Future Forum 2009

Speaker Biographies

Michael Willmott, Founding Partner, Trajectory.

Michael is one of the founding partners of Trajectory, a new futures consultancy started in September 2008. Before that he was co-founder of the Future Foundation in 1996. Michael is the author of two highly respected books on consumer and business trends (Citizen Brands and Complicated Lives) and has over 30 years experience of research and analysis in the field of social and consumer change. His interests are very varied and he has consulted on a range of diverse issues. But, his is best known for his work on consumer lifestyles and trends (author of Complicated Lives and Citizen Brands, both published by John Wiley and Sons). He clients are in both the public and private sectors and have included Nokia, HP, Electrolux, Kellogg’s, Barclaycard, Co-op, BT, the United Nations and the European Commission. Michael has presented in a number of countries including Austria, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States. A sociologist and statistician by training, Michael is a full member of the Market Research Society and a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

Jonathan Reynolds, University of Oxford.

Jonathan Reynolds is Academic Director of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management and a Fellow in Retail Marketing at Green Templeton College, Oxford. He first joined Oxford to work with Tesco on the application of new information technology, following time spent at the University of Edinburgh, with Coca-Cola, and at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. A geographer, urban planner and retailer by turn, he now teaches and researches in the areas of retail marketing and branding, retailing and technology, and retail planning and development. He has published and spoken widely on all these subjects and regularly features on television and radio news and consumer affairs programmes. His Retail Location Analysis programme has run annually in Oxford for over 20 years.

Alex Singleton, Researcher, University College London.

Dr Alex Singleton is a researcher at University College London in the Department of Geography and Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. His research concerns the development and use of bespoke geodemographic classification for public sector service delivery. He is also involved with a number of high profile surname mapping and area profiling websites, and is currently developing a real time geodemographic system. For more information about Alex, see his personal website www.alex-singleton.com or his geodmeographic blog areaprofiles.blogspot.com/.

John Fisher, Director, Local Futures Group.

John is Director of the Local Futures Group. He worked in economic development and regeneration for many years, with local authorities and regional development agencies in the North of England, before joining the Henley Centre for Forecasting, where he established the successful Planning for Local Change programme. John established the Local Futures Group in 1997. Comprising a team of researchers and consultants their aim is to provide a geographical perspective on economic and social change, and to introduce this perspective into public policy nationally and locally. Local Futures provides a range of services for use by researchers and policymakers, ranging from benchmarking to strategy development and monitoring. John works on a wide range of projects, at a regional and local level, and leads the company’s work on sustainable community strategies and ‘place-shaping’. John has also played a central role in developing of the company’s Local Knowledge on-line service. Used by local authorities and their partners across Britain, it provides a comprehensive evidence base, for a wide range of research and policy applications. Local Knowledge now includes the Output Area Classification, for the first time allowing the interactive analysis of the make-up of communities across Britain.

Christopher Royles, Technical Strategy UK - Pitney Bowes Business Insight.

Dr. Royles is responsible for technical evangelism and strategy for PBBI UK. He has over 10 years experience working across public sector and commercial markets in a customer facing and consultative role. He graduated from Liverpool University with a Ph.D in interactive and intelligent online presentation. His Technical Strategy role delivers deep technical insight, with a broad perspective unlimited by vertical domain, or product portfolio. He joined PBBI in 2004.

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