create and sustain world-beating products and services, identify market gaps, and drive customers, growth and EBITDA.
Her current operational role is at an international product design firm creating world firsts in A.I., 5G communications, private networks, U.S. Department of Defense solutions, satellite systems, robotics, medical devices, aerospace, and consumer goods.
She has been ad agency CEO, director at a big-4 management consulting firm, division head at Forrester Research, and principal at a global agile software development pioneer.
Passionate about:
1. Everything new.
2. Let’s golf, ski, travel. I can weave a golf, ski, or travel story into just about any topic! 93 countries and counting. PSIA certified ski instructor. Golf GHIN 23.
3. Differentiation, not Just Innovation. The best product wins. As Ruth said in the Barbie movie “Humans have only one ending. Ideas live forever.” Babs’ hardcover America’s Corporate Brain Drain covers why entrepreneurship and startups flourish while corporate America often struggles. From annoying phone menus to nickel-and-diming airlines, many big companies are disconnected copycats. A John Hopkins University study that found 90 percent of bypass patients didn't alter their lifestyle habits even when faced with the choice of "change or die." So why would your tenured employees embrace change when there’s little incentive? Create one. As chief innovation officer at GE Capital’s largest division, her new all-employee New Product Introduction process resulted in 30 launched products and processes in one year.
4. Consumer debt, the big denial, and Generations Y & Z. Déjà vu all over again. Credit card balances bloated by European vacations, iPhonitis, plastic surgery, and designer handbags, while weeping over student loan debt and hidden buy-now-pay-later loans. Who’s to blame? Who’s going to change? My hardcover book America’s Corporate Brain Drain published in 2008 predicted the economic collapse later that year. Watch the television interview on WPWR My50 TV Perspective show at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-cIrCWSvk And 2023 looks eerily similar to 2008. As lead analyst at Javelin Strategy and Research, my published trends forecast provided the supporting data, and what to do about it.
5. Motorcycle safety. As former chief marketing officer at Kawasaki UK, I instituted a “Free Motorcycle Training” course with every new motorcycle policy to save lives. The stats on motorcycle accidents and fatalities will surprise you. Take the quiz and get the facts on speed, location, age, alcohol, and the biggest danger – car drivers. A sports motorcyclist for 20 years and recently doing strategy work for the U.S. Motorcycle Industry Council to get “more riders, riding more,” I’m passionate about safe and fun motorcycling, and where the motorcycle industry is headed.
6. Women in the seats that matter. Women on the board of directors. Women in the C-suite.
1. Know why 55% of Gen Z and 45% of millennials have "secret accounts"? Get some of the fact here http://tinyurl.com/3w98cfwt from this report I published as lead analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research.
2. In this podcast with Rapport International (a translation service) https://www.rapporttranslations.com/the-global-marketing-show/46-88-countries-counting, you’ll hear Babs Ryan talk about how messages can get mixed while standing in line to buy bread in a burka in Esfahan Iran, and why, when someone offers to send you to the front of the queue, you really ought to do so! You’ll also learn about the La La La (or No No No in Arabic) campaign in the Middle East; the “matching leathers” campaign for Kawasaki; and how the best marketers (Nike, Orvis, REI, Airbnb) are connecting people.
3. Or hear why loyalty doesn’t always pay in this story “Psssst: Your Loyalty Program Customers Aren’t More Loyal?” at Retail Touchpoints, https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/executive-viewpoints/psssst-your-loyalty-program-customers-aren-t-more-loyal-does-it-matter
Sixty-seven percent of American workers dream of starting their own companies. I wasn’t one of them. Early in my career in the corporate world, I tasted success. I was a chief marketing officer at a leading motorcycle company by age 26, living in London, driving a company BMW, and merrily globetrotting.
Identified by my company’s executive board as a high-potential business leader, I was one of the few chosen for its career development program, or programming, depending on your point of view. In my first programming session, the trainer asked: “What do you want to be doing in five years?”
