FWinc.
Cashed Out
Hillary Strasner builds a health care company over 17 years and exits on her own terms.
The $465 Million Man
A Fort Worth entrepreneur hits it big with his eyedrop that corrects nearsightedness.
The Blueing of Mootown
The Blue Zones Project is driving innovation – and a healther population.
Head of the Class Fort Worth's NuvoThera moves to market with OTC cream for psoriasis.
Whitley Penn Understands...
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Building on our Promise
At Cook Children’s, we’re growing to meet the increasing needs of our community. Our new South Tower is helping us fulfill our Promise to improve the health of every child in our region. The Nenetta Burton Carter Emergency Department at Cook Children’s is larger and more efficient to create a better experience for kids and their families. Our new Heart Center brings our cardiology services together like never before. Advanced technology, like 3-D printing and high-definition virtual holograms, helps doctors treat children with complex cardiac conditions.
Learn more about Cook Children’s South Tower and how your generosity helps families at cookchildrenspromise.org.
MARCH/APRIL 2017 )
FEATURES
42 Blood Money: Former ProLab CEO Hillary Strasner talks balancing entrepreneurship with parenthood and, now that she’s sold her company, what she plans to do next.
50 The Blueing of Mootown: An initiative comes to town to turn the city blue – and healthier. Find out which big-name businesses are getting in on the cause.
56 The $465 Million Man: What began as a TECH Fort Worth startup is going big, thanks to the work of an entrepreneur who had the savvy – and special sauce.
64 Skin Deep: Fort Worth entrepreneur Art Clapp gets ready to take his psoriasis cream to market.
Jay Novacek has an eye for good range land. He also has a lender he can count on. Since 1917, Heritage Land Bank has been a dependable source of financing to those
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If you’ve found your piece of Texas, talk to a Heritage lender today.
8 Publisher’s Letter
( BIZZ BUZZ )
11 Rock the Boat: The boat business is making a comeback.
14 Earwax: It’s market time for an ear wax-dissolving product developed in Fort Worth.
15 Comings and Goings: Moves in Fort Worth’s office market, both big and small.
16 Face Time: How Marianne Auld’s love of books earned her a top position at one of Fort Worth’s most prestigious law firms.
18 Stay Informed: Five Tips for a Successful Fundraiser.
20 Around Town: Leon Bridges comes home, and more photos from Fort Worth’s top business events.
( EXECUTIVE LIFE & STYLE )
24 Distinctive Style: TCU women’s basketball coach Raegan Pebley shares her definition of true beauty.
28 Off the Clock: The up-andcoming Canadian city that’s worth a visit.
30 Wine & Dine: Fort Worth’s top midday meeting spots and the best times to visit.
32 Gadgets: Hotel key cards go digital.
34 Health & Fitness: Four drinkable – and edible – energy boosts that don’t have coffee.
36 Office Space: This communications and creative agency turns a house into a “hoffice.” ( COLUMNS / DEPARTMENTS )
70 EO Spotlight: The Velvet Box owner Marcelle LeBlanc turns to data for employee development.
74 Business Strategy/Running Toward the Roar: Creating a work culture at BoomerJack’s restaurant.
78 Analyze This/FW Chamber Report: How Fort Worth is connecting veterans with jobs.
80 Analyze This/Commercial Real Estate Report: Prepping for the city’s May election.
82 Analyze This/Insurance: Could the Blue Zones Project really work? And if so, when?
84 Analyze This/Wealth: Three ways to “spring clean” your business.
86 Analyze This/Legal and Tax: Why diversity and inclusion is important – and how to do it right.
88 Business Leadership/ Successful Entrepreneurship: An open letter to broken leaders and overcomers.
92 Business Leadership/ Management Tips: Creating a spirit of community in a company.
94 Day in the Life: FWISD Superintendent Kent Scribner drives his third-grader to school, too.
Dundurn Castle. Photo courtesy of Tourism and Culture, City of Hamilton.
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An Entrepreneurial Amen
You don’t get what you don’t ask for. I met our cover subject, Hillary Strasner, four years ago when I joined the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), where she was serving as president-elect of the Fort Worth chapter. EO is a business network of leading entrepreneurs with a goal of enabling business owners to learn from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life. At that time, she was the owner and CEO of ProLab, a company that collects, transports and processes lab samples for nursing homes, that she recently sold after building it for the last 17 years.
Hillary’s job on the EO board at that time was to train new EO members on how to “do forum.” Forum is a half-day, monthly meeting of six to 10 other EO business owners, where they discuss confidential business topics. Putting six to 10 bosses in a room together for forum without guidelines is a formula for disaster. All chiefs and no Indians. I was in a newly formed forum group at that time, and Hillary was the lead dog in charge of training our forum.
I remember very clearly Hillary’s polite, but no-nonsense approach to training. She knew what she was doing and took charge of the room. She was very effective in unfolding the policies and procedures, wasting little time and not mincing words. In Hillary’s story, you’ll be able to tell that this is not only the way she runs meetings, but the same way she runs her life. She states that everything she does is efficient, which is why she
says she has been successful in juggling work and home life that includes a husband and three children.
Like many entrepreneurs, her career path was originated on a napkin, more specifically at a table inside the Chili’s at Dallas Love Field airport. I observe the adage, “You don’t get what you don’t ask for.” Just a year out of school and into her job running operations and sales for a health care lab in Tyler, she met with the owner of the lab and presented him with a proposal – she asked for it. You can read the details to the deal in the story, but the result of the napkin deal was a partnership where Strasner would buy into the lab.
At 23 years old, prior to the napkin deal, Strasner took a risk and left her steady job at Andersen Consulting in Dallas and took a job for her soon-to-be partner opening the health care lab in Tyler. This was not the safe choice but one that involved risk and more upside. Had she not taken the opportunity/the risk, she may still be an employee at Andersen Consulting. Instead she’s temporarily retired at 42, counting her money and looking for the next opportunity. Strasner encourages young people to take advantage of opportunities. If you’re working for someone and have an opportunity to go out on your own, she believes you’re foolish not to. “Why not?” she says. “If it doesn’t work out, you can always go back and work for someone else.”
Can I get an entrepreneurial Amen?
Hal A. Brown owner/publisher
or
to fwtx.com/fwinc. FW Inc. is published bi-monthly by Panther City Media Group, 6777 Camp Bowie Blvd, Suite 130, Fort Worth, TX 76116. Periodicals Postage Paid at Fort Worth, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Fort Worth, Texas, 6777 Camp Bowie Blvd, Suite 130, Fort Worth, TX 76116. Volume 3, Number 2, March/April 2017. Basic Subscription
at scott.nishimura@fwtx.com.
SHELBY BRUHN President
Valliance Bank Fort Worth
Tracy Autem Photography
Tracy Autem Photography
( BIZZ BUZZ )
What Everyone's Talking About Around the Water Cooler
Boats Are Back
Want an $8,000 two-seater? Or a $1 million yacht? Somebody’ll be on hand to take your money at the Fort Worth Boat Expo.
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA
The boat business, hit hard during the recession and credit crunch, continues its comeback. Nationally, powerboat sales were up 6.3 percent in 2016 over the previous year, the National Marine Manufacturers Association reports.
“It’s huge,” says Bron Beal, executive director of the Fort Worth Boat Expo, which is putting on its second annual show, March 16-19, at the Will Rogers Memorial Center’s Amon G. Carter Exhibits Hall. “It’s simple. Take that dealer that needs to sell 900 units [a year]. If he has a 6 percent increase, that’s 54 more units.”
Twenty dealers, all of the members of the United Boat Dealers of North Texas, will participate. Beal is projecting 20,000 attendance, the same as last year. “It’s a second-year show,” he says. “It’s something we have to build.”
The show will highlight cross-over boats, the industry’s effort to produce versatile watercraft that meet most boaters’ needs and generate younger buyers.
In the late 1990s, the industry touted numerous categories, ranging from bass boats, to aluminum, pontoon, cruisers, jet boats, ski boats, and all-around, Beal says.
Rapidly improving technology has enabled manufacturers to make today’s boats more versatile, he says.
Ski boats, for example, have become wake boats. “They had to figure out how to get to the 19-to-25-year-old crowd,” Beal says. They aren’t boat buyers yet, but “mom and dad are.”
And Beal also points to a transformation in pontoon boats. “You could have your wine and cheese and enjoy the sunset and do 19 miles an hour across the lake,” he says. Today, “they’ll do
Fort Worth Boat Expo.
Photo by James Edward
60 miles an hour, and guess what? You can pull a wakeboard behind that.”
Luxury cabin cruisers “pretty much remain untouched,” he says. But all other categories have morphed. “I can now ski off my pontoon boat.”
