Our Team
Scott Smith
Scott is founder and managing partner of Changeist. Having worked for twenty years in futures, strategy and innovation, Scott has consulted to a range of global institutions, including SWIFT, UNICEF, UNDP, The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, The Royal Society, Nesta, and the Dubai Future Foundation.
He has also led engagements with some of the largest and most respected global financial, retail, telecoms, technology and media brands, such as the BBC, The New York Times Company, ASOS, AXA, Samsung, and Comcast. He has designed and delivered futures projects, talks and workshops in over a dozen countries and facilitated projects and workshops in multiple languages.
Scott helped create and lead the Strategic Foresight program for Dubai Future Academy, and lectures in the Innovation & Future Thinking program at IED Barcelona, a course he designed. He has also been a long-time lecturer for the Dubai Future Academy, and has led courses at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development in Dubai. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of South Australia.
Scott has written for international publications such as The Atlantic, Quartz, WIRED UK, and How We Get to Next. He has spoken at major events worldwide as diverse as The Next Web, Lift, Flow Festival, Open State, Atlantic Council Energy & Economic Summit, Oxford Futures Forum, EPIC, SxSW, Sibos, FutureFest, FutureEverything, NEXT, and me Convention.
Scott has also contributed work to pieces featured in several cultural exhibitions, including for the BIG BANG DATA exhibition in 2014, and the 2017 Vienna Biennale. He has provided research, consulting, scriptwriting and worked as on-screen talent for non-fictional and fictional exploration of trends, scenario, and futures. He has also consulted on narrative experiences for major museums and international attractions currently under development, and was the driver behind the Future of Arts and Culture, a project supported by Arup and Therme Group.
Scott is also author of How to Future: Leading and Sense-making in an Age of Hyperchange, published by Kogan Page Inspire in September 2020, and co-author of Future Cultures: How to Build a Future-Ready Organization Through Leadership, published in October 2023.
Susan Cox-Smith
Susan is a partner and director, experience for Changeist. Drawing on over twenty years experience as a writer, designer, creative director, interactive producer, and researcher, Susan seeks to enrich public engagement with possible futures.
Across multiple engagements for Changeist, she has consulted on futures projects for ADCB, AXA, BBC R&D, Comcast, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, National Lottery Fund, Nesta, UNDP, and several of the largest technology, pharma and lifestyle brands.
She has contributed to trend research and scenario development looking at issues as diverse as the futures of mobility, health and wellness, arts and culture, and crisis response. In 2021, she led the design and delivery of a public workshop platform for the global South exploring feminist futures in a post-Covid world for the IWDA.
Susan also oversees the design of and co-leads Changeist’s capacity building workshops, and the development of related instructional materials, developing futuring skills in leaders from organizations ranging from Microsoft to Netflix to Wells Fargo to NASA JPL. She was the contributing editor on How to Future: Leading and Sense-making in an Age of Hyperchange, published by Kogan Page Inspire in September 2020, and co-author of Future Cultures: How to Build a Future-Ready Organization Through Leadership, published in October 2023.
In addition to client work, she has written for several Medium publications, including How We Get to Next, as well as The Next Web. She has delivered foresight, design futures, and scenario workshops at A/D/O, Sibos, ThingsCon, and UXLondon. Susan has also provided research, story consulting, narrative development, and scriptwriting for international exhibitions and immersive experiences.
Susan is a graduate of the Miami Ad School at Portfolio Center in Atlanta, and holds a post-graduate certification in art history and appraisal studies from New York University. She has worked in digital curriculum development, and with the University of Leiden’s online learning lab as a consultant, community coordinator and mentor. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of South Australia.