ABOUT

Meet Sanjay

Now Is the Time...

Sanjay Khanna advises business, government, and civil society about enhancing resiliency with futures thinking. A leading thinker and speaker on strategic foresight in the face of multiple converging crises, Sanjay is featured in the Financial Times, Fast Company, CBC, The Globe and Mail, Les Affaires, and Nature, and has been published in prestigious academic journals and textbooks.

Sanjay is trained in scenario planning, and is a skilled strategist, executive coach, moderator, and facilitator. In 2018, he completed the Oxford Scenarios Programme, Säid School of Business, University of Oxford. In 2002, he was trained by Royal Dutch Shell scenario planners at the Global Business Network. Sanjay believes that growing economic and environmental uncertainty make it essential to develop a more resilient and compassionate world.

Starting his career as a writer and researcher for technology companies in Silicon Valley, Sanjay advised high profile clients including Accenture, Hewlett-Packard, and Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Through this work, he became concerned about potential implications of converging crises on mental health and decision making. This led him to establish the Resilient People and Climate Change Conference, a seminal meeting on the psychological, social, and cultural impacts of climate change.

Futures Thinking: Harnessing the Power of Foresight

As Resident Futurist and Saul Rae Fellow at Massey College in the University of Toronto, Sanjay went on to conduct research, teach, and write about these psychosocial and sociocultural issues. He was also a consultant to Public Health Ontario, Futurist-in-Residence at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and co-curator of a cultural program with Goethe-Institute Toronto that showcased how artists, designers, and musicians provide early warnings of society’s need to adapt to the future.

Sanjay co-authored seminal thought leadership on converging crises with Baker McKenzie and on cybersecurity scenarios with Boston Consulting Group, BCG Platinion, and The Decision Lab. With Future Skills Centre and Ted Rogers School of Management’s Diversity Institute, he co-authored a primer on strategic foresight and the future of work. Sanjay has facilitated numerous foresight workshops, delivered keynote and panel presentations on converging crises for clients including:

British Columbia Lottery Corporation
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Family Enterprise Foundation
FMO—Dutch entrepreneurial development bank
Global Alliance for Banking on Values
Global Initiative on Justice with Children
Thomson Reuters Foundation

Consulting on Risk and Change

At Baker McKenzie, the world’s leading law brand, Sanjay was the first futurist appointed to a global law firm. He worked with the firm’s stakeholders to provide a holistic understanding of global risk and change, and played a key role in developing the world’s first multidisciplinary collaboration lab in global law, defining its ethos and building strategic partnerships in business, technology, and higher education. Sanjay was named a Technology Pioneer by the premier legal industry publication, and was a joint winner of an FT Innovative Lawyers North America Award in the category “Innovation in the Business of Law: Strategy and Changing Behaviours.” As a member of the firm’s global ESG and climate risk committee, Sanjay was tasked with co-creating new advisory services and facilitating the international expansion of the firm’s relationship with the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Initiative.

Sanjay was a senior consultant on natural catastrophe and flood risk at Insurance Bureau of Canada, the industry association for property and casualty insurers, where he advocated for a “whole-of-society” approach to addressing climate impacts and effects. In addition, he was a senior analyst at International Data Corporation, a premier global provider of market intelligence and advisory services for IT, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets.

Higher Education and Executive Coaching

Sanjay is a member of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloane School of Management, or CAMS, an interdisciplinary consortium for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity.

At McMaster University, Sanjay was Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science (2021-24), and served as Professor of Practice and Advisory Board Member of the Master of Public Policy in Digital Society Program. Sanjay was an expert witness for the Parliament of Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics (ETHI), where he testified on the use and impact of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), including potential impacts on children and youth.

Prior to this, Sanjay conceived and co-taught courses on strategic foresight, design thinking, and innovation within the university’s Health Leadership Academy at DeGroote School of Business. Sanjay served on the Program Faculty of the Law of Emergencies Certificate Program, Osgoode Professional Development, York University, Toronto, Canada.

In the UK, Sanjay was a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art (RCA), the world’s leading art and design university, and was an Associate of its Liveable Planet Challenge Lab whose partners were Adidas and Department for Transport, among others. At the RCA, Sanjay provided new insights from environmental and climate sciences to faculty, staff, and students, raising the bar for academic-industry collaboration.

Advising on Climate Change

Sanjay is a member of the External Advisory Committee of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Community Programs (UCP). UCP serves the Earth system science community, and is part of UCAR, a world-leading non-profit consortium of 127 North American colleges and universities focused on research and training in Earth system science.

Sanjay advised Médicins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders Canada, Humanitarian Action on Climate and Environment (HACE), and The Decision Lab. He was on the Advisory Board of RiskThinking.ai, a leading climate risk data and software provider. A member of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals, Sanjay is an Expert Reviewer of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Sanjay received a Global Competent Boards Designation (GCB.D) from Competent Boards in 2020 and was a contributing leader to that organization’s ESG certification program for board directors and business professionals. Sanjay holds an MFA in Creative Writing, a BFA in Creative Writing, and a B.Ed. from the University of British Columbia.