Virtually all of the boats – possibly as many as 400 or more – on display at the Fort Worth expo can be defined as cross overs, Beal said.
Crossovers have evolved over 30 years in the industry. But just in recent years, technology has exploded, improving power, stability, steering, control, mileage and emissions, Beal says. “That’s not even going to touch amenities” that new boats offer, like underwater lighting and big stereo systems.
Fort Worth Boat Expo | March 16-19
Amon G. Carter Exhibits Hall, Will Rogers Memorial Center, Fort Worth
Hours: Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Admission: Thursday and Friday, free; Saturday-Sunday, $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 5-13, children under 5, free.
Parking: $3-$10 depending on length of visit. fortworthboatexpo.com
Some boats drive sideways to better allow maneuvering around docks. “No longer do you have to laugh at dad for knocking down half the dock,” Beal says. “I got boats that’ll parallel park.”
Family orientation has been a big marketing driver toward making boats more versatile, Beal says. “All these boats are recreational. What do you do in a boat? No matter what you do, you can do it all in one.”
Year-round boating has also been a driver in the transformation of recreational boats to crossovers, says Romney Carey, of Granbury’s Carey and Sons Marine.
“The crossover breeds of deck and outboards are the epitome of appeal for those who don’t want to be restricted to seasonal boating,” he says. “There are lines that allow boaters to shred the waves and enjoy a summer afternoon on the lake on a roomy swim deck. They can also enjoy the boats during the cooler months with deep spacious seating for family and friends to tool around the lake and cast a few fishing lines.”
Manufacturers had no choice coming out of the recession but to take drastic steps, he says. Years before the recession, in 1990, the industry was dealt a blow by the federal luxury tax that Congress subsequently repealed a few years later. Manufacturers “did a super job, the ones that survived” the recession and credit crunch, Beal says.
According to the national data, sales of tow, pontoon, and saltwater fishing boats and personal watercraft rose 11.8 percent, 9.2 percent, 7.9 percent, and 7.4 percent, respectively, in 2016.
Sales of outboard boats rose 6.2 percent, and inboard boats were up 11.8 percent. Sterndrive boats were down 1.5 percent for the year. Larger boats of 27 feet and longer were up 10.7 percent.
A full range of capabilities, amenities, and price points will be represented at the Fort Worth show, Beal says.
If you want an aluminum boat with two seats and an outboard motor for $8,000, that’ll be on display. The highestend boats won’t likely be on display, Beal says, “but if someone wants to spend $1.3 million, I’m sure I’ve got a dealer that’ll take your money.”
Fort Worth Boat Expo.
Photo by James Edward
Fort Worth Boat Expo.
Photo by James Edward
Waxy Buildup
Eosera, a Fort Worth biotech startup, gets ready to roll out its earwax dissolver Earwax MD and launches an Indiegogo charity campaign.
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA
Earwax MD, the earwax-dissolving, over-thecounter product developed by Fort Worth’s startup Eosera biotech company, is preparing to go to market in April. And with that, the company has developed a strategy for giving back to the community in line with the Conscious Capitalism strategy that founders Elyse Dickerson and Joe Griffin want to imbue in Eosera.
Eosera launched an Indiegogo campaign online with a $50,000 flexible goal and a video by Dickerson, the CEO. Give $30, and Eosera promises to send you one bottle of Earwax MD and donate one bottle to a charity that assists elderly, the population most likely to suffer from impacted earwax. Give $50, you get two bottles, and the company will give two bottles. Give $100, you get three bottles,
and the company gives six bottles.
The company will distribute the free bottles through a foundation and by donations to nursing homes, Dickerson says. The company is interviewing foundations. “Our primary goal would be to work with a foundation and make it a sustainable thing,” she says.
Dickerson and Griffin, former Alcon vets, launched Eosera with Earwax MD as its first product. The company raised $1.2 million in capital from investors, structured as convertible debt. In 2015, it raised notice when it won a $50,000 Comerica Bank pitch competition. Recently, it won the Mary Kay-sponsored Pink Tank Business Pitch contest at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit in Dallas.
Eosera has priced Earwax MD at $19 to the consumer for a kit that contains a 15-milliliter bottle and rinsing bulb. The recommended dosage, as the company developed through a clinical trial and recommendations by physicians, will be a one-time usage for most patients, Dickerson says. Fifteen minutes after treatment, patients are instructed to rinse. “If they have more impaction, they’re going to need to use it twice,” she says.
She, Griffin and their distributors will roll out the product to audiologists and ear-nose-throat specialists at the American Academy of Audiology Conference in April. Physicians will be able to keep Earwax MD at their offices and sell it to patients. Eosera is also promoting the product through trade and academic publications and email blasts.
One large retailer, not yet identified by Eosera, has committed to taking Earwax MD. “It will be on the shelf in August,” she says. A second major retailer also is considering selling Earwax MD, she says.
Earwax MD will also be available direct to consumers beginning in April at Amazon.com, Dickerson says.
She and Griffin have taken on a full-time marketing manager, full-time employee handled manufacturing and logistics, and a TCU intern blogger.
A third-party contract manufacturer is making Earwax MD, and Eosera is also building its own small plant in Fort Worth that will make some of the product. The short-term goal is to have the third-party maker produce the product for retail sales, and Eosera’s plant will make Earwax MD for the physicians and Amazon markets, Dickerson says. “Our ultimate goal is to control the entire supply chain and do it ourselves.”
Joe Griffin and Elyse Dickerson, founders of Eosera
COMINGS & GOINGS
From coworking spaces to insurance companies, the office market has been busy in Fort Worth.
BY OLIVIA HEINEN
Sundance Square Tower 2 is getting a new name. Bank of America will be leasing three full floors of office space in the tower sometime mid-year, according to Sundance Square – thus renaming the building “Bank of America Tower.” The 68,000-square-foot space will house 180 employees, as well as a 4,000-square-foot financial center on the ground floor, which is expected to be built in 2018. Merrill Lynch, which currently offices in Sundance Square Tower 1, is also expected to move into the Bank of America Tower. The 38-floor building was built in 1984 and is located at 301 Commerce St.
Carlisle Title has arrived in Cowtown. The Dallas-based title insurance company opened its first Fort Worth branch at 2800 South Hulen St., Suite 201, in January. The office specializes in residential, commercial, lender and bank title and closing services. Branch manager Chris Howard and
attorney and TCU alumna Sharon Fulgham will lead the Fort Worth location. “We are excited to be in Fort Worth – a vibrant, big city with a small-town feel and wonderful people,” Carlisle Title president Buzz McCray said in a statement.
Coworking spaces with coffee shops are becoming a thing in Fort Worth, with Roots Coffeehouse, Criterion CoWorking and Craftwork Coffee Co. making moves. Both Roots Coffeehouse and Criterion CoWorking will occupy a two-story space at the 400 block of Bryan Avenue in the South Main Urban Village, and construction is set to start in the spring. Another coworking space, Craftwork Coffee Co., is expected to open a second location at 1121 West Magnolia Ave. this spring. All Craftwork members, including those who use the 4731 Camp Bowie Blvd. location, will be able to use the features at the Magnolia location, such as a 36-seat coffee shop, two call booths and a conference room.
Auld Style
Fort Worth lawyer Marianne Auld, who parlayed an early love of books and writing into a robust career as a lawyer, moves into the post of managing partner at Kelly Hart & Hallman.
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA
Marianne Auld was headed toward a career as a teacher, having majored in English at Baylor University.
“I was very bookish, and I loved to read and write,” says Auld.
A career later, Auld, who moved into law and became a specialist in appellate, is the new managing partner at the 38-year-old Fort Worth firm Kelly Hart & Hallman, promoted to the post earlier this year and becoming the first woman and third person to hold the post. Auld continues to serve as appellate practice chair at Kelly Hart, launched in 1979 by Dee Kelly Sr., Mark Hart and Bill Hallman. Kelly and Hart died in 2015.
“I thought I’d be a teacher,” says Auld, whose father taught seminary and was a preacher, and whose mother was a special education diagnostician. Auld, who had lawyers in the family, taught high school English for a year in Waco and moved to another job before deciding to attend law school.
“I was one of the few people who was bookish and nerdy enough to enjoy law school, and I enjoyed law school,” says Auld, who graduated first in her class from the Baylor School of Law and was editor-in-chief of the Baylor Law Review.
wrote a moot court brief that caught the attention of a professor who suggested she had a knack for appeals work. Following law school, Auld served as a clerk to Judge Tom Reavley of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and was a law professor at Baylor for 10 years.
