BIOGRAPHY
Ed Gillespie is an author, communications expert, multiple entrepreneur and analyst of future trends.
He specialises in helping audiences understand the complex changes facing the world – from climate change to disruptive innovation – and provide them with actionable insights for their organisation.
His book, Only Planet: a flight-free adventure around the world(2014), records his circumnavigation of the globe without getting on a plane. The Independent said “[The book] allow[s] the world’s flaws and beauty to seep into your soul”.
Ed co-founded Futerra, a change agency that specialises in business transformation and creative communications and campaigns. Over the last eighteen years, Futerra has built a global reputation for its impactful and award-winning work on some of the biggest corporate sustainability initiatives. These include Unilever’s “Sustainable Living Plan”, Mondelez’s “Coffee Made Happy”, and SAB Miller’s “Prosper”.
Ed is known for his unique brand of authentic ‘insultancy’ – being strategically rude to clients, but with judicious wit and wisdom to inspire them to greater heights and aspirations. His attitude of constructive criticism helps audiences challenge their assumptions of business as usual, allowing them to open their minds to practical solutions and new possibilities.
Ed is also actively involved in several trail-blazing businesses as a director or investor, from Zero Carbon Food, a renewable energy powered, LED-lit, hydroponic farm in a disused underground tunnel in South London, to Loco2.com – a pan-European rail-ticket agency that makes it as easy to book a trans-continental train as a plane.
For more information on Ed Gillespie’s speaking topics and availability, contact leo@vbqspeakers.com.
ED GILLESPIE: SPEAKER
Ed’s energy, optimism and passion for sustainability is infectious and inspiring. His talks show audiences how the challenges facing our planet are a huge opportunity for those businesses that are prepared to embrace an innovative, creative mindset.
BOOKS
“With a shaft or three of enlightenment, a healthy dose of irreverence, Only Planet inspires us to carry on living, loving and travelling well” — Jonathon Porritt
“An inspiring reminder of the adventures and experiences to be had, if you just avoid that airport security queue!” — Mark Smith
“With wit, welly and wisdom, Ed reveals the fine-grained texture of the world at ground level. Required reading for the slow traveller” — Carl Honoré, best-selling author of In Praise Of Slow