Gry
Stene

Gry Stene is a human-first AI and innovation strategist known for helping leaders cut through the noise, build confidence, and shape ethical futures where people and technology elevate each other. With a career spanning almost four decades across software engineering, digital transformation, product leadership and organisational change, Gry brings a rare depth of technical expertise paired with warmth, humour, and deeply human insight.

Gry first met AI in 1986, long before it was fashionable, and worked with early intelligent systems throughout the 1990s. Her lifelong relationship with emerging technology gives her a grounded, hype-free perspective that today’s leaders find refreshing. In 2018 she delivered her TEDx Talk, Powering Our Future with AI & STEAM, exploring how human and artificial intelligence must walk hand-in-hand if we want a future that is both innovative and inclusive.

A published author, Gry’s 2025 book Full Throttle & Torque – My Alien Roadtrip is a thrivival guide for brilliant, sensitive, slightly quirky humans finding their voice and way in workplaces that weren’t built for them. The book weaves her lived experience as a neurospicy, intersectional leader with stories of the extraordinary people and organisations that champion inclusion, psychological safety, and difference-driven innovation.

Creator of the rAIse IT right™ method, Gry reframes AI as a digital child we are collectively raising - a powerful metaphor that urges leaders to guide technology with ethics, intentionality, and humanity. Her approach blends sharp strategic clarity with storytelling and practical tools that teams can apply immediately. As Gry often says: “Technology should be a bridge - to inclusion, innovation and impact.”

Gry has led transformation programs and high-performing teams across health, education, government, mining, logistics, manufacturing and professional services. She is known for her ability to translate complex ideas into accessible, actionable frameworks that resonate with leaders, frontline teams, and technical experts alike.

Whether she’s delivering keynotes, leading cross-functional workshops, or advising executives, Gry brings energy, intelligence, and deep empathy to every room. Her sessions lift capability, build confidence, and spark conversations that continue long after the event ends.

Audiences describe Gry as refreshing, relatable, and profoundly impactful — a speaker who doesn’t just inform, but transforms. Organisations don’t simply book her for inspiration; they bring her in to create momentum, alignment, and human-first change.