TechTuesday: State of the Ecosystem

Description

Join us for our first TechTuesday luncheon of the year, featuring a compelling State of the Ecosystem discussion. This conversation will take the pulse of our ecosystem, exploring where our tech scene is at today and where it's headed. Panelists will share insights from a range of perspectives, including those of a founder, funder, ecosystem-building leader, and education expert. Together, they'll dive into key challenges, opportunities, and emerging trends shaping our tech community. 

Meet the panel:

Cynthia Crutchfield of Innovate Alabama

Matt Hottle of RedHawk Ventures

Patrick J. Murphy of University of Alabama at Birmingham Entrepreneurship

Teasha Cable of CModel Data, Inc.

As always, doors open at 11:30am and catered lunch will be served. The program will run 12-1pm. 

📍 Regions Auditorium 

🕛 11:30am - 1pm - February 18th

Register at bit.ly/tt-feb25 to secure your spot.

About the Panelists

Ms. Cynthia M. Crutchfield is the CEO of Innovate Alabama. In this role, she oversees the development and implementation of corporate strategy, leads day-to-day operations ensuring the advancement of the corporation’s mission through partnerships, developing programs, and managing innovation activities.

Prior to joining Innovate Alabama, Ms. Crutchfield served and the Founder/President/CEO of Crutchfield Management Consulting, where she set the strategic vision and growth plan for the company. She also served as the COO of The Crutchfield Company, a real estate investment company, providing affordable housing to college students, veterans, and underprivileged families. Ms. Crutchfield enjoyed a career of 40+ year within the Federal Government market as a civil servant (18 years) and as a contractor within private industry (22 years).

During her 22-year career with private industry, she served in numerous positions including: Executive Vice President (Infinity Technology); Senior Vice President (AECOM); Vice President (URS, Oceus Networks and ManTech); and Program and Project Manager and Sr. Software Engineer (Computer Sciences Corporation) supporting and leading large, small, and mid-tier organizations. In these roles, she developed and executed strategic plans, growth plans and provided oversight of Profit and Loss centers for organizations where she exceeded growth goals for revenues (up to $2B) and profit goals (upwards of 15%) as well as other growth goals. She provided management and oversight of teams of up to 800 program managers, engineers and IT specialists delivering Information Technology, Aircraft Maintenance and Training, CyberSecurity, and National and Defense Intelligence services to Government customers including the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, National Aerospace and Space Agency/Jet Propulsion Lab, Department of State, the United States Army, and the United States Air Force.

As an 18 year Civil Servant, her roles included: Computer Programmer at the Naval Weapons Support Center in Crane, IN; Project Leader supporting the Aircraft Maintenance Program at Gunter Air Force Base, AL; Chief, Software Development Branch at Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA; Battle Management Systems Program Manager at Langley Air Force Base, VA; Information Assurance Program Manager for Systems and Communications Directorate and Chief, IT for Plans and Program Directorate both at the Pentagon, DC.

Throughout her career, she received numerous sustained superior performance awards, won the CSC Presidents Award for Program Management, and she received the Women of Color Information Technology All-Star Award. Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Alabama A&M University in Computer Science where she graduated Cum Laude. She is a graduate of Leadership Huntsville Flagship Class (L-31) and completed Professional Military Education in-residence programs for Squadron Officer School and Air Command and Staff College.

Cynthia has been married to Michael Crutchfield for 31 years, and they have one child, Michael II (21). She resides in Birmingham, AL and enjoys scrapbooking, real estate investing, and working with her sorority and other community-based organizations to provide community service.

Matt Hottle is a prominent entrepreneur and venture capitalist based in Birmingham, Alabama. With over two decades of experience, he has been instrumental in building teams, systems, and processes for both startups and Fortune 500 companies.

As a co-founder and partner at Redhawk Advisory, Matt collaborates with entrepreneurs to enhance the value of their enterprises. Redhawk Advisory, established by Hottle and his partner Mickey Millsap, focuses on providing investment and portfolio management to investors, venture funds and general partnerships. Redhawk currently manages the Alabama Futures Fund and Prosper HealthTech Accelerator Fund. 

Through the management of these funds, Redhawk and Matt have supported the early-stage development of more than 50 startups and recruited more than 20 new startups to Alabama.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Matt serves as Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors for TechBirmingham, is an active member of Alabama Search and Rescue and hosts a podcast focused on startups and tech ecosystems.

Matt’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation has significantly contributed to Birmingham's reputation as an emerging hub for startups and technological advancement.

Dr. Patrick Murphy is the Goodrich Entrepreneurship Chair, full professor, and founding Director of the Barefield Entrepreneurship Program (BEP) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Since 2018, the BEP has raised over $7 Million and, in 2022, was named USA's top emerging university entrepreneurship program by the US Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). The BEP is one of UAB's fastest growing units in terms of enrollment, impact, and fundraising.

A former President of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Cultural Alliance, Professor Murphy lived in Beijing, China as a foreign student in the 1990s and speaks Mandarin Chinese. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded a successful NY-based racehorse training and breeding venture that entered racing programs in five states (2012-2022) and he remains active in thoroughbred retirement and aftercare.

Professor Murphy is Historian of the Academy of Management's (AOM) Entrepreneurship Division. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development and was previously Editor-in-Chief of Management Decision and Chair of the AOM's MH Division.

Major outlets regularly seek his perspectives on entrepreneurial topics for TV and print media. He has published extensively in leading outlets and journals including Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Small Business Management, and Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. He authored the book Mutiny and Its Bounty, published in 2013 by Yale University Press.

His 2009 paper, "A model of social entrepreneurial discovery," was ranked by the Journal of Business Ethics in 2021 as #6 in the top 100 most influential articles in the field of social entrepreneurship.  His 2006 paper, “A conceptual history of entrepreneurial thought,” was named by Emerald Publishers in 2017 as one of the publisher’s 50 highest-impact papers, across all of its journals, in the last half-century.

In 2024, Techstars named Dr. Murphy as one of its "all-star" (top 1% among 5,000) mentors based on founder feedback. In 2017, prior to moving to Alabama, he was named Future Founder’s inaugural “Entrepreneurship Professor of the Year” across all colleges and universities in the state of Illinois. In 2016, he was named to AmericanInno’s “50 on Fire” for impact on Chicago’s entrepreneurial ecosystem."

Teasha Cable is the dynamic and mission-driven Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of CModel. She brings two decades of proven expertise working with and advising growing businesses. Teasha found her passion for people, technology, and actionable data—which is currently fueling her mission for CModel to change the way business leaders make decisions.

Prior to co-founding CModel, Teasha held key roles as VP of Business Operations at Sales Impact Academy, VP of Business Development & Product Strategy at Singularity University and focused on informing enterprises about the potential of exponential technologies like AI in solving the world’s biggest challenges.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Teasha has contributed her expertise to various board positions, including WeCan Lead Tech, where she passionately advocates for women in tech leadership and serving as a co-founder of OpenDI, collaborating to build an inclusive ecosystem that fosters technological innovation, human collaboration, knowledge sharing, and advancements in human decision making.