diff --git a/lower-constraints.txt b/lower-constraints.txt
index 1f491875d..5760bc665 100644
--- a/lower-constraints.txt
+++ b/lower-constraints.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ extras==1.0.0
 fixtures==3.0.0
 future==0.16.0
 futures==3.0.0
+futurist==2.1.0
 ipaddress==1.0.17
 iso8601==0.1.11
 jmespath==0.9.0
diff --git a/openstack/cloud/_object_store.py b/openstack/cloud/_object_store.py
index 6bb6fc68d..c781e16c9 100644
--- a/openstack/cloud/_object_store.py
+++ b/openstack/cloud/_object_store.py
@@ -45,9 +45,6 @@ OBJECT_CONTAINER_ACLS = {
 
 class ObjectStoreCloudMixin(_normalize.Normalizer):
 
-    def __init__(self):
-        self.__pool_executor = None
-
     @property
     def _object_store_client(self):
         if 'object-store' not in self._raw_clients:
@@ -55,16 +52,6 @@ class ObjectStoreCloudMixin(_normalize.Normalizer):
             self._raw_clients['object-store'] = raw_client
         return self._raw_clients['object-store']
 
-    @property
-    def _pool_executor(self):
-        if not self.__pool_executor:
-            # TODO(mordred) Make this configurable - and probably use Futurist
-            # instead of concurrent.futures so that people using Eventlet will
-            # be happier.
-            self.__pool_executor = concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(
-                max_workers=5)
-        return self.__pool_executor
-
     def list_containers(self, full_listing=True, prefix=None):
         """List containers.
 
diff --git a/openstack/connection.py b/openstack/connection.py
index d77a81f9a..9747a9fb7 100644
--- a/openstack/connection.py
+++ b/openstack/connection.py
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ Additional information about the services can be found in the
 import warnings
 import weakref
 
+import futurist
 import keystoneauth1.exceptions
 import requestsexceptions
 import six
@@ -276,6 +277,7 @@ class Connection(
                  service_types=None,
                  global_request_id=None,
                  strict_proxies=False,
+                 pool_executor=None,
                  **kwargs):
         """Create a connection to a cloud.
 
@@ -343,6 +345,11 @@ class Connection(
             where it can be expected that the deployer config is correct and
             errors should be reported immediately.
             Default false.
+        :param pool_executor:
+        :type pool_executor: :class:`~futurist.Executor`
+            A futurist ``Executor`` object to be used for concurrent background
+            activities. Defaults to None in which case a ThreadPoolExecutor
+            will be created if needed.
         :param kwargs: If a config is not provided, the rest of the parameters
             provided are assumed to be arguments to be passed to the
             CloudRegion constructor.
@@ -378,7 +385,7 @@ class Connection(
 
         self._session = None
         self._proxies = {}
-        self.__pool_executor = None
+        self.__pool_executor = pool_executor
         self._global_request_id = global_request_id
         self.use_direct_get = use_direct_get
         self.strict_mode = strict
@@ -491,6 +498,13 @@ class Connection(
         except keystoneauth1.exceptions.ClientException as e:
             raise exceptions.raise_from_response(e.response)
 
+    @property
+    def _pool_executor(self):
+        if not self.__pool_executor:
+            self.__pool_executor = futurist.ThreadPoolExecutor(
+                max_workers=5)
+        return self.__pool_executor
+
     def close(self):
         """Release any resources held open."""
         if self.__pool_executor:
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/futurist-b54b0f449d410997.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/futurist-b54b0f449d410997.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1d1ca2095
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/futurist-b54b0f449d410997.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    Switched to the ``futurist`` library for managing background
+    concurrent tasks. Introduced a new ``pool_executor`` parameter
+    to `Connection` that allows passing any any futurist Executor
+    for cases where the default ``ThreadPoolExecutor`` would not
+    be appropriate.
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 90a88c6e2..bda4eb9ff 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ munch>=2.1.0 # MIT
 decorator>=4.4.1 # BSD
 jmespath>=0.9.0 # MIT
 ipaddress>=1.0.17;python_version<'3.3' # PSF
-futures>=3.0.0;python_version=='2.7' or python_version=='2.6' # BSD
+futurist>=2.1.0 # Apache-2.0
 iso8601>=0.1.11 # MIT
 netifaces>=0.10.4 # MIT