Innovate Alabama named its CEO Monday after an extensive national search.
An Alabama native, Cynthia Crutchfield, will step into the role Dec. 1. Crutchfield, a software engineer by trade, is president and CEO at Crutchfield Management Consulting LLC, which has provided her with the opportunity to spend time with entrepreneurs and innovators who are getting their businesses off the ground. She currently lives in Huntsville but will relocate to Birmingham for the role.
Crutchfield has experience in government, IT service management, professional services, management and proposal writing. She has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University. She then spent 18 years as a civil servant supporting the Departments of the Air Force and Navy followed by multiple information technology-focused leadership roles before founding her own IT services and consulting company in 2021.
"As I look back on my career, I feel like this position really culminated into everything that I've done throughout my career over the last 40 years, whether that's working with military organizations, working with employees, working with entrepreneurs, government clients. It's really an honor to have an opportunity to support this initiative," Crutchfield said.
Gov. Kay Ivey said Crutchfield will help Innovate Alabama reach new heights.
“When it comes to innovation, Alabama offers something that other states do not — a home where the culture of entrepreneurship is not transient, where movers and shakers put down roots. Alabama is a great place to grow a business. More than that, entrepreneurs and innovators are building their lives here,” Ivey said. “Thanks to the work of Innovate Alabama, a concerted effort is being made to support current and future local startups by giving them better access to resources, capital and talent."
Rich Bielen, member of the Alabama Innovation Corporation Board of Directors and president and CEO of Protective Life Corporation, highlighted Crutchfield's experience in the Monday Innovate Alabama Board of Directors meeting.
"She has extensive experience in both the technology and defense world, both large and small, not only managing large projects, but also consulting with them," Bielen said. "That will help our entrepreneurs as they think about how to grow into future business. She understands that we need to bridge both education and business, north to south and east to west."
Crutchfield affirmed her commitment to the role.
"I'm definitely ready to roll up my sleeves. I've read the report, the final report, lots of work to be done there, but as you heard, I really do focus on execution," Crutchfield said. "I'm very mission-focused, very mission-driven and typically do achieve the goals that have been set out. I know that you guys have been on this track, on this journey for about two years, so it's going to be a lot of work for me to run to catch up, but I'm prepared to do it."
Innovate Alabama named the first round of small business recipients of the Innovate Alabama Supplemental Grant Program in August. The program awarded more than $4.5 million in grant funding to 30 entrepreneurs across six Alabama cities. Many of them were based in Birmingham.
The program aims to advance Alabama’s economy through boosting research and commercialization efforts, developing exportable products and services and generating high-wage job opportunities.
Alabama entrepreneurs and innovators, who are recipients of Phase I and Phase II SBIR and STTR grants, were awarded up to $250,000 in supplemental funding to support the growth of the small businesses. The Alabama Legislature allocated an additional $5 million for the 2023 fiscal year to provide a second round of grant funding for eligible Alabama small businesses.
