Speaker
Shelly Rexroat
Shelly Rexroat
Visionary Innovation Leader • Author • Speaker • Designer
Helping leaders and organizations flourish in an age of unprecedented change through innovation, creativity, and human-centered leadership.
About Shelly
Shelly Rexroat is a visionary innovation leader, author, designer, and speaker with more than 30 years of experience helping organizations navigate transformation. Throughout her career, she has led complex technology initiatives, organizational change, acquisitions, and innovation efforts while developing a unique approach that blends strategic thinking with creativity, empathy, and practical execution.
Today, Shelly inspires audiences to think differently about leadership, resilience, creativity, and the future of work. Her presentations combine memorable stories, actionable frameworks, and fresh perspectives that leave audiences equipped to create meaningful change in both their organizations and their own lives.
She is the author of Uncocooned, host of multiple podcasts, founder of Bethesda Designs, and creator of practical innovation frameworks designed to help people flourish in a rapidly changing world.
Awards and Achievements
Top 100 Innovators and Entrepreneurs 2026 - Read more…
Influential Women - Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship - Read more…
Signature Keynotes
History of Innovation™The greatest innovations are frequently born during seasons of uncertainty, loss, disruption, and change
In this keynote, Shelly Rexroat takes audiences on a journey through more than a century of her own family’s history—beginning with her great-grandfather’s time at the Kansas City dental school during the years surrounding the 1918 influenza pandemic, continuing through her grandfather’s service as a Navy dentist during World War II, and arriving at her own experiences leading technology transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic while later writing Uncocooned.
Audience Takeaways
How do we adapt when the world changes overnight?
How do we continue serving others during uncertainty?
How do we build something meaningful after loss?
What kind of legacy are we leaving for those who come next?
Shelly's Design Thinking Shortcuts™How Small Shifts in Thinking Create Extraordinary Innovation
Innovation doesn't always require massive disruption.
In this engaging keynote, Shelly reveals practical mental shortcuts that help leaders identify opportunities others overlook. Through real-world stories and simple frameworks, audiences learn how small shifts in thinking can produce remarkable breakthroughs.
Audience Takeaways
Think more creatively without increasing complexity
Discover hidden opportunities
Solve problems faster
Build an innovation mindset across teams
Uncocooned: Human Flourishing in an Age of Change™How do we remain fully human while everything around us is changing?
Drawing from powerful personal experiences and decades of leadership, Shelly shares practical principles for building resilience, rediscovering purpose, and creating lives and organizations where people don't simply survive change—they flourish through it.
Audience Takeaways
Build resilience during uncertainty
Lead people through meaningful change
Develop purpose-driven leadership
Transform adversity into opportunity
Speaking Details
Speaking TopicsInnovation & Creative Thinking
Human Flourishing
Leadership in Times of Change
Design Thinking
Organizational Transformation
AI & the Future of Human Work
Resilience & Reinvention
Purpose-Driven Leadership
Ideal AudiencesCorporate Leadership Teams
Innovation Conferences
Executive Retreats
Women's Leadership Events
Professional Associations
Healthcare Organizations
Education
Faith-Based Leadership Events
Community Organizations
Media and Booking Info