Auld, who graduated law school in 1988, worked for Kelly Hart between November 1989 and March 1993, when it didn’t have an appellate practice, then left and returned in 2008. By then, the firm had launched an appellate practice. Auld, who followed Hart and Dee Kelly Jr. as managing partner, credits numerous mentors, starting with her parents.
“They taught me responsibility, keeping your word, being trustworthy,” she says. One law professor, Louis Muldrow, taught her the importance of precision. Auld reserves her highest praise for Reavley, who, she says, likes to say, “It’s never the wrong thing to do the right thing.
“He still speaks at every opportunity to follow the rule of law,” Auld says.
“I was one of the few people who was bookish and nerdy enough to enjoy law school, and I enjoyed law school.”
Auld’s path into appellate law began at the Baylor law school, where she
“Watching him live, that affected not only who I became as a lawyer, but as a human being.”
And Dee Kelly Sr. helped the careers of women over the years, she says. The firm’s first associates were Sharon Millians and Pati Meadows, partners today.
“What was important to Mr. Kelly is he had people working for him who were committed to excellence and willing to work hard." Kelly also imbued the firm with tenacity and loyalty, she says. “He taught us how not to give up.”
Help for Helpers
Five Tips for a Successful Fundraiser
BY SAMANTHA CALIMBAHIN
Rattana Mao and Diana Combs-Selman see their business as a way of giving back – to the people who give back. The founders of R&D Occasions, an event planning service that specializes in nonprofit fundraisers, have come through a lot in their lives. At age one, Mao moved to the U.S. from Cambodia with her family and was inspired by her father as he found his way in a new country. After he died from lung cancer five years ago, Mao wanted to dedicate more time to volunteering as a way to carry on his legacy.
Combs-Selman was once homeless until a Dollar Tree manager offered her a job. From there, she saved enough money to earn her GED and eventually a graphic design degree from TCU.
Mao and Combs-Selman’s paths crossed about four years ago when both were volunteering for Bras for a Cause. Last year, they teamed up to launch R&D, with Mao handling event logistics and Combs-Selman handling graphic design. Since the launch, the duo has worked events for clients like the Salvation Army in Arlington, the Girl Scouts and Fort Worth SPARC.
HERE’S THEIR ADVICE FOR A SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING EVENT:
1. CHECK COMMUNITY CALENDARS. When scheduling an event, stay away from conflicts with other events that may draw your guests and potential donors.
“There is always the possibility of an event being scheduled the same day as yours, but no need to panic,” Mao said. “Check local magazine listings and social calendars for key events each month, and then plan accordingly by identifying a possible overlap of guests, sponsors or vendors.”
2. IDENTIFY SPONSORS.
Build a strong donor network, offer sponsor benefits such as a VIP reception, and offer a sponsor’s corporate advertising on your website and social media. Treat them like major gift donors because they are.
“When identifying companies or individuals as potential sponsors, look for those whose mission aligns with the organization’s purpose and vision,” Mao said. “This provides a dual benefit for sponsors while providing additional value of fulfilling their mission.”
3. DON’T BOG DOWN YOUR BOARD MEMBERS WITH EVENT PLANNING. Helping to sell tables or tickets by speaking about why they serve on the board, why they love the organization and why guests should come learn more about what it is your organization does is the best use of your board members’ time.
“Your board members can speak more passionately
about your organization than any social media ticket promotion of your event,” Combs-Selman said. “Use that to your advantage.”
4. CREATE A THEMED EVENT. Themes set the event mood. This can be done with centerpieces, entertainment and a trendy location, or one not often used for similar events. But try not to go overboard.
“I’ve been to a couple of events that did not take the time to carry out their theme into the venue, and it was a disappointment when compared to the invitation I received,” Combs-Selman said. “Follow through on the expectation you’ve created for your guests.”
5. FUND A NEED. At some point during your event, guests should be told about the cause and how their dollars are going to directly impact critical projects or programs. Be specific — if you know that every $1,000 raised offers life-changing services to those in need, then say it.
“I went to a fundraiser recently for an organization, and they never stated what the funds were supporting,” Combs-Selman said. “They gave a brief two-minute intro of their organization at the beginning of the night, and that was it. They didn’t even make guests aware of the pledge cards on the tables. I didn’t write a check that night. I want to know how my money is being used to support the organization and its mission.”
Rattana Mao (left) and Diana Combs-Selman (right)
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FWCVB Annual Meeting
The Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau held its Annual Meeting on Feb. 1 at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel. Singer Leon Bridges was honored with the 2017 FWCVB Hospitality Award.
1. Leon Bridges with mother, Lisa Sawyer
2. Sean Donohue, CEO of DFW International Airport
3. FWCVB Board Chairman Julie H. Wilson, Leon Bridges, Mayor Betsy Price, FWCVB President and CEO Bob Jameson
4. Guests signing the Things to Do wall with their favorite Fort Worth activities
State of the City
Mayor Betsy Price delivered her annual State of the City Address on Feb. 22 at the Fort Worth Convention Center, sharing her vision for the city into 2025 and how she plans to fulfill that vision in the coming years. Photos by Minh Phan.
1. Mayor Betsy Price with Fort Worth Chamber Chairman Mark Nurdin
2. Mayor Betsy Price with BNSF Executive Chairman Matt Rose
3. Mayor Betsy Price 1 23 4 1 2 3
23
Small Business Of The Year
The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce honored its 2017 Small Businesses of the Year on Feb. 22. Winners were Alpha Industries, LLC; Z's Cafe; The Fulcrum Group, Inc.; and Southwest Office Systems, Inc.
1. All Small Business of the Year winners
2. Janet Z. Capua and Carlo Capua of Z's Café
3. Billy Davis, Shelly Davis, Sarah Davis and James Davis of Arlington Heights Animal Hospital
Ensemble Coworking
Ensemble Coworking celebrated its membership with the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce by hosting a ribbon cutting and open house on Jan. 31. Members of the Lone Star Professional Alliance Leads Group, along with friends and family, were also present.
1. Tamara Payne and Dawn Shannon, co-founders of Ensemble Coworking, surrounded by family, friends and members of the Lone Star Professional Alliance Leads Group
2. Angela Gordon, Creating & Managing Wealth; Tiffany Purtzer, Gooshead Insurance; Deborah Ferguson, NBC 5 News
3. Arlene Gale, writer/speaker; LaDondra Hervey, Rich, Revelant & Revered; Jaide Flynn, Primerica Financial; Chris Brinkley, Silvia Consultants
Beauty, Defined by Raegan Pebley
TCU’s women’s basketball coach may wear stilettos on the sideline, but if she had her way, she’d suit up with her team.
BY SAMANTHA CALIMBAHIN
Raegan Pebley still wears heels at 6-foot-3.
The courtside attire of the TCU women’s basketball coach often consists of feminine blouses, dresses or pencil skirts – a look that the team’s administrative assistant, Jodi Christian, describes as “classic and understated.”
But if you ask Pebley how she describes her style, she has difficulty finding the words. Perhaps that’s because, for Pebley, beauty isn’t defined by how a person dresses, but by who a person is.
“I think the way our girls dress in a
game – that is beautiful,” she said. “I think the way they play is beautiful. If I could be wearing that uniform instead of stilettos and whatever, I would choose that outfit any day.”
Pebley gets her love of coaching from her father, a basketball coach himself, who would tell his six children to “do something that you love.” That message stuck with Pebley, who went on to play for the University of Colorado from 1994-1997. She was later selected as the 21st overall pick in the first-ever WNBA Draft in 1997, becoming one of the first basketball players of the league during
its inaugural year. Pebley spent two years in the WNBA, playing for the Cleveland Rockers and the Utah Starzz (now known as the San Antonio Stars), before leaving to pursue a career in coaching.
Pebley would coach at George Mason, Colorado State, Utah State and Fresno State before landing at TCU in 2014. She brought a new philosophy to the team, known as CLIMB – C stands for Collective Commitment, meaning to stay committed to one’s teammates and the basketball program as a whole; L stands for Learn to Lead, or discovering one’s leadership capabilities; I stands
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for Invest, putting time and effort into schoolwork and relationships; M is for Mental Toughness, or “being excellent at controlling the controllables” and “not getting distracted by uncontrollables”; and B is for Believe, or putting faith into what one is doing.
“That final whistle, when it blows for a woman, can be an identity crisis, and you don’t know who you are without the game,” Pebley said. “What we try to really stress to [the players] is basketball is not who you are – it’s what you do with who you are.”
The CLIMB philosophy is especially important for the team this season, she says. Last year, the Frogs were solid, finishing with an 18-15 record and winning two games in the Women’s NIT. But after losing senior stars like Zahna Medley and Veja Hamilton, the Frogs entered the 2016-2017 season as one of the youngest teams in the Big 12, having six freshmen and just two seniors on the roster. With such a young team, the Frogs’ season was less than ideal.
