Susie Braam Keynote Speaker
- Head of Innovation in UK National Security (2015-2021)
- Highly accomplished leader and expert in corporate transformation and innovation
- Advisor with Change Logic, a strategic innovation firm (2023-2025)
Susie Braam's Biography
Susie Braam is a highly accomplished leader and expert in corporate transformation and innovation. Her expertise lies at the intersection of innovation, strategy, and leadership in established organisations operating in a risk averse and/or regulated environment.
With a distinguished 20+ year career in National Security, Susie has held pivotal roles as Head of Innovation in the UK’s Intelligence Agencies. She was responsible for setting up and leading multi-organisation incubators tasked with tackling some of the UK’s most persistent counter-terrorism challenges. She has also built organisation-wide innovation capability – supporting the development of innovation strategies and portfolios, setting up and coaching investment boards, and professionalising innovation as a skill.
Since 2021, Susie has coached executive teams leading large-scale digital transformation. She works with them in two ways. Firstly, by addressing their group dynamics and alignment to make better and faster decisions. Secondly, by equipping them with the skills and approaches needed to navigate uncertainty and lead data-led, human-centred organisations.
Susie worked as an advisor with Change Logic, a strategic innovation firm supporting multinational organisations to grow beyond their core business (2023–2025), applying organisational ambidexterity by retaining a strong core while exploring new business models built on existing assets. She currently works as an independent advisor and coach to executives seeking organisational renewal and agility.
Regularly sharing insights through blogging and speaking engagements, Susie is a recognized contributor to the ongoing discourse on innovation, strategy, and leadership.
Susie Braam's Speaking Topics
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Why Innovation Teams Fail (And How to Design One That Won't)
Most innovation teams are set up to fail before they even begin. This talk gives leaders a practical framework for diagnosing what kind of team they need, designing it well, and building early momentum.
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Finding and Supporting Your Catalysts
Every organisation has them - people who see what others miss, who are driven to make things better and can see exactly how to do it. Too often, we lose them to frustration or bureaucracy before they've had the chance to deliver. Drawing on her personal experience as a catalyst in high-stakes government environments, Susie gives leaders a practical lens for recognising catalyst traits and creating the conditions for them to do their best work.
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Outside of your Comfort Zone: Leading Innovation and Transformation
When you don’t see yourself as ‘innovative’ or ‘creative’, the idea of having to support or engage with innovation and transformation initiatives can feel daunting, even threatening. But innovation isn’t just about having ideas; it’s about developing and implementing ideas that will have impact. Susie is here to challenge your perception of innovation and creativity and figure out what your role is in the minefield of innovation and transformation.
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How Strong are your Innovation Muscles?
Corporate innovation too often equates to ploughing money into the front end of the innovation pipeline (R&D) and expecting a miracle to pop out the other end. Unfortunately, a high number of these initiatives and the ideas themselves fail to get traction or achieve the desired impact. Innovation loses credibility and funding. In this talk, Susie shares her framework for developing a whole-system approach to innovation that delivers impact for the business.
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Adaptive Strategy: A Strategic Approach to a Changing World
In many organisations, strategy is done poorly, if at all. We end up with a bunch of words that are not connected to employees, key decisions or organisational priorities. But in an increasingly uncertain and interconnected world, strategy is more important than ever. In this talk, Susie introduces the concept of adaptive strategy - not a plan but a series of hypotheses about the future, our intended actions, and the anticipated outcome of those actions.
Why Book Susie Braam as a speaker?
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She brings more than 20 years of national security leadership as Head of Innovation in the UK’s Intelligence Agencies, translating high-stakes, high-uncertainty decision-making into practical lessons for executives.
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She has built and led multi-organisation innovation incubators tackling complex counter-terrorism challenges, showing organisations how to move faster, collaborate better and deliver outcomes in risk-averse environments.
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She helps leadership teams accelerate large-scale digital transformation by strengthening alignment and group dynamics, enabling better decisions, clearer accountability and faster execution.
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She equips executives to lead data-led, human-centred organisations, providing tools to navigate uncertainty, manage risk and build innovation capability that scales across the enterprise.
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She advises multinational organisations on organisational ambidexterity, helping leaders protect core performance while exploring new business models that unlock growth from existing assets.
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