Ryan Leffel is a user experience and product leader with expertise in crafting user-centric design strategies, building high-performing teams, and evolving design processes. He drives product and business growth through digital transformation, innovation, and elevating the user experience, helping brands maximize customer success.
His passion for finding elegant solutions to complex organizational and design challenges led him to earn a Master’s degree in Interactive Design from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. After NYU, Ryan held lead user experience roles at companies including R/GA, Yahoo!, Corra, and Pearson. He has been a featured speaker in the U.S. and internationally on topics including design, ecommerce and multi-channel strategy, personalization, and leading teams through change.
Ryan is currently focused on product and design leadership, partnering with teams on strategy, execution, and experience design across web, mobile, and platform environments. With extensive experience in UX, design leadership, user research, and multi-channel strategy, he ensures business objectives and user needs are aligned and delivered with clarity and impact.
Past Talks
13 May 2026
AI is changing product work fast. It can write code, accelerate research, support design decisions and remove hours of repetitive work. But is it taking your job, or changing it?
In this debate, Dana Lawson and Christina Goldschmidt take opposing sides on one of the most urgent questions facing modern teams. One side argues that AI is reducing the need for specialists by collapsing roles, raising expectations and putting more pressure on fewer individuals. The other argues that AI is changing the job, not replacing it, freeing skilled practitioners to focus on judgement, systems thinking, strategy, creativity, and the decisions that matter most.
Moderated by Ryan Leffel, this session explores what happens as AI reshapes not just coding, but also design, research, delivery, and product decision-making. What does that mean for the future of cross-functional teams? Will experienced product managers, designers, and engineers become more valuable, or will the pressure on individuals become unsustainable? And if AI takes on more of the work across the product lifecycle, who stays accountable for what gets built, why it gets built, and whether it should exist at all?
A strong on-screen presence isn’t optional anymore. It is essential for influence, leadership, and collaboration in today’s world of work. Lorraine Lee, a top-rated virtual speaker, Amazon #1 best-selling author of Unforgettable Presence, and LinkedIn Learning instructor, joins Ryan Leffel for a fireside chat on how to elevate your presence in every interaction. Together, they will share practical strategies to help you communicate with confidence, command attention, and leave a lasting impact, whether you are pitching ideas, leading teams, or driving change.
19 May 2025
A/B testing has become a superpower in product development, enabling data-driven decisions that fuel business growth. But with great power comes a shadow: an over-reliance on testing can lead to incremental tweaks over bold, groundbreaking moves. This talk sheds light on both the superpowers and the shadows of A/B testing, exploring the risks of a test-heavy culture and how it can stifle creativity and big-picture thinking. Discover practical strategies to balance optimization with innovation, fostering a culture that leverages testing without losing sight of visionary product development.
- Harnessing the super powers of A/B testing to make revenue generating business decisions
- Recognizing the limitations of A/B testing and the risks of focusing solely on incremental improvements
- Identifying the “shadow side” of a testing culture on stifling creativity and broader strategic thinking
- How to balance rigorous testing processes without sacrificing creative exploration for breakthrough developments
- Practical steps to push beyond data dependency, fostering a mindset of experimentation that leads to transformative product outcomes.