David Zach is one of the few professionally trained futurists on this planet, having earned a master’s degree in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Of course that was way back in 1981, so it’s pretty much a history degree by now.

As a futurist, David’s worked with over 1500 associations, corporations and colleges offering insights on the personal and professional impact of strategic trends. In other words, he gives funny, fascinating and thought-provoking talks on the strategic trends and traditions with design, technology, economics, business, education, demographics and society.

In his work, he’s not stuck on the future and is always searching for old ideas that stand the test of time. Instead of telling people what to think about the future, he wants to help them understand how to think about the future. He thinks fascinating forecasts can be fun, but thoughtful, long-term choices are better.

David’s only had two real jobs: one at Johnson Controls and the other at Northwestern Mutual, both in the roles of environmental scanning and strategic planning. He also taught Future Studies in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

David is on the board of the American Chesterton Society and recently completed a three year term on the board of the American Institute of Architects (2011-13).

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