Dwight Galda is the founder and Principal of Crescent Wealth Counsel. Dwight founded Crescent due to the need for a multi-disciplined wealth counseling firm in the Southwest US which faced the client with a single, comprehensive, and coordinated position on difficult wealth issues. He has been in the investment and counseling industry for over thirty years, and holds designations as a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Accredited Estate Planner (AEP), as well as numerous individual securities licenses. In addition, he has advanced degrees in business, economics, public affairs and political economy and is a graduate of IBM's Systems Science Institute. In community service work, Dwight is an Adjunct Professor of Economics, Management, and Systems Science at a local university where he teaches courses in domestic and international economics, strategy, complexity science, forecasting, leadership, innovation and creativity. He is a member of the Central Arizona Estate Planning Council and Chartered Financial Analyst Institute and has held past board positions with both organization. Earlier, he served for over ten years as an arbitrator with the National Association of Securities Dealers Board of Arbitration, and is a retired Senior Regular Army Officer.

Efrem Lieber (Adjunct Professor) was co-owner of Chemicals Southwest, a manufacturer/supplier of industrial cleaning systems, is a principal of Next Step Management, LLC, a consortium of business consultants serving growing high-tech companies, and is in his sixth year of teaching at Phoenix colleges, including UAT. He has a BS in Chemical Engineering (University of Maryland) and an MBA Marketing (University of Delaware) with over 36 years of Business and Product Development, Senior Marketing and Sales Management, International Distribution, Applied Research, Customer Service, Marketing Communications, Venture Capital and Strategic Planning experience and/or positions with DuPont, Polaroid and several high technology manufacturers. His intrapreneurial team in DuPont was the subject of a Gifford Pinchot profile. He is a graduate of the AMA Management, Columbia University Marketing Management, and Deming Quality Courses. He has consulted with software, mass distribution, market research, pharmaceutical and industrial manufacturing companies. He has authored dozens of articles on technology and business trends, and was a sought-after speaker at trade conferences and seminars. He has two children, a grandson and granddaughter, and a bride of 44 years.

John Smart is the program champion for the Master of Science program in Emerging Technologies, which teaches foresight in exponentially advancing technologies, and seeks innovative technology solutions to humanity’s grand challenges. He directs the Acceleration Studies Foundation (Mountain View, CA) a nonprofit research organization that seeks to help individuals better understand and manage accelerating technological change, and is co-founder of the Evo Devo Universe research community, an international interdisciplinary community of scholars exploring evolutionary and developmental processes of change. John is a member of the ECCO research group at VUB (Brussels, Belgium), and an advisor in futures studies and forecasting at Singularity University (Mountain View, CA). John has a B.S. in business administration from U,C, Berkeley, an M.S.-equivalency in physiology and medicine (two years of medical school and the USMLE-I) from U.C. San Diego School of Medicine, and an M.S. in futures studies from the University of Houston, and has done additional nondegree studies in biological, cognitive, computer, and physical sciences at U.C. San Diego, U.C.L.A., and U.C. Berkeley. His personal website is AccelerationWatch.com and his blog is EverSmarterWorld.com.

Thomas Frey is a powerful visionary who is revolutionizing our thinking about the future. His 2011 book Communicating with the Future, describes the tools and mindset necessary to gain a measure of control over the future in a world of rapid change. As the Executive Director and Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute, he works with his Senior Fellows to develop original research studies, translate trends into unique opportunities, and create inspiring, empowering images of the world to come. Prior to DaVinci, Thomas spent 15 years at IBM as an engineer and designer where he received over 270 awards, more than any other IBM engineer. The Denver Post and Seattle Post Intelligencer have referred to him as the “Dean of Futurists”, and he is the top-ranked (by Google search rank) speaker in the foresight space. He does frequent keynote talks on futurist topics for clients including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies including NASA, IBM, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent, First Data, Boeing, Capital One, Bell Canada, Visa, Ford, Qwest, Allied Signal, Hunter Douglas, Direct TV, and many more. Thomas has been featured in hundreds of articles for publications including New York Times, Huffington Post, Times of India, USA Today, US News and World Report, The Futurist, and ColoradoBiz, and he is a former contributing writer at The Futurist. He writes the weekly newsletter, Future Trend Report, and blogs at FuturistSpeaker.com and Impact Lab, a widely-acclaimed emerging technologies blog.

Jack Uldrich is a renowned global futurist and author of ten books, including the award-winning bestsellers The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business, and Jump the Curve: 50 Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technology. His most recent works include: Unlearning 101, and Higher Unlearning. Jack is the founder of The School of Unlearning, an international leadership, change management, and technology consultancy helping businesses, governments, and non-profits prepare for and profit from periods of profound transformation. He has a planning and intelligence background, as a former naval intelligence officer and Defense Department planning official, and former Director of the Minnesota Office of Strategic and Long-Range Planning. His clients include Fortune 100 companies, venture capital firms, and state and regional governments. Uldrich is also a regular contributor on emerging technologies and future trends for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Leader to Leader, The Futurist, BusinessWeek, CityBusiness, and TechStation Central. Jack is a frequent speaker on the technology, change management, and leadership lecture circuits, and has addressed numerous businesses, trade associations, and investment groups around the world, including IBM, Cisco, USAA, GE, Wipro, Verizon, General Mills, Pfizer, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is also a regular guest on CNBC, MSNBC and CNN. Jack blogs at JumpTheCurve.net