An EXPERT in the FUTURE
Heather Vescent has spent decades studying, researching, and applying strategic foresight to some of the most complex technology challenges facing organizations today. As founder of The Purple Tornado, a foresight and strategic intelligence consultancy, she helps organizations understand how emerging technology will specifically impact them, so they can identify opportunities and address risks before those futures arrive.
She makes no predictions. Instead, she brings rigorous foresight methodology to understand the technologies reshaping industries today, from agentic AI to digital identity to cybersecurity, mapping what those changes mean for your company, your products, and your people.
Earned Press Coverage from
Not all futurists are created equally
Heather holds a Master of Science in Strategic Foresight from the University of Houston — the longest-running foresight degree program in the US — giving her a rigorous methodological foundation that separates strategic foresight from trend-watching. Where others extrapolate from headlines, Heather applies tested academic frameworks to map how emerging technology will specifically impact organizations, industries, and the people inside them.
That academic foundation is paired with rare cross-disciplinary depth: peer-reviewed research in cybersecurity, three published books, and 14 produced short films that have put future scenarios on screen for government and corporate audiences. She doesn't just see what's coming — she translates it into the decisions your organization needs to make today.
As Film Maker: Making the Future Visible
One of the hardest things about futures work is helping people feel what's coming, not just intellectually understand it. In 2011, Heather began using short films to do exactly that by producing scenario-based films grounded in her academic research. Fourteen films later, these films are one of the most distinctive tools in her practice: the ability to put an audience inside a future moment and make the stakes real.
Fly Me to The Moon
Four Friends pay for dinner in the future using integrated mobile payments, credit cards, private coins and corporate space currency; while their waiter is saving/earning enough space currency to win a sub-orbit space trip.
A Future of Transactions Video Scenario written and produced by Heather Vescent.
Slices of Life
Slices of Life, is about personal data, personal clouds and how we might have our data work for us in the future.
A Future of Transactions Video Scenario written and produced by Heather Vescent.
Out-Learn, Out-Think, Win
Out-Learn, Out-Think, Win—tells a story about how Defense personnel may learn in the future, using interconnected technologies. One of the main characters in the film isn’t even human—it’s the distributed learning network. Army Staff Sergeant Martina Reynolds uses distributed learning tools to practice and assess her cyber-defense skills.
A Future of Military Learning Transmedia Video Scenarios written, directed and produced by Heather Vescent.
As Author: Making Complex Technology Accessible to Everybody
-
![]()
The Cyber Attack Survival Manual
"The Cyber Attack Survival Manual is the rare security awareness book that is both highly informative and interesting."
– Ben Rothke, Tapad Engineering
-
![]()
The Secrets of Spies
“What I learned was more fascinating than anything coming from the world of "James Bond 007." I recommend this book for anyone with interest in espionage and history.” - Amazon Reviewer
-
![]()
The Comprehensive Guide to Self Sovereign Identity
“A great introduction to self sovereign identity covering the technology, players, and history. “
“A must read on your journey to SSI.”
As Researcher: Applying Foresight to Security
Heather co-authored Shifting Paradigms, a peer-reviewed academic paper that applied strategic foresight methods to cybersecurity, asking what security could look like in 2038. The result: over 20 distinct future security scenarios, each named for a cultural touchstone audiences immediately recognize. It's the same methodology she brings to the stage, rigorous, specific, and immediately relevant.
Recognized by the Futures Field
Heather's work has been recognized by both the Association of Professional Futurists and the World Future Society, the two leading professional organizations in strategic foresight.
The Human Problem, 1st Place, Association of Professional Futurists, 2013
Best of Houston Futures, World Future Society, 2013
Fly Me to the Moon, nomination, Most Important Futures Award, Association of Professional Futurists, 2012
The Demographic Transition, 3rd Place, Association of Professional Futurists, 2012
Best of Houston Futures, World Futures Society, 2012
The Value Exchange, Honorable Mention, Association of Professional Futurists, 2011
Best of Houston Futures, World Future Society, 2011
Kay Hamilton Memorial Scholarship for Futures Studies
Arthur C. Clark
“The only way of discovering the limits of the POSSIBLE is to venture a little way past them into the IMPOSSIBLE.
