Rebecca Ryan is a futurist, author, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of NEXT Generation Consulting and has held residencies at the Alliance for Innovation, the Governing Institute, and the Association of Government Risk Pools. She is the board chairperson and faculty member at the Institute for Zen Leadership. She is the author of The Next Big Things: The Future of Local Government (2015), ReGENERATION: A Manifesto for America’s Future Leaders (2013), and Live First, Work Second: Getting Inside the Head of the Next Generation (2007). Her TEDx talk, Spring is Coming, was featured at the prestigious TEDxBeaconStreet in 2015.