Jennifer Sanders
Jennifer Sanders is a leader and thinker in smart cities and regions. She is, currently, the Executive Director of theNorth Texas Innovation Alliance, a consortium of cross-sector organisations including public, private, civic and academic entities, that works to build and implement a regional smart, connected and resilient strategy for North Texas.She has been an active executive to bring together nonprofit and civic organisations, academic institutions, and leading corporations on one platform to take a best-minds approach and create smarter, more connected cities.
Jennifer is a BA in Psychology fromUniversity of Virginia. She spent more than a decade in top executive levels, including the Director of Communications at the Startup Texas and Consultant at the Institute for Strategic Communications.
She is an enthusiast in public affairs and change management, and has been consulting for clients in finance, energy, technology, and economic development, among others.Jennifer is also the CEO ofInnoCity Partners, a boutique consulting firm that is focussed on supporting organisations across public and private sectors to design, build and execute smart city programs. InnoCity Partners is a certified Women Owned Small Business from WBENC and Historically Underutilised Business (HUB).
She also co-founded the Dallas Innovation Alliance, a public-private partnership dedicated to supporting the design and execution of the City of Dallas' smart cities strategy.
She is actively involved with numerous civic organisations:
currently serving as past-President of the Mayor’s Star Council,Board President of the Suicide & Crisis Center of North Texas,Secretary Board of Directors of National Smart Coalitions Partnership (NSCP),Board member of Better Blocks Foundation,Board Treasurer of the West End Association, andan Ambassador for the Dallas Entrepreneur Center (DEC), among others.
Jennifer has received recognition for her leadership in the industry, including the 2019 UN Day Global Leadership Award for advancing theUN Sustainable Development Goalsin the category of Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure).She was also named in the Dallas Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 and Top Women in Technology, State Scoop’s Top Women in Technology, the TechWeek 100, and the Dallas 500.
Jennifer has been a keynote speaker at global conferences including South by Southwest, Smart Cities Week, IOT World Congress, IMPACT: Cities, and the Smart City Global Congress and Expo in Barcelona.
