MediaFuturist: About Gerd Leonhard

Gerd Interview BRU Flickr REC Radiozentrum

Official biography as of January 2012

Gerd Leonhard is a well-known Futurist and Author of 5 books, a highly influential Keynote Speaker, Think-Tank Leader & Advisor, and - since late 2011 - the Founder of GreenFuturists.com. Gerd also serves as Visiting Professor at the Fundação Dom Cabral (São Paulo, Brazil). He is well-known as the Co-author of the influential book ‘The Future of Music’ (Berklee Press, 2005), and as the author of 'The End of Control’ (2007), ‘Music 2.0’ (2008), 'Friction is Fiction' (2009, Lulu Publishing), and ‘The Future of Content’ (Kindle-only, 2011). His new book "From Ego to Eco" will be released in 2012.

Gerd's background is in music and the music business; in 1985 he won Berklee College’s 'Quincy Jones Award' and subsequently spend 10 years working as a professional guitar player, composer and producer. He then caught the Internet bug and became a digital media entrepreneur and start-up Internet CEO, based in San Francisco, for 7 years. In 2002, Gerd returned to Europe and started his career as a Futurist, Keynote Speaker and Strategic Advisor. He now travels around the globe and speaks at many major conferences and events, company retreats, seminars and in-house trainings on the Future of Business, Sustainability, Environmental Policy and Climate Change, Media, Content and Entertainment, Technology, Marketing, Advertising & Branding, Telecommunications etc. In late 2011, Gerd decided to widen the scope of his work to include some of the most pressing ‘green’ issues such as sustainability and sustainable capitalism, renewable energy, climate change and global warming (see GreenFuturist.com)

Gerd is considered a leading expert on topics such as digital business models, the networked society, a sustainable business ecology, social media and social communications, TV & Radio 2.0, mobile content, innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship, consumer trends, UGC and peer production, copyright and IPR issues, next-generation advertising, marketing and branding, and recently the development of ‘green futures‘ scenarios. In 2006, The Wall Street Journal called Gerd ‘one of the leading Media Futurists in the World’.

Gerd's keynotes, speeches and presentations are renowned for his hard-hitting and provocative yet inspiring, personal and intense motivational style. With over 1’300 engagements in 43 countries since 2003, Gerd has addressed over 200.000 executives and professionals, and is often considered a key influencer. His diverse client list includes Consumers International, Youtube, Nokia, The Guardian, Google, Sony-BMG, Telkom Indonesia, Siemens, RTL, ITV, the BBC, France Telecom, Orange, Deutsche Telekom, MTN, The Financial Times, DDB / TribalDDB, Ogilvy, Omnicom, the European Commission and many others.

Gerd is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (London), a member of the World Future Society, and a visiting professor at the Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil. A native German, he now resides in Basel, Switzerland.

The latest promotional pictures for clients / media: download .zip file (August 2012)

Download Gerd's latest biography in English , or in German: Gerd Leonhard DE

Download 2010 pictures (10 MB): Download 2011 Gerd Leonhard Pics

Various links:

The Futures Agency

Green Futurist
The Future of Business blog
Twitter @gleonhard

Youtube channel
Slideshows / Slideshare (mostly on media & content)

Download my latest LinkedIn details and endorsements: GerdLeonhard Futurist LinkedIn PDF

English version of my July 2012 show reel

This is a short video with some of my best snippets from the past 5 years, taken from various keynotes and speaking engagements.

You may also want to visit my video page on my blog http://www.mediafuturist.com/my_videos or check out my Blip.Tv channel (download all videos) at http://blip.tv/gleonhard#1455358