Peter Schwartz

For more than four decades, Peter Schwartz has helped governments, global corporations, and institutions confront uncertainty with rigour and imagination. He is widely considered to be one of the world’s foremost futurists, best known for pioneering scenario planning as a strategic discipline.

Peter Schwartz started his career at Stanford Research Institute, where he was one of the earliest users of the ARPANET (the precursor to the internet). He later led scenario planning at Royal Dutch Shell, where he helped reshape how multinational companies prepare for the long term. In 1987, Schwartz co-founded the Global Business Network, which trained business and government leaders in the art of thinking ahead.

Peter Schwartz joined Salesforce in 2011 and is presently their Chief Futures Officer. He heads the Salesforce Futures LAB, a space for exploring provocative ideas about AI automation to climate resilience and digital trust. He also serves as Advisor to the Office of the CEO, and manages the company’s internal “strategic conversation” about how to stay relevant in a world of continuous disruption.

But Schwartz’s influence reaches far beyond Silicon Valley. He is a Distinguished International Fellow of Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office and advises numerous government agencies and investment bodies on long-term strategy, including Temasek and the Infocomm Media Development Authority. He sits on Singapore’s Urban Solutions and Sustainability Advisory Board, contributing to one of the world’s most forward-looking policy ecosystems on smart cities, climate adaptation, and technology governance.

Schwartz’s ideas have shaped everything from national climate policy to the plotlines of Hollywood. He was a consultant on films like Minority Report, WarGames, and Deep Impact, helping directors imagine worlds that felt startlingly plausible because they were rooted in real science and geopolitical foresight. Peter Schwartz has authored seven books and is chairman of the board at the B612 Foundation, which works on planetary defense from asteroid impacts and co-founder of The Long Now Foundation, which encourages long-term thinking in a short-term world.