Pinaki Kathiari is the CEO of Local Wisdom, a leader in digital communications, an international speaker, and the co-host of the podcast Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work? He is also the co-founder of Resource Hero, a 5-star-rated Salesforce SaaS product aimed at helping managers optimize their team's workload.
With two decades of experience working with global Fortune companies, conglomerate interactive agencies, and startups, Pinaki has mastered audience awareness and employee engagement skills to boost brand reputation, sales, productivity, and quality.
As the first member of his family to be born in the U.S., Pinaki adopted his family's pioneering spirit — delving into tech at the beginning of its boom. He graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science in computer science and a minor in psychology.
What communicators can learn from club DJs — reading the room, crafting emotional journeys, and building shared experiences that move people to action. High-energy, music-infused, deeply interactive.
A physics-inspired playbook for modern internal communicators. Newton's Laws, resonance, E=MC², and gravity reframed as practical tools for building employee messages that create motion, not just awareness. Interactive, fun, and built for frontline and hybrid realities.
Change is not a logistics problem, it is a feeling problem. Five levers for moving people through a change they did not choose: why the worst part feels permanent, why everyone sits at a different point on the same curve, and why the frame you pick decides whether people support it.
View talkA behind-the-scenes case study of a launch where the gotchas showed up anyway — and failure still wasn't on the table. Seven chapters on why culture has to come before technology, and how to treat an intranet as a product rather than a project.
A fireside chat with Alaska Airlines on how to intentionally sequence a frontline comms capability stack — from utility to culture to AI — so new technology amplifies a strong foundation instead of magnifying noise.
A session for internal communicators drowning in urgent requests. Build a menu of pre-packaged communication playbooks — "combo meals" — that cover roughly 80% of what your team handles, so you stop reinventing the plan every time. Attendees build their own during the session.
View talkWalk through the Local Wisdom IC Team Maturity Model — a field-tested framework used by global organizations — complete an in-session assessment to find your team's strengths and gaps, and leave with a one-page leadership pitch template that's helped teams secure new investment, tools, and headcount.
Pinaki and Chris Lee, as a duo or with Bree Bartos, co-host an unpanel where the audience is the panel. They guide the conversation, moderate the discussion, and share insight while calling on the real-world experiences of attendees. A session unlike any other.
In a world where AI, hybrid work, and burnout dominate headlines, Chris and Pinaki explore how authentic connection, psychological safety, and meaningful communication can transform culture and drive bottom-line results. Audiences leave rethinking how they lead, connect, and communicate.
A hands-on ideation session where attendees anonymously share their biggest business challenges — then solve each other's problems using paper airplanes and design thinking. Collective wisdom, zero hierarchy, real results.
View talkCommunicators have to influence constantly, and were almost never trained to. Six counter-intuitive tips that salespeople actually use — and attendees leave with a written plan for a real pitch they need to make.
Co-creation is about producing something better and faster together than you could alone. In this live workshop, Pinaki helps attendees discover the versatility of co-creation and how to incorporate these techniques across departments, employees, customers, suppliers, and personal lives.

Pinaki is already speaking at the events we partner with. Get in touch to discuss availability and what a collaboration could look like for your conference.