Without hesitation, I replied, “Global division leader in a huge company.” Five years later, I was self-employed.
I boomeranged several times between corporate America and the American dream, entrepreneurship. While it looks like my career was all over the place, from motorcycle CMO, ad agency CEO, big-4 management consultant, Fortune 10 chief innovation officer, lead analyst – it led to living the dream. Serving shareholders as a board director and creating best-in-the-world products and services at a global product design firm. And motivating others to have it all.
What if…you suddenly discovered your partner had a secret account? What if your partner or parent discovers yours?What’s the best way to (legally) stash your cash.
A big opportunity for banks and fintechs to attract Gen Z (and other) customers, and fuel deposit growth.
· 55% of Gen Zers have secret accounts. Guess which generations keep most of the secret money in cash -- you'll be surprised
· What are the top reasons why most people have secret accounts? Unscrupulous? Change your mind.
40% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.44% said they can’t handle a $500 unexpected expense without a credit card or loan. But they have stashed money, that your bank or fintech wants.
Speaker Bio
Babs Ryan from Boston has been in 96 countries. One of her patents on secrets generated $800 million incremental retail sales for a major department store when she was Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Research at GE Capital’s largest division that served Walmart, The Home Depot, Disney, and Gap brands. She headed the P&L and business unit for personal loans and deposit accounts at Citibank UK.
In 2023, as lead analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, she fielded a national survey on legal secret money accounts and hidden cash, with her analysis and recommendations in the report, “Emergency Money: Why There’s a Flood of Small-Dollar Loans and Secret Accounts.”
Report is here https://javelinstrategy.com/research/emergency-money-why-theres-flood-small-dollar-loans-and-secret-accounts
For 3 years, she was board director for a $2.6 billion Massachusetts-based credit union.
Babs was head of retail and consumer consulting at Forrester Research, where she researched and studied the types of secrets people have around the world, and how companies could leverage that to influence purchases of luxury cars, diamonds, coffee, gifts, beauty products, plus travel and financial services. At an Agile tech firm, her “Retail in Context” experiential strategy contributed to a 9.1% increase in eCommerce sales for a retail brand.
Key Takeaways
• Getting More Patients with Consumer Financing
• What type of financing should you offer, and to whom?
• The 3 things you need to say in any financing offer
• The advantages and disadvantages of offering BNPL
• What’s working in other countries
· • Affirm, PatientFi, Loyalty Program? What’s Best?
Session Description
145 days. That’s the length of the journey between considering plastic surgery and doing it. You can change that. Forty percent of aesthetics patients who decided not to have a procedure or treatment, would have said “yes” if presented with a certain type of monthly payment plan. Where, when, and how you offer financial incentives to consumers makes all the difference to winning more patients/clients, more often. Whether you’re in skin care or your services go deeper, you’ll learn secrets to growing revenue without the risk.
Did you know…
• 16% of adults under 25 report their most recent personal loan was for a medical cost
• 5% of Gen Zers and Gen Xers took out their last personal loan for plastic or cosmetic procedures
• Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) not only increases the number of procedures, but attracts younger patients. However, many BNPL loans are untracked by credit bureaus, encouraging unmanageable debt
• An offer and/or confirmation of financing before consultation increases the price patients are willing to pay and results in scheduling and performance of more procedures, sooner.
• 40% of patients who decided not to have a procedure, would have said “yes” if presented with a monthly payment plan
Speaker Bio
Babs Ryan
Babs Ryan is an expert in patient/consumer loyalty financing and payments for aesthetics, sharing secrets to winning more clients/patients, shortening their decision-making process, and increasing filler treatment adherence.
