John B. Mahaffie
John has been a speaker and consultant on the future since 1987. He has authored over 3 dozen futures studies for corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit groups. He is an author and speaker on consumer life and values, the future of science and technology, education, the environment, transportation and infrastructure, health and medicine, work and worklife, telecommunications, and other futures topics.
John gives courses and workshops on futures topics and techniques for corporations, government agencies, and trade and professional associations. John’s recent projects have included workshops on scenario development, studies on telecommunications, and research and presentations the future of libraries.
John moderated panel debates at the World Innovation Summit for Education, Doha, Qatar, in the past few years. Here he is in action at the WISE 2013 event [LINK]. He is an adjunct professor at American University, teaching Future and Foresight an honors colloquium.
John co-authored 2025: Scenarios of U.S. and Global Society Reshaped by Science and Technology (Oakhill, 1997) with Joe Coates and Andy Hines. Other books include From Scan to Plan: Integrating Trends into the Strategy Making Process (ASAE 2003), Future Work (Jossey Bass, 1990), Managing Your Future as an Association (ASAE, 1994), and The Future of the Apartment Industry (NMHC, 1995).
John is a co-founder and past Board Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists. In his spare time, he serves on the board of trustees of the Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC.
A brief video of John may be found here.
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Principals
Jennifer Jarratt
Jennifer has been working since 1984 on wide-ranging futures activities. She is a recognized leading thinker and author among futurists on human resources and social/demographic change.
Jennifer presents to and consults with organizations and groups on key factors shaping their future. She leads seminars and courses on thinking like a futurist, scenario building, and practical tools for working with the future. Some recent keynote speeches by Jennifer include a presentation at the Smithsonian Museums for the New Millennium international symposium and at the First Annual Texas Coastal Issues Conference.
Jennifer is co-author of: From Scan to Plan: Integrating Trends into the Strategy-Making Process (American Society of Association Executives, 2003),Managing Your Future as an Association (American Society of Association Executives, 1994), The Future at Work (Jossey Bass, 1993), Future Work (Jossey Bass, 1990), What Futurists Believe (World Future Society, 1989), Why Issues Emerge (Electric Power Research Institute, 1989), and Issues Management: How to Plan, Organize, and Manage for the Future (Lomond, 1986).
Jennifer is past board chair and a founding member of the Association of Professional Futurists. Jennifer was a public representative on the board of the International Association for Financial Planning, now the Financial Planning Association, from 1996-1999. She was an adjunct faculty member of the University of Maryland-University College program in distance learning, and was a visiting instructor in Studies of the Future, University of Houston-Clear Lake, 1990-91. In her earlier career as a journalist in the US and Britain, Jennifer shared in a Pulitzer Prize.
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About Leading Futurists LLC
In nearly two decades of helping organizations, Jennifer Jarratt and John Mahaffie, founders of Leading Futurists, have learned how critical it is to make the future relevant to today. They have worked to make futures insights accessible, meaningful, and useful to managers and executives.
Jarratt and Mahaffie were formerly principals of Coates & Jarratt, Inc., a leading futures consultancy. They have been exploring the future for organizations since the mid-1980s. Organizations they serve include:
- Bovis Lend Lease
- The Coca-Cola Company
- Dow Chemical Company
- DuPont
- GE
- General Motors
- HB Fuller
- The Kellogg Company
- Nabisco
- Nestlé USA
- Nokia
- Pfizer
- Procter & Gamble
- Siemens
- The American Society of Association Executives Foundation
- The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- The Department of Veterans Affairs
- The National Multi Housing Council
- The National Security Agency
- The Smithsonian Institution
- The U.S. Customs Service
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- The World Bank
- YSI Inc.
Leading Futurists’ expertise is in combining a comprehensive knowledge of the future with proven skill at interpreting the signals of change. Mahaffie and Jarratt are experts at scenario building. They have taught the technique over many years to executives. Together they have authored dozens of trend studies and guidebooks on studying the future. Jarratt also served as a board member for an international association.