Bios of the Futurists

Bob Stewart, Director of Canadian Centres for Futures Education (Futures Canada)

 

Gary Marx, President of the Center for Public Outreach in Vienna, Virginia

Ruben Nelson, President of Square One Management Ltd. and The Alliance for Capitalizing on Change.

 

Bob Stewart, Director

Bob Stewart began his education in Futures Studies while still a student at McMaster University. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in Political Science, after which he began to study Futurism full-time, founding Canadian Centres for Futures Education (Futures Canada).

 

Bob is currently involved in numerous activities promoting the growth of Futures Education, including building Futures Canada as a virtual futurist library and working to develop and implement a Futures Education curriculum for high schools.

 

He has presented at schools and other venues such as the Canadian National Peace Conference, in Hamilton, Ontario. He also sits on the board of directors for the Alliance for Capitalizing on Change, and an active contributor to the Applied Foresight Network out of Simon Fraser University.

 

Bob is available to speak at any venue, provide training and workshops, private, corporate or government consultation.

 

Gary Marx

President, Center for Public Outreach

1831 Toyon Way, Vienna, Virginia 22182, USA

Phone 703-938-8725, Fax 703-938-8726, E-mail gmarxcpo@aol.com

 

Gary Marx, CAE, APR, is president of the Center for Public Outreach, an organization he founded in 1998, which provides counsel on future-oriented leadership, communication, education, community, and democracy. 

 

Marx served for nearly 20 years as a senior executive for the American Association of School Administrators.  His responsibilities ranged from serving as executive director of the association's Leadership for Learning Foundation to providing direction for all communications programs and leading numerous initiatives.

 

During his professional career, Marx has combined his knowledge and expertise in education and communication to become an international leader in both.  He has been called "an intellectual entrepreneur, who constantly pursues ideas," and "a deep generalist." 

 

Prior to joining AASA, Marx served as executive director of communications for the 82,000-student Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado and the 10,000-student Westside Community Schools in Omaha , Nebraska .

 

His latest books, published in 2006, include Sixteen Trends…Their Profound Impact on Our Future and Future Focused Leadership… Preparing Schools , Students, and Communities for Tomorrow’s Realities.  As a futurist, Marx has also directed studies such as Preparing Students for the 21^st Century (1996), Preparing Schools and School Systems for the 21^st Century (1999), and Ten Trends…Educating Children for a Profoundly Different Future (2000).  Marx is a frequent speaker, workshop leader, and advisor on futures issues for school systems; colleges and universities; civic and community educators; business, professional, community, and government leaders; and state, national, regional, and international organizations, including the World Future Society, which has included him in its directory of futures thinkers.  His presentations, books, articles, and counsel on trends and other issues stimulate thinking about how organizations and individuals can stay ahead of the curve as they move into the future. 

 

Marx has done presentations in all 50 U.S. states, several Canadian provinces, and on four continents, including North America, Asia, South America, and Europe .  He has provided counsel to organizations worldwide.  In 1999, for example, Marx was on the scene in Colorado to advise on strategy in the wake of the tragedy at Columbine High School .

 

In recognition of his career-spanning contributions to education and leadership, Marx was presented the 1999 President's Award by the National School Public Relations Association and the coveted Distinguished Service Award by the American Association of School Administrators at its 2000 National Conference on Education.  He is one of a few people in the nation to be accredited by the American Society of Association Executives, the Public Relations Society of America, and the National School Public Relations Association.

           

Among the several other projects Marx has directed is Schoolhouse in Red, a benchmark 1990s study of school facilities that, for the first time, called attention to nearly $100 billion in deferred maintenance of school buildings.  Marx recently served as senior research associate and advisor for a project devoted to finding the scientific link between IEQ and student and staff performance.  He also directed two Studies of the American School Superintendency for both the 1980s and 1990s.  In the mid-90s, Marx collaborated with USA Today's Pat Ordovensky to produce a publication titled, Working With the News Media.  He has advised numerous organizations on an array of issues, facilitated planning, and conducted a number of communications audits.

 

While at AASA, Marx served as executive editor of all association publications, including periodicals such as The School Administrator (magazine) and Leadership News (newspaper), as well as more than 150 AASA books and video programs.  He instituted an online service for the organization long before that type of communication became commonplace.  In addition to those previously mentioned, Marx is author of other books, such as Excellence in Our Schools…Making It Happen, Building Public Confidence in Our Schools, and Public Relations for Administrators, and co-author of several others. He has also written numerous articles on a variety of subjects.

 

Internationally, Marx is engaged as a member of the Steering Committee for CIVITAS International, which is spearheading efforts to strengthen democracies in several parts of the world.  He has met with CIVITAS colleagues at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France; served as a visiting scholar in Taiwan; devoted time in Sarajevo to helping strengthen civic education and democracy in Bosnia-Herzegovina; spoken to a Western Hemisphere conference on democratization held in Mexico City and presented a series of workshops and speeches in four Mexican cities; spoken in the People's Republic of China; consulted with representatives of five Central Asian nations on democratization and civic education during a meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan; spoken to civic educators in Northern Ireland; made presentations and conducted consultations on trends, democracy development, and visualizing a preferred future across Argentina; met with and addressed international civic education leaders in Moscow, Budapest, Amman, and Warsaw; spoken to educators in Department of Defense Schools in Germany and Italy; keynoted a conference in Singapore; addressed educators and other community leaders in Riga and Vilnius; and during the CIVITAS World Congress in Palermo, Italy, learned how that city is effectively fighting crime and corruption.  Marx is chief evaluator for the Civitas International Civic Education Exchange Program which involves more than 20 countries and as many U.S. states.  He is also active in the United Nations Association of the USA , has initiated international projects with support from the Longview Foundation, and has appeared on television and radio broadcasts worldwide aimed at strengthening civic education and democracy.

