Ed Gillespie

Biography

Ed Gillespie is a communications specialist, serial entrepreneur, and futurist, and was a Director of Greenpeace UK for eight years. He is the author of Only Planet: a flight-free adventure around the world, a global adventure where he takes anything but a plane to circumnavigate the world. Ed takes the complex, interconnected, interdependent nature of the many challenges the world faces, and makes common sense of them.

He was the co-founder of Futerra, an international change agency that specialises in business transformation and creative communications. Ed is known for his brand of authentic ‘insultancy’ – being strategically rude to clients, with wit and wisdom to inspire them to greater heights and aspirations. He’s highly adaptable, constructively challenging, and pushes audience assumptions of business as usual, opening minds then mapping possible practical solutions and opportunities.

Ed believes that the future won't simply be an extension of today. When considering what the future might be, he thinks we should stretch the idea of what we might consider impossible. He feels that future changes will see some jobs destroyed, but many new ones created. Ed has said that the farming industry will focus on small, autonomous robots rather than large tractors.

A Trustee of Energy Revolution, Ed is also actively involved in several pioneering businesses as a director or investor, from Zero Carbon Food, Panda Packaging, Piclo, Small Robot Company, Engaged Tracking, Common Objective, Demand Logic, and Raw Bottles.

Ed also co-presents two podcasts, The Great Humbling with social entrepreneur Dougald Hine, and The Futurenauts - How to survive the apocalypse, with comedian Jon Richardson and fellow reluctant futurist Mark Stevenson.