Arlen Bankston is a co-founder at LitheSpeed. He was at the vanguard of the agile movement, beginning to practice within two years of the Agile Manifesto’s writing. He was among the first to explicitly blend lean systems thinking and user experience practices with agile software development practices. An active trainer and training content designer for over 20 years, he continues to coach, speak, train and mentor to stay at the edge of ever-advancing lean and agile practices. Arlen was one of the first Certified Scrum Trainers, and soon began exploring Lean, Six Sigma, BPM and other process management and systems thinking approaches to ensure that organizations took a holistic perspective beyond just the software. He became a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt while leading a Lean-Agile practice for six years, and has been a successful entrepreneur helping to lead LitheSpeed for fourteen years since.

Today, Arlen has worked across virtually every industry and enjoys a reputation as a thought leader and a dynamic, entertaining and practical presenter. He has trained and mentored thousands of ScrumMasters, Product Owners, team members and executives, designing the Agile Leadership Academy to address the leadership and structural challenges that still plague many otherwise successful companies. He has led Agile and Lean deployments at clients such as Marriott, NBC Universal, CNBC, NGA, Capital One, T. Rowe Price, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the Armed Forces Benefits Association.