Rebecca Costa

With the ability to respond more rapidly and efficiently to the accelerating pace of change, Costa brings both an evolutionary biologist and technologist’s perspective on the subject of adaptation.
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Tags: Change Management, Disruptive Technology, Futurists, Technological change
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Rebecca D. Costa is an American sociobiologist and futurist. She is the preeminent global expert on the subject of “fast adaptation” and recipient of the prestigious Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Award. Her career spans four decades of working with founders, executives and leading venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. Costa’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, The Guardian, and other leading publications. She presently serves on the Advisory Committee for the Lifeboat Foundation along with futurist Ray Kurzweil and Nobel Laureates Daniel Kahneman, Eric S. Maskin, Richard J. Roberts and Wole Soyinka.
Costa was the founder and CEO of one of the largest technology marketing firms in California, where she developed an extensive track record of launching game-changing technologies. Her clients included industry innovators such as Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer, Oracle, Siebel Systems, General Electric, 3M and others. She has been on the forefront of technological and scientific innovation, assisting venture capitalists and large corporations to identify, fund and launch disruptive new trends.
Retiring at the zenith of her career in Silicon Valley, Costa spent six years researching and writing the international bestseller The Watchman’s Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse. Her follow-on book, titled On the Verge was introduced in 2017 to critical acclaim, shooting to the top of Amazon’s #1 New Business Releases. The success of The Watchman’s Rattle led to a popular weekly news program called The Costa Report which was syndicated throughout the United States by the Genesis Communications Network until 2018.
Owing to global pressures to respond more rapidly and efficiently to the accelerating pace of change, Costa is a popular international speaker. She brings both an evolutionary biologist and technologist’s perspective to the subject of adaptation.
A global thinker in the mold of Alvin Toffler, Jared Diamond, Ray Kurzweil and Thomas Friedman, Costa attributes her ability to see the “big picture” to her cross-cultural education and upbringing. Raised in Tokyo, Japan, and Vientiane, Laos, during the Vietnam conflict, Costa brings a unique perspective to the everyday challenges of work and life. Rebecca Costa is an alumnus of the University of California at Santa Barbara and currently resides in Astoria, Oregon.
“ Rebecca’s presentation was perfect for the conference theme of Long Beach Reimagined. Ms. Costa tailored her talk to cover topics that were especially relevant for our conference, such as housing solutions, climate change, injuries from falls, obesity, artificial intelligence, crowdsourcing and many more. The conference received great reviews. “ Nelson Kerr, Bureau Manager
Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services |
Rebecca Costa's Programs
What does a former Silicon Valley executive and sociobiologist know about fast-changing environments? A lot. According to expert on fast-adaptation, Rebecca Costa, accumulating 10,000 hours of experience, mastering the 7 habits of successful people, and transforming ourselves into 1-Minute Managers are no match for the ability to accurately assess, and manipulate, future outcomes, events, and trends. Big Data, predictive analytics, lightning-fast communications, and artificial intelligence have ushered in a new era wherein leaders can foresee what lies ahead – arming them with the ability to avert negative outcomes and capitalize on opportunity before the fact. Drawing from two best-selling blockbusters, Costa reveals the 12 adaptive principles used to respond successfully to fast-changing ground conditions.
Costa is consistently ranked as one of the top public speakers in the United States and abroad. From Fortune 500 companies to government agencies, non-profit organizations and universities, she delivers entertaining insights, along with practical, hands-on practicum aimed at immediate results. A favorite keynote speaker for Abbott Laboratories, IBM, Walmart, G20 Summit, Association of State CIO’s, Dole Foods, Stanford University, General Electric Company, Sun Life Financial and others, Rebecca Costa is one of the foremost authorities on adaptive strategies for the 21st Century.