Welcome to the 2026 

Growth and Innovation Leaders Summit

Join a high powered group of leaders who are innovating and growing their organizations. This one day Summit, which is set up more like an executive education experience than a traditional conference, invites a select group of individuals to get together for a day of learning and creating new knowledge. 

The day begins with a keynote on "Leading the Growth Organization"  with Edward K. Aldag, Jr., the Chairman, President and CEO of Medical Properties Trust and Greg Byrne, The University of Alabama's Director of Athletics. Both leaders have built significant, high growth and very successful organizations. After the keynote, attendees will engage in a table exercise focused on applying the lessons learned to their own organizations and careers. Additional sessions are focused on getting your data ready for AI, with this session led by Bobby Napiltonia, an expert in the field and someone with a vast amount of experience successfully growing some of Silicon Valley's largest organizations. These are just a few of the events; you can review the entire agenda by entering the event platform. 

We invite you to learn more about the Growth and Innovation Leaders Forum.  Members receive an allotted number of tickets to this annual Summit, and they also are invited to attend other events during the year as well as sponsor student consulting work at their firms and participate in new research initiatives. If you are a member, please ask all of your attendees to register.  

If you are not a member and wish to attend, you can purchase either in-person or virtual tickets for this event. We do have a limited number of free tickets for students and faculty.   

Email us at aei@ua.edu or call +1-205-348-3343 if you have any questions.  

Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to seeing you at the Summit. 

Theresa M. Welbourne, PhD

Will and Maggie Brooke Professor in Entrepreneurship

Executive Director, Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute