SIBF

09/03/2026

A professional community is only as strong as our willingness to show up for it.

Membership opens the door. But it is through participation, joining the conversation, attending the program, sharing what we know, and remaining open to what others can teach us, that the real value of a network emerges.

When we show up consistently, familiar faces become trusted relationships. A presentation becomes a new way of thinking. A casual conversation becomes an unexpected opportunity. And a collection of accomplished individuals becomes a community invested in one another’s growth.

At SIBF, our programs create space for leaders to learn together, exchange ideas across industries and cultures, and develop the kind of relationships that can only be built when we accept the invitation.

09/01/2026

SIBF in the News: England Entertained, Educated Students

Read the full article:

Local foundation provided one-of-a-kind experience for area students

08/24/2026

Legacies are Built Over Time.

The leaders who make the greatest impact understand that leadership is an act of stewardship, recognizing that the choices they make today influence the people, organizations, and communities of tomorrow.

They share what they've learned. They invest in relationships. They broaden perspectives. They intentionally prepare the next generation to carry the work forward.

That same view of legacy recently took shape in Cambridge at the SIBF Cambridge Young Adults Summer Program: Money and Responsibility.

As young adults gathered to explore the ideas that shape society, they engaged in the kind of conversations that develop thoughtful leaders, learning from distinguished scholars, wrestling with enduring questions, and gaining perspectives that will shape the course of their professional and personal lives for years to come.

At SIBF, we believe leadership is about investing in others, cultivating character, and building strong relationships that carry across generations.

The greatest legacy is what continues because we invested and cared for those who come next.

08/18/2026

There is a lot you can learn about leadership from someone willing to tell you not only what worked, but what didn’t.

This week, SIBF members had the opportunity to visit Jeff Ackel's (GA, '14) company, Sigma Thermal, Inc., and hear directly from Jeff about nearly two decades of building the company from the ground up.

What began in 2007 with a handful of people, borrowed space, and a $3,000 forklift has grown into a global operation with more than 2,000 installations worldwide.

But the most interesting part of the story was everything required to make that growth sustainable.

There were years when business came faster than the organization was ready for it. There were mistakes, growing pains, an international expansion, and then the disruption of 2020, and through each chapter, the company learned.

Today, Sigma Thermal points back to a few fundamentals that have remained remarkably consistent: deep engineering knowledge, applied field experience, real customer service, product quality, impeccable safety, culture, and the systems needed to support all of them. Jeff pointed out that all of these components are necessary for success and without just one the company and teams suffer.

One reflection in particular stayed with us: entrepreneurs often begin by carrying everything themselves. "But," Jeff went on to say, "building something that lasts eventually requires finding capable people, trusting them to lead, and getting out of their way."

Jeff's ability to build teams that can do the jobs required to keep Sigma Thermal competitive has enabled him to step down as CEO and spend his time focusing on "special projects" and other passions that will ensure Sigma Thermal's significance in the years ahead.

Thank you to Jeff and the entire Sigma Thermal team for opening your doors, sharing the story behind the business, and giving fellow members an inside look at what it really takes to build, scale, stumble, adapt, and keep going.

07/30/2026

At SIBF, we are more than a collection of resumes—we are a network of stories, experiences, and insights, committed to enhancing both our personal and professional lives.

Beyond their professional achievements, our members are also adventurers, artists, athletes, and thought leaders, bringing a rich tapestry of experiences to our network.

Because the best ideas rarely come from a single discipline. They emerge where diverse experiences, perspectives, and relationships intersect.

07/24/2026

Congratulations to the CELA'19 class! We're proud to celebrate this remarkable group of leaders and all they've accomplished throughout the Academy. We're proud to celebrate this milestone and excited for what's ahead!

07/21/2026

Build What Doesn't Yet Exist: Leadership and the Power of Involvement

For nearly twenty years, Rick Walker (GA, '06) has been one of SIBF's most engaged and respected members, a leader whose career spans engineering, patent law, mergers and acquisitions, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing. But what defines Rick most is his instinct to build companies, relationships, and opportunities where none existed before.

He began as an engineer with Ford Motor Company before pursuing patent law. "I wanted to be a lawyer using technology," he said. That vision led him to one of Detroit's leading patent law firms, where he worked on major litigation for national companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Black & Decker.

Eventually, one of those client relationships led him into corporate leadership as general counsel for a publicly traded manufacturing company. Over the next fourteen years, Rick helped guide the company through extraordinary growth; during one six-year period, the business expanded from roughly $100 million to nearly $1 billion in revenue through strategic acquisitions and diversification. "You have to understand finance, legal strategy, and people," he explained. "You have to be part psychologist."

Rather than pursuing aggressive takeovers, Rick focused on relationships, trust, and shared vision. "We weren't interested in destroying companies. We wanted to help them grow."

