Author Bios

Dr. John H. Vanston

Chairman, Technology Futures,  Inc.

Author, MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends.
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John H. Vanston, Ph.D., is Chairman of Technology Futures, Inc. (TFI) and an internationally-renowned consultant, educator, and award-winning author in the fields of technology forecasting, minitrends, technology/market integration, and technology management in uncertain environments. His new book MINITRENDS: How Entrepreneurs & Innovators Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends, written in collaboration with his daughter, Carrie Vanston, is the winner of the Pinnacle Best Business Book of the Year, has won an Eric Hoffer Best Business Book Award, and received several other best business book finalist nods. The book has also received many excellent reviews and endorsements from publications and academic and business leaders.

Dr. Vanston founded TFI in 1978, building the Austin, Texas-based company into a leading authority in custom research, forecasting, and trend analysis in the telecom and other high-technology industries. During his career, he has managed multimillion-dollar high-tech R&D projects, fashioned a computer-based program for planning and managing complex research activities, and developed a formal system for promoting and targeting innovation activities. He is the leader in the development of TFI’s popular technology forecasting concepts Five Views of the Future™ and Technology Advantage Management.

At TFI, Dr. Vanston has conducted analyses of emerging technologies for a wide range of commercial, government, and academic organizations, including, among many others, Boeing, 3M, Chevron Chemical, DuPont, Coca Cola, Kyocer, Exxon, IBM, Kodak, Nortel, Duke Power, Southern Company, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Georgia Tech, and the University of Texas. These analyses have assisted his business clients in gaining sustainable competitive advantage and provided his government clients with important new information, insights, and advice that have increased the effectiveness of their operations.

Dr. Vanston gives presentations and conducts workshops and seminars on Minitrends, technology forecasting, trend analysis, and innovation management all over the world to such groups as the World Future Society, the Industrial Research Institute, the Association of Strategic Planners, the University of Houston Futures Studies Program,  Society of Association Executives, and many others.

Dr. Vanston’s Minitrends presentations and workshops provide  individuals and businesses of all sizes a way to find and profit from emerging trends–Minitrends–that will become significantly important in 2-5 years, but that are not yet widely recognized or appreciated. The presentations encourage the adoption of a mindset that opens our imagination, creativity, and curiosity in order to make the most of our circumstances and distinguish ourselves from others. Dr. Vanston’s Technology Forecasting presentations and workshops provide  audiences with an understanding of the technology development process, teaches participants to conduct valid technology/market forecasts, and shows how to utilize these forecasts to to identify and evaluate emerging market needs and improve organizational planning.

In addition to the MINITRENDS book, Dr. Vanston has authored or coauthored books including Innovate! Straight Path to Quality, Customer Delight, and Competitive Advantage, Technology Forecasting: An Aid to Effective Technology Management, Emerging Technology Programs, Industrial Electrification in the Information Age, Introduction to Technology Market Forecasting, Principles for Electric Power Policy, and several others.

Prior to establishing TFI, Dr. Vanston was a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and deputy director of the University’s Center for Energy Studies, an interdisciplinary organization that he helped establish in 1974. While at the University he conducted a number of forecasts and trend analyses in the energy area.

Earlier, Dr. Vanston served as a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army. Dr. Vanston has a B.S. in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy, M.S. and professional degrees in nuclear engineering from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. ______________________

CARRIE VANSTON

Media and Marketing Director, Technology Futures, Inc.

Co-author, MINITRENDS: How Entrepreneurs & Innovators Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends.

Carrie Vanston is Media and Marketing Director at Technology Futures, Inc. She has many years of experience in public relations, marketing, and sales at TFI and in the entertainment industry. Because the successful exploitation of a Minitrend requires effective marketing, she brings a distinct real-world quality to the book, particularly in the media communications and social media areas. Her easy sense of style and readability helps the reader connect with the Minitrend concept.