An EXPERT in the FUTURE
Heather Vescent owns and operates The Purple Tornado, a foresight and strategic intelligence consultancy. She co-authored the academic paper, Shifting Paradigms, which applied foresight methods to cybersecurity. She is the writer/producer of 14 short films about future technology. She is an author of The Secrets of Spies, The Cyber Attack Survival Manual and The Comprehensive Guide to Self Sovereign Identity. She previously was the Executive Director and President of IDPro and a Co-Chair of the W3C Credentials Community Group. Her work has won multiple awards from the Association of Professional Futurists. She holds a Master’s of Science in Strategic Foresight from the University of Houston, the longest running foresight degree program in the US.
An experienceD futurist
As Founder of The Purple Tornado, Heather has demonstrated expertise in a range of fields including trends in the future of digital identity, cybersecurity, economies, money, payments, transaction, augmented intelligence, IoT, supply chain, crypto economics and humanity.
Earned Press Coverage from
As Film Maker: Showing the Future in Present Tense
Film is a medium where you can show a vision in the present tense. I began using short film medium in 2011 to produce design futures based on my academic research in the Future of Transactions and documentaries about important emerging technology.
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 Topics Accessible to Everybody
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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
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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
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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 Academic: Shifting Cybersecurity Paradigms
This paper is the result of applying strategic foresight to understand how security could look in 2038. We describe over 20 new security paradigms and future scenarios with familiar names like Rollerball, Minority Report, Money Cash Hos, In Code We Trust, and I’m From the Government and I’m here to help.
An Award Winning Futurist
My work has been nominated to and won multiple awards from the Association of Professional Futurists and The World Future Society.
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.
