We are happy to announced that on Fall 2015 we achieved record high of students enrolled since we moved to UH Main Campus, with fourteen new students starting the Foresight Program. In this post we would like to give them a warm welcoming to the field and wish them a lot of success on this new stage of their professional lives.
Gandhi Bhakthavachalam is a professional tennis player. He also works in a management position at a tech startup and recently graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Finance. He travel often around the US for tennis. His domains of interest are commercialized technology and economics. You can feel more than free to ask him questions or connect with him because he’s always looking to reach out to new people.
Waylon Edens if from Texas and currently lives in Danbury. He wo
rks at a local chemical companyas a Scheduler/Planner. He has a Bachelors degree in Industrial Management and is pursuing this degree to further my development in his current field. He has a wife and three kids with two little dogs. He’s interested in cars so don’t be surprised if his topic selections have something to do with the automotive industry. He also enjoys fishing and golf. He’s also a veteran of the United States Air Force.
Madebo Fatunde is a writer and editor. He currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio with his fiancé and Zoey, our Shiba Inu. They just moved there from the Washington, DC area where he did his undergraduate study at George Washington University. Joining the Houston Futures program is a continuance of his lifelong interest in futurism. He thinks of himself as a generalist with a particular research interest in futures of media and text.
Wonhee Kang is Senior Vice President & Actuary and Financial Advisor of Asian Region ofInternational Insurance organization of the Prudential Financial, Inc. based in Newark, New Jersey. He began his career as an actuarial staff with Samsung Lif
e Insurance Company in 1985. He has worked in the life insurance industry for more than 30 years in the areas of actuarial, accounting, investment, product development, marketing, public relations, advertising, strategic planning, underwriting, risk management and mergers and acquisitions. Wonhee received a B.Sc. degree in Mathematics from Seoul National University, an M.S. degree in Accountancy from Baruch College, City University of New York, and an MBA degree from London School of Economics and Political Science, HEC School of Management and Stern School of Business of New York University, and completed the Advanced Management Program of Harvard Business School.
Eric Kingsbury has “futures” interests in the ethical issues and transformative potential of emerging technologies; the impact of robotics and automation in our micro- and macrocosmic lives; transhumanism and the future evolution of species biological or otherwise; radical economic, political, social and cultural change; the study of cautionary tales and the creation of positive future models; and much more. He organizes the Arizona chapter of the World Future Society, and he also have just joined the Association of Professional Futurists and the World Future Studies Federation. He blog on the future at www.kiteba.com. Professionally, he works for Experian in technology product marketing and strategy. Academically, he has an MBA in International Management and a BA in English. Geographically, he lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
Stephen Layman is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a BA in
Maritime Business. His maininterests are in the future of technology and energy, as well as their implementation methods. He’s involved politically and economically with the Houston local government and commerce. Recently, he has relocated to Longmont, CO. He is in the food and beverage service industry, and has managed many bar and kitchens alike from Houston to Kansas City, and now Colorado.
Terri Martin lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. She got her undergraduate degree in Fashion Design from the University of Cincinnati. She has worked as a designer for clothing and accessories for Target. She still likes to knit and to sew as a hobby but she’s currently working as a Trend Forecaster at an agency. Before she finished her bachelor degree she spent 10 weeks traveling around Europe and Africa.
Matt Palubicki was born in Minneapolis, grew up in Kansas and now lives in Dallas. He graduated from University of Kansas with a degree on Opera and Broadcast Management Sells. He has three kids, ages 3, 6 and 9. Now he is the Chief Technology Officer of his company and with this program he’s looking to learn foresights methods and apply them to his current job. He’s also interested in emerging and disruptive technologies, health care and power.
Craig Perry recently retired from the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer. During his 21-year
career, he commanded a Basic Military Training squadron, directed operations at a National Security Agency field site, and deployed to Iraq with the first-ever Air Force weapons intelligence teams. He also managed intelligence operations at U.S. Cyber Command, and directed futures studies at the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center. Prior to the military, he taught high school mathematics in San Antonio, TX. He has a BA in History from Brown University, a MA in European Studies from St. Petersburg State University and additional graduate studies at the University of Maryland & University of Texas at San Antonio.
Ruslan Skomorohov is currently a full time student at the Master of Space Studies of the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. He received his combined five-year B.S./B.A. degree from Brown University with a Bachelor of Science in Physics with a focus on cosmology and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a focus on finance. For the last five years he has been a strategy management consultant at Cartesian, a consultancy with a focus on the telecommunication, digital media, and technology sectors. He is originally from Bulgaria where he has also spent time studying and working. He has travelled extensively throughout Europe and the United States and is fluent in English, Bulgarian, and Russian.
Michael Spink is a regular at WFS conferences, and now a provisional
member of the APF. He islooking to see differently so I may find different. He’s had lots of jobs spanning four careers in culinary arts, construction, public relations/marketing and innovation. Currently he’s an Innovation Strategist for a large credit union in North Carolina. He loves to travel, miss the woods when he’s not in them, and strive to learn from anyone he can, including a couple of very influential mentors—his two daughters.
Cynthia Stuebner is a Sr. Manager of Corporate Strategy and Business Development for Lockheed Martin Corporation, in Bethesda, MD. Cindi has 26 years of business development, competitive intelligence and information systems experience, starting her career with Exxon Mobil in the US Marketing and Refining division. Cindi started her competitive intelligence career with Oracle Corporation as Director of Competitive Intelligence for enterprise applications, where she evaluated Oracle’s ERP, SCM and CRM applications’ competition. Cindi has a B.S. in Finance from The Pennsylvania State University, and an MBA in Management Information Systems from George Mason University. Cindi lives in Alexandria, VA with her husband, former Lt. Col. Jonathan Dagle.
Shadi Turki was born in New jersey Paterson, but when he was six 
years old he moved to Jordan,where he was raised. After he finished high school he decided to come back to the U.S to get his bachelor degree. He graduated from University of Houston with a bachelor degree in biotechnology, and he believes that the program will help him accomplish his career goals. He worked for Emergency Medical Services for the last 3 years. One of his interests is playing chess, back in Jordan he got the second place among 16 and 18 years old competitors. He still plays chess but just as a hobby.
