Leadership Exchange Visits

Learning From Communities, Leading For The Future

Leadership Exchange and Benchmarking Visit: Huntsville, Alabama

Feb 16-18, 2027

We invite you to join us and travel with other leaders to explore fresh ideas, learn best practices, and engage in peer-to-peer learning that can fuel the Fox Cities’ future. Attendees will gain insights, build stronger relationships with fellow leaders, and return better equipped to move our region forward. It’s a strategic investment in the future of the Fox Cities! Huntsville, Alabama (Rocket City) is a fast-growing innovation hub driven by aerospace, technology, and advanced manufacturing. It offers powerful lessons in economic growth, talent attraction, and regional success.

WHY HUNTSVILLE:

The city is a national and innovative leader in key industries.
Huntsville has seen rapid population and job growth driven by high-skill industries.
The community has a highly educated workforce and strong talent attraction strategies.
Collaboration between business, government, and education partners has been key in their success.
They have a proven model for balancing economic growth with quality of place and livability.

Presenting Sponsor:

The Charleston Leadership Exchange fundamentally shifted how I think about regional possibility. Witnessing how a community can align long-term vision, waterfront placemaking, talent strategy, and public-private partnership into something genuinely transformative, rather than merely aspirational, was unlike any leadership experience I have been part of. More than that, it challenged me to ask: What becomes possible for the Fox Cities when we stop acting as individual municipalities and start acting as one region? That question stayed with me long after I boarded the plane home, and I am eager to carry that momentum into Huntsville and bring back new ideas and perspectives that can help strengthen the future of the Fox Cities.

Charleston Community Insights Tour

March 2-4, 2026

The Charleston Community Insights Tour was more than a visit, it was a strategic investment in the future of the Fox Cities. During this inter-city visit, attendees gained insights, built stronger relationships with fellow leaders, and returned better equipped to move our region forward. Charleston is attracting young talent at three times the national average, and we brought those lessons back to the Fox Cities.

Read the Leadership Exchange Journal

The Leadership Exchange Journal documents the Fox Cities Chamber’s executive benchmarking visits to peer communities across the country. Through these exchanges, local business and community leaders study best practices, engage in candid peer-to-peer learning, and identify strategies that can strengthen our region’s long-term economic vitality. This series shares key insights before, during, and after each exchange, bringing lessons learned back to the Fox Cities.