Dr. Claire Nelson
Chief Ideation Leader of The Futures Forum
Dr. Claire Nelson is Chief Ideation Leader of The Futures Forum, a research and education practice specializing in bringing the power of strategic foresight, and the discipline of sustainability engineering to challenges facing organizations and communities. She was recently named on Forbes as one of the top 50 female futurists in the world. She is author of SMART FUTURES FOR A FLOURISHING WORLD: A Paradigm Shift for Achieving Global Sustainability. Under her leadership, the Futures Forum has among other things designed and curated a Semi-annual Webinar Series Space Futures Forum; the first Forum on the Future of the Caribbean Sea, held in Kingston, Jamaica in partnership with the University of the West Indies; as well as Forum on the Future in partnership with the Jamaica Investment Promotion Agency.
A sought-after speaker, Nelson’s engagements have included: Association of Blacks in Energy; ASME; World Bank; Women in Research Engineering Symposium; Black Engineer of the Year Conference; EarthShift Global, NSBE-Ghana; Salzburg Seminar; Pacific Skills Summit; World Steel; University of Tennessee, University of the West Indies; and the US Air Force. She also provides foresight and sustainability consulting to organizations such as: Development Bank of Jamaica; Spectrum Management Authority; Caribbean Maritime University; Petroleum Management Authority; Guardian Insurance; Jamaica Public Service; and Engineering for One Planet. She has served on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Futures Studies and the World Futures Review Journal and is an active member of the Association of Professional Futurists and the World Futures Studies Federation, where she is Editor-At-Large of its flagship publication HUMAN FUTURES Magazine. Dr. Nelson has also served as an Adjunct Faculty at Morgan State University and a Guest Lecturer at Purdue University, George Mason University, George Washington University, and University of Colorado.
Before establishing The Futures Forum, Dr. Nelson held a variety of positions at the Inter-American Development Bank, over a thirty-year career which spanned strategic portfolio development; program identification and management, institutional assessments and technical feasibility studies across a variety of sectors including: public sector modernization, private sector development, community development, and trade development. She was a thought leader in promoting Strategic Foresight as a tool for advancing effectiveness of project design and implementation, organizing the Bank’s first Latin America 2020 Social Development Futures Seminar Series in 2006, and several in-house trainings utilizing scenario planning. She pioneered the topic of development with equity at the IDB, helping to build the Bank’s portfolio in Black economic empowerment in Latin America. As a result of her leadership, she was honored with the IDB’s prestigious Ortiz Mena Award in 2010.
A social entrepreneur, Dr. Nelson is Founding President of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, the leading Caribbean American Diaspora organization (since 1993) and recognized as the Architect of the Campaign for June as National Caribbean American Heritage Month.
She is the Curator of the Caribbean American Legislative Forum on Capitol Hill and White House Briefings, the Invest Caribbean Business Conference, and the Caribbean American Heritage Awards. Most recently, she co-founded the Caribbean Space Society to lead advocacy and education regarding Space for the Sustainable Development Goals and access to space for small island developing states.
Dr. Nelson, who is an award-winning writer and storyteller, holds a Bachelor and Master of Industrial Engineering from the SUNY at Buffalo and Purdue University respectively, and a Doctorate in Engineering Management from the George Washington University (1990). She is distinguished as the first Jamaican woman to earn a Doctorate in an Engineering discipline.
Nelson who was named one of Top 100 Women Futurists in the “Twitterverse”, has received commendation in the US Congressional Record, and has also received an Outstanding Alumni Award from Purdue University, School of Industrial Engineering. Dr. Nelson was named a White House Champion of Change in 2012.