Welcome to our new Executive Director

Phil Hauck, Board President

Alexa Naudziunas, with deep roots in community-building, has accepted the position of Executive Director of Envision. She begins her term September 8 when she joins Envision’s eighth Garry Golden Strategic Foresight Workshop series along with 23 others.  In October, she will enter the University of Houston’s certification program on Strategic Foresight.

Alexa was selected from a strong field of candidates after the resignation of Envision’s first Executive Director, Steve McCarthy, who left to return to his home in western Wisconsin.  The search committee was impressed by her grassroots experience in building community involvement: She was employed by the city of Oshkosh for eight years, doing major event planning as well as coordinating neighborhood and city committees.

(more…)

How a Vast Demographic Shift Will Reshape the World

(Excerpts from Leatherby, Lauren.  “How a Vast Demographic Shift Will Reshape the World,” New York Times, July 16, 2023.)

Excerpted by Phil Hauck, Envision Board and Economic Transformation Signals Team

The world’s demographics have already been transformed. Europe is shrinking. China is shrinking, with India, a much younger country, overtaking it this year as the world’s most populous nation.

Click here for Phil’s complete article.

Foresight Cohort: Theory into Practice

By Phil Hauck, Envision Board President

Our first Network Cohort held its second meeting …  and they know that ChatGPT will be on the agenda each meeting for quite some time. Participants recounted how they are using it so far, mainly to write contracts and publicity material. One member used ChatGPT to develop a service contract, needing only a few adjustments to make it workable; it saved them $4,000 in attorney costs.  Another used it to develop the computer code for a new application, cutting coding time by 75%.  And still another member of the cohort uses it daily, along with DALL-E (for images), as part of graphic marketing communications efforts.  And yes, members are alert to bad information that might work its way in.

(more…)