Who We Are
We have a wide range of researchers on our core staff, as well as a large network of affiliates. Our permanent staff members typically have deep knowledge in one field, with at least one other strong content interest. We look for people who work at the edges of their disciplines, with a mind toward global future implications and practical impacts on decision making.
A native of Odessa, Ukraine, Marina is particularly suited to see things from a global perspective. She has directed international programs and led international development projects for SRI (formerly Stanford Research Institute) in China, Japan, Vietnam, India, and Eastern Europe. Marina has also authored publications on international business and economics, with an emphasis on regional innovation and competitiveness.
In addition to serving as IFTF's Executive Director,...
Dawn oversees client services for the Health Horizons program and across other projects at the Institute, contributing to the business relationship part of the equation. She began her technical sales career over a decade ago after realizing her skills lie in building partnerships between organizations and their clients. She believes in living life passionately which is why she was intrigued by the topics the Institute covers. This view of life has taken her on many adventures...
Robin is a Graphic Designer in the Production department of IFTF and works to support all graphic and creative needs for IFTF deliverables, as well as maintaining IFTF's graphic identity. Working with various researchers and employees, Robin finds creative solutions for research project reports, presentations, representation of data, packaging, and illustration support.
Robin holds a BA from University of California, Berkeley as well as a Certificate of Graphic Design from...
Matt serves as the research manager for the Ten-Year Forecast Program, supporting research efforts in a variety of ways. He thinks foresight and forecasting holds immense promise for addressing traditional social problems, and his passions mirror his IFTF research efforts on education, sustainability, social enterprise, and global development. In addition to his work on the Ten-Year Forecast, Matt has recently contributed to several other projects including the development of a map...
With an A.B. in History of Science from Harvard College, Mathias is interested in the convergence of social and technological forces: how they shape our individual behaviors and the...
Upon joining IFTF in 2007, Vivian quickly became the voice of the Health Horizons Program in the blogosphere, writing about trends in the global health economy. As a researcher, Vivian has explored how social networking platforms have contributed to the emergence of collective action groups centered around shared health concerns. She has also focused her attention on how social media, other web-based platforms, and mobile devices can play a role in personal health management and as...
Jake's research examines the role of emerging technologies in transforming subjectivity, culture, and governance, and he has been leading explorations into new methods for communicating foresight. Jake is currently completing his Ph.D. at the Manoa School of Futures Studies on neuropolitics, neuropower, and alternative futures for the extended mind.
Before joining IFTF, Jake was a researcher at the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, leading and participating in...
Born in Oakland, California in a time and place of great social change, Rod Falcon attended nearby UC Berkeley to better understand what was happening. There he studied history and social change as an undergraduate and public policy as a graduate student. After working one summer enforcing the Voting Rights Act for the Justice Department, he realized that public policy was not as future oriented as it might be and was inspired to do something about it. He came to IFTF to forecast...
Devin is Program Manager for IFTF’s Technology Horizons projects. His interest centers on the application of foresight to organizational strategy and strategic planning.
Prior to joining IFTF, he was involved with a number of projects in the areas of technology assessment and the future of business. He has lived and worked in several countries throughout his career and approaches projects from a strongly international perspective. Devin holds an MBA with a focus in emerging...
Over ten years ago Jean brought her lifelong passion for visual metaphors and more than eighteen years of experience in information design, design strategy, branding and graphics production to IFTF. Her experience helped IFTF move from toward new ways of presenting research material visually through maps, digital stories and many other methods.
She currently serves on the IFTF Leadership Team, and leads the communications, creative and production arm of the organization. In...
Research Manager Rachel Lyle Hatch has studied and worked in Thailand, Ireland, Poland, and the US. Her current forecasting efforts are focused on external future forces affecting social connectivity, leadership, caregiving, and faith. She is developing an immersive learning experience to help leaders and future leaders experience the world of the future and the new leadership skills that will be required to thrive. She is leading a project on the future of active giving, and...
Lyn Jeffery is a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the changing nature of identity and reality in a blended digital physical world, with special interests in real-time data and in the Chinese-language Internet. She also works with corporate and government clients on mobility, social media, and the future of work. Lyn has led the Global Ethnographic Network, a multi-year ethnographic research program that experiments with reflective personal forecasting...
Bob has worked for more than 30 years as a forecaster, exploring the human side of new technologies. He has a deep interest in the future of religion and its impact on business, society, and individuals. Bob works mainly with senior corporate executives across a wide range of industries. He has rich experience in presenting IFTF's foresight and then drawing out insights-inputs to strategy-and-action steps.
Bob served as IFTF's president and CEO from 1996 to 2004. Still on...
As Program Manager for IFTF’s Ten-Year Forecast Program, Maureen works closely with clients to help them navigate the waters of each year’s Ten-Year Forecast, in addition to supporting the Program Director’s vision in order to help bring it to life.
Maureen’s particular interests reside at the intersection of creativity, information design, and social interaction. With a degree in Sociology, a professional background in Web Design, Information Architecture, and Web Project...
Bradley Kreit was born in San Francisco and grew up in Oakland, California. Taken by an urge to explore other parts of the country, he moved to Connecticut for college and moved and traveled around the United States before settling happily back in the Bay Area.
