David Bent
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About
Policy Fellow, Atelier of What's Next.
I have been a passionate leader on the frontier of sustainability over two decades. I want to spend the next decades contributing to the transformations needed so that everyone can choose their version of a good life, in a secure and sustainable world.
My range of experiences gives me a deep and broad understanding of the sustainability at different levels: the political and economic context, nationally and globally; the dynamics of sectoral change; and, the personal and organisational challenges of change. I’ve been a senior executive, organisation chair, line manager, mentor, advisor, keynote speaker, start-up co-founder, lecturer, podcast host and more.
I was at global NGO, Forum for the Future, for 13 years (2003-2016). For the last 5 years I was on the Senior Management Team, where I ran the consulting arm, advising leading corporates around the world on how they can be more successful by creating a sustainable future.
At EIRIS Foundation, I was chair of a charity with the mission of pioneering the next steps in sustainable finance. At the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources. I teach innovation, business and sustainability.
Also I am an Edmund Hillary Fellow, one of 500 innovators, entrepreneurs and investors committed to New Zealand as a basecamp for global impact. I was a Policy Fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy in Cambridge, investigating the role of business in the transition to a global sustainable economy. I produce 2 podcasts where people can tell their stories for insight and inspiration: one on ‘What can we do in these Powerful Times?’; the other on ’Innovation for Sustainability’.
Over the last 2 years I have been founding the Atelier of What’s Next, a studio for initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future. This has included working with: Innovate UK on Net Zero Heat; a New Zealand bank on rural electrification; and, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative on transforming shipping.
Works in London · based in Honor Oak Park, London.
Role and organisation as at January 2025.
Asks and offers
Ask — How can the responsibility be shared so that BWIP is not so dependent on you?
Offer — Taking an ambitious initiative to its next level through: coaching, strategic advice, futures and systems thinking, facilitation, introductions, and more.
What they do
Selling. The offers of the Atelier of What's Next: manny kinds of help for initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future.
Find them
LinkedIn · exploringwhatsnext.substack.com · davidbent.wordpress.com