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Gulf Coast Business Council Leadership Academy

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Executives and Artificial Intelligence

Lead Artificial Intelligence Before It Leads You

Artificial intelligence is no longer simply a set of tools supporting operations. It increasingly shapes priorities, recommendations, and outcomes and often before leaders are aware those decisions have been influenced. As AI systems become embedded across organizations, decision authority can quietly shift away from executives and into algorithms, vendors, or technical teams. This new reality makes AI not an IT challenge, but a core leadership and governance responsibility.

The Executives and Artificial Intelligence Leadership Academy is a partnership between t¶¶Òõapp and the Gulf Coast Business Council. The program is designed to equip senior leaders to confidently govern, deploy, and lead with AI. The objective is to turn artificial intelligence from a technical concern into a strategic leadership advantage.

This nine-month executive experience prepares leaders to guide responsible, future-ready transformation while strengthening organizational performance and regional competitiveness.

Why This Academy Matters Now

Artificial intelligence increasingly shapes priorities, risk assessments, and outcomes across organizations, often without formal executive oversight. As AI becomes embedded in core systems, decision authority can quietly shift away from leaders and boards toward algorithms, vendors, or technical teams.

Executives who actively govern AI retain strategic control. They clarify accountability, align AI investments with organizational purpose, and ensure transparency in how decisions are made. Those who do not risk fragmented strategy, unclear responsibility, and elevated organizational exposure.

This Academy is designed for leaders who understand that governing AI is now a core executive responsibility, and that judgment, accountability, and strategic authority must remain with leadership.

What You Will Leave With

Each participant develops a set of executive-ready outputs designed for immediate use within their organization:

• A clear, enterprise-level AI and innovation strategy aligned with organizational priorities.
• An executive AI governance framework to guide accountable, ethical, and transparent decision-making.
• A data-informed leadership model to support strategic and operational judgment.
• A multi-year transformation roadmap integrating leadership, workforce, and technology.

These deliverables are designed to support executive teams and boards and are intended for implementation, not academic discussion.

The Executive Leadership Academy Experience

The Academy is a selective, in-person executive experience hosted on the University of Southern Mississippi’s ¶¶Òõapp campus. It is designed for senior leaders who are actively responsible for enterprise-level decisions, governance, and long-term performance.

Each month, participants convene for a full-day executive session structured around high-stakes leadership realities rather than theory or tools. Sessions combine strategic framing with peer-level discussion and applied work focused on participants’ own organizations.

Each session includes:

• Executive briefings on artificial intelligence, data, innovation, and governance that are framed through leadership and board-level decision-making.
• Facilitated peer dialogue with executives across industries and sectors.
• Applied scenario and decision exercises using participants’ organizations as live case contexts.
• A concise, executive-ready deliverable completed during the session and immediately usable within the organization.

This is not a lecture series or technical training. It is a working leadership environment designed to sharpen executive judgment, strengthen governance, and support real organizational decisions.

Program Structure

Program Dates: March – November 2026 Program Launch: March 13, 2026 Schedule: Second Friday of each month Session Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Format: In-person, cohort-based executive experience

Location: University of Southern Mississippi ¶¶Òõapp Campus 730 East Beach Boulevard Long Beach, Mississippi 39560

Investment: $4,500 per participant (final cost could decrease and is based on cohort size)

Enrollment is intentionally limited to ensure a high-caliber, peer-driven executive cohort, and meaningful dialogue across sessions.

Benefits for Executives

Executives who complete the Academy will:

• Strengthen judgment and confidence in AI-influenced, high-uncertainty decision environments.
• Retain strategic authority as automation and algorithmic systems expand.
• Gain fluency in how AI shapes decisions, risk, and accountability and not just tools or technologies.
• Lead innovation with clarity around governance, ethics, and executive responsibility.
• Build trusted peer relationships with senior leaders across the Gulf Coast business community.

Benefits for Organizations

Organizations benefit from leaders who can:

• Govern AI adoption responsibly while accelerating value creation.
• Align AI, data, and innovation investments with enterprise strategy.
• Improve performance through disciplined, data-informed decision-making.
• Manage workforce and cultural transformation with credibility and clarity.
• Strengthen organizational trust through transparent, accountable leadership.

Signature Capstone Experience

Each executive completes a capstone leadership project that integrates all Academy insights into a customized, multi-year strategic roadmap for their organization.

This capstone serves as a practical blueprint that executives can immediately apply to guide AI-enabled transformation well beyond the conclusion of the Academy.

Executive Credential

Upon successful completion of the Academy, participants receive formal recognition from T¶¶Òõapp acknowledging advanced executive capability in AI-driven strategy, governance, and organizational leadership.

This recognition includes:

• A University-issued Certificate of Completion from T¶¶Òõapp.
• A digital executive credential verifying proficiency in AI governance, strategic decision-making, and responsible organizational transformation.

This credential serves as a visible signal to boards, senior stakeholders, and external partners that the executive has developed the leadership judgment and governance fluency required to guide AI-enabled organizations.

Who Should Attend

This Academy is designed for senior leaders and high-level decision-makers responsible for strategy, governance, and organizational performance. Participants should have meaningful influence over enterprise priorities, investment decisions, and transformation initiatives.

Ideal participants include executives and organizational leaders responsible for:

• Strategy and long-term performance
• Governance, risk oversight, and organizational accountability
• Innovation, transformation, and major initiatives
• Workforce leadership, culture, and organizational capability

Leaders with organization-wide influence or those preparing to assume broader executive responsibility will benefit most from the Academy.

Enrollment is intentionally limited to support a high-quality, peer-driven cohort and substantive executive dialogue across sectors.