| Notes |
In late 2002, earnest talks of forming an alliance between The Innovation Groups and The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) began. IG and ICMA initiated co-sponsored workshops to test the waters of this new relationship. With the retirement of founder Bob Havlick in June, 2003, a new era began when former Texas City Manager Bob Hart became the IG President in December, 2003. Hart worked with the IG Board and ICMA Executive Director Bob O’Neill to find a key third partner. All parties agreed that a university partner was essential to forge an alliance that would bring cutting-edge ideas and applied research to local governments. IG issued a request for interest among universities and with ICMA began the search for the last peg of the alliance.
On June 2, 2006, The Innovation Groups Board unanimously voted to choose Arizona State University as the university partner for the alliance. The ICMA Board also approved ASU as the alliance. In Yuma, AZ on October 13th and 14th, three representatives of ASU and three representatives of ICMA joined the IG board for the first alliance board meeting. The group amended the IG bylaws to incorporate the new board structure and decided that IG would become the “Alliance for Innovation.” This new name was put to a vote of the IG membership in May, 2007 and passed with 179 “Yes” votes, 4 “No” votes, and 161 with no response. On June 1, 2007, the organization legally became the “Alliance for Innovation, Inc.” |