At Connecticut College, Bradley studied cultural and political history with an emphasis on economic development in the Americas. Bradley first became interested in health care while working as a medical reporter in...
Andy's passion for new technology and innovation led him to San Jose State University, where he is majoring in MIS. At IFTF, Andy assists with infrastructures for servers and general technology support for the staff. He has four years experience providing general support prior to joining IFTF.
Mike Liebhold is a Distinguished Fellow focusing on the mobile web, abundant computation, immersive media and geospatial foundations for context-aware and ubiquitous computing. Previously, Mike was a Visiting Researcher, Intel Labs, working on a pattern language based on semantic web frameworks for ubiquitous computing.
Before that, during the late 1990s Mike worked on startups building large scale international public IT services and IP networks for rural and remote...
Miriam Lueck Avery is a research manager in the Health Horizons program and across the Institute, researching a broad range of topics and managing a broad range of projects. She began interning with the Institute in 2003. As an ethnographer, her overarching interest lies in how the rhythms and choices in people’s everyday lives individually and collectively shape the future. More specifically she explores how food connects people to each other, to their health and bodies, and to...
Rachel is a research director in the Health Horizons Program. Her research interests include migration and health, the global trade of health services, the global portability of health and pension benefits, and the international movement of health professionals. After joining IFTF, Rachel has applied trends in new media and mobile technologies to her health systems expertise to study how personal technologies are informing health care practices and delivering care. Much of her...
Jane McGonigal takes play seriously. She studies the power of games to impact the real-world -- and she creates games that do just that. A pioneer in the field of "alternate reality gaming", her previous projects include The Lost Ring, World Without Oil, Cruel 2 B Kind, and I Love Bees. She is an expert on applying game design and game theory to real work and real business, and has consulted and developed internal game workshops for leading technology companies in Asia, Europe, and...
Since joining IFTF in 2007, Lisa has played many roles in the production department. Currently, Lisa is the Assistant Producer—providing a bridge between research and production, Lisa edits various deliverables, helps to manage the website, and works to organize the flow of projects that runs through IFTF at all times. Her interests lie in all things language-related: literature, editing, writing, etc. Lisa holds a BA in English literature, with a specialization in 18th Century...
A self-described nerd growing up, Sean read all he could about science as a kid, and immersed himself in maps for hours at a time. He also set his chemistry set on fire a few times, took junior high computer classes on a TRS-80, and was on his high school ecology team. In college, he switched from mechanical engineering to polymer science when he learned that polymer grads often went on to technical sales. The idea of technical sales piqued his interest, and an entrepreneur was...
Neela manages the Health Horizons program while working closely with the Health Horizon research team to facilitate the logistics of project planning and deliverables. She also assists the program director with managing the execution & planning of projects, budgets and conferences.
Neela's interest in health lies in a commitment to help others by providing knowledge and assistance about their health and health care. Before coming to IFTF, Neela worked as a volunteer,...
David Pescovitz is co-editor of the popular weblog BoingBoing.net and also editor-at-large for MAKE:, the DIY technology magazine. Pescovitz co-wrote the book Reality Check (HardWired, 1996), based on his long-running futurist column in Wired magazine where he remains a correspondent. He has also written for Scientific American, Popular Science, New York Times, Washington Post, Salon, and New Scientist, among many other publications. In 2002, he won the Foresight Prize in...
Jody's design career began when he was hired to airbrush surfboards for Stüssy Designs in Laguna Beach, California. Along the way he's designed men's surfwear and branding for Gotcha Sportswear, rave flyers for events in San Francisco, a magazine called Morph's Outpost on the Digital Frontier, web design for various early net startups, advertising for defense contractors and a magazine for a rifle company, finally coming to rest in the IFTF production department, where he...
Joining the Institute in 1998 Chris Sumner directs the IFTF's MIS/IT dept. and leads our technology direction and implementation strategies providing new innovative collaboration systems and platforms. Prior to joining IFTF, Mr. Sumner was developing new technology systems for Department of Defense applications and has extensive experience as both a technologist and systems integration consultant. He currently holds several technology certificates in Linux, Cisco, OSX, Microsoft,...
Jason Tester's interests in interactive technology began the old-fashioned way, tinkering one-on-one with the equipment he had at hand. With his work on technological voting, however, he saw the possible effects of computer-human interaction on the future of society as a whole.
At IFTF, Jason focuses on three areas: research into how people use emerging technologies, the application of design to futures research, and facilitating groups to stimulate insights and implications...
Anthony directs the Institute's strategic investments in collaborative forecasting platforms, futures media and visualization technologies, and web communications tools. By applying emerging practices like agile development, extreme programming and open data infrastructures to the creation of forecasting tools, he seeks to provide platforms for the Institute to develop rich and wide-reaching forecasting networks.
Anthony continues to conduct research on the impact of new...
Kathi Vian leads IFTF's Ten-Year Forecast Program, which is a broad scan of the emerging global environment, focusing on the intersection of new economic forces, changing environmental realities, and new social practices. She is the author of the annual Map of the Decade, which summarizes the most important trends and insights from each year's research across the Institute.
Kathi is also an active participant in the Institute's Technology Horizons Program, where she has been...
