John A. Sweeney

Director of Curiosity, Play & Innovation

Dr. John A. Sweeney is an award-winning futurist, designer, and author. He has worked in over 40 countries on five continents with extensive experience in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the MENA region. At present, he is an Associate Professor of Futures and Foresight at Narxoz University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. John also serves as a Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Executive Education program focusing on futures thinking and scenario planning. As the project lead, John has organized, managed, and facilitated futures and foresight initiatives, trainings, seminars, and stakeholder engagement projects for numerous UN agencies, INGOs, government innovation units, start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. John completed a PhD at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa focused on alternative futures under the direction of Jim Dator. He tweets on trends, emerging issues, and all things postnormal at @aloha_futures.

John A. Sweeney, Purple Compass