Builder · Practitioner · Speaker

AI Amplifies.
Humans Decide.

I'm a Total Rewards leader who built custom AI tools for HR, without a CS degree, a dev team, or a vendor. Now I help others understand what's possible.

Spoke at WorldatWork 2026MA, CCP, GRP · 15 yrsTCCN President-Elect
Ryan Buhrke presenting at WorldatWork TR26
On stage · WorldatWork TR26, San Antonio
WorldatWork 2026 · San Antonio

The session is over.
The conversation isn't.

If it sparked something, or you're thinking about how this lands in your own work, I want to hear about it.

Let's talk →
Speaking

On stage and in the room

SEP
25
2026
Next up · Featured

You Too Can Run Monte Carlo Simulations: AI-Powered Modeling for Exec Comp

Headwaters Conference · Twin Cities · Executive Compensation track

PSU valuations, TSR accruals, and probability-of-payout modeling, the stuff that used to live inside consulting firms and quant teams. Describe the scenario in plain English, get a working simulation back, validate it against real plan mechanics, and take a reusable template home. No coding background required.

Exec CompLive demoIntermediate
Register at Headwaters →

Upcoming webinars · WorldatWork

AUG20
Virtual · 1pm ET

How a Comp Guy Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AI

The Imagination Age framework, plus custom AI agents built without a dev team. Live, 1 recert credit.

Register on WorldatWork →
AUG27
Virtual · 1pm ET

Design Your AI Collaboration Agent: A Hands-On Lab

Interactive lab. Build a configured AI agent you can keep refining and using. Live, 1 recert credit.

Register on WorldatWork →

Recent

JUL22
TRANE · Virtual

How a Comp Guy Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AI

Webinar for the Total Rewards Association of the Northeast, cascaded across the World at Work affiliate network.

TRANE →
APR20
San Antonio, TX

WorldatWork TR26

Two sessions on the main stage and in the AI Skills Lab: the AI journey talk and the Design Your AI Collaboration Agent hands-on lab.

Previous

FEB26
Twin Cities

Untangling Complexity in Incentive Compensation

TCCN + SWMHRA Joint Meeting, co-presented with InnoVyne. 70 attendees.

SEP25
Minneapolis

Designing Fair and Transparent Promotion Practices

WorldatWork Total Rewards Summit.

Ryan on the main stage at WorldatWork TR26 Ryan presenting at TCCN February 2026 TR professionals at TCCN joint meeting
On the Podcast

Talking AI and Total Rewards

Ryan Buhrke on The Range Podcast
The Range Podcast

Problem first, tool second.

The full conversation: building AI tools for Total Rewards, meeting ARIA, the seven-minute payroll demo, the eyeball rule, and why humans still decide.

Totally Rewarding Chats

Rewards, comp, and technology

Conversations with Sean Luitjens and Paul Reiman on total rewards and compensation technology with the category's thought leaders.

The Five Dimensions

AI Amplifies: The Five Dimensions

A practitioner's lens for how AI changes what it means to work, create, and lead. This is the Imagination Age.

I

Radical Agency

Access

AI collapsed the barrier between idea and reality. You don't need a dev team, a budget, or permission. If you can describe what you want to build, you can build it. The means of creation shifted from institutions to individuals.

II

The Imagination Premium

Vision

Now it's about hiring the person who asks "what if?" when everyone else is still asking "can we?" AI commoditized execution. What it can't do is want something that doesn't exist yet.

III

Elevate, Don't Abdicate

Discipline

Every tool offloads thinking. Offload without intention and your problem-solving atrophies. Offload strategically and your ceiling rises. Are you still growing because of it, or shrinking behind it?

IV

From Credentials to Discernment

Judgment

The market used to pay for what you knew. Now it pays for what you can evaluate. The premium is the person who knows when the answer is wrong and weighs it against context AI will never have.

V

Daring

Courage

AI can optimize, rank, model, and surface patterns. What it can't do is care. It can't choose people over efficiency, long-term over quarterly, principle over precedent. The human role is to make the decisions AI wouldn't even think to ask about.

Work With Me

Let's explore what's possible

Speaking

Keynotes and breakouts on AI in HR. From the Five Dimensions to live demos of custom AI agents.

Booking for 2026

Workshops

Hands-on sessions for HR teams ready to start experimenting with AI. Want one at your org? Let's talk.

Now developing

Advisory

Exploratory conversations for HR leaders navigating AI adoption. Where to start, what to build, what to skip.

Open to connect

Interested? Book a conversation.