Still, Pebley says this season has been about learning the process – focusing on the details that separate a win from a loss and mastering those details. But, like everything else, it takes time.
“That’s a strong message for a young team to learn, that the details are the separators between good and great,” Pebley said.
There’s another philosophy Pebley says she wants to instill in her team – the idea that “strong is beautiful.” She talks to her team about personal branding and carrying oneself in a way that shows confidence and personality, especially when leaving college to enter the workforce or professional playing arena. Athletic director Chris Del Conte, known for his distinctive purple suits at games, is in on it as well, offering a program that fits student athletes with professional attire like blazers and pantsuits in preparation for job interviews.
“People are already getting an impression of you before they meet you, and is that going to match when they actually physically meet you? We extend that
conversation not just to attire, but to body language, to their social media,” she said.
But the idea that “strong is beautiful” isn’t just for the players. It’s for Pebley, too.
“Clothes don’t make the person,” she said. “When somebody walks into a room, and they’re confident in yoga tights and a baggy t-shirt, that can be just as beautiful as somebody in the most high-end outfit.”
STYLE PROFILE: RAEGAN PEBLEY
My style can be described as… “Confident and comfortable. I want to represent all those that I represent well. Maybe that’s where the ‘class’ part comes in. It’s really not about me. I don’t want to be too over-the-top because I don’t want the attention to come to me.”
My favorite shops are... Long Tall Sally, Banana Republic, Nike, Target, Next (a retailer based in the U.K.)
Style advice? “Strong is beautiful. In my style, I want to project that confidence, that internal strength.”
Chasing Waterfalls
No, it’s not just a musical. Hamilton is also the name of a burgeoning Canadian city sporting a mix of natural and urban attractions. And also water. Lots of water.
BY SAMANTHA CALIMBAHIN
About six or seven years ago, Hamilton, Ontario, would have been considered a hidden gem by some, but one local business owner says the area, though still a gem, isn’t so hidden anymore.
“There’s a vibe that hasn’t been here for so many years that is here now,” said Mark Wilson, owner of Ye Olde Squire restaurant, which has three locations in the Hamilton area. He says Hamilton has
experienced a resurgence in recent years, thanks to growing development and the city’s investment in the waterfront.
Located along the western edge of Lake Ontario, Hamilton boasts a diverse collection of attractions, ranging from downtown arts events (for the more culturallyminded traveler) to trails and waterfalls (for the more nature-minded types). The best way for a Fort Worthian to get there, according to the City of Hamilton’s tourism and culture division, is to take a flight
to Toronto and drive less than an hour to Hamilton. Another option is to fly to Buffalo, New York. From there, Hamilton is about a 1.5-hour drive.
Travelers seeking luxury accommodations will find rooms with a little historical charm mixed in. The Barracks Inn (thebarracksinn.com), located in Ancaster, just 15 minutes from Hamilton, combines 18th-century design with modern amenities. Suites inside the stone, barracks-style building feature
Sherman Falls. Photo courtesy of Tourism and Culture, City of Hamilton.
period décor like a Victorian-style chandelier and bathtub – plus Wi-Fi and a 42-inch high-definition TV, of course.
Another option is the historic Osler House (oslerhouse.com) in Hamilton’s Dundas neighborhood. Built in 1848, the restored home of Dundas lawyer William Miller (and later physician William Osler) has been transformed into a bed and breakfast. The house’s largest suite is the 340-square-foot Sir William Osler Room, featuring historic furnishings, antique items and heated flooring.
Plenty of lakefront options can be found on Airbnb – or, if you prefer to be on the lake itself, WaterCraft Inn (watercraftinn.com) is a 55-foot yacht that doubles as a bed and breakfast. Located on Hamilton Harbour, the inn floats over Lake Ontario, and guests can enjoy the view from a 16-foot private deck. Dining options abound in the city, and as of recently, the local restaurant scene has been booming, Wilson says. Locke Street, in particular, is home to several chef-driven restaurant concepts like Earth to Table: Bread Bar, which serves dishes like Mac & Cheese Gratin, Apple & Bacon Pizza and quinoa veggie burgers. Another Locke Street resident, Mattson & Co., is a high-end eatery that regularly hosts live jazz sessions. Open for brunch, lunch and dinner, Mattson & Co.’s offerings include mussels, clams, lamb and chicken, along with a menu of vegan and gluten-free items.
Another street making a buzz in the Hamilton food scene is King William Street. A couple King William favorites are The Mule, a Mexican joint serving an entirely gluten-free taco menu, and Berkeley North, a modern diner with a menu listing plates like Eggs Benedict + Smoked Salmon and Alaskan King Crab Pasta. If there's anything Hamilton isn't short on, it's water. In fact, it’s known as the Waterfall Capital of the World, with more than 100 waterfalls to visit. Most of the falls can be seen along the Niagara Escarpment and Bruce Trail. The trail offers a two-day guided walk in which
hikers can view 19 waterfalls, as well as a five-day walk to view 28 waterfalls. Another famous waterfall, Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, reaches at more than 100 feet, dropping from a bowlshaped cliff with red and bluish-green layers that almost resemble a rainbow.
For daredevils, a visit to the falls is best saved for winter. ONE AXE Pursuits, an outdoor recreation company based in Ontario, offers visitors the opportunity to climb the ice at Tiffany Falls when it freezes in the winter. The activity is open to beginning climbers, and all equipment is provided.
But there’s a lot to see closer to civilization as well. Downtown Hamilton is well in tune with the arts, home to dozens of museums and performance venues. Every second Friday of the month, James Street North hosts Art Crawl, a festival that lines the sidewalks with local art, musicians and vendors.
Hamilton is also full of history, having served as a battle site during the War of 1812. What was once a British military
encampment is now Dundurn Castle, a 40-room, 1830s mansion built in Italianate-style. Located on York Boulevard, the site is open for tours year-round. Other landmarks include gothic-style structures like Christ’s Church Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the King. Unlike other parts of Canada, Hamilton isn’t exactly known for skiing, Wilson says, so the best time to visit is the summer. Whether it be hiking by the waterfalls or taking in the art of the city, Hamilton has enough variety to please both the rough and the refined.
The WaterCraft Inn treats guests to a bed and breakfast over Lake Ontario.
ONE AXE Pursuits offers the opportunity to climb frozen waterfalls.
Lunchtime Logistics
Four local spots made for midday meetings
BY LAURA BELPEDIO
Let’s meet over lunch” – now how many times have you typed that in an email? Thankfully for Fort Worth, lunchtime locales aren’t hard to come by.
But business lunch meetings are different. They need to be personal, and more importantly, you need to be able to hear each other talk. Here are a few places where you can do just that.
ACRE DISTILLING
Best Time to Visit: Early afternoon
Acre Distilling, located in downtown Fort Worth, is a distillery and coffeehouse that offers a sophisticated atmosphere with nods to Fort Worth history, specifically Hell’s Half Acre. Once inside, guests can sit and relax with a view of the distilling room, which is adjacent to an extensive
bar and spacious seating area. The venue is business friendly, offering high-speed Wi-Fi, numerous electrical outlets for charging gadgets, and a quiet surrounding to allow for conversation. Guests can dine on food such as a chorizo and pepper flatbread pizza or a chicken club wrap, while also enjoying spirit flights, mixed cocktails or, if they prefer to forgo the midday alcoholic beverage, a long list of lattes, cappuccinos and teas. This spot tends to get busy in the late afternoon, so be sure to plan a midday visit.
1309 Calhoun St. 817.632.7722
acredistilling.com
CAFÉ MODERN
Best Time to Visit: 11:30 a.m. before the lunchtime crowd
Located in the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Café Modern is a high-end restaurant enclosed in floor-to-ceiling glass windows, creating an aesthetically pleasing ambiance with its remarkable backdrop of Tadao Ando’s architecture. Quiet and spacious with music piping softly in the background, the atmosphere is accompanied by a diverse menu that includes items like short rib chimichurri and a spicy Burmese shrimp curry, as well as cocktails, beer and an extensive wine list.
3200 Darnell St. 817.738.9215
themodern.org/cafe
Acre Distilling
AVOCA COFFEE ROASTERS
Best Time to Visit: Varies by day, busiest between 9 a.m. and noon.
Frequenters of Avoca tend to have the same goal – to get work done. The flagship location on Magnolia Avenue provides a relaxing atmosphere with natural lighting, numerous electrical outlets and comfortable couches ideal for a casual meeting.
1311 W. Magnolia Ave.
682.233.0957 avocacoffee.com
PRESS CAFÉ
Best Time to Visit: 11 a.m. or 1:45 p.m.
