Gerd Leonhard is a well-known Futurist and Author of five books, a highly influential Keynote
Speaker, Think-Tank Leader & Advisor, and the Founder of GreenFuturist.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 spent 10 years working as a professional guitar
player, composer and producer. He then caught the Internet bug and became a digital media
entrepreneur, serving as CEO with several Internet startups, based in San Francisco for 7
years. In 2002, Gerd returned to Europe and started his career as Futurist, Keynote Speaker
and Strategic Advisor.

He now travels around the globe and speaks at 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. Since late 2011, Gerd has been
widening 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.

 

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.