Liz Brigham

Activist, Artist, Athlete, Brainstormer, Business adviser, Business leader, Business mentor, Care taker, Change Agent, Concerned citizen, Connector, Consultant, Educator/Teacher, Entrepreneur, Event planner, Explorer, Idea generator, Inventor, Investor, Marketer, Musician, Parent, Performer, Philanthropist, Potential employer, Producer, Promoter, Social entrepreneur, Startup, Technologist, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Liz S. Brigham is an accomplished leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, currently serving as the W. Spencer Mitchem ‘59 Executive Director at the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Davidson College. In this role, Liz leads strategic initiatives that foster entrepreneurial spirit and innovation at one of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges, empowering students and community members to transform ideas into impactful ventures. With a versatile career spanning leadership roles across product and marketing, Liz has made significant contributions to companies such as Morningstar Inc., Jive Software, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, and the political tech startup Timshel, where she was instrumental in developing the technology platform for Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential campaign. As a co-founder of 24HRPR and InnerCurrent Consulting, Liz is at the forefront of innovation, building AI-assisted tools designed to enhance the efficiency of customer-facing teams. Liz's expertise and leadership have garnered her numerous accolades, including the GrepBeat Rising Star 2026, Dan Roselli Community Organizer of the Year 2026, and a place among the Charlotte Business Journal’s 2024 Power 100 Innovators. Her strategic acumen in marketing was recognized globally when she was named Product Marketing Leader of the Year in 2019 by the Global Product Marketing Alliance. A proud alumna of Davidson College, Liz's contributions to her alma mater and beyond earned her the Davidson College Alumni Service award. Holding a B.A. with honors in English from Davidson College and an MBA with distinction from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Liz combines her academic prowess with real-world experience to drive transformative growth. She serves as an Independent Board Director for JamBase, Trustee for the Cannon School, and Board Member of LaunchCLT and Confluence Carolinas Music Conference, while actively advising and mentoring startups nationwide. Looking ahead, Liz remains committed to her vision of nurturing a dynamic ecosystem where innovation thrives, shaping the future of entrepreneurship through collaboration, creativity, and cutting-edge technology.

Building ecosystems, communities, teams, products, and solutions rooted in human-centered design. I enjoy anything related to music - creating it, supporting live concerts, gathering musicians and the music industry to innovate new ways to make the arts thrive in communities, watching documentaries, etc. A world without music dies quickly. My family and friends are the foundation of everything that matters to me. I enjoy any time I can spend with them exploring the world through adventuring, music, and playing sports.

For decades, companies have promoted people into management roles using the wrong criteria. We rewarded execution, responsiveness, and technical performance, then acted surprised when new managers struggled to lead humans. Today, more than 10 million middle managers in the United States collectively influence the financial stability, career trajectories, mental health, and daily lives of up to 120 million Americans. Yet most received little to no meaningful training before stepping into one of the most important and emotionally demanding jobs in society. Now artificial intelligence is exposing this mistake at scale. AI can increasingly handle the coordination work that once defined management: status updates, reporting, workflow tracking, scheduling, documentation, and information synthesis. As organizations flatten and management layers disappear, companies are being forced to confront a deeper question: What is a manager actually for? Drawing from 20 years leading teams across six industries, from Disney Parks and enterprise SaaS to startups, nonprofits, and higher education, I argue that AI is not eliminating leadership. It is eliminating the illusion of leadership. The managers who thrive in the future will not be the best administrators. They will be the people who can coach through uncertainty, build trust during change, navigate conflict, create psychological safety, and help teams adapt under pressure. In other words, the deeply human skills many organizations dismissed as “soft” are becoming the most economically valuable. Empathy is not about being nice. It is the ability to accurately understand another human being while still helping them move forward. In the workplace of the future, that may become the most valuable skill of all.

AI, business building, community and ecosystem building, consulting, entrepreneurship, event planning and execution, go-to-market strategy, Leadership, marketing strategy, music, product development, public speaking, team and organizational structure, writing

Tennis, photography, vibe coding, needlepointing