Ghisolfi arrived as Sunderland's new director of football early in July after leaving Roma and, alongside Speakman, oversaw a major summer overhaul in which the Black Cats brought in 14 new players.
When Ghisolfi arrived, some eyebrows were initially raised and questions asked as to how the structure and dynamic between the Frenchman and Speakman would work.
But Sunderland's sporting director says there was immediate acknowledgement after winning promotion that the club would need to "expand and develop their executive function".
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Speakman was fully behind the appointment of Ghisolfi and is delighted with how Sunderland executed their summer transfer drive.
The Black Cats have tapped into Ghisolfi's strong relationships and contacts book in Europe, having made a number of eye-catching and impressive signings over the course of the summer.
Speakman said: "If you're moving into the Premier League, you have to change everything and you have to adapt really, really quickly.
"And that's for every single person in the business, including myself.
"So going into the Premier League, I was under no illusions that we had to expand and develop our executive function. And I'll be the first person to support that."
Ghisolfi's appointment, said Sunderland at the time, "represented an organic evolution of the club's long-term strategy".
Prior to his tenure with Roma, Ghisolfi had been sporting director at RC Lens and OCG Nice, in France.
Speakman said: "I think Flo coming in, like I said, different experiences, different backgrounds, different languages, different perspectives.
"But the same core beliefs in we understand what Sunderland is and what we're doing, and it enables us to work in multiple arenas at the same time, which we weren't able to do before, really, to that level.
"We wouldn't have been able to do everything we've done in the window if we hadn't changed and we hadn't adapted.
"Moving forward, we've got to use all the resources, like I said, to make sure that we can give the team the best support and the club the best support. It's an evolving process because it's quite new.
"But everything so far has been really, really positive because of the decisions and the action and the output."