For over 200 years, private colleges have been serving the Volunteer state.  In 1956, the precursor of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association (TICUA) was established to promote better cooperation among private institutions throughout the state of Tennessee.  TICUA is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of member college presidents and corporate and civic leaders.  Daily activities are coordinated by a five member staff.

TICUA engages Tennessee’s private colleges and universities to work collaboratively in areas of public policy, cost containment, and professional development to better serve the state and its citizens. The association counts among its membership each independent, non-profit, accredited college and university in Tennessee with a traditional arts and science curriculum.  In addition, there are several non-profit, accredited members that specialize in such fields as medicine, dentistry, optometry, and technology.

TICUA is a tax-exempt charitable organization under federal and state laws. All contributions are tax deductible in accordance with Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service code.  The association’s fiscal year is January 1st to December 31st.

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. It operates a manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee and houses the U.S. operations of a worldwide family of distinguished and exciting brands including Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Volkswagen, as well as VW Credit, Inc.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen Group of America brings vehicles to the U.S. that marry the science of engineering and the art of styling, with the goal of offering attractive, safe, and eco-conscious automobiles that are competitive and set world standards in their respective classes. Headquartered in Herndon, Va., the company has approximately 8,000 employees in the United States and sells its vehicles through a 1,000-strong dealer network.

The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, IACMI, is a partnership of industry, academic institutions, as well as federal, state, and local governments that are working together to benefit the nation’s energy and economic security. This diverse public/private partnership validates manufacturing technologies that respond to private industry’s need for faster and more cost, material, and energy-efficient composite manufacturing, including recycling at the end of product life. IACMI’s research and development programs are driven by major industry participation with a focus on reducing technical risk and developing a robust supply chain to support a growing advanced composites industry.

IACMI broadly engages educational, economic development, trade, and professional organizations to build the skills and workforce critical to the growth of composite industry companies of all sizes.

IACMI is managed by Collaborative Composite Solutions Corporation (CCS), a not-for-profit organization established by the University of Tennessee Research Foundation.

Seven States in an energy solutions company that serves 154 local power companies across seven states of the Tennessee Valley. Current projects include EV chargers, solar, backup generation, combined heat and power, battery storage, data analytics and distributed energy resource management systems.

Seven States is a separate, non-profit membership corporation with the powers of a generation & transmission cooperative to serve its members.

Piper Communications is a strategic communications firm specializing in energy and technology.

The company was started in 2008 at the height of the recession and quickly grew a robust client base due to its emphasis on strategic communications. Our goal is to deliver results to our clients.

Cortney Piper and her team have a comprehensive understanding of energy, technology and the industries her clients represent. We place an emphasis on strategy and have an established rapport with industry experts and media outlets in Tennessee, throughout the Southeast and on the national level.

Piper Communications has the ability to enlist a wide variety of talents to meet its clients’ needs. We have established, long-standing relationships with experienced professionals that specialize in their respective fields: website and graphic design, photography, digital ad strategy, event planning and more.

Piper Communications is an SBA certified Woman-Owned Small Business.

Piper Communications is a Protégé in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Mentor Protégé-Program.

The University of Tennessee Research Park at Cherokee Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee, is the Southeast’s only research and development park where the resources of a major research university and a leading national laboratory are combined with globally recognized researchers expressly for the benefit of tenants. The campus offers tenant access to the research capabilities at UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Located on 188 acres on the banks of the Tennessee River, the campus has 77 developable acres and includes 16 building sites that support approximately 1.6 million square feet of development. Parcels are available for immediate development, and research suite leasing is underway.

At Johnson Energy Solutions LLC, we believe that the best path to meeting our energy needs is by “mining” the organic wastes as well as wasted heat from our farms, forests, factories, commercial buildings and waste water treatment facilities as well as the waste streams that are filling our land fills.

The “fuel feedstock” from this “mining” effort can provide clean, renewable energy while solving a number of environmental problems associated with wasted energy, solid waste, air emissions, poor forest management and water pollution.

Associated Valley Industries (AVI) is a non-profit organization of approximately 68 companies (Industrial, Commercial, & Institutional) within the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) service area with approximately 107 locations that are served by TVA’s local power distributors.

AVI’s purpose is to work with all utilities to insure the lowest possible cost at a high reliability of service.

ETEC is an independent, regional, non-profit membership organization created in the early 1970s, dedicated to supporting the federal government’s missions in East Tennessee, as well as seeking new ways to create prosperity, promote regional development, and explore opportunities for growth.

Stone Mountain Technologies (SMTI) is a leading developer of cost effective, next generation heating technologies using sorption heat pump cycles. Our “thermal compressor” products enable a major leap forward in the way homes, businesses and water are heated, reducing energy costs, improving comfort, and lowering CO2 emissions.

Solar Alliance is a sales, marketing and development company focused on residential, commercial and industrial solar installations. Since we were founded in 2003, we have developed wind and solar projects that provide enough electricity to power 150,000 homes. Solar Alliance is committed to an exceptional customer experience, effective marketing campaigns and superior lead generation in order to drive sales and generate value for shareholders. Our passion is improving life through ingenuity, simplicity and freedom of choice. We make solar simple and our goal is to install solar on every available rooftop in America.

Vanderbilt’s Center for Tech Transfer and Commercialization’s mission is to provide professional commercialization services to the Vanderbilt community, thus optimizing the flow of innovation to the marketplace and generating revenue that supports future research activities, while having a positive impact on society.

We accomplish this by serving as an efficient and effective conduit for the transfer of promising intellectual property to industry; contributing to regional economic development by licensing locally and supporting new venture creation; and encouraging greater translational research collaborations between academia and industry.