That mindset eventually led to one of the defining moments of his career: the founding of the Georgia Automotive Manufacturers Association, better known as GAMA. Years ago, while attending a Southern Automotive Conference, Rick noticed representatives from Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, but none from Georgia. "So I literally got up and left the meeting," he laughed. He walked into the lobby, reserved the organization's name online, and began building what would become one of Georgia's most influential automotive industry associations.

Today, GAMA connects manufacturers, suppliers, innovators, and policymakers across the state and has become a major voice in the Southeast's automotive industry. Over time, the organization grew into a powerful industry platform, one that even helped facilitate early connections between Rivian and the State of Georgia.

Rick credits much of his energy and leadership growth to SIBF. He became deeply involved and when asked what advice he gives to new members, he offers a phrase that has become legendary among longtime SIBF members: "ROI doesn't mean Return on Investment. It means Return on Involvement."

For Rick, the value of SIBF offers "exposure to thought leaders and ideas you can't get anywhere else," he said.

His aim in all of it is captured in his own words: "I hope I've made the world a better place based on what I've done, and helped others advance in their lives and careers." Where others saw an empty chair at a conference table, he saw an opportunity to create something that did not yet exist.

07/20/2026

Good news!

Following requests from members across the network, we have extended the application deadline for the SEALA 13 Facilitator Corps.

New application deadline: 25 July 2026

We look forward to welcoming another exceptional facilitation team to Bali in January 2027.

Apply now at www.sealanetwork.org/seala13-call-for-facilitators

South East Asia Leadership Academy
Central Eurasia Leadership Alliance - CELA
MELA Network
SIBF

07/14/2026

The Art of Seeing People: Leadership Through Human Connection

What shaped you? is a question that many leaders might never think to ask, but Manolo Paez (Colombia, '24) does. The instinct to understand the person before the business sits at the heart of his work with the Global Good Fund, where he serves as COO and helps support social entrepreneurs across more than 70 countries. While many accelerators focus primarily on business models and growth strategies, Manolo made a different bet years ago: invest first in the leader behind the company. "If you make the leader better," he says, "they can make a greater impact in the company. And then the company can make a greater impact in the community."

Manolo joined SIBF at a time when the organization was navigating one of the most complex periods in its history. Its consulting arm was spinning off into a separate for-profit company, and at nearly the same time came the opportunity to merge with and acquire another impact consulting firms. It was, in short, exactly the kind of moment that tests whether a community is real or simply a collection of professional contacts.

During that season, the relationships Manolo had built through SIBF became an unexpected source of strength.

Manolo readily admits, with characteristic honesty, that he came to SIBF as a skeptic. Leadership development was already his profession, and he wasn't sure what a community could offer that he hadn't already encountered through his own work. But the real power of the global network, he discovered, is not found in transactions, introductions, or business opportunities alone. It is found in the openness of its members and their willingness to be vulnerable with one another. "Since joining SIBF, I've become more willing to share who we are and what we're building," he says. "And that openness created more opportunities for us."

When he reflects on what makes SIBF work, Manolo rarely reaches for the language of business. What stands out most to him is something more fundamental: the relationships. Throughout his career, meaningful connections have often proven just as important as professional expertise. "I don't think people join for business," he says. "Business happens, yes. But at the end, it's more about the human component.

Ask Manolo what he would tell someone new to the community, and his answer comes quickly: "You're not just meeting a person. You're meeting a story." There is a specific failure mode he has watched play out in professional circles, one he has worked to unlearn in himself. People stop at the surface: the title, the company, the accomplishments. It is efficient, but it is also a missed opportunity. Real connection, he believes, comes from understanding what shaped someone: their background, their passions, and the experiences that influenced how they see the world. Those details rarely appear on a résumé, yet they reveal the most powerful things about a person.

07/09/2026

OUR GLOBAL NETWORK

The Global Network embodies a timeless mission: to develop capable, connected, and compassionate leaders who make a lasting impact on their organizations, communities, and the world.

Through immersive academies, lifelong relationships, and shared values, this global family shows that when leaders unite across cultures and industries, they do more than shape economies, they help shape the future.

As Central Eurasia Leadership Alliance - CELA prepares for its 19th Leadership Academy, beginning July 13 in Astana, Kazakhstan, more than 120 professionals applied to participate. Through a rigorous and intentional selection process, a final cohort was identified bringing together emerging leaders from across Central Eurasia for this year's academy.

The recruitment season wrapped up the way the good ones do and leaders did what no campaign can replicate, they made personal calls, sent messages, and sat across from someone they believed in.

As CELA's story continues to unfold, a new generation of leaders joins the SIBF Global Network, carrying its mission into the future. We look forward to all that lies ahead, for CELA, for the Global Network, and for the communities these participants will serve.