Tuscaloosa Leaders Arrive in Mobile for Annual Benchmarking Trip

Leaders from west Alabama traveled south this weekend and are in Mobile for an annual trip designed to bring good ideas from other cities back to the Tuscaloosa area.

The Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama has taken these Benchmarking trips since 2017 and have learned from leaders in Greenville, Lexington, Chattanooga, Asheville and Raleigh.

This year, the Chamber and the 50 or so local leaders on the trip will stay closer to home in Mobile, the fourth-largest city in Alabama.

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The West Alabama cohort includes Mayor Walt Maddox, Probate Judge Rob Robertson and dozens of other leaders from leading area nonprofits, businesses, the education sector and more.

The learning kicked off Sunday night with a reception at Mobile's Innovation Portal, a nonprofit hub for growing good ideas into businesses that can scale in size and stand the test of time.

The group also got to hear from Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, who touted his city's infrastructure - its massive seaport, five Class I railroads, one airport open on the outskirts of town and another in the works for the downtown area - all those advantages make Mobile a hub for manufacturing and industry.

Stimpson also talked about the incredible growth of the Airbus manufacturing plant in Mobile and the pros and cons of their downtown Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center, which could soon get a roughly $300 million replacement.

"What we're trying to do is make sure when we turn that baton off to the next mayor, the city is better than it was when we found it," Stimpson. "When you look at any aspect of being mayor of a city, that is our desire, and so much of it comes down to quality of life and inspiring people to do things they otherwise might think they weren't able to do here."

The group also heard from the Innovation Portal's Nick Hampton, the city's supplier diversity manager Archnique Kidd, Mobile Chamber representative Abbey Huguley and Dan Blakley and Dana George from the University of Alabama.

Much of Sunday's conversations centered around talent retention, industrial success and the kind of entrepreneurial support that goes on at the Innovation Portal.

Monday's agenda is jam-packed with speakers from the Saraland City School System, the Mobile Area Education Foundation, the University of South Alabama and more before education-driven discussions transition to more traditional tourism topics.

Stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread as we cover these conversations and share lessons from the Benchmarking Trip and they could mean for West Alabama in years to come.