Jennifer Sanders

Jennifer Sanders is Cofounder and Executive Director of the Dallas Innovation Alliance (DIA) a nonprofit public-private partnership dedicated to the design and execution of a smart cities plan for Dallas. She brings to the role expertise across a broad array of industries, including energy, technology, economic development and finance. DIA’s goal is to elevate Dallas as a city that is not only prepared for – but a driving force in shaping – the future of cities, and provide opportunities for prosperity for its citizens. While at the DIA, she has collated a network of 30 member organizations, and works with over 20 departments within the City of Dallas and Dallas County to accomplish an aligned smart city strategy, beginning with the implementation of the Smart Cities Living Lab [phase I], in the West End District in downtown Dallas. This Living Lab incorporates eight smart city projects into a compressed corridor, and the resulting platform will pull in startups, entrepreneurs and university researchers to develop and test additional products and solutions. The Living Lab launched in March of 2017.

She is actively involved with numerous civic organizations in Dallas, and has served as the President of the Mayor’s Star Council, on the Board of the Suicide & Crisis Center of North Texas, an Ambassador for the Dallas Entrepreneur Center (DEC) and the Advisory Board for Dallas-based retail and lifestyle startup, Edition Collective, among others. She has been named to Dallas Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, Dallas Business Journal’s Top Women in Technology, the Dallas 500 and Tech Week 100. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Psychology with a minor concentration in Economics.