Located on a stretch of the Trinity Trail is Press Cafe, known for its tranquil, laid-back atmosphere with chic modern architecture and a riverside view. The restaurant is moderately quiet with ambient background music and spacious outdoor seating, as well as available indoor seating. Guests can dine on dishes like Deconstructed Tuna Salad, a fish sandwich or sea scallops, as well as sip on wines, cocktails and draft beers.
4801 Edwards Ranch Road, Suite 105 817.570.6002 presscafeftworth.com
MEETING WITH THE BOSS
Some of Fort Worth’s top CEOs talk about their favorite places to meet.
RUSTY REIDHIGGINBOTHAM
Favorite Meeting
Spots: Fort Worth Club, Grace, Joe T. Garcia’s “The Fort Worth Club is ideal for a meeting – they have great options on the 11th floor that include the new Davey O’Brien Sports Lounge. Grace is also one of my favorite options with incredible food, service and available private rooms. Joe T’s is great for a casual dinner, and I enjoy their ambiance.”
DEBBIE COOLEYM-PAK
Favorite Meeting
Spots: Ellerbe
Fine Foods, Spiral Diner, Lili’s Bistro
“I don’t usually choose quiet,
comfortable meeting places. I prefer vibrant, energetic venues to help create energy. They all have a fantastic atmosphere conducive to creating energetic conversation and exchanging of ideas.”
JOHNNY CAMPBELLSUNDANCE SQUARE
Favorite Meeting
Spots: Bird Café, Yolk, Silver Leaf Cigar Lounge
“There are many great places to meet for business or pleasure in Sundance Square. However, I find myself frequently having casual meetings at Bird Café, Yolk or the Silver Leaf Cigar Lounge.”
Avoca
Café Modern
Press Café
Unlocking Potential
Hotel keys switch from cards to smartphones.
BY OLIVIA HEINEN
TJ Person once met an investor who was critical about the use of Bluetooth technology in hotels. The investor thought the technology would be distracting. Person begged to differ.
That’s why Person – a 14-year resident of the Dallas-Fort Worth area – created OpenKey in 2014. The app, which acts as a key card allowing hotel guests to unlock their rooms via their smartphones, is meant to make hotel rooms more secure, allow the hotels themselves to decrease expenses, and be more environmentally friendly.
In addition to operating as a room key, the app also allows guests to let the hotel know exactly when they have arrived. The resorts then notify guests when their room is ready, cutting down the wait time at the check-in desk.
Person says the company is on track to add 35,000 hotel rooms throughout 2017. He hopes to eventually open offices in Europe and Asia.
OpenKey has already been implemented in more than 16,500 hotel rooms, both in the U.S. and internationally.
Malibu Beach Inn – Malibu, California
malibubeachinn.com
Nestled along Carbon Beach, the Malibu Beach Inn began to utilize OpenKey in August after being introduced to the app at an exposition and conference in New Orleans. The hotel wanted to give guests the choice of having their key be a card or on a smartphone.
According to general manager Gregory Day, the hotel “immediately recognized it as the next phase of luxury-based technology.”
Hermitage Hotel – Nashville, Tennessee thehermitagehotel.com
Just three months after landing the Malibu Beach Inn, OpenKey was able to implement its app in the Hermitage Hotel, the only Forbes Five-Star, AAA Five Diamond-rated hotel in Tennessee.
Right Here in Fort Worth: The Ashton Hotel theashtonhotel.com
The well-known, historic boutique hotel downtown partnered with OpenKey last July.
Park Hotel – Valkenburg, Netherlands parkhotelvalkenburg.nl
Park Hotel was the first international resort to utilize the OpenKey app. This luxurious hotel, completely surrounded by nature, teamed up with the mobile technology this past May.
Birches Serviced Apartments –Melbourne, Australia birches.com.au
Birches Serviced Apartments, a member of the AiRstayz hotelier coalition, became the second international location to partner with OpenKey. “We want guests to experience everything Australia has to offer,” AiRstayz founder Marc Italia said in a statement. “That experience should not include spending time in a check-in or check-out line or having to wait for a replacement key to your room.”
A Different Grind
Need an energy boost but can’t do coffee? Here’s a tea-rrific wake-up call, no beans necessary.
BY MOLLY JENKINS
It happens to everyone – that drowsy buzz that hits you in the mid-afternoon or even as soon as you sit at your desk in the morning. Either way, long days at work likely have you in need of a pick-me-up. But let’s face it – coffee isn’t for everyone. For some, drinking coffee leads to headaches and stomachaches. Specialty coffee drinks can be filled with calories and sugar. A Starbucks grande iced caramel macchiato with 2 percent milk, for example, is 250 calories and 34 grams of sugar. Luckily, there are tons of local options to boost your energy that don’t include coffee.
SIMPLY FIT MEALS’ GREEN LIMON JUICE
You won’t find any coffee at Simply Fit Meals, but you will find a menu filled with revitalizing snacks and juices. The Green Limon juice is jam-packed with greens like kale, spinach and parsley. Greens are a great natural energy booster if caffeine isn’t your thing.
3020 W. 7th St., #220 Fort Worth 76107 817.349.9250
116 8th Ave. Fort Worth 76104 817.887.9012 simplyfitmeals.com
RIGHTEOUS FOODS’ SPARKLING GREEN TEA
Righteous Foods is practically next door to fitness studios like ZYN22 and Pure Barre on West Seventh Street, and the restaurant itself is brimming with healthy food and drink options. If you are looking for a little caffeine to start your day, Righteous Foods’ sparkling green tea is the ideal go-to.
3405 W. 7th St. Fort Worth 76107 817.850.9996 eatrighteously.com
BREWED’S CHAI LATTE
For those who can’t start their day without a latte but are ready to move away from coffee, Brewed’s Chai Latte is your solution. This warm, or iced, concoction is the perfect blend of chai tea and milk. Plus, Brewed offers a great environment if you want to enjoy your latte while getting some work done.
JUICE JUNKIES’ POWERBALLS
801 W. Magnolia Ave. Fort Worth 76104
817.945.1545 brewedfw.com
If you aren’t into drinking your energy boost, you can eat it. Juice Junkies’ Powerballs are filled with tons of healthy ingredients like hemp seeds, house-made almond butter and dark chocolate chips. A serving of these nutritious treats is only 170 calories and contains 6 grams of protein.
925 Foch St. Fort Worth 76107 817.885.7775 | juicejunkies.com
“Give
every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.” ~ Mark Twain
Texas Ear Clinic is a highly specialized pediatric and adult ear center focused on finding solutions for patient’s hearing and balance problems, either through comprehensive medical treatment or by providing state-of-the-art and affordable hearing device technology. Dr. Cristobal, Otolaryngologist specialized in Neurotology, provides additional expertise in managing tumors of the lateral skull base while focusing on preservation of the brain and nerve function.
Otology, Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery
• Adult & pediatric diseases of the ear, balance and facial nerve
• Acoustic Neuroma
• Bilateral hearing loss
• Single-sided deafness
• Fully implantable hearing aids (Envoy Esteem)
• Bone conduction hearing aids
• Conventional & hybrid cochlear implantation
• Tinnitus management (ringing in the ear)
• State-of-the-art hearing aid fitting
Dr. Cristobal with his son in Trinity Park
Home Office
What’s the opposite of sitting in a boring cubicle? It might just be this office space.
BY KENDALL LOUIS / PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN HUTSON
The office space sitting just southeast of the intersection of College and Magnolia avenues is small, but with an exterior painted in hues of aqua and coral, it hardly flies under the radar.
The occupant of this space is Hutson Creative, a fullservice communications and creative agency with a bevy of local clients, plus a few national players as well. Chances are if you’ve been around Fort Worth long, you have interacted with someone it represents. “We work with clients in a variety of realms: lifestyle, food and beverage, shopping centers, entertainment, commercial and residential real estate, legal and finance,” says Beth Hutson, CEO of Hutson Creative.
It was its client in residential real estate, 6th Ave Homes, that led Hutson Creative to the space at 1313 College Ave. The team moved from its former digs in the Marquis on Magnolia to the College Avenue space in early 2016. “We love this neighborhood because it’s artistic and inspires creativity,” says Hutson. “We couldn’t pass up this adorable turquoise and coral ‘hoffice’ that Jamey Ice and Jimmy Williams of 6th Ave Homes restored,” she says.
The “hoffice” - part house, part office - is 1,382 square feet of funky. And it’s the perfect space for the self-described “petite and powerful” team. “We’re like a little family. We’re a closeknit team and have fun together,” says Heather Hughston, director of PR and client services.