She created and launched Allegan Aesthetics’ first loyalty program, now called Allē with 6 million members, at their agency of record. In 2022, she was interim Head of Customer Success for Establishment Lab’s global launch of Mia, the 15-minute minimally invasive breast implant procedure, where she studied beauty prospects’ “shopping” journey and lucrative tips for presenting payment options including Buy Now Pay Later. In 2023, as lead analyst for a top research firm, she fielded a national survey on financing cosmetic procedures and plastic surgery, and authored the research report “Plastic Surgery, Start-Ups, Motorcycles, Crypto, EVs: What’s Ahead for Specialist Lenders.”
Babs was Chief Innovation Officer at GE Capital’s largest division (now Synchrony Financial that offers CareCredit), where one of her many patents generated $800 million incremental revenue. She is advisory board member at Aviva Labs, a global organic spray tan manufacturing and business education firm operating in 110 countries. She has been in 97 countries.
Presented by Babs Ryan and a Generative AI companion (TBD when I generate her and have her select her own fitting name).
"International Holding Company, the Abu Dhabi-owned industrial conglomerate, announced that it has created a new post on its Board of Directors for an Artificial Intelligence Observer.”
AI (or the agent we'll call “She”) always reads the board packet, remembers verbatim from previous board meetings, and prepares agendas and documents promptly for committee meetings. She instantly identifies and can forecast most relevant trends or risks. She's 100% independent. She’s not influenced by having a title, director’s compensation, or the dinner last night. She asks great questions, by determining which are the most important questions that should be asked.
Best of all, She can predict what’s likely to happen to the stock price or EBITDA if the board votes yea or nea, and votes accordingly. She uses past successes to determine the likelihood of success, and even considers what competitors and customers are likely to do.
Just one little problem. Sometimes She hallucinates (i.e., creating outputs that are nonsensical or altogether inaccurate), but then, so do other board members.
Who will be first to appoint Her as their next board director? Will She be the next diverse board member?
Key Takeaways
• What will the boardroom look like in 2040? Will Generative AI be outnumbering human directors? Or driving the biggest decisions?
• The most diverse board: The benefits of being a first-follower to add an “AI-type” seat at the table.
• The advantages and dangers of giving Generative AI a vote – are they any greater than the last board member you added?
What People are Saying About Babs Ryan, board director of a $2.6 billion financial institution and product developer who generated $800 million incremental revenue with a single insight:
“Babs found the spark of inspiration in developing business strategies for top corporations ranging from cars to telecommunications, from diamonds to toys. She also shepherded a range of innovations to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.”
Working Woman magazine
“Leaders and Achievers Who Make a Difference”
Today, retailers’ battle cry includes “customer-focused” and “omni-channel,” but their hyphenated focus is primarily on operations, channels, delivery, discounts and (sometimes unique) products, rarely people.
Retailers who make it in 2024 will be those who innovate and differentiate. You’ve seen the shift of Airbnb, Uber, and Orvis from things to local experiences that are Instagram worthy. Soon we’ll be buying experiences and things that live in our imagination. The best of the best manufacturers and retailers will make it a point to entertain their customers together – after all, share of time equals share of wallet.
Takeaways:
• What virtual experiences are consumers willing to pay for?
• How to augment your current product or service to a virtual one and increase revenue –lessons from a convenience store?
• How will virtual shopping change the definition of instant gratification?
• What can you do NOW with AI that’s a game changer?
What people are saying about Babs Ryan:
“I really enjoyed watching you stir up the group’s passion with your provocative and fantastically real stimulus— people catching each others’ eyes and nodding, writing notes, and really getting excited and challenged.”
Liz Evenden
?What If! The Innovation Company, UK
“Babs Ryan is a rattle-your-cage, thought-provoking author, outstanding presenter, insightful businesswomen, and brilliant marketer.”
Angela DiBartolo
LLKFB Direct Communications, President
“Babs is dynamite!”
Wendy Pease, President, Rapport International
Many studies state that 90% of new products fail. The Product Development Institute, Inc. blames “decisions are not based on facts and objective criteria, but rather, on politics, opinion & emotions (i.e. manager's pet projects)”. It is the same reason why the greatest ideas never make it to market, and copycatting is all the rage at big companies. It's why products and services often launched have little differentiation, poor go-to-market strategies, and few buyers.
