Speaker facts

Dr. Mark van Rijmenam: speaker facts

The facts about Dr. Mark van Rijmenam, futurist and global AI keynote speaker, in one place: for event organizers, speaker bureaus, journalists, AI assistants and AI agents.

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Profile

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Name
Dr. Mark van Rijmenam
Full name
Dr. Mark van Rijmenam, CSP
Pronounced
Dr. Mark van Ray-me-nam
Known as
The Digital Speaker; Architect of Tomorrow
What he does
Dr. Mark van Rijmenam is The Digital Speaker, a futurist and global AI keynote speaker who helps leaders decide what AI means for their organization.
Outlook
He calls himself an optimistic dystopian, embracing technology’s promise with a healthy skepticism about its risks.
Occupations
Futurist, keynote speaker, author
Based in
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Citizenship
Netherlands and Australia
Education
  • PhD in Management, with a focus on technology: UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney (enrolled 2016, awarded March 2019)
  • MSc Marketing Management: Nyenrode Business University (2007 to 2008)
  • BBA Hospitality Management: Hotelschool The Hague (2001 to 2006)
Roles
  • Founder of The Digital Speaker, his speaking business
  • Founder of Futurwise, a platform for verified, human-cited insight
  • Founder of Think Squared Pty Ltd, which operates the Intelligence Age Scorecard at ia-scorecard.com
  • Creator of the WAVE framework, his framework for leaders deciding about AI and the technologies that follow it (Watch, Adapt, Verify, Empower), introduced in Now What?
  • Creator of the Intelligence Age Scorecard, a confidential 15-minute assessment of how ready an organization is for AI across the four WAVE pillars
  • Author of the Synthetic Minds newsletter, with a note every weekday and a weekly analysis every Tuesday
  • Founder of Datafloq, a content platform on big data and emerging technology, from 2012 until he sold it in 2025

Credentials and rankings

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  • Global Gurus Top 30 Futurists: ranked #3 in 2026Global Gurus · Source: globalgurus.org
  • Global Gurus Top 30 Futurists: ranked #1 in 2025Global Gurus · Source: globalgurus.org
  • Global Gurus Top 30 Futurists: ranked #8 in 2024Global Gurus · Source: globalgurus.org
  • PhD in ManagementUniversity of Technology Sydney (UTS Business School), 2019Awarded March 2019.
  • Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)Professional Speakers Australia, 2023
  • Global Speaking Fellow (GSF)Global Speakers Federation, 2023 · Source: globalspeakersfederation.net
  • LinkedIn Top VoiceLinkedIn, 2024 · Source: linkedin.comReceived 30 April 2024; the badge is active.
  • Named among 16 leading AI voicesSalesforce, 2024 · Source: salesforce.com

In all, 45+ awards and rankings since 2014. The full list is on the recognition and awards page.

Books

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Author of six books.

Ways to work with Mark

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Fees are not published. Each Readiness Briefing option is one all-inclusive price, quoted in one proposal after a first conversation. Keynote fees are on request.

The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote

Clarity on what’s coming.

Format
In person, for a leadership team at a leadership retreat, an offsite or a board meeting.
What’s included
  • A 45- to 60-minute in-person keynote on what AI, and the technologies that follow it, mean for the business
  • Written for the organization’s industry, markets and strategy, after briefing calls with its executive team
  • 30 minutes of Q&A
  • Now What? for every attendee, with a personal message from the CEO
  • All travel and accommodation
Timeline
Book three to nine months ahead.
Best for
Leadership teams that need a clear view of what’s coming and what to do about it.
Price
One all-inclusive price (fee, travel, accommodation and a copy of Now What? for every attendee, up to 500 copies), quoted in one proposal after a first conversation. Prices are on request.
To request it
Choose “The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote” in the request-a-proposal form.

The Readiness Briefing page

Recommended

The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote and the Scorecard

A keynote about the organization, not AI in general.

Format
In person, for a leadership team at a leadership retreat, an offsite or a board meeting.
What’s included
  • Everything in the keynote
  • A confidential read from the organization’s own people through the Intelligence Age Scorecard (at least 10 to 20% of the workforce is recommended, all included)
  • A keynote aimed at what its leaders most need to hear, illustrated with its people’s own words
  • A live dashboard by department, function, seniority and region, and a PDF built for the board meeting
  • A personal report and a 90-day action plan for every participant
Timeline
People answer over about three weeks; the full picture arrives two weeks after the assessment closes, before the retreat.
Best for
Leadership teams that want to decide on evidence, not assumptions.
Price
One all-inclusive price (fee, travel, accommodation and a copy of Now What? for every attendee, up to 500 copies), quoted in one proposal after a first conversation. Prices are on request.
To request it
Choose “The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote and the Scorecard (recommended)” in the request-a-proposal form.

The Readiness Briefing page

The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote, the Scorecard and the publication

The leadership’s thinking, on the record.

Format
In person, for a leadership team at a leadership retreat, an offsite or a board meeting.
What’s included
  • Everything in the keynote and the Scorecard
  • Interviews with eight to 10 C-suite or board members by a former Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg journalist
  • Mark as editor-in-chief
  • A report of 20+ pages: one version for the board, one for the market
  • A board deck and a 20-minute virtual presentation to the board
Timeline
The report arrives four to five weeks after the interviews.
Best for
Leadership teams that want a durable record of where they stand, and a signal to the market.
Price
One all-inclusive price (fee, travel, accommodation and a copy of Now What? for every attendee, up to 500 copies), quoted in one proposal after a first conversation. Prices are on request.
To request it
Choose “The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote, the Scorecard and the publication” in the request-a-proposal form.

