Meet Derek Handley.
Derek Handley is a futurist, entrepreneur, and lifelong learner driven by a simple question: What does it mean to live well in an increasingly chaotic world? As the founder of Wiser Conversations, Derek contemplates this with esteemed global guests.
Derek, an adjunct professor at AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand, founded Wiser Conversations and its parent organization, Wiser, to empower others to develop self-knowledge and purpose in their lives and careers. To that end, Wiser develops workshops for audiences around the world, much of it aligned with Derek’s student modules on character and wisdom.
Wiser Conversations itself is a live conversation and podcast series hosted by Derek. The idea came about amid the fallout from the Covid pandemic, as lockdowns and travel restrictions made the sorts of in-person conversations that Derek so valued impossible.
During 2020, Derek and Wiser Conversations hosted a series of online conversations with leading thinkers, philosophers, spiritual gurus, cultural leaders, and thousands live of attendees. Among the luminaries who’ve participated thus far are the spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar and established author and social activist Naomi Klein who have millions of international followers.
Derek and Wiser Conversations routinely draw in lesser-known subject matter experts as well — examples include a motivational (and riveting) conversation about finding purpose in life with lion tracker Boyd Varty, a frank discussion about seeing the world through others’ eyes with Michael Ventura, an exploration of AI-assisted therapy with Eugenia Kuyda, and a probing conversation about the intersection of science, evolution, and religion with Ilia Delio.
Derek shares many of these conversations and related Wiser Conversations content through Twitter and Linkedin and Instagram. Wiser Conversations are also available on Apple and Spotify Podcasts, with original broadcasts held live via Zoom.
Wiser is an initiative of the Aera Foundation, which Derek and his wife Maya created in 2015. The Aera Foundation is a charitable studio with a mission to invest in causes and companies addressing social issues in imaginative ways. It operates across 10, 100, and 1000 year time horizons to support thinkers, entrepreneurs, ventures, and visionaries aspiring across a variety of fields pursuing a wiser and more sustainable world. Current themes include hunger and food issues, environmental sustainability, social finance, and civic engagement.
Derek is also a founding stakeholder in WeAreTENZING, a company that helps guide and manage exceptional New Zealanders with influence to reach the top of their personal ‘Everest’ and have a meaningful impact in the world. He co-founded the venture alongside broadcaster and entrepreneur Brooke Howard-Smith; fellow entrepreneur Sam Hazledine; and former World Cup Winning All Black Adam Thomson.
Aera Foundation incubated Aera VC, a global venture capital fund investing in transformative companies tackling climate change and the United Nations’ 17 goals for sustainable development.
Derek and Aera VC have supported or created dozens of companies innovating in the fields of mental health, addiction, psychedelic-medicines, education, carbon and climate, and food systems.
Another signature initiative of the Aera Foundation is the Aera Fellows program, which supports ‘exceptional young New Zealanders working on socially transformative programmes, immersed into the heart of real-world projects designed to help causes and companies improve the wellbeing of people and our planet in imaginative ways’. More than a high-impact internship scheme, Aera Fellows embeds future leaders in social ventures and advocacy organizations, in some cases in positions of considerable accountability for defined team roles.
Derek was the founding CEO of The B Team, a not-for-profit initiative led by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz that aimed to catalyse dialogue, leadership, and action towards a fairer, greener, more just economy. Derek and his founding partners spent more than a year working to set The B Team in motion before the official launch in 2013.
Previously, Derek was a co-founder of the Hyperfactory, a revolutionary digital media and technology agency that helped brands navigate the transition from web to mobile six years before the iPhone’s debut. Derek’s first book, ‘Heart to Start’, was a memoir inspired by his time at the Hyperfactory.
