John H. Vanston

Dr. Vanston is the award-winning author of "MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends," a book based on his more than 30 years of experience in identifying and applying technical, social, and business trends. His desire to share his extensive forecasting and trend analysis experience to help a broad audience find and exploit emerging trends as business opportunities inspired him to write the book with the collaboration of his daughter, Carrie Vanston. Several earlier books, also involve his life-long interest in forecasting and trend analysis.

John founded Technology Futures, Inc. (TFI) in 1978 and as President, and now Chairman, has built it into a a leading authority in custom research, forecasting, and trend analysis in telecommunications and other high-technology industries. He is an internationally-renowned consultant, educator, speaker, and author in the fields of technology forecasting, technology/market integration, trend analysis, and technology management in uncertain environments.

John has conducted analyses of emerging technologies for a wide range of commercial, government, and academic organizations including among many others Boeing, 3M, DuPont, Coca Cola, Kyocera, Exxon, IBM, Kodak, Nortel, Duke Power, Southern Company, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Edison Electric Institute, Industrial Research Institute, Georgia Tech, Columbia University, and the University of Houston. These analyses have assisted his business clients in gaining sustainable competitive advantage and provided his government clients with important new information and insights that have increased the effectiveness of their operations.

John gives presentations and conducts seminars on Minitrends, technology forecasting, and innovation management for organizations all over the world. As a former Army Officer, he has a special affinity toward those in the military service and has an open offer to conduct Minitrends seminars at very low rates for injured service men and women to assist them in identifying and taking advantage of new career opportunities.

Prior to establishing TFI, John served as a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and as the deputy director of the University's Center for Energy Studies. Earlier, John served as a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army.

MINITRENDS book collaborator Carrie Vanston has many years of experience in public relations, marketing, and sales at Technology Futures, Inc. and in the entertainment industry. Because the successful exploitation of a Minitrend requires effective marketing, she brings a real-world quality to the book, particularly in the media communications and social media areas.

John lives in Austin, Texas with his lovely wife, Angela. He has 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and leads a charmed life, indeed.