You can change that. As Chief Innovation Officer at GE Capital’s largest division, Babs Ryan launched an all-employee program that resulted in 30 new products and process launched in one year. At a product design company, she launched a program to turn every employee into a chief commercial officer. You can do it too!
Key takeaways
• Find out why brainstorming and sticky note vote design-thinking is the death of profitable ideas
• How to structure your program so blockers become advocates
• Learn why all-employee programs work better than incubators
• Hear what’s the greatest motivator to employees helping you make tons of money (it has to do with whom you fire, not whom you hire)
What people are saying about Babs Ryan, former chief innovation officer of GE Capital’s largest division and board chair of the Six Sigma NPI process; current SVP Innovation for Cambridge Consultants, a global product design firm:
“Babs produced one of the very few success stories in a tough economic environment.”
Jeff Goodwin,
Citibank UK Ltd., Head of Financial Services Division
“The idea guru. She’s got a unique and engaging way of telling a story to analyze and present the facts—she makes ideas come alive. Babs understands business and businesspeople.”
Gail Galuppo, CMO, Western Union
1. Know why 55% of Gen Z and 45% of millennials have "secret accounts"? Get some of the fact here http://tinyurl.com/3w98cfwt from this report I published as lead analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research.
2. In this podcast with Rapport International (a translation service) https://www.rapporttranslations.com/the-global-marketing-show/46-88-countries-counting, you’ll hear Babs Ryan talk about how messages can get mixed while standing in line to buy bread in a burka in Esfahan Iran, and why, when someone offers to send you to the front of the queue, you really ought to do so! You’ll also learn about the La La La (or No No No in Arabic) campaign in the Middle East; the “matching leathers” campaign for Kawasaki; and how the best marketers (Nike, Orvis, REI, Airbnb) are connecting people.
3. Or hear why loyalty doesn’t always pay in this story “Psssst: Your Loyalty Program Customers Aren’t More Loyal?” at Retail Touchpoints, https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/executive-viewpoints/psssst-your-loyalty-program-customers-aren-t-more-loyal-does-it-matter
Sixty-seven percent of American workers dream of starting their own companies. I wasn’t one of them. Early in my career in the corporate world, I tasted success. I was a chief marketing officer at a leading motorcycle company by age 26, living in London, driving a company BMW, and merrily globetrotting.
Identified by my company’s executive board as a high-potential business leader, I was one of the few chosen for its career development program, or programming, depending on your point of view. In my first programming session, the trainer asked: “What do you want to be doing in five years?”
Without hesitation, I replied, “Global division leader in a huge company.” Five years later, I was self-employed.
I boomeranged several times between corporate America and the American dream, entrepreneurship. While it looks like my career was all over the place, from motorcycle CMO, ad agency CEO, big-4 management consultant, Fortune 10 chief innovation officer, lead analyst – it led to living the dream. Serving shareholders as a board director and creating best-in-the-world products and services at a global product design firm. And motivating others to have it all.
What if…you suddenly discovered your partner had a secret account? What if your partner or parent discovers yours?What’s the best way to (legally) stash your cash.
A big opportunity for banks and fintechs to attract Gen Z (and other) customers, and fuel deposit growth.
· 55% of Gen Zers have secret accounts. Guess which generations keep most of the secret money in cash -- you'll be surprised
· What are the top reasons why most people have secret accounts? Unscrupulous? Change your mind.
40% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.44% said they can’t handle a $500 unexpected expense without a credit card or loan. But they have stashed money, that your bank or fintech wants.
Speaker Bio
Babs Ryan from Boston has been in 96 countries. One of her patents on secrets generated $800 million incremental retail sales for a major department store when she was Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Research at GE Capital’s largest division that served Walmart, The Home Depot, Disney, and Gap brands. She headed the P&L and business unit for personal loans and deposit accounts at Citibank UK.
