Peter Ellyard

Contact Peter Ellyard

Dr Peter Ellyard is a futurist and strategic analyst. He believes that, like a fairy godmother, it is possible to have dreams and make them come true. He has created his own methodology based on four kinds of futures - Prospective, Probable, Preferred and Possible, to advise clients how to do this, and all his work and his businesses are based on these methodologies.

Peter is Executive Director of a Melbourne based consulting company, Preferred Futures. Preferred Futures advises Governments, Government Departments, Government Utilities, corporations, transnational companies, Trade Unions, Professional Institutes for engineers, Architects, designers, surgeons and teachers, Community and environmental Organisations, and Educational Institutions.

He assists these organisations to prepare themselves and their programmes for the foreseeable requirements of the 21st Century, to develop their strategic thinking capabilities, and to be adaptable in order to meet unforeseeable demands. Among his clients are more than a dozen governments including those of Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and Papua New Guinea.

Peter believes in walking his talk, and using his futures work to create 21st century businesses. He is Chair of the Universal Greening Group, which is involved in waste recovery and recycling and in sustainable agriculture and horticulture. He is also involved in establishing a number of businesses in education and learning, and in the creation of 21st century jobs and industries. He is founder of the Institute of WellBeing and of the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT).

A former Executive Director for the Australian Commission for the Future, he held CEO positions over 15 years in a number of public sector organisations, both inside and outside Australia. He has been a Senior Adviser to the UN for more than 20 years, including to the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

Peter is a graduate of Sydney University (BSc.Agr) and of Cornell University (MS, PhD). He is Adjunct Professor of Intergenerational and International Strategies at the University of Queensland. He is the author of 'The Birth of Planetism' (Melbourne University Press 1998).