Mike Carroll

Mike Carroll grew up on a farm in Ohio, where work began at breakfast and was measured in sunrises. Results were earned with sore muscles and calloused hands. That upbringing instilled discipline, respect for time tested practices, and the belief that lasting value is built, not borrowed. It carried him from the fields into engineering and then leadership, grounding his career in tradition and innovation. From Mead’s mills to leadership at Georgia-Pacific, he drove transformation by embedding innovation into operations. As Deputy Chairman and CEO at Shepard LTD in the UK, he navigated markets and complexity. At McTech Group, he forged growth with Walmart, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Kroger. Today he is Chief Strategy and Operations Officer at Trek.AI for Education, a Research Fellow at LNS Research, and a Board Advisor to the Industrial AI Nexus, working with the Chief Architects Network. He also advises AI startups, mentoring leaders shaping the future of intelligence. Carroll has been recognized as Visionary of the Year by Smart Industry and Innovator of the Year by the Association of Suppliers to the Paper Industry. A sought after keynote speaker and columnist, he blends real world case studies with storytelling, with a bias toward execution, that challenges leaders with one question. What must be true in one year, three years, a decade. His conviction is clear. The next industrial revolution will not be won by those who claim to have every answer, but by those willing to seek, and bold enough to ask better questions.