We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Sanders recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to start your own firm or do you wish you had started sooner?

When I embarked on building and launching the Dallas Innovation Alliance with my partner Trey Bowles, I was working at a consulting firm that focused on clients in the technology, energy, finance and economic development sectors. As I started to notice that these industries were beginning to converge around an emerging concept – smart cities and sustainability – I became fascinated by this intersection. For awhile, I had been trying to figure out what was next for me, I really enjoy consulting and supporting multiple clients, but I was seeking something that closer matched a passion or mission-driven North Star. I had no idea how to get there, but I took on this ‘smart cities’ thing as a hobby, watching webinars, following the industry, going down rabbit holes. In a moment of serendipity, Trey, who I’d known for years and been involved in various organizations with – including entrepreneurship (The Dallas Entrepreneur Center) and building future civic leaders (Mayors Star Council), randomly brought up in conversation that Dallas really needed to get on its game with smart cities. I latched on and told him that this was my favorite thing and I was in. From there we pitched Mayor Rawlings on the concept and set out on a journey, establishing an independent cross-sector nonprofit that could work towards this lofty goal of making Dallas a smart city. While continuing to work full-time at the consulting firm, we built and launched the DIA in September 2015 at the White House as part of President Obama’s 168m commitment to smart cities. This was a perfect example of timing and putting in the work colliding, and is rare.

In spring of 2016, we’d raised enough funding for me to transition to running DIA full-time, and the rest is history. When I’m asked how I made such a big career/industry transition, I (halfway) joke that I found something I was passionate about, created a job, raised money and went and did it! It was terrifying to go from an established role I knew in and out to an organization in an area where there was no blueprint, but I’m so grateful I had the support and trust to figure it out along the way.

Jennifer, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Growing up in D.C. and Chicago, if you told me I’d have made Dallas my home, I would have thought you were crazy! After finishing school at the University of Virginia (Wahoowa!), I wanted to try a new city, so I could learn to forge a life on my own and dispel any fear of taking on a relocation later in my career. The first job that came about was in Dallas and I thought it would be rare to find as different an experience as Texas, so off I went. I imagined I’d be here two or three years and make it back to Chicago – and that was 16 years ago. What really struck me about Dallas was not only that it had all of the elements I thought I’d be giving up – green space/lakes, museums, music scene, etc. – but that it was a great city that had yet to reach its full potential, and there is something so inherently exciting about being a part of that ascension.

A handful of years ago, I knew my current career wasn’t my “lifetime” path, but I had no idea how I was going to be able to make that jump – or where that jump would land me. As my curiosity and passion for the smart cities movement took shape, and my co-founder Trey Bowles and I worked to establish DIA, I knew this was my purpose to serve the city and find innovative ways to prepare cities for the future. I now joke that the best way to make a career transition is to create a position for yourself, then go figure out how to use the tools you’ve got to make it successful! Given that very few cities had embarked on smart cities at that time, there was no blueprint, so there was a lot of building the plane while we were flying it, which was very out of my comfort zone and has continued to push me in ways that make me better at walking through fear and relying on the wisdom of our partnership model to bring best minds together and tackle the mission together.

Some of the things I’m most proud of are that the DIA and NTXIA are creating new models for how cities and regions can approach smart cities and essentially creating an independent R&D arm to prove out technologies prior to scaling. We’ve been approached to share our story all over the world. We’ve had to make choices and plunge forward knowing that there would be failures along the way… I’m a risk-adverse person, so this really pushed me. Being a part of a concept that can really transform every aspect of daily life – whether city efficiencies, the way citizens are served, conserving natural resources, preparing the future workforce, closing gaps in access to opportunity and beyond, I feel so lucky to be a part of this movement.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There are two stories I’d share about resilience and being agile in the face of challenges, one more serious than the other.

When we were preparing to launch our Smart Cities Living Lab in the West End district in downtown Dallas, our final step prior to installation was approval from the Landmark Commission, who oversees any changes in historic districts. With some of the elements of the Living Lab creating a contrast of old and new innovative elements, I was terrified that one particular project might be ‘too much’. The approval process is extensive and multi-step, and our deadline was approaching rapidly. To make our committed timeline to launch, we had to get it right on this approval cycle. A key component was the stamped engineering drawings of a part of the corridor, and the firm supporting it was non-responsive and it was not looking possible they were going to meet deadline. So one afternoon, I went out to the site myself, armed with a pink fabric tape measure I happened to have in my office, and laid down on the ground taking measurements, mapping utility locates and capturing the angles required for the drawings. It was somewhat of a spectacle, but it gave us the information needed to complete the drawings on time. This is one of Trey’s favorite stories to tell as an illustration of entrepreneurs finding ways to just ‘get shit done’.

The more existential challenge – one that impacted so many organizations – were the economic impacts of the pandemic in 2020. With the uncertainty brought on by the shutdown, in April, nearly two-thirds of our annual operating budget’s funding de-committed. The first step, again, like many during this time, including reduction of leaderships’ salaries and the decision to not backfill open roles, which meant running the organizations with one full-time employee. Foundation funders also pivoted in large measure to shifting funding focus to areas directly supporting COVID-related needs, our communities were all in survival mode. We were already operating heavily in digital equity work, and we were blessed to receive funding that allowed us to continue our programming, but that did not come close to making us whole from an operations standpoint. So our programs continued to serve and fill major gaps for our neighbors, but I increasingly feared the organization itself wouldn’t survive. Right before the end of the year, down to one payroll cycle, we received a grant that provided us enough breathing room to make it into 2021. This time strengthened my resilience, scrappiness and faith, and thickened my skin for potential uncertainty in the future. For our nonprofit community, it also created opportunities for fresh collaboration, both back of house and in programming, as well as a forum to deeply support each other through this. I am grateful for all of these experiences today.

How’d you meet your business partner?

In my past life, several clients were in Austin, and the Austin Chamber of Commerce was co-hosting a big event at SXSW with the Startup America Partnership at ACL Live. While the team was at the venue doing set up and getting ready for the opening, I started chatting while getting the registration set, and we realized both of us were in Dallas in the tech/innovation space. Trey was leading the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, and on leadership for Startup America and the Startup Texas regional group. It’s wild that we met across the state. By the time the event was over, he’d convinced me to support Startup Texas as Communications lead and come by the DEC and get involved. Trey has that effect on people, and I joke the longer I know Trey, the busier I get! Over the years, we’ve worked on several initiatives supporting the Dallas community, leading to the development of the DIA, and related organizations including the North Texas Innovation Alliance, which looks at the whole region, and InnoCity Partners, an LLC formed to support public and private organizations outside of North Texas on their smart city and innovation initiatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dallasinnovationalliance.com
• Instagram: @DallasSmartCity and @jensanders212
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/dallasinnovationalliance
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferhsanders
• Twitter: @dallassmartcity @ntxia_ and @jensanders212