With funding from the National Science Foundation in 2014, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) launched a five-year project to demonstrate the efficacy of regional ecosystems of community colleges, four-year higher education institutions, and STEM-driven business in facilitating the retention and persistence of students in STEM fields. This executive summary discusses partnerships between higher education and businesses at five sites, BHEF's Theory of Action and Partnership Implementation Process, and nine keys to success in STEM-focused partnerships between higher education and business. [For the full report, see ED606490.]