The goal of the Growth and Innovation Leaders Forum is to learn more about organizational growth, growth strategy, rates of growth, how to scale a business successfully, leadership strategies, and more. We strive to learn from each other; teach students through experiential learning, and foster the future of innovation through research.
Leaders of firms dedicated to the growth of human and financial capital who want to teach and continuously learn and connect with students, faculty, and other firms that are building innovation and growth capabilities.
We have a stream of work on entrepreneurial growth, and we invite organizations interested in learning more about integrating the spirit and foundational skills of entrepreneurship into their own strategy and leadership.
We will explore various growth strategies, such as mergers, acquisitions, initial public offerings, organic growth, and franchise-based growth. Our members share new ideas about structuring businesses and systems to support growth.
Our goal is to make new learning – not just read about it.
Access to some of the most talented students of The University of Alabama
Networking with members and working with faculty who are part of The Forum
Annual Growth and Innovation Leadership Summit with Executive Education
Visits with member organizations – learning from your peers
Early access to companies at The EDGE incubator and accelerator
Provide at least one internship opportunity per year
Engage as a guest speaker (someone from your firm) or provide a live case study annually
Be an active member in the annual Summit; participate in learning events, and/or partner on action research projects with students and faculty
Help attract new members, attend networking events and help us grow and innovate
Each participating company participates in a data-driven learning exercise (focus groups, interviews, surveys). We use real-time and relevant data to inform the program. Participants receive benchmark data to use and drive action from their participation.
The annual summit includes hands-on learning exercises, diagnostic work, and live case studies, in addition to learning sessions facilitated by faculty and senior leaders from The Forum.
Dr. Theresa M. Welbourne is leading this initiative, and it is part of the overall work being done at the Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute and the Management Department in the Culverhouse College of Business. Theresa runs a large research project on growth companies, specifically looking at what happens in companies post significant milestone events such as initial public offerings (IPOs), new leadership, private equity, mergers, high growth cycles, and more. The research team consists of entrepreneurship faculty in the Management Department at The University of Alabama, along with researchers from other universities who partner on this work. The faculty also teach courses that focus on growth and innovation at the undergraduate, master’s, Ph.D., and executive levels.