 

For many years, Marx has been a primary contact and counsel for the news media.  He has made frequent appearances on radio and television news and talk programs and has been quoted on a broad span of issues that impact society.  His leadership has extended to media education, and he has been both a founder and member of significant groups that have advised producers and networks on children's television and other educational programming.  Marx has been a member of the PBS Education Advisory Board, NBC's "The More You Know" Advisory Board, and the Emmy Awards Selection Committee.

 

Early in his career, Marx was a television and radio broadcaster and owner of a radio station.  He has been the announcer for numerous commercials and public service announcements, some heard on hundreds of stations nationwide.  As a narrator, Marx has voiced many soundtracks, narrated symphony concerts, and regularly serves as announcer for the Presidential Scholars program in the Concert Hall or Eisenhower Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Constitution Hall in Washington , D.C.  

 

A veteran local community leader, Marx was a founder and chairman of a community improvement organization, the Keystone Community Task Force, which aims at making democracy work effectively at the local level.  The organization, which continues to provide leadership in the Omaha area, was named the leading community development program of its type by the state of Nebraska .  Marx has also served as a public official, holding appointed positions on significant bodies such as the Omaha Parks and Recreation Board and the Omaha-Douglas County Urban Growth Policy Board.

 

Marx, a board member of the Horace Mann League, is one of the founders of the National Superintendent of the Year program and has served as a member of the Selection Committees for the National Teacher of the Year program, Disney's "Salute to the American Teacher," and USA Today's "All USA Academic Team."  Marx was a member of planning and executive committees associated with the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and the celebration of the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.  Gary and Judy Marx have two children—John is a television commercial producer in Hollywood and Daniel is an association executive in the Washington , D.C. , area.

 

2006

 

Ruben Nelson

 

Ruben Nelson is one of Canada's pioneers of serious futures research. Since 1960, he has had an active interest in our future. Today, he is one of Canada's few professional futurists.

Ruben has spent his life exploring the many ways we and our world are changing. He now believes deeply that if we are to sustain success in the unique conditions of the 21st Century, we must develop new mental maps of where we are in history; that the tacit understandings of our world and our culture can no longer lead us to the future we desire.

 

• In 1960, as an undergraduate at Queen's, he organized and chaired the first formal futures conference in Canada.
• In 1970, he was part of a small team asked by the Prime Minister to re-conceive Canadian social policy.
• In 1972, he designed and implemented the new federal program for retired people - New Horizons.
• In 1975, as director of the Cultural Paradigms Project, he was the first to apply the concept of paradigm change to the evolution of whole cultures.
• In 1976, he was one of the founders of the Canadian Association for Futures Studies and was subsequently CAFS' third president.
• In 1980, he was one of the organizers of the largest futures conference ever held - the joint World Futures Society / CAFS event in Toronto.
• From 1986-89 he directed the most thorough Canadian study into the transformation of Industrial societies into post-Industrial societies and economies.
• Today, he is the founding President of The Alliance for Capitalizing on Change - a Canadian body explicitly designed to make it easier for us to explore and understand change in order to influence the shape of our future.
• He is also a member of the World Futures Studies Federation - the global professional association for futurists.

He helps people see the big picture and ask big questions:

• Why is the Industrial Age ending, and why now?
• What forces are driving this transformation?
• What new way of living is struggling to be born within us and among us?
• What we can do now to become agents of change?
• What it will cost us if we do... and if we don't?

 

Over the years he has written on changing paradigms, the cognitive work of leadership, societal change, the future of work, 21st century social policy, the emerging information society and the societal implications of micro-electronic technologies.

Ruben is much sought-after as a speaker and consultant. He also has a strong background in public policy and as an advisor to both elected officials and bureaucrats. He works in every region and sector of Canada. He is at home in corporate board rooms and church basements.

 

Ruben studied at Queen's University (Philosophy, Politics & Theology), lived in India and worked in Ottawa.

 

Ruben is active in the community. In 1989, he conceived of Calgary as an Information Port and chaired the first phase of the Calgary InfoPort initiative. For eight years Ruben facilitated the Prosperity South process. He has also served as a Governor of the Calgary Economic Development Authority. Ruben was honoured by Rotary International in 1997, when he was named a Paul Harris Fellow. Today, he is a board member of The Enviros Wilderness School Association.

 

Ruben Nelson is the only Canadian who is a fellow of the World Business Academy, the World Academy of Art and Science and the Meridian International Institute for Leadership, Governance, Change and the Future.

 

He is also President of Square One Management Ltd. and The Alliance for Capitalizing on Change.

 

He now lives in the Alberta Rockies with Heather, his wife of almost 40 years, and their three cats.

 

Time travel is possible. It's just a lot slower than in the movies and the only thing you can send backward is your mind.