Contributing Writers
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Here I want to introduce a group of colleagues, each of whom contributes to Futurist.com from time to time while doing their own work. Some have full time jobs, some are terrific business consultants, some are professional writers, some more than one of those. Each has something to say about building positive and productive futures. You can learn more about each writer by clicking on their pictures.
Glen Hiemstra, Founder
Glen founded Futurist.com in 1997, a decade into his career as a professional futurist. Glen is recognized internationally for his work on future trends and preferred futuring. Glen has advised professional, business, and governmental organizations and served as a technical advisor for futuristic television programs. He is the author of Turning the Future into Revenue: What Businesses and Individuals Need to Know to Shape Their Future. His website is regularly visited by people from over 120 nations.
Brenda Cooper, Co-Creator
Brenda was the webmaster and co-creator of the original Futurist.com website. She is also Information Technology Director of a suburban city near Seattle, a published science fiction writer with more on the way, and one of those people genuinely curious about the future, space, technology, and the sciences. Between her job and her Scifi writing, Brenda works with Glen on developing content and ideas for the site.
Dr. Tracie Hiemstra
Tracie Hiemstra, Ph.D., has a passion for helping individuals and enterprises create their future by guiding their discovery of vision, values, and goals and translating them into action and life-balance. With decades of original research, she has authored the Life Balance Scale© and various other models, books, and empowering materials, including a motivational video. Dr. Tracie writes occasionally for the section Creating Your Future. She spent many years consulting for Boeing, then a few running a specialty retail store she owned, and now is back into consulting.
Dave Brown
Rev. Dave Brown is a Presbyterian minister at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, Washington. Dave is a writer, thinker, futurist, blues music expert and originator of a unique blues music worship experience. He is the winner of an award for service in promoting blues music. Dave has worked extensively around the U.S. on issues of religion in contemporary society that confront public educators. With a Masters in Divinity from Princeton, he is an original and provocative thinker. Dave served as consultant to the National Council of Churches and the Comprehensive Health Education Foundation.
David Brin
David Brin is a noted author with a wide readership, a futurist, and a keynote speaker. We’ve been recommending his non-fiction work “The Transparent Society” for years. He is also a very popular science fiction writer, and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. David has written Startide Rising, The Postman, Glory Season, the Uplift War, Earth, Brightness Reef, Infinity’s Shore, Heaven’s Reach, Foundation’s Triumph, and more. More importantly, David Brin wants to work with others to create a positive future for humankind.
Richard Wilkinson
Richard Wilkinson, MPA, M.A., has 30 years experience as a human resources executive, consultant, adult educator, and manager. Richard is currently Human Resources Director for the International Training & Education Center for Health (I-TECH) at the University of Washington. I-TECH trains health care workers in Africa, India and the Caribbean in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of infectious diseases, including AIDS, TB and malaria.
Jagoda Perich-Anderson
Jagoda Perich-Anderson, M.A., is Principal of JPA Associates and the developer of the Creative Conflict™ approach. She is expert in building leadership capacity inside organizations, managing large-scale change, and facilitating groups to help them make strategic decisions and build high performance work environments.
Greg Bear
Greg is a beloved and widely honored writer, author of Darwin’s Radio, Darwin’s Children, Blood Music, Eon, Queen of Angels and others which have led the way in imagining the possibilities of human biology in the near and far future. DARWIN’S RADIO won the 2001 Nebula Award for best novel from the Science Fiction Writers of America. His most recent novel is Quantico.
Michael Vassar
Michael Vassar has been analyzing the likely impacts of nanotechnology and other transformative changes for Futurist.com for three years. He lives in New York City where he divides his time between Columbia University and working with Internet-based startup businesses. He is a member of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) Global Task Force, Director of Long-term Strategy for the Lifeboat Foundation, and an advocate for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Michael completed his MBA at Drexel University and has a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Penn State University.
Jean Brittingham
Jean Brittingham is the Director in North America for the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry. Ms. Brittingham provides the strategic and programmatic leadership for the CPI’s partnerships and programmes in the United States and Canada, including the Prince of Wales’ Business and the Environment Programme. With over 20 years of experience in business, government and communities across the globe, Ms. Brittingham has presented extensively in the US and abroad on sustainable solutions in communities, scenario planning, programmatic approaches to complex project delivery and the role of women in bringing about a sustainable planet. The State of Oregon, the American Association of University Women, Women Looking Ahead Magazine and Futurist.com have honored her for her achievement and commitment to successful organizations and a sustainable planet.
Donald Forbes
Don Forbes is the Principle of Forbes Management Group. He has a wealth of public sector and private sector experience in the fields of transportation and organizational effectiveness. He has worked for CH2M HILL in a variety of roles, including Region Manager for Transportation in their Southeast Region. Formerly he was the Director of the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Mark Safford
Mark Safford spent most of the past three decades thinking about, studying and planning public policy for national security, international relations and global transportation and logistics for three U.S. Government agencies: the Navy, the State Department and most recently the Department of Transportation. Now as an independent consultant, speaker and futurist, he continues to ponder these and related topics, the major factors that drive them, what their futures may turn out to be, and how best to position ourselves to make them what we want them to be, rather than let them make us. He can be contacted at congrats1@yahoo.com.
Sohail Inayatullah
Professor Sohail Inayatullah is a political scientist/futurist associated with Tamkang University, Taiwan, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland University of Technology and the Transcend Peace University. Sohail has authored/edited eighteen books and CDs, including Youth Futures, Macrohistory and Macrohistorians, and Questioning the Future. He has authored over 300 refereed journal articles, book chapters and magazine editorials. Sohail has conducted futures workshops for dozens of organizations in Australia and internationally, he has presented to the European Commission, Unesco, Organization of Islamic Conference, APEC, the Thai Capital Markets Academy, Academic Cooperation Association, University Sains Malaysia, and Ministries of numerous governments. He has also presented to numerous associations on the topic of city futures, including the Asia-Pacific Cities Summit, Local Government Managers Association in Queensland and Victoria.
Kanna Hudson
Kanna Hudson contributes to Futurist.com with an emphasis on the Millennial Generation. A former professional academic counselor, Kanna worked with Millennial college students in conversation about their dreams, values, and futures. As an instructor at the University of Washington, she designed and instructed courses for Millennial college students on making the most of college and preparing for adult life. She also teaches a course at the University of Washington called “The Millennial Generation.” In addition to her work with college students, Kanna worked as an educator for five years for Millennials aged ten to sixteen, and facilitated a regular discussion group on diversity, with most participants aged in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Born in 1982, she has been honing her expertise on how this generation thinks, works, plays, interacts, and feels for 25 years. View Kanna’s blog, www.MillennialGeneration.org.
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