Date: Monday, September 19, 2022

Time: 12:30 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.

Location: Van Leer, WC240

Speaker: Angela Fox

Speaker’s Title: CEO

Speaker’s Affiliation: Foxgloves

Seminar Title: Seeking Elegant Solutions to Complex Problems

Abstract of Talk: Situated within walking distance of the Pentagon, Reagan National Airport, and just across the Potomac from the Nation’s capital, Crystal City was an area with phenomenal assets (location, transportation, accessibility), real long-term financial success, yet it was considered a “soulless concrete canyon” that no one would visit without an appointment. Then after the tragic events of 9/11, the neighborhood stood to lose more than 15K jobs, a factor that would completely destroy most cities in America. The property owners banded together and recruited Angie to be the founding CEO of an organization tasked to transform the perceptions and realities of the area – to reposition a quiet government enclave into something much more. Her approach was unique and unprecedented. At the helm for 11 years, she never had a doubt that when Amazon announced its search for a new HQ2, that Crystal City would win. Angie will talk about her experiences and choices that led her from the campus of Georgia Tech to DC, from transformational product technology at a Fortune 50 company, to an internet start-up, CEO of Cultural Tourism, to the founding of the BID, all while raising a son, traveling all over the world, and building a life of meaning, connection, and impact. 

Biographical Sketch of the Speaker: Graduating from Georgia Tech in 1991 with Highest Honors in Electrical Engineering, Angela (Angie) Fox has often been asked how she moved from such a technical education with early roles in corporate systems and strategy into a life of transforming companies and communities, building cultural facilities, and serving as a catalyst for change and role model for impact and meaning. For her, the answer is simple.  At engineering school, she learned to solve problems – the more complex the issue, the more elegant the solution. She believes different perspectives foster creativity; patterns and molds are meant to be broken; and that there is no situation that cannot be made better.  As the Founder and CEO of the Crystal City [now National Landing] Business Improvement District (BID), she created an organization that changed the way people see, perceive, and experience Crystal City.  From a long-standing belief that the area was a “concrete canyon” that no one would visit without an appointment to Amazon’s HQ2 and winner of the International Downtown Association’s Pinnacle “best of the best” award for strategic implementation of competitive programs, Angie has developed the ability to engage and infuse energy into a community. People are the heart of any company, campus, culture and community, and the only way to bring about real, active, and repeatable transformation is to enlist their energy as stakeholders in the process, the progress, and the ultimate success. As a recently empty-nested, Tesla-driving/now car-free, outdoorsy and very active 36-year vegetarian yogi, Angie remains committed to the health and vitality of local communities, inspiring people to embody the changes they seek to achieve.  She is a dynamic speaker and has traveled all over the world (6 continents, 88 countries, and 50 states). Though now semi-retired, Angie maintains a small consulting practice where she has worked with a Japanese Security Software firm as a C-level coach and interim Marketing VP, and provides business strategy, marketing and executive leadership support services to individuals, corporations, and non-profits.  She has re-introduced many people to the personal and business value of building lives that matter, to them, helping them become active contributors, board members, citizens and participants.  Whether launching Verizon Wireless, Verizon.net, introducing new programs at Cultural Tourism DC, or building award-winning theaters in downtown DC, she is dedicated to being a positive force for change in the world (and forever a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech)!