He founded Blue Zones, a company that puts the world’s best practices in longevity and well-being to work in people’s lives. Buettner’s November 2005 National Geographic article on longevity, “The Secrets of Living Longer,” was the cover story of one of the magazine’s top-selling issues in history and made him a finalist for a National Magazine Award. His books appeared on many best-seller lists and were featured on Oprah. In 2009, Dan and his partner, AARP, applied principles of The Blue Zones to Albert Lea, Minnesota and successfully raised life expectancy and lowered health care costs by some 40%. He’s currently working with Healthways to implement the Blue Zones Project in 17 cities throughout America. Their strategy focuses on optimizing the health environment instead of individual behavior change.

Topics

• Blue Zones: Secrets of a Long Life
• The Making of a Healthy City
• Thrive: Unlocking the Secrets of Happiness

Accomplishments

• National Magazine Award finalist: “The Secrets of Living Longer”
• Featured regularly on The Oprah Winfrey Show
• Appearances on CNN, Nightline, Late Night with David Letterman, ABC’s Good Morning America, Martha Stewart, Primetime Live, and the NBC Today Show
• Emmy Award-winning documentary producer
• Three Guinness World Records for cycling six continents
• Writer for Outside, LIFE, and National Geographic magazines
• Profiled in People, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, and USA Today

Publications

• The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People (2015)
• Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way (2010)
• The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest (2008)
• Africatrek: A Journey by Bicycle Through Africa (1997)
• Maya Quest: Interactive Expedition (1996)
• Sovietrek: A Journey by Bicycle Across Russia (1994)

Testimonials

“He was just brilliant! Our attendees gave Dan a much-deserved standing ovation and were left buzzing about his work long after his talk.”

“I could have listened to him for days.”

“I have rarely seen a speaker who is as comfortable up on stage giving his presentation as Dan Buettner, plus he felt fresh and excited about the material.”

“With 98.6% of attendees rating him “Excellent”, Dan was our best speaker ever.”

“Dan did such a stellar job at our conference. We have no idea how we’ll fill his shoes the next time we put on this event.”