David Houle (futurist)

Early life

David Houle was born on July 3, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. His parents were Bettie E. Houle (d. 2000) and Cyril O. Houle (d. 1998). His mother earned a PhD from the University of Chicago in child development, was active in the community and numerous charities, and served a two-year term as president of the Fortnightly Club of Chicago. His father Cyril O. Houle was a professor at the University of Chicago in the field of adult education, who wrote 12 books and was awarded 14 honorary degrees.

Houle attended the University of Chicago Laboratory School from nursery school through high school. After graduating from high school in 1965, he obtained a B.A. in art history from Syracuse University in 1969. Following graduation, he worked and travelled North America in a van and backpacked around the world for two years.

Career

Houle spent more than 20 years in media and entertainment. In the mid-1970s he worked first at NBC, then at CBS in advertising sales. He then joined the executive team that created and launched MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1 and CNN Headline News, serving in senior advertising sales capacities.

In the early 1990s, he created programming for television. He won two Emmy Awards for a nationally syndicated children's program Energy Express. He represented Bill Kurtis and Kurtis Productions, helping to launch such series as Investigative Reports and American Justice on the A&E cable television network. Along with Jack Myers he created Television Production Partners (TPP), a consortium of advertisers to fund television programming. In this capacity he won a George Foster Peabody Award, a Heartland Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award for the documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream.

Later in the 1990s Houle was managing director of University Access, an e-learning company based in Los Angeles. Following the return to his hometown Chicago in 2011, he worked both as an advisor to companies and a speaker on the future of education and technology.

Futurist

Houle has been speaking about The Shift Age as a professional speaker since 2007. In 2009, he won a Speaker of the Year Award from Vistage International. In April 2007, he spoke at the Foundation for the Future Energy Conference 3000, and his blog columns on this conference with interviews with the attending scientists were published by the foundation in its report. Houle has spoken at numerous international conferences and corporate retreats to CEOs and business owners. During 2010–2011, he delivered 300+ speeches in ten countries on six continents. As a futurist, Houle has cited Alvin Toffler and Marshall McLuhan as his major influences. Houle has recently become Futurist in Residence and Guest Lecturer at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida.

Houle was interviewed and featured on Forum, issue no.1, 2012, Deutsche Bank's in-house magazine regarding Occupy Wall Street.

Writings

Houle started his writing career in 2006 by launching his futurist blog "evolutionshift.com" with the tag line A Future Look at Today. In late 2007, his first book The Shift Age was published; according to WorldCat, it is now in 71 libraries.

In February 2010, he became a featured contributor on Oprah.com. He also has articles featured on Shelly Palmer's website.

Houle's second book, co-authored with Jeff Cobb, titled Shift Ed: A Call to Action for Transforming K-12, was published in March 2011 and is in 123 libraries. His third book, co-authored with Jonathan Fleece, The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America, was published in December 2011.

Houle's Entering the Shift Age was published by Sourcebooks in 2012.

His latest books include Is Privacy Dead: The Future of Privacy in the Digital Age and Brand Shift: The Future of Brands and Marketing which were published in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Awards and honors