Founder & Academic Director

Michael Fanning has nearly 40 years of experience as a global educator, public sector senior executive, newspaper reporter, and futurist.

He is an associate professor at the University of Southern California and a lecturer at Georgetown University.  He was an Adjunct Professor for Jesuit Worldwide Learning, where he taught displaced people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Rwanda, many of whom lived in U.N. Refugee Camps.

Professor Fanning is the founder of the Sagacity Institute, which is dedicated to educating the next generation of global leaders in Future Skills by preparing students for industries yet to exist, to use technologies yet to be invented, and to solve problems yet to be identified. His ability to connect the dots enables him to see beyond the horizon.

As a longtime college admissions interviewer, First Generation mentor, and Fulbright Scholars Program advisor, he listens and guides students to achieve their goals.

Following positions at the White House, KPMG, and the Washington Post, Professor Fanning was the U.S. Postal Service’s Senior Environmental Executive, where he managed the nation’s largest environmental program. In addition to managing the deployment of the national Biological Detection System, he directed emergency preparedness planning and response, energy, sustainability, and environmental programs, and continuity of operations. In these roles, he oversaw programs that required continuous communication with White House and Congressional staff, Homeland Security, and state and local elected officials. During his tenure, the Postal Service received 40 White House “Closing the Circle” awards for environmental excellence and won the national “Climate Champion” award from the Climate Registry.  He is an industry expert in managing public-private partnership (P3) projects.

Professor Fanning earned his BA in government and sociology from Georgetown University and his MS in environmental, health, and safety management from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He also studied crisis management, risk communications, and environmental economics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. A lifetime learner, he is pursuing a graduate degree in artificial intelligence management at Georgetown.  He holds Project Management Professional (PMP) and Climate Change Professional (CC-P) certifications, a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and four patents in emergency and environmental management.