Steele sets sights on transforming RGV economy through executive AI training, but cautions full regional reach will take time

By RGG Business Journal Staff

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Tech guru and artificial intelligence expert William Steele has a vision to elevate the entire Rio Grande Valley economy into a regional powerhouse of AI-driven productivity. 

However, he acknowledges that building the necessary skill set across South Texas business and civic leaders will take time.

Steele, a prominent tech figure and co-founder of cross-border trade finance company Harva, is currently laying the groundwork for that long-term regional transformation in downtown Brownsville. Launching in early July, Steele partnered with the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) to administer an intensive, hands-on AI curriculum at the eBridge Center for Business and Commercialization.

While the initiative currently operates out of Cameron County, Steele’s broader ambition encompasses the entire four-county Rio Grande Valley—a goal that requires methodical, tailored instruction for executives, association leaders, and municipal officials alike.

Targeting Executive Leadership

Steel’s company for the AI tuition is titled LeverageAI, LLC. Its website address is CuriousBuilder.ai. For operators and business owners, the company’s message is: “Build the tools your business needs. You, not the vendor.”

Steele said: “You don’t need to be technical, and you don’t need another tutorial, You need to come out the other side able to build the things your business actually needs.”

Unlike basic introductory courses, Steele’s program specifically targets organizational decision-makers and senior operational staff who hold the authority to implement structural change within their organizations.

“Most of them are entrepreneurs themselves or leaders of organizations,” Steele explained, listing participants that include Vice Presidents of Marketing, Sales, and Finance, as well as Chief Financial Officers and Chief Operating Officers. The cohorts also draw board members and operational team members from regional trade associations, economic development corporations (EDCs), and local municipalities.

To cater to such a diverse mix of public and private sector leaders, Steele and his team designed a flexible, tiered curriculum featuring beginner intensive, intermediate, and advanced tracks, as well as bespoke private intensives tailored to single organizations.

“Let’s say that you’re a high-end restaurant and you want to learn how to use AI in your business,” Steele said. “You’ll go through the intake process, and we’ll actually build a beginner intensive bespoke to where, by the end, you’re building an AI call service automation that enables you to take orders at your restaurant and direct them straight into your point of sale system.”

Real-World Regional Impact: The TIPA Case Study

The tangible benefits of Steele’s practical training are already reverberating across South Texas’s vital agricultural sector. A standout success story comes from the Texas International Produce Association (TIPA), which has already put two separate cohorts through the eBridge Center program.

During their cohort, TIPA team members built custom AI workflows capable of executing real-time data pulls from the USDA terminal market. The resulting automated dashboards give agricultural producers and distributors instant visibility into commodity pricing across regional and national markets.

“They built this all out themselves during the cohort, along with using some really popular speech-to-text models to reduce typing times and latencies for communication,” Steele noted. “They’ve really enjoyed it, and the reviews from the association members to the association have been really good.”

Role-Specific Workflows & Positive Feedback

Steele emphasizes that for AI to take root across the Rio Grande Valley, the training cannot be generic. Instead, every module is mapped directly to the day-to-day operational needs of the individual’s role.

“Teams on the finance and loan management side are learning things on how to do automated underwriting and preparing IC memos,” Steele noted. “Teams that are on marketing are learning how to build out marketing campaigns and automate different components of piecing together those content calendars. It’s very specific to the relevant role of the individual.”

Though the eBridge Center program only launched last month, reaction from participants has been overwhelmingly positive. Steele points to the strong feedback gathered by BCIC, which continues to back the training effort as part of its strategic commitment to fostering innovation and high-growth technology skills in downtown Brownsville.

As Steele continues to scale these executive cohorts, his long-term focus remains fixed on empowering the wider Rio Grande Valley—one organization, municipality, and business sector at a time.

Editor’s Note: The feedback from business executives and entrepreneurs on Steele’s course has been enthusiastic. The Rio Grande Guardian will bring that feedback in coming editions.