About Ray East

Ray East & the Modern Moats Movement

Ray East is the founder and driving force behind The Modern Moats Movement and creator of The Modern Moat Operating System™—a critical framework that helps non-technical CEOs and founders of $5M-$500M companies build defensive advantages that get stronger, not weaker, with AI disruption.

As founder of The Business Moat Private Network, Ray guides established business leaders through the essential distinction between mandatory moats (the three every business must have) and elective moats (strategic advantages chosen based on each organization's unique position). His AIRD Moat™ methodology has become the industry standard for determining which defensive strategies actually matter in the Age of AI.

With 85% of SMBs predicted to see their competitive advantages evaporate in the next 12 to 24 months, Ray's work focuses on the urgent transformation from traditional moats that AI destroys to Modern Moats that AI amplifies. His frameworks have helped hundreds of CEOs stop defending 20th-century advantages and start building 21st-century defenses.

Ray's unique contribution lies in making moat strategy accessible to non-technical leaders who are competing in an increasingly technical world. He loves proving that you don't need to know how to code to build moats that AI can't cross.

Ray is a CEO, AI-first business moat architect, executive coach and keynote presenter. He's spent over 30 years helping Fortune 500 companies and startups leverage cutting-edge technology and business strategy to drive breakthrough innovation. Under his leadership and facilitation, organizations have generated improvements worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In the last 3 years, Ray has focused exclusively on the intersection of AI and business strategy, empowering non-technical founders, creators and business leaders to rebuild their operations around exponential AI capabilities completely.

Ray's mission (which he actually cares deeply about) is to help visionary founders transform their businesses so they can flourish amidst the increasing AI disruption.

Background Info:

Columbia University School of Law:  Juris Doctor, 1997

Johns Hopkins University: M.A. in International Relations, 1997 

Vassar College: B.A. in Economics 

Ray is a former Management Associate at MetLife, an international corporate attorney at White & Case LLP. He also is the former Director of Student Life at The King’s College in New York City and served on the Board of Directors of The CEO Network. He is the author of the book: “Discovering Why People Follow a Leader [The Life Of Manny].”