Conference room
Hutson founded her namesake PR company in 2004. It’s a family affair too. Her husband, Brian Hutson, is the company’s president of photography. His photos are the ones you see here. They often bring their two kids, Christian, 13, and Avery, 6, to the office.
“Sometimes they give us tips and opinions,” Hughston says with a laugh. Four-legged kids are welcome in the office as well. The Hutsons, who walk to the office from their home in Fairmount, often bring their two dogs to work and allow employees to do the same.
Originally built in the early 1900s, sometime in the ‘70s or ‘80s, the house was turned into a duplex. It was the perfect project for locally owned 6th Ave Homes. The fixer-upper team has a knack for finding distressed houses and flipping them into move-inready, well-designed homes. Together, they have bought, sold, and restored more than 36 historic properties in Fort Worth, often leaving their mark with a fresh coat (or two) of bright paint. When they found the College Avenue property, it was a duplex with linoleum floors and wood paneling. 6th Ave Homes took on the task of converting it back to a single-family home by opening up walls and corridors that were closed off.
The center of the house, which Hutson Creative uses as a small conference room, features another one of 6th Ave’s signature marks – shiplap. “We love getting to expose shiplap anytime we find it, because we love the texture and character of 100-plusyear-old wood on a wall,” says Ice. “It softens a room, and we think adds some great aesthetics. 1313 College was the first time we have ever come across vertical shiplap. As soon as we found it, we knew we had to expose it!”
The conference room also features a tin roof. “When we bought the house, there was an old shed in the backyard that was on the verge of falling over. But it had this crazy cool old tin roof on it,” said Ice. “We knew the shed had to go, but we couldn't bring ourselves to get rid of the old tin. So, we decided to repurpose it and use it on the ceiling of the conference room. The tin, combined with the shiplap and original unstained pine wood floors, made for a funky and fun vibe,” said Ice.
In addition to repurposing items from the home, 6th Ave Homes tried to stay true to the original charm of the house whenever possible, opting for black and white tile floors in the bathroom and kitchen.
Creative Director, Justin Burks
Heather Hughston, Beth Hutson and Hayley Girard
When 6th Ave Homes bought the house, it was surrounded by a chain-link fence and overgrown grass. Now, the picturesque front and backyards are low-maintenance and high function. Pebble ground cover ensures the tenant will never have to invest in a lawn mower. Stepping stones lead the way to the front door and a porch in the front, and a hammock lies between two trees in the back, ready for work breaks. Various tree stumps are scattered around for organic seating. Cactus, agave, yucca and ice plants, from Calloway’s Nursery (another Hutson client) add to the aesthetic and promise to survive the Texas heat.
The work done by 6th Ave Homes is the perfect canvas for the Hutson’s eclectic taste. Beth Hutson says the office is absolutely a reflection of her and Brian’s actual home. She found the colorful conference room chairs from local artist Lorraine White on the Fairmount Neighborhood Exchange page. A vintage “H,” found at a Wimberley antique store, welcomes guests when they walk through the front door. A yellow lacquer credenza, from Gary Riggs Interiors in Dallas, is the ideal platform for a vintage typewriter and hand-blown glass art from SiNaCa Studios. A
vintage Coke machine anchors a flex space. Beth says she hopes to refurbish it and fill it with Rahr & Son’s products - you guessed it, another Hutson Creative client.
Everything in the office looks equal parts planned and accidental. Work from local artists, including Brian Hutson, hangs throughout the space. Sarah Greene’s portrait of Beth and Brian is prominently displayed in their shared office.
Hughston says the “homey” feel of the office makes employees look forward to going to the office every day. “The space lends itself to creativity and collaboration. We have multiple seating areas, like the big red couch, where we can comfortably have a brainstorm session. Our conference table doubles as the break room where we can sit down and trade stories about our weekend over lunch and then have a strategy session with a client. If we ever need a change of scenery, we have a small porch or the hammock outside where we can work when the weather is nice,” says Hughston. “We have a display wall where we showcase our proudest design work.”
And it’s no mistake that the Hutson Creative team works in one of its client’s proudest designs.
Scout and Madison
Heather Hughston, Beth and Brian Hutson, and Hayley Girard
Blood Money
Colleyville entrepreneur Hillary Strasner builds a lab company over 17 years and sells it as her oldest child enters high school. What’s next?
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA / PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX LEPE
The deal spilled out onto a napkin at a table inside the Chili’s at Dallas Love Field airport. Hillary Strasner, just a few years out of Texas Tech, had gone to work for a health care lab in Tyler, running operations and sales, and was commuting to North Texas on weekends. Joe Bowman, who owned the lab with two partners, wasn’t happy with the partnership. “They each had a third of the partnership,” Strasner says. “It doesn’t work. Somebody has to be chief.”
So Strasner presented a proposal: Bowman would sell his interests in labs he owned in Lubbock and Tyler and go into partnership with Strasner on a lab the company had recently opened without a client in Fort Worth. Strasner would buy into the company for $100,000 on a note Bowman would carry, and Strasner would pay it down from her salary.
Strasner, whom Bowman had employed as a part-time phlebotomist while she was studying at Tech, would run the company alongside the lab manager Bowman had hired to run the Fort Worth lab. Bowman would own 51 percent of the company, and Strasner 49.
And the kicker: “Joe could retire,” Strasner says. “I was 25 when we went into partnership.” That was 1999.
Birth of a Dream ProLab, which collected, transported and processed lab samples around the clock to provide fast diagnostic information for nursing homes, was born. “Within five months, we were rocking and rolling,” Strasner says. “Joe was mentoring me. I didn’t know the lab side,” but Holly Shields, their Fort Worth lab manager, knew it.
Bowman sold a stake from his interest to Shields. Their partnership with Bowman, however, was short-lived. He died of a heart attack on a golf course on July 1, 2000. “At that point, it was up to Holly and me to make it work, and we did,” Strasner says.
Over 17 years, Strasner and Shields grew the company to provide lab services at 15 locations in 11 states including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana and Ohio, serving 50,000 patients daily at 500 nursing facilities. Sales rose to $28 million
annually, before dropping with Medicare cuts. Then the opportunity to sell came in June last year, and Strasner, Shields and other minority partners bit, selling the company for undisclosed terms to Schryver Medical. Schryver billed the purchase as augmenting its presence in Texas, where the company had launched service six months earlier.
“ProLab provides realtime online access to lab results, and its laboratories are…accredited and equipped with state-ofthe-art instruments and information systems,” Schryver said.
Taking a Break
Strasner, who turned 43 in February, has taken a months-long break to refresh. She’s doing consulting work, looking at opportunities for a new business startup, continuing to serve on the board of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Fort Worth chapter, and agreed to come on board TCU’s Neeley School of Business as a TCU Entrepreneur in Residence.
6 a.m.: Get up with her three children.
7 a.m.: Drive them to school.
8:30 a.m.: Back at home, work out for an hour in her in-home gym.
10 a.m.: Be at work.
3:30-4 p.m.: Go home.
“Homework, dinner, cheerleading, football, baseball, you name it,” she says. Then bedtime for the kids and 30-45 minutes with her husband, Michael Strasner, a business coach. “And somewhere in the middle of it, you try to find time for yourself. And it can be done. Everything I do is efficient.”
“We had revenue goals; I was so focused on the next revenue goal and the next revenue goal after that, I didn’t step back and [determine] where’s the cash flow to pay for all this growth? It was a huge mistake.”
– Hillary Strasner
Most importantly, she’s been able to spend time with her three children, the oldest of whom entered high school in the fall. “I’ve been a full-time mom,” she says. “The refresher’s been great. It’s been great to relax.”
Before she sold ProLab, Strasner, who lives in Colleyville, had her workday down to tight increments:
Before Strasner went into business, she saw herself headed for dance. She grew up in Allen; her father was a Texas Instruments executive, and her mother worked for a dental agency before coming on board ProLab to work in client service. Strasner went to high school in Dallas for dance and secured scholarship offers from several colleges, including a dance scholarship to Texas Tech.
Strasner says she determined quickly in college that, while she appreciated the art, a livelihood in dance would be difficult.
“Whatever I do, I want to be able to support myself for the rest of my life,” she says. “And as a dancer, everything you do has to be perfect. If it isn’t perfect, you do it again. The older I’ve gotten, the less I’m a perfectionist. With marriage and the kids, you learn to let that go in some respects.”
While in college, Strasner dropped by to pick up a roommate who was working at Joe Bowman’s lab in Lubbock and met Bowman for the first time.
“He had this big personality,” Strasner
recalls. “He asked me if I had a job. Well yes, waiting tables. Within a week, he was training me to be a phlebotomist,” and within a few weeks, she was drawing blood from patients. “I was very good at it. I really enjoyed it, which made me very good at it.”
