Meet the Founder

WHO IS DAVID BICKHAM?

David Patrick Bickham is the principal and founder of Bickham Innovation Catalysts, LLC, and Bickham MetaFutures, LLC, which are consultancies specializing in innovation, futurism, equity, and organizational change in economic, philanthropic, and community development, especially impacting underestimated vulnerable communities. He is a founder of the Prophetic Innovation Consortium and the foresight framework, Prophetic Innovation: A Futurism of Being, which is being held as groundbreaking in the field of futurism, equity, and innovation. David is the Futurist-in-Residence of the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation and other organizations for which he is responsible for the integration of innovation and futurism into the organization’s operations, footprint, and strategic direction and the development of a significant capital and fundraising campaign launching in 2025. He is the founder of Prophetic Innovation, his futurism framework based on the social justice, creative, and innovative traditions of African Americans and other groups. He uses Prophetic Innovation and other futurism frameworks to develop leaders, programs, funding campaigns/grant writing, and strategic direction. He formerly served as a strategist with the United Way of the Capital Area (Hinds, Madison, and Rankin Counties) in Mississippi to promote innovation, workforce development, and Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) across industries. He was the Development and Partnership Director of Story for All’s The SHINE, a community transformation approach through storytelling and narrative change for boys and young men of color. Through the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation (JMMF), he was the leader organizer/grant writer for the prestigious $3,000,000 Art Place Community Development Initiative (CDI) grant in August 2015. He has served as an advisor to the Walker Foundation and Midtown Partners, Inc., (MPI) on expanded learning, career pathways, education innovation systems, and community revitalization. He has been a catalyst for the Jackson Technology, Entertainment, Construction, and Healthcare Innovation Corridor (TECHJXN) and, summit, an emerging technology inclusion economic development strategy. 

He formerly served as lead consultant, Phase 1, to Southwest Mississippi Health Systems’ Affordable Health Care Act health information technology plan, which resulted in $30,000,000+ in technology investments, and advised the administration in performance improvement and health equity. He served as Innovation Advisor to the Mississippi Learning Institute to reconceptualize its proposals, programs, and mission to impact 116 principals and nine school districts in school leadership and effective education for boys of color. His overall grant writing, funding planning, and support have garnered about $40,000,000.

David specializes in helping organizations to “turn around,” internally reform, and refocus their resources/ operations for long-term success and sustainable innovation. In this capacity as a Mississippi Development Authority-Energy Division grant writer, he secured federal funding, designed technical assistance trainings, and introduced a public/private funding initiative that leveraged state and foundation funding for the benefit of community partners. He has served as a consultant to the Mississippi e-Center at Jackson State University, a technology business incubator, the University’s Department of Physics, Geo and Atmospheric Sciences, the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET), and other university departments. He has started or advised over thirty (30) new non-profit organizations and major initiatives, ranging from relational violence to global learning to economic development, and worked with approximately sixty (60) clients. He links nationally and globally known experts with superior productivity, passion, and compassionate hearts to organizations that would otherwise not have access to such capability. He relishes supporting thought leaders, decision-makers, exemplars and, change makers in their respective sectors and bringing together diverse and often adversarial parties around a common cause. He serves both as a formal and informal advisor to leadership. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Tougaloo College and an award-winning poet and short story writer.