Building the Bridge: Love Mobile® at Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026 in Tulsa

Love Mobile® joined national leaders, investors, policymakers and nonprofit directors at Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026, the Aspen Institute’s forum on the economy, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from October 13 to 15. Co-Founder and CEO Koddi Dunn and Co-Founder and COO Wade Dunn Jr. brought one idea into every room: enterprise philanthropy, giving built into the business itself.

The Aspen Institute describes its mission as driving change through dialogue, leadership and action. Love Mobile® runs on the same conviction.

“Progress needs action and traction,” Koddi said. “If you’re not taking intentional, actionable steps, that’s not progression. That’s activity.”

Building the Bridge: Why Love Mobile® Was in the Room

Love Mobile® came to Aspen Ideas: Economy to be a bridge. Across six sessions, Koddi Dunn and Wade Dunn Jr. worked to connect:

Giving and everyday life, through enterprise philanthropy.
Nonprofits and lasting support, through partnerships that stay for the life of every account.
Capital and the builders who weren’t in the room.
Connected and disconnected communities, by taking on digital deserts.

As Wade Dunn Jr. puts it, “We didn’t start a company and then decide to give back. We decided to give back so we started a company.”

Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026 at a Glance

Event	Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026
Host	The Aspen Institute
Dates	October 13 to 15, 2026
Location	Tulsa, Oklahoma: Cain’s Ballroom, The Canopy, 101 Archer, Build In Tulsa, Fly Loft and other venues
2026 program	The Once and Future Wealth of Nations
Title underwriter	Coretz Family Foundation
Love Mobile® attendees	Koddi Dunn, Co-Founder and CEO; Wade Dunn Jr., Co-Founder and COO
Sessions attended	Six, covered below
Love Mobile®’s message	Enterprise philanthropy, with partners who stay for the long run

Key Takeaways from Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026

Progress takes action. Intentional steps move communities forward. Busy work does not.
Nonprofits need partners who stay. Love Mobile® commits for the life of every account, not one time.
Tulsa is rising. The city is honoring its history and growing as a hub of innovation and enterprise.
Business owners belong in policy conversations. The solutions you’re sitting on can shape what works.
Capital has to reach the builders. Investors need to find the entrepreneurs already doing the work.
You get there in community. Lasting progress doesn’t happen in isolation.

Enterprise Philanthropy at the Aspen Leadership Seminar

Session: Aspen Leadership Seminar: The Purpose of Progress (roundtable)

Love Mobile® used the opening roundtable to introduce enterprise philanthropy to a room of thinkers and doers. The seminar examined progress through writings spanning more than a century. Love Mobile® brought the present-day version: listen first to the families it serves, then build plans around their real challenges, like a student who loses internet access the moment they leave school or the library. The room was receptive. In fact, many attendees asked to learn more.

Investing in the Next Generation of American Businesses: A Partner That Stays

Session: Investing in the Next Generation of American Businesses, with Sean Sebastian of Birchmere Ventures, Don Chen of the Surdna Foundation, Susan Ehrlich of Core Innovation Capital and Damien Dwin of Lafayette Square

This panel made the case for the partnership model Love Mobile® already runs. First, panelists compared two ways of backing founders: accelerator programs and hands-on investment. Then nonprofit directors in the room spoke openly about budget pressure and the need for support they can count on. That is the gap Love Mobile® is built to fill: it is not a one-time partner. Love Mobile® stays committed to its nonprofit partners and their work for the life of every account.

Opening General Assembly: Honoring Tulsa’s Past, Building Its Future

Session: Opening General Assembly at Cain’s Ballroom, with Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, alongside Ida Rademacher, John Dickerson, Carolina Martinez, Ras Baraka, Dan Porterfield, John W. Rogers Jr., Mechele Dickerson, Taylor Price, Daniel Kishi, Mickey Edwards, Maria Acebal, Rhett Buttle, Elizabeth Schulze, Grant Bumgarner and Lorelle Atkinson

Tulsa’s leaders opened with the approach Love Mobile® shares: honor the past, then build what comes next. Mayor Nichols spoke honestly about the hard chapters of Tulsa’s history, without excuses. Then he carried the room forward, to Tulsa’s rise as a hub of innovation and enterprise. Governor Stitt laid out an Oklahoma-first vision and a hands-on approach to moving the state forward. “As a business owner in Oklahoma, it was good to hear that the governor has your back,” Koddi said.

