The 2023 ELITE Cohort Announced
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ELITE Program Vision & Purpose
The Greater Nashville area continues to attract globally recognized employers while cultivating a vibrant entrepreneurial community. In this highly competitive market, good leadership is critical to attract, retain, and strengthen the creative talent in the Nashville technology community. This program focuses on an area which has been traditionally underserved: developing the technology talent already in Nashville to become the leaders needed to support this thriving technology community. This program provides an opportunity for aspiring leaders and those new to a leadership role to come together to collectively gain new skills, share knowledge, network, and build Nashville’s leadership pool in the tech industry.
This is the 8th year for the Greater Nashville Technology Council Emerging Leaders In Technology (ELITE) program. Graduates of this program leave equipped with the knowledge and connections to be successful in a technology leadership role. Prior graduates have been recognized after program completion by their employees, peers, companies and the Tech Council for their contributions. Through formal instruction, community program activities, dialogue, and mentoring, the ELITE program provides an education on the core skills required for people leadership and opportunities to refine and use those skills in the workplace and the community.
This three-month, application-only program will provide training, peer-to-peer learning, and executive mentorship for those emerging leaders selected to participate.
Meetings are held every other Friday for half a day with one evening mixer throughout the program. Additionally, the first kick-off session will be a day and a half training. At this time the program is scheduled to be held in person at Tech Hill Commons.
To view information on previous program format, schedule, expectations, and participant selection criteria, please read the full syllabus here: ELITE 2023 Syllabus.
2023 Program Schedule
| Session | Topic / Description* |
| ELITE Program Kickoff
August 24-25, 2023 August 24th Training 1 – 12:00-4:30pm Mixer – 4:30-6:00pm (optional) August 25th Practicum 1 – 7:30am-2:00pm |
Program Kickoff and How to Communicate with Absolutely Anyone
Get to know your fellow cohort members, review program expectations, learn the four languages that you and others use to communicate, gain insight into psychological needs and unlock the secrets of motivation. Use the skills gained in the first training session to network with ELITE participants, ELITE program mentors, and the ELITE Leadership Committee. (August 24) Team Activity (Escape Room) + session on Leadership in Distress. (August 25) Self form into teams to select community project |
| Training/Practicum 2
September 8, 2023 7:30am-12:30pm |
How to Build High Performing Teams
Training: Learn how to recognize and build the right ingredients into your team so you can supercharge your team performance. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. Master this, and you can build high-performing teams over and over. Practicum: Share with mentors and your peers your challenges building and leading a team, gaining insights on approaches that might help improve your team cohesion and effectiveness |
| Training/Practicum 3
September 22, 2023 7:30am-12:30pm |
How to Get Out of the Weeds so You Can Lead
Training: How to effectively coach, to develop and delegate to those around you so you can lead. How to be the leader that will make be highly successful and known for getting the job done. Practicum: Reflect on the level of control, monitoring, and delegation to use in different situations, including how to course correct mid-stream and learn from mistakes |
| Training/Practicum 4
October 6, 2023 7:30am-12:30pm |
How to Lead Change that doesn’t fail
Training: We rarely consider the human element of change yet that is what messes up our change plans. It turns out the brain processes change the same way every time. When you master the stages of change, it impacts how you lead yourself and others through change. Practicum: Examine the changes affecting you and those around you and engage with peers and mentors to brainstorm specific ideas on how to work through and possibly ease the transition |
| Training/Practicum 5
October 27, 2023 7:30am-12:30pm |
Putting it all together
Training: Review sessions and work through a case study that gives the cohort a chance to apply their learning to a real-life scenario. Wrap up the learning and provide the next steps for staying engaged in giving back to the program. Practicum: Discuss with peers and mentors some of the toughest challenges of leadership and design your plan to make sure that the most important things are getting the attention they deserve |
| ELITE Graduation
November 2, 2023 5:00-9:00pm |
Program conclusion and celebration. |
Applications for the 2023 Cohort are closed
Applications for the 2023 cohort opened May 1, 2023 and were due June 16, 2023. All participants will be notified of participation status by July 14, 2023.
Applications for the 2024 cohort will open May 1, 2024.
Participation Criteria:
The program content is specifically tailored for individuals in technology who are either currently in an individual contributor position and desire a career path into a leadership role or who are new to a people leadership role, preferably less than 3 years in role. The ideal participant will meet the following criteria:
- Must be located in the Greater Nashville area
- Must be a technology professional
- Must be a NTC member
- Must be in one of the following categories:
- A manager of individual contributors (i.e. not a manager of managers)
- A project manager/team lead or individual contributor with no direct authority over team members
- Must be interested in developing into a leadership role or more advanced leadership role
- Must have a burning desire to focus on personal development
- Must have the necessary personal and professional support to commit to actively participating in the sessions and activities throughout the full duration of the program, scheduled for the fall of 2023.
Please note: NTC membership is required to participate in the program. If your company is not an NTC member and you would like to learn more, please contact Brian Adair, brian.adair@technologycouncil.com, to learn more. Additionally, if accepted into the program, there is a one-time $1,500 fee for participation.
Leadership Committee
ELITE is led by a committee of engaged NTC members that is passionate about developing great people from the Nashville tech community. The group meets regularly and attends every meeting. They review applications to the group and work with company leadership to identify up-and-coming leaders and the CIO’s or VP’s that support them.
John Anderson, RCG
Meg Chamblee, UDig
Joanne Eckton, Qualifacts
Suzi Earhart, CX Consultant
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