Napier Collyns (1927 – 2023)

The college has learned recently of the death of Charles Napier Collyns on 3 April 2023.

Napier was an Associate Fellow of Templeton then Green Templeton colleges from November 2007 until his death. He had a long career working at Shell, where he went on to develop its scenario planning approach with Pierre Wack.

Napier co-founded the Global Business Network (GBN) a consulting firm which gave scenario planning advice to businesses, non-profits, and governments. This was a venture with Jay Ogilvy, Peter Schwartz, Stewart Brand and Lawrence Wilkinson.

Napier was the founder of the Pierre Wack Memorial Library, an important collection of books and archival material relating to futures and scenarios planning and research. The Library was donated to Templeton College and now forms part of the Oxford Futures Library.

He was the subject of a Memoir of a Networking Man by Richard Daglish (Triarchy Press, 2018).

Please let the fellowship team know if you would like to pass on any messages to the family.