Strasner says she drew inspiration from Bowman’s passion for the elderly and worked for him until she graduated from college. “He was passionate about nursing homes,” she says. “These people are so full of life, still.”
After college, Strasner got a job working for Andersen Consulting in Dallas, but says she didn’t enjoy working for other bosses. She stayed in touch with Bowman and, during one phone conversation, he offered her the job of working at a lab – his second, recently-opened location – in Tyler. At 23, Strasner jumped on the opportunity, something she counsels young adults on when she gets the chance.
Why Not? “Why wouldn’t you?” says Strasner, who recently helped a 25-yearold acquaintance analyze an opportunity that presented the chance to own. “What if it doesn’t work? You’re a fool if you’re young and you don’t step in and take advantage of it. Plan B is you’re still doing what you’re doing today.”
Strasner joined the company in 1997 at the Tyler lab. It grew quickly to 30 employees. Within months, however, Bowman’s dissatisfaction with his partnership surfaced.
Strasner recognized the opportunity in Fort Worth, where the company had launched a lab off of Loop 820 with no clients and little business. “Nothing
happened” after the company opened the lab, Strasner says.
In August 1999, she and Bowman went into partnership in the Fort Worth lab, with Bowman selling his interest in the others. Strasner estimates it took less than a year to pay off her $100,000 note to Bowman.
Eight months in, they drew Shields, whom Bowman had known as a lab manager at a hospital in Lubbock before hiring her to come to Fort Worth, into the partnership and lowered his ownership stake in the process. “She knew the lab side,” Strasner says. “If any employee called in [sick or absent], I could fill in any slot except the lab.”
Know Your Partner Strasner calls the first few years after Bowman’s death “a hard couple of years. We had competi-
tors who were sure we were going out of business.”
But the partnership between Strasner and Shields eventually flourished, Strasner says, because the two had complementing skillsets and were at the same points in their lives. Shields’ side of the business required licensing and strong background in compliance.
“We both had specialties in different things,” Strasner says. “She knew how to make the lab successful. I knew operations, sales, financials. It really worked well that we focused on the pieces of the business that we knew. If I was to ever go into business and have a partner again, it would almost need to replicate what Holly and I had. We avoided conflict because she had her area.”
Both were also newlywed and having children. “We had a different kind
Hillary Strasner, and her three children, at Southlake Town Square
Hillary Strasner’s Playbook
Went to college for: Dance
Strengths: Problem-solving, she says. “Every day, there’s a new problem.”
Weaknesses: “The people side of it. I love, love, love our employees. It’s difficult when they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do.”
Juggling home life with work life: “Everything I do is efficient.”
Reading: Voracious reader of everything from “fashion, to politics, business.”
Workout: One hour every morning of cardio and weights.
Vacations: “Calm” vacations on the beach.
of relationship than most partners do,” Strasner says.
Major competitors – other labs and hospitals – weren’t interested in the service-intensive nursing home business, leaving that to players like ProLab.
“Hospitals didn’t want our stuff, and major labs don’t want the nursing home business,” Strasner said. Physicians at nursing homes need fast turnarounds for quick diagnostic capability. Seventy-five percent of ProLab’s employees – more than 200 when Schryver bought the company – had direct contact with patients, going into nursing homes, interacting with patients, and collecting specimens.
The major labs “take two to three days to turn around” specimens,” Strasner says. “The whole service model was not something [the big labs] wanted.”
Following the inspiration of Bowman, Strasner and Shields built a culture with care and commitment at the core, Strasner says. That required attentive employees. “These patients are our moms, our grandparents,” Strasner says.
Lessons Learned Lessons learned came quickly. “Always expect the unexpected,” Strasner says she learned. In 2007, the company opened a lab in Mississippi, its seventh location companywide. Strasner did her due diligence and saw a strong market, but she miscalculated how strong demand would be.
“I did all the stuff I’d done before,” Strasner says. “Grass roots research, coldcalling, [asking] who’s your lab?”
She planned to secure accounts for 30 facilities within the first year. “We had 30 facilities within a couple of months,” Strasner says. “This was the farthest away [from Fort Worth] and had the least competition. I overestimated the amount of competition we had.”
On top of that, typical lengths of time in Medicare’s reimbursement for services – 30 days to six months in a new location – meant a drain on the company’s cash. ProLab had a $2 million credit line,
Hillary Strasner says the next business she creates will focus on women.
but “we drained the credit line,” Strasner says. “We ended up outstripping everything we had.”
Medicare reimbursements were shrinking, making efficiency critical, Strasner says. “We knew the industry was going to be growing, but reimbursement was shrinking.”
The company also maintained a simple accounting system that meant it couldn’t easily determine how its individual locations were performing. “We had all the money come into one place, and all the expense,” she says. “We didn’t have individual location profit and loss centers.”
Strasner says she was too narrowly focused on revenue goals. “We had revenue goals; I was so focused on the next revenue goal, and the next revenue goal after that, I didn’t step back and [determine] where’s the cash flow to pay for all this growth?” she says. “It was a huge mistake.”
ProLab opened a lab in Alabama soon after the Mississippi launch, which further drained cash.
At one point, ProLab’s accountant warned the company would be out of business within three months, she says. “Our bank demanded proof we could handle credit. We had to go to the bank and plead for time. They put us on a quarterly note. We had to come in every three months and prove we could handle it.”
Strasner says she let go of the company’s chief financial officer and took control of the finances. She pared expense, stopped pursuing new accounts, and set out to determine how well individual markets and clients were performing. “Within three months, we were back to break even,” she says.
The company, now pivoted to focus on profitability goals over revenue goals, shut down some of its labs. It also started flying lab specimens to two central locations, paring the full lab expense in multiple states. At its peak, ProLab had 380 employees and the 15 locations in 11 states. Five of the locations were in
Texas and 10 outside the state. At the peak, ProLab had nine labs. When it sold to Schryver, ProLab had the two central labs.
ProLab ended up giving up some clients, based on the formation of a process for evaluating profitability, Strasner says. “If a client isn’t profitable, we can’t service them,” she said.
ProLab used Southwest Airlines to fly specimens. It even built expansion strategy for new markets around where Southwest flies, Strasner says.
“We learned to fly specimens around and still achieve sameday turnaround,” she says. “Southwest was always on time, always dependable, and always in every market. We were making business decisions in part on where Southwest was, where they fly, how many stops.”
The company also learned to pay for projected growth organically, rather than through debt, Strasner says. “If we didn’t have the finances, then we didn’t expand. We didn’t want to owe the bank money again.”
first potential buyer to call on ProLab, Strasner says. “We had multiple offers over the years,” she says. “It was the right time for the right reasons.”
Schryver needed a flagship lab, and Strasner says she’d been interested in looking to sell the company once her oldest child entered high school.
“They kept most of our employees; we were able to be the flagship lab,” she says. “We were able to see what’s next for the company. That helped, knowing [employees] would be taken care of. It was a win-win all the way around.”
“We both had specialties in different things. She knew how to make the lab successful. I knew operations, sales, financials.”
– Hillary Strasner, on why her 17-year partnership flourished
The Mississippi chapter in ProLab’s history “was a lesson for Mississippi, but it was a lesson that changed our whole company,” Strasner says.
Nearest Exit: No The matter of when to potentially exit the company developed over time, Strasner says. At the end, she held 53 percent of the company, with four partners, including Shields, owning the remainder. “When we started the business, the goal was to be successful,” with no real exit strategy put into place at the start, Strasner says. “We were just focused on doing the best job we could.”
Schryver, based in Denver, approached ProLab about selling, and it wasn’t the
Both she and Shields have moved on. Strasner is now thinking about the next business she’ll start. “I don’t know if I was meant to be an entrepreneur or if I just fell into it, but I loved it,” she says. She’s interested in coaching and consulting women in business. “The next business I’m going to create will hit entrepreneurial strategy, business management,” she says. “If I had a vision to focus my next career on, it would probably be supporting women to start and grow their own business.
“We need more women entrepreneurs,” Strasner adds. “I know what women balance and the challenges they face on a daily basis. Who better to understand what it takes to juggle it all than a woman who has done it for 20 years?”
There’s no chance she’s creating another healthcare business, Strasner says.
“I’m 100 percent, I am not going back into health care,” she says. “A thousand percent, it’s a hard industry. It’s too unstable right now. From a profit standpoint and a cash flow standpoint, it’s unstable. My next business will be one I control and is not based on who’s president.”
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Buffalo West partners Chris Piekarski and Paul McKinney, at their salad bar
The Blueing of Mootown
The Blue Zones Project is driving innovation – and a healthier, more productive workforce – at worksites, restaurants, grocery stores, schools, churches, and the built environment.
