Kenneth W. Harris

Kenneth W. Harris is Chairman, The Consilience Group, LLC; Secretary, the World Future Society; Managing and Transportation Field Editor, Techcast.org; and Member, Association of Professional Futurists.
 
Ken founded The Consilience Group after a career of over 30 years in the federal civil service, the last 23 years of which were at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). One of his many assignments at the FAA was to work for over 6 years as the principal analyst in a group studying the future of aviation in the last quarter of the 20th century. In this role, he worked with other staff members and contractors to develop alternative future scenarios for the United States, aviation industry, and FAA and led technology forecasting and assessment studies.
 
For more than 13 years, he managed the FAA’s Aircraft Loan Guarantee and Aviation Insurance Programs where he was highly successful in recovering costs incurred when the agency honored its guarantees of aircraft loans as well as avoiding excessive cost to the taxpayers with loan workouts and in issuing war risk insurance to the airlines making otherwise uninsurable flights in the national interest. He also evaluated the economic impacts of FAA regulations in two different periods totaling nearly 3 years. At the conclusion of his FAA career, he received The Secretary’s Distinguished Career Service Award.
 
Since leaving the FAA, Ken has returned to full-time work as a futurist. His consulting clients have included Coates and Jarratt, Social Technologies, GRA, Inc., Northrop Grumman, and Sports Business Research Network. He has served the World Future Society in a consulting capacity and in volunteer capacities as its Secretary and Development Committee Chair and as President, Treasurer, Secretary and Book Discussion Leader of its National Capital Region Chapter. He maintains readiness to engage in a wide variety of futurist consulting assignments by keeping up with developments in society and demographics, technology and science, environment and energy, economics, politics, sports, and transportation.
 
Ken is an avid sports fan and keeps himself in shape with cycling, golf, swimming, weight training, and yoga. He also enjoys movies, plays and bridge with his wife Carolyn Harris.