Back to the Beginning: EO Louisiana Renews Its Commitment to Accelerator

EO Louisiana's current and past Accelerator chairs at a recent anniversary event. 

When Marie Powell stepped into her role as EO Louisiana chapter president last year, she inherited a responsibility familiar to EO leaders everywhere: sustain a healthy, engaged membership while thinking several years ahead. That long game led her back to a program that had been a lynchpin in the chapter’s earliest years: EO Accelerator, which is designed for entrepreneurs scaling toward the US$1 million in annual revenue required for EO membership.

She and other EO Louisiana board members mapped out a three-year plan: Early in that process, it became clear that the chapter’s Accelerator (EOA) program, which was one of the first of its kind in 2005, was an untapped opportunity to cultivate a new generation of entrepreneurs. “We had seen a drop off in membership,” she says. “The program did not have the strength that we knew it was capable of and that it had at one time — it just needed more attention from our Chapter.”

Marie and her board saw the program as a structural investment in the long-term strength of both the chapter and the local business community. For the health of the chapter, she says, it meant bolstering a “program that was providing a built-in community among early and first-stage entrepreneurs.”

Structuring Around Strategy

Rather than treating Accelerator as one initiative among many, Marie and fellow members of the chapter’s board elevated it into a cornerstone of the chapter’s strategy. At the time, participation had dwindled and the program had only eight members. The chapter set an ambitious goal: grow to 40 EOA participants within three years. That ambition forced them to rethink how the program was organized: “We realized that we had one chairperson over EOA that particular year, and it was not enough,” Marie says.

So, they built a dedicated leadership team focused solely on Accelerator. She appointed Leo Holzenthal and Jennifer Simpson as chair and co-chair, then empowered them to recruit a small board of five around them. Leo had served as a long-time board member and Jennifer was a recent graduate of the program herself. The results came quickly. Within nine months, the number of EOA Louisiana participants doubled. “It became a lot more intentional,” she says. “The difference of having one person run the program versus a dedicated team running the program was transformational.”

“The fact that we have the ability to make an impact in our community and for other entrepreneurs that are trying to make it and need that support system — that is where the good stuff is.”

- Marie Powell (EO Louisiana) 

From publicly funded local initiatives to national models, Accelerator operates in a crowded entrepreneurial landscape. There are no shortages of training programs. But EO, Marie says, is unique in that it can create a lifelong community for participants. Accelerator, in that sense, is not a standalone program but the entry point to a long-term peer community. “EO is different because it is not something you start and then it has an end date,” she explains. “It is a place for people to go and stay.”

She points to EO Louisiana member success stories: Many started in EOA and went on to scale and sell their businesses. That continuity — from early scaling through full EO membership — anchored the strategy. “For us to grow as an organization, it needed to start sooner than the US$1,000,000 threshold,” she says.

Rediscovering a Local Origin Story

Powell’s recommitment to Accelerator deepened when she learned just how central Louisiana had been to the global program’s origins. When she attended the 2025 Global Leadership Conference in Hawaii, she heard mention of Accelerator’s 20th anniversary during one of the sessions. “I nudged one of my board members next to me and said, ‘Did you know that we started that program here?’”

Few in the chapter did.

The story leads back more than two decades to Kevin Langley, former EO Louisiana member and former EO Global Chairman. Kevin began grappling with what he described as a “gap — a chasm, really — between early-stage entrepreneurs who were capable of building something meaningful and the moment they could step into EO membership.”

“I was frustrated because I had lived that gap personally,” he says. By the early 2000s, he was “testing ideas in New Orleans to support entrepreneurs who were building real businesses but were not yet ready for the next rung.”

The Accelerator concept was already forming when Hurricane Katrina struck, and the city needed its business community to step up and lead efforts to rebuild and create opportunities. In New Orleans, the connection between entrepreneurship and community became impossible to ignore. “The work was already underway, but Katrina helped galvanize it,” he says.  “I still believe today that entrepreneurs restart economies. Without jobs and functioning businesses, communities cannot rebound.”

Marie Powell and Kevin Langley

Old Themes, New Energy

For Marie, that historical context helped clarify purpose. The throughline between EOA’s earliest years in Louisiana and where it stands today resonated: entrepreneurship as a civic force, not just a business pursuit. In many ways, Marie’s strategy is a natural evolution of the idea that spurred Kevin to push to launch EOA two decades ago.

“When I heard Kevin’s story and he spoke about how and why he started the program that re-inspired me again in a bigger way,” she says.  “If businesses are thriving, small businesses especially, then our community is going to thrive. There was just such a ripple effect.”

To spur more enthusiasm, the chapter even held an event late last year to celebrate the program’s 20^th anniversary. “It is not about us as members,” Marie continues. “The fact that we have the ability to make an impact in our community and for other entrepreneurs that are trying to make it and need that support system — that is where the good stuff is.”

As she prepares to enter her second year as chapter president, Marie remains focused on continuity. Many members from the Accelerator leadership team are continuing in their roles as well, allowing the program to deepen rather than reset. “We have our bearings now,” she says.

Two decades after EO Louisiana helped lay the foundation for what would become a global initiative, the chapter is once again placing Accelerator at the center of its future — this time not as an experiment, but as a proven engine for leadership, growth, and community impact. “We established the structure,” Marie says. “Now let it grow.”

Interested in participating in EO Accelerator? Learn more here.