In 2023, as lead analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, she fielded a national survey on legal secret money accounts and hidden cash, with her analysis and recommendations in the report, “Emergency Money: Why There’s a Flood of Small-Dollar Loans and Secret Accounts.”
Report is here https://javelinstrategy.com/research/emergency-money-why-theres-flood-small-dollar-loans-and-secret-accounts
For 3 years, she was board director for a $2.6 billion Massachusetts-based credit union.
Babs was head of retail and consumer consulting at Forrester Research, where she researched and studied the types of secrets people have around the world, and how companies could leverage that to influence purchases of luxury cars, diamonds, coffee, gifts, beauty products, plus travel and financial services. At an Agile tech firm, her “Retail in Context” experiential strategy contributed to a 9.1% increase in eCommerce sales for a retail brand.
Key Takeaways
• Getting More Patients with Consumer Financing
• What type of financing should you offer, and to whom?
• The 3 things you need to say in any financing offer
• The advantages and disadvantages of offering BNPL
• What’s working in other countries
· • Affirm, PatientFi, Loyalty Program? What’s Best?
Session Description
145 days. That’s the length of the journey between considering plastic surgery and doing it. You can change that. Forty percent of aesthetics patients who decided not to have a procedure or treatment, would have said “yes” if presented with a certain type of monthly payment plan. Where, when, and how you offer financial incentives to consumers makes all the difference to winning more patients/clients, more often. Whether you’re in skin care or your services go deeper, you’ll learn secrets to growing revenue without the risk.
Did you know…
• 16% of adults under 25 report their most recent personal loan was for a medical cost
• 5% of Gen Zers and Gen Xers took out their last personal loan for plastic or cosmetic procedures
• Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) not only increases the number of procedures, but attracts younger patients. However, many BNPL loans are untracked by credit bureaus, encouraging unmanageable debt
• An offer and/or confirmation of financing before consultation increases the price patients are willing to pay and results in scheduling and performance of more procedures, sooner.
• 40% of patients who decided not to have a procedure, would have said “yes” if presented with a monthly payment plan
Speaker Bio
Babs Ryan
Babs Ryan is an expert in patient/consumer loyalty financing and payments for aesthetics, sharing secrets to winning more clients/patients, shortening their decision-making process, and increasing filler treatment adherence.
She created and launched Allegan Aesthetics’ first loyalty program, now called Allē with 6 million members, at their agency of record. In 2022, she was interim Head of Customer Success for Establishment Lab’s global launch of Mia, the 15-minute minimally invasive breast implant procedure, where she studied beauty prospects’ “shopping” journey and lucrative tips for presenting payment options including Buy Now Pay Later. In 2023, as lead analyst for a top research firm, she fielded a national survey on financing cosmetic procedures and plastic surgery, and authored the research report “Plastic Surgery, Start-Ups, Motorcycles, Crypto, EVs: What’s Ahead for Specialist Lenders.”
Babs was Chief Innovation Officer at GE Capital’s largest division (now Synchrony Financial that offers CareCredit), where one of her many patents generated $800 million incremental revenue. She is advisory board member at Aviva Labs, a global organic spray tan manufacturing and business education firm operating in 110 countries. She has been in 97 countries.
Presented by Babs Ryan and a Generative AI companion (TBD when I generate her and have her select her own fitting name).
"International Holding Company, the Abu Dhabi-owned industrial conglomerate, announced that it has created a new post on its Board of Directors for an Artificial Intelligence Observer.”
AI (or the agent we'll call “She”) always reads the board packet, remembers verbatim from previous board meetings, and prepares agendas and documents promptly for committee meetings. She instantly identifies and can forecast most relevant trends or risks. She's 100% independent. She’s not influenced by having a title, director’s compensation, or the dinner last night. She asks great questions, by determining which are the most important questions that should be asked.