Getting to Yes: Taking On the Digital Divide

Session: Getting to Yes: Turning Economic Ideas Into Action, with former Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, Riverside, California Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson and Wichita Mayor Lily Wu, moderated by Jessica Cole of the Aspen Policy Academy

Love Mobile® is taking its connectivity ideas to the people who make policy. In this workshop, a panel of mayors showed how an idea becomes policy and how business owners help shape what works. The challenge to the room: what solutions are you sitting on? For Love Mobile®, the answer is its work on connectivity gaps and digital deserts, where the digital divide hits hardest. So Koddi left ready to move those ideas forward with partners from every corner of the community.

Impact-First Investment in America: Bridging Capital and Builders

Session: Impact-First Investment in America, with Lata Reddy, Amy Cortese and Antony Bugg-Levine

Love Mobile® raised the question at the heart of impact investing: how does capital reach the builders who aren’t in the room? The panel made the case for impact investing and grants. Panelists shared the story of America’s founders, who left foundations behind so their towns would always invest in small business and the middle class, the heartbeat of America. After the session, Wade Dunn Jr. asked the panelists how to bridge that gap. He pointed to 600 entrepreneurs at an innovation hub just down the street who weren’t in the room but needed to be. Today, that conversation continues.

“Aspen Ideas: Economy gave us a front-row seat,” Koddi said. “We got to engage directly with the people making those decisions.”

Access Architects: Women Building Wealth

Session: Access Architects: Women Building Wealth, with Nedra Dickson, Interim President and CEO of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC); Ashli Sims, Managing Director of Build in Tulsa; Elizabeth Vazquez, CEO of WEConnect International; and Laureen Meroueh, Founder and CEO of Hertha Metals. Moderated by Angela Dingle, President and CEO of Women Impacting Public Policy.

Aspen Ideas: Economy saved its best session for last. On the final morning, the Access Architects panel explored how women-led companies create jobs, open new markets and build lasting wealth.

The women on that stage lead national and global networks for women in business, a metals company and Tulsa’s own Build in Tulsa. They didn’t just share their stories from the stage. Instead, they stayed to talk with Koddi, and she showed them what Love Mobile® is building.

The response was immediate. One panelist said she was fully inspired by how Love Mobile® is disrupting telecom. Another looked Koddi in the eye and said, “We need this solution.” A third made it simple: “However I can support you, whatever you need, let me know.”

From Information to Community

“I walked into that session looking for information,” Koddi said. “I walked out with a community.”

Koddi left with women who now know her name, have her number and are cheering her on, leaders ready to share advice over coffee. “Aspen gave me access to women I otherwise would not have known,” she said. “And I needed them.”

“That’s the power of Aspen Ideas,” Koddi said. “It took leaders at the top of their game and gave us access to them in a real, approachable and authentic way.”

You Get There in Community

Love Mobile® honors the Aspen Institute, the Coretz Family Foundation and every speaker and panelist who invested their time in Tulsa. Their words made an impact. Now the work continues. Aspen Ideas: Economy caps a busy season for Love Mobile® in Tulsa, after Koddi’s panel at CHROMA 2026 and four stages in September.

“There’s a lot more to do,” Koddi said. “But you don’t get there in isolation. You get there in community.”

Nonprofits, investors and builders ready to build with Love Mobile® can start at getlovemobile.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Aspen Ideas: Economy?

Aspen Ideas: Economy is the Aspen Institute’s forum on the economy. The 2026 edition ran October 13 to 15 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, under the program title “The Once and Future Wealth of Nations.”

Where was Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026 held?

Across Tulsa venues including Cain’s Ballroom, The Canopy, 101 Archer, Build In Tulsa and Fly Loft.

Why did Love Mobile® attend Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026?

To introduce enterprise philanthropy to the leaders shaping the economy, and to serve as a bridge between capital, nonprofits and the communities they serve.

Who represented Love Mobile® at Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026?

Co-Founder and CEO Koddi Dunn and Co-Founder and COO Wade Dunn Jr.

What is enterprise philanthropy?

Enterprise philanthropy is Love Mobile®’s approach to giving: build it into the business itself. Love Mobile® listens to the families it serves, builds plans around their real needs, and stays committed to its nonprofit partners for the life of every account.

Which Aspen Ideas: Economy sessions did Love Mobile® attend?

The Aspen Leadership Seminar: The Purpose of Progress; Investing in the Next Generation of American Businesses; the Opening General Assembly; Getting to Yes: Turning Economic Ideas Into Action; Impact-First Investment in America; and Access Architects: Women Building Wealth.

About Love Mobile®

Love Mobile® is The Cellphone Company That Gives Back®. The company operates on three of the major US networks, which it brands Love Pink, Love Blue powered by AT&T and Love Red. Every monthly bill turns into local support for education, the environment, community and pets through its Give Back Model™. Co-founded by Koddi Dunn and Wade Dunn Jr., Love Mobile® is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Switch today at getlovemobile.com.

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