Brian Ferguson

Brian Ferguson has spent a career working in high-performance organizations, learning from leaders and decision-makers in national security, the military, and technology. He has used those experiences to build Arena Labs, a company focused on optimizing performance “in the arena”. Brian works with a wide range of businesses and institutions to understand how to balance modern technology and the age-old “first principles of high performance” to construct adaptive, flexible organizations. Arena Labs focuses heavily in medicine and specifically, “High Performance Medicine”. The company develops unique content and training solutions for surgical teams in cardiac care, neurology, trauma, and the ICU. A large portion of Arena Labs work in High Performance Medicine leverages a unique virtual reality platform to train decision-making under pressure.

Before founding Arena Labs, Brian served in special operations as a Navy SEAL. Aside from his duties at the tactical level, he worked with senior leaders to understanding the impact of accelerating technology on the modern battlefield. He built and directed the first innovation cell in undersea special operations, focused on human performance and emerging technology.

Prior to serving in the US Navy, he was a Presidential Appointee in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, focusing on US national security & defense policy-making. Early in his career, Brian worked in the White House, as a Federal Liaison to the Governor of Ohio, and founded The Global Trends Group, a political and economic risk analysis firm.

He is currently on faculty at Singularity University in Silicon Valley and works with Fortune 500 leaders on challenges related to accelerating technology, innovation, and strategy. He received an MSc from The London School of Economics and is a graduate of the Santa Fe Institute on Complexity. Brian is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as the Pacific Council on International Policy. He and his wife Lindsay are both proud Midwesterners who now live in San Clemente, California.