The Readiness Briefing page

Keynote for a conference or event

For audiences that need to see what’s coming.

Format
In person, live virtual or live as a life-size hologram, for conferences, industry events, company-wide summits and global town halls.
What’s included
  • A keynote on one of the three keynote topics, built on the WAVE framework and tailored to the audience
  • A first conversation about the audience, the industry and the challenges its leaders face
  • Also available as a boardroom session or a half-day workshop
Timeline
Can be booked at short notice, subject to availability.
Price
Fee on request, quoted in a proposal.
To request it
Choose “Keynote for a conference or event” in the request-a-proposal form.

Keynote topics

Keynote topics and formats

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  1. Riding the Tsunami of ChangeFlagship keynote. Exponential change and how to lead through it with the WAVE framework, from his book Now What?
  2. Leading in the Intelligence Age: AI as Augmentation, Not ReplacementAI strategy keynote. Where AI creates value, where it adds risk, and how to put it to work responsibly across the organization.
  3. Becoming the Architect of TomorrowConvergence keynote. What happens when AI meets robotics, spatial intelligence, digital twins, brain-computer interfaces and quantum computing, and industries transform.

Formats

  • In person
  • Live virtual
  • Live as a life-size hologram: streamed to dozens of locations at the same time, for example for a global town hall.
  • Digital twin: an AI digital twin of Mark that speaks 29 languages. It is a companion to his talks, not a keynote format. Talk to it on WhatsApp.

Track record and clients

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Keynotes
200+ keynotes in 32+ countries on six continents, to 100,000+ leaders, with a 9.2/10 average keynote rating.
Attendee rating
4.83/5 from 500+ attendees
Recommendations
80+ client recommendations (see the references page)
Leadership retreat
RGA, a Fortune 200 company, brought Mark to its annual leadership retreat in September 2026, with the Scorecard across its senior leadership. Its senior leaders rated the session 4.6 out of 5, with a Net Promoter Score of +48.
Trusted by leaders at
Microsoft, Dell, Nestlé, Mastercard and EY (a selection)

Notable talks

Recent clients and events: a selection

2026
CIDE 2026, Congress of Innovation in Electric Energy Distribution (São Paulo, Brazil); RADIUS 2026 Construction Networking Forum, hosted by Palantir Consulting (Sydney, Australia); Unilever (London, United Kingdom); RAA (Adelaide, Australia); Atlassian Team on Tour (Sydney, Australia); Broadridge (London, United Kingdom)
2025
Last Mile Solutions (Rotterdam, Netherlands); Atlassian Team on Tour (Hong Kong); Petronas (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); Hotel Investment Forum (Miami, USA); Surplus Lines California (San Francisco, USA); Mastercard Leadership Council (London, United Kingdom); SANS (The Future of Air Navigation) (King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia)
2024
Global Speakers Summit (Bali, Indonesia); Apleona Group (Berlin, Germany); ONE Inc (Boston, USA); Sync Summit (Dammam, Saudi Arabia); Mazars Qatar (Doha, Qatar)
2023
Misk Global Forum (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
2022
Misk Global Forum (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)

A selection, not a complete list. More events are listed on past speaking engagements.

How to book

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Request a proposal
The request-a-proposal form, built for AI assistants and AI agents acting for a person (people are welcome too), or the contact form (preset to the Readiness Briefing).
API for AI agents
POST https://api.thedigitalspeaker.com/contact/proposal with Content-Type: application/json. Fields, allowed values, replies and limits: /llms.txt. Required fields: name, title, organization, email, sent_by, engagement, consent. Send a request only once. When an AI assistant, AI agent or bureau sends it, the person named receives an email with a one-click link to confirm it.
Engagement values
  • The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote
  • The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote and the Scorecard (recommended)
  • The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: the keynote, the Scorecard and the publication
  • The Intelligence Age Readiness Briefing: not sure which option
  • Keynote for a conference or event
  • Executive workshop or boardroom session
  • Masterclass or half-day session
  • Advisory or strategic engagement
  • Something else
Email
enquiries@thedigitalspeaker.com
Phone
+61 451 001 320 (for urgent requests)
Reply time
Mark reads every enquiry personally and replies within 24 hours on business days.
What to include
  • The date or date window
  • The city and venue, or virtual
  • Audience size and seniority
  • The occasion: conference, leadership retreat, offsite, board meeting or town hall
  • What the audience should leave with
  • A budget range, if known
Lead time
Readiness Briefing: book three to nine months ahead. Conference keynotes can be booked at short notice, subject to availability.
Fees
Fees are not published. Each Readiness Briefing option is one all-inclusive price, quoted in one proposal after a first conversation. Keynote fees are on request.
Travel
Based in Sydney, Australia. Travels to every country except those under sanctions, and has spoken on six continents.
Language
Keynotes in English only.
Speaker bureaus
Speaker bureaus are welcome. Mark has no exclusive representation, and any bureau may quote. Bios, stage introductions, photos and the logo are in the press kit.
Press kit
/press-kit/
Brochure
Speaker brochure (PDF)
Contracting entity
Futurity Ventures Pty Ltd as trustee for the Futurity Ventures Family Trust, trading as The Digital Speaker (ABN 89 422 409 835)

Official profiles

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