Best of all, She can predict what’s likely to happen to the stock price or EBITDA if the board votes yea or nea, and votes accordingly. She uses past successes to determine the likelihood of success, and even considers what competitors and customers are likely to do.
Just one little problem. Sometimes She hallucinates (i.e., creating outputs that are nonsensical or altogether inaccurate), but then, so do other board members.
Who will be first to appoint Her as their next board director? Will She be the next diverse board member?
Key Takeaways
• What will the boardroom look like in 2040? Will Generative AI be outnumbering human directors? Or driving the biggest decisions?
• The most diverse board: The benefits of being a first-follower to add an “AI-type” seat at the table.
• The advantages and dangers of giving Generative AI a vote – are they any greater than the last board member you added?
What People are Saying About Babs Ryan, board director of a $2.6 billion financial institution and product developer who generated $800 million incremental revenue with a single insight:
“Babs found the spark of inspiration in developing business strategies for top corporations ranging from cars to telecommunications, from diamonds to toys. She also shepherded a range of innovations to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.”
Working Woman magazine
“Leaders and Achievers Who Make a Difference”
Today, retailers’ battle cry includes “customer-focused” and “omni-channel,” but their hyphenated focus is primarily on operations, channels, delivery, discounts and (sometimes unique) products, rarely people.
Retailers who make it in 2024 will be those who innovate and differentiate. You’ve seen the shift of Airbnb, Uber, and Orvis from things to local experiences that are Instagram worthy. Soon we’ll be buying experiences and things that live in our imagination. The best of the best manufacturers and retailers will make it a point to entertain their customers together – after all, share of time equals share of wallet.
Takeaways:
• What virtual experiences are consumers willing to pay for?
• How to augment your current product or service to a virtual one and increase revenue –lessons from a convenience store?
• How will virtual shopping change the definition of instant gratification?
• What can you do NOW with AI that’s a game changer?
What people are saying about Babs Ryan:
“I really enjoyed watching you stir up the group’s passion with your provocative and fantastically real stimulus— people catching each others’ eyes and nodding, writing notes, and really getting excited and challenged.”
Liz Evenden
?What If! The Innovation Company, UK
“Babs Ryan is a rattle-your-cage, thought-provoking author, outstanding presenter, insightful businesswomen, and brilliant marketer.”
Angela DiBartolo
LLKFB Direct Communications, President
“Babs is dynamite!”
Wendy Pease, President, Rapport International
Many studies state that 90% of new products fail. The Product Development Institute, Inc. blames “decisions are not based on facts and objective criteria, but rather, on politics, opinion & emotions (i.e. manager's pet projects)”. It is the same reason why the greatest ideas never make it to market, and copycatting is all the rage at big companies. It's why products and services often launched have little differentiation, poor go-to-market strategies, and few buyers.
You can change that. As Chief Innovation Officer at GE Capital’s largest division, Babs Ryan launched an all-employee program that resulted in 30 new products and process launched in one year. At a product design company, she launched a program to turn every employee into a chief commercial officer. You can do it too!
Key takeaways
• Find out why brainstorming and sticky note vote design-thinking is the death of profitable ideas
• How to structure your program so blockers become advocates
• Learn why all-employee programs work better than incubators
• Hear what’s the greatest motivator to employees helping you make tons of money (it has to do with whom you fire, not whom you hire)
What people are saying about Babs Ryan, former chief innovation officer of GE Capital’s largest division and board chair of the Six Sigma NPI process; current SVP Innovation for Cambridge Consultants, a global product design firm:
“Babs produced one of the very few success stories in a tough economic environment.”
Jeff Goodwin,
Citibank UK Ltd., Head of Financial Services Division
“The idea guru. She’s got a unique and engaging way of telling a story to analyze and present the facts—she makes ideas come alive. Babs understands business and businesspeople.”
Gail Galuppo, CMO, Western Union