Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/179241
connect perspective Have a Stake in the World Futurist Rebecca Ryan's love letter Trends. Cities. Populations. Generations. Strategies. How are they shifting? Where are they headed? Why? Those substantial considerations fill Rebecca Ryan's days. As a futurist and economist, Ryan studies the histories, constants, changes and outcomes of these and other phenomena, and speculates on their trajectories. It's fascinating work that allows Ryan, who has collaborated with large national companies such as Capitol One and forward-thinking business leaders in several cities across the country, to steer clients toward the future. Ryan co-owns Next Generation Consulting, a Madison-based firm that helps executives understand, attract and hire the next generation of employees. Ryan, who moved to Madison in 2004, had the opportunity to sell her business many years ago to Gallup, an analytics and research company headquartered in Washington, D.C. But the 41-yearold, a dynamic orator who has cultivated the speaking circuit component of her business, is confident she can maintain a national reach by living here. "Madison's a really easy city to live in," Ryan says. "It has a lot of the values I have. It's bike-friendly and there is amazing food. I'm comfortable here as a lesbian, and there are trade-offs from a career perspective. But, she adds "My partner and I are trying to make Madison better, but I look at it that I live here and don't work here." She aims to translate to others that value 18 brava magazine | october 2013 Photographed by INK PHOTOGRAPHIC By Tamira Madsen