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA / PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX LEPE
Chris Piekarski was skeptical.
“We’re a meat-and-potatoes restaurant; there’s no way around it,” says Piekarski, managing partner of Fort Worth’s Buffalo West restaurant, which bills itself as having the city’s “best steak.”
But Piekarski and co-owner Paul McKinney listened when the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce connected the restaurant to the Blue Zones Project, the well-being initiative that implements best practices based on lessons learned from communities worldwide where people live longest. Buffalo
West added new healthy menu items using foods it already had in-house for other dishes, introduced small-bite desserts, redesigned its menus and servers’ approach to push vegetables before starches, brought in Blue Zones to train staff on how to suggest healthy items, and installed a bike rack. Sales of the healthy items surged. The restaurant itself posted a record year in 2016, Piekarski says.
“It’s given [consumers] more choices,” important given that friends and groups of diners often choose restaurants based on consensus over the menu, says Piekarski, whose
restaurant won Blue Zones approval for its changes. “We didn’t have to create a whole new grocery list; there’s not a lot we had to go out and buy.”
Citywide, Blue Zones has been driving incremental change at worksites, schools, grocery stores, restaurants, churches, other organizations like retirement centers, and among individuals as Fort Worth pursues approval as a Blue Zones city. The project has spurred conversations on the city’s “built environment,” in walkability, alternative means of transportation, and policy addressing so-
called “food deserts” − poorer parts of town that don’t have ready access to fresh food Fort Worth, which entered a feasibility study on Blue Zones in 2014 and then launched the project the following year with a four-year timeframe to reach Blue Zones certification, is the largest city to reach for approval as a Blue Zones city, and it may be years before definitive metrics develop that show whether the city is achieving a significant part of its goal to become a healthier, happier, and more productive community. Incrementally, a baseline index conducted early last year in conjunction with the Blue Zones rollout in Fort Worth showed the city had become a healthier city during the previous 18 months by several measures. And the early numbers on entities and people signing on are picking up steam.
employees, compared to the 2018 goal of 70,000, and each new approved worksite can augment the numbers considerably. “We’re at the point in the project where there’s a lot of momentum,” Dufrene says. “What’s really important is the number of people these worksites represent.”
Nearly 40,000 people have signed personal pledges to complete healthy activities. Matt Dufrene, vice president of Blue Zones Fort Worth, points to numbers that show the 75 worksites that are Blue Zonesapproved in Fort Worth represent 40,000
The numbers of schools that are Blue Zones-approved, now 14, could surge this spring as the initiative pushes into more conversations with schools and the several districts that touch Fort Worth, Dufrene says. The goal this spring is to add 10 more schools; the 2018 goal is 44.
“This coming year is a year when you’re going to see a lot of movement in schools,” says Barclay Berdan, chief executive of Texas Health Resources and chairman of the Fort Worth project steering committee.
THR, which footed the $500,000 cost for the local feasibility study, has implemented best practices from Blue Zones, including standing and walking meetings; a “downshift” space under construction at the Arlington headquarters that will have ping pong, card games, and reading materials; and opportunities for meditation and yoga. It’s also added a fitness center to the Arlington offices and a walking circuit around the campus and is testing new food choices in its hospital cafeterias. Berdan estimates 7,500 employees have signed personal Blue Zones pledges.
“It’s making the healthy choices easier,” Berdan says. “We want to demonstrate that we can be successful in engaging a large organization and making healthy choices. We don’t force it.”
Berdan has also personally embraced
Bank of America added a cafeteria with healthy choices and walking circuit, changes that helped obtain Blue Zones approval for the bank's CentrePort call center
Jorge Hughes, Bank of America CentrePort vice president, and Mike Pavell, the bank's Fort Worth market president
Turn to Page 82: Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner thinks he knows when Fort Worth will see a payoff.
pieces of the Blue Zones “Power 9,” the nine practices for longer, healthier living that the international initiative has gleaned from communities it’s researched: move naturally; have purpose; “downshift”; stop eating when 80 percent full; have a “plant slant” in your diet; drink moderately, with friends; belong to a faithbased community; put family first; and have a “tribe” of loyal friends.
Berdan’s Power 9: the 80 percent rule and more movement. He works behind a standing desk, schedules time in the fitness center, uses the stairs and walks more. He estimates he registers 10,000 steps a day. He’s lost 28 pounds toward a weight-loss goal. “Eight pounds more,” he says.
Going Blue: Major Employers
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is another of the major employers to win Blue Zones worksite approval. The company built off of existing programs and amenities at its big West Fort Worth plant, including a workout facility and rewards for completion of risk assessment and health coaching.
It teamed up with Virgin Pulse, a unit of part of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group that designs technology that cultivates good lifestyle habits among employees, to award points for completion of health challenges. Employees redeem their points for reduced health care costs.
An estimated 3,300 of the plant’s employees signed personal pledges, meeting the 25 percent Blue Zones goal. The company also this year will finish marking off an indoor-outdoor walking circuit.
water, not soft drinks, are now in display cases. On one recent day, placards promoting “The Healthy Choice” highlighted a mesquite chicken breast at 133 calories. The “Craveworthy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie,” on the other hand, was offered at 339 calories.
“It’s not just Lockheed telling you to be healthy,” says Dr. Thomas Bettes, Lockheed Martin’s regional medical director, who took the job in February 2015 and inherited the company’s Blue Zones initiative. Bettes also runs the plant’s clinic, where employees can get wellness checks. “It’s this entire area of expertise. A message that could be complicated becomes easier.”
To Lockheed Martin, the healthy profile helps manage an older workforce that has diabetes and high blood pressure. It also becomes a recruitment tool for new employees. “It’s going to be impossible to see any quick changes in health care metrics,” Bettes says. “You see it in feedback from the employees and the fact that we’re trying to change the culture here.”
“It’s not just Lockheed telling you to be healthy. It’s this entire area of expertise. A message that could be complicated becomes easier.”
– Dr. Thomas Bettes, Lockheed Martin regional medical director
The plant’s café, Aero Café, redesigned its menus, offerings and signage to promote healthy choices, and the executive chef puts on cooking demos. Bottled
Bank of America’s 1,900-employee CentrePort call center near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is another major worksite that’s won Blue Zones approval. The company, like others, built its Blue Zones resume off of programs already in place, including an employee assistance program, ergonomics evaluation and training, wellness checks, and discounts off of health care costs for completing a wellness check. High blood pressure and pre-hypertension are the most common ailments for employees, so Bank of America years ago implemented smoking cessation and get-active programs with rewards to attack those problems. The company provides all employees with a Fitbit so they can keep track of their activity.
What she does:
Subcontracting program manager, F-35 program, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Fort Worth
Her story: “I’d gained 70 pounds. You’re a mom, you’re a wife and all these things. I was never really present in the moment. I lost an aunt to cancer. Three aunts and a grandmother have kidney disease. I was over 300 pounds. My limbs were going numb. I couldn’t breathe. I was getting winded getting dressed. In March 2016, one day, I just got up and decided to get fit.”
Getting fit: 5 a.m. workouts, challenges, diet changes, walking while at work. “You find that stepping away from work
makes you more productive when you go back.” Lost 60 pounds so far.
Blue Zones experience: She’s an ambassador and helped sign employees up to Blue Zones personal pledges at Lockheed.
How she engages colleagues: “Have you gone on a walk? Hey, what’s up with that cookie?”
Her Blue Zones Power 9 faves: Bonding with family, limiting eating, and downshifting.
The one Power 9 she’s stuck on: Wine at 5, with friends. “I can socialize with water.” – Scott Nishimura
LaTasha Dandy – Blue Zones Pledge Age: 35
“We had 57 points” toward recognition as a Blue Zones-approved worksite, says Jorge Hughes, vice president and human resources manager for the CentrePort site. “We needed to get to 72.” The company added a three-mile walking trail around the campus, new cafeteria that also won approval as a Blue Zones restaurant, downshift room, communications plan, and walking meetings for managers. Forty-four percent of employees made personal pledges, against the 25 percent target.
The cafeteria headed off employees who were going to restaurants around the airport or a nearby food truck, Mike Pavell, Bank of America’s Fort Worth/Tarrant market president, says. Bank of America plans to seek Blue Zones approval for its other worksites in the market, he said. “This was a good place to start.”
challenges, emphasis on physical activity, and cash prizes for participation.
Bell CEO Mitch Snyder wanted more. Employee engagement was one of several “critical mindsets” he installed when he took his post in 2015, and he’s taken a holistic approach to their well-being, says Allison Hanson Mullis, executive vice president of human resources. “Blue Zones provided the framework,” she says. “We want to empower our employees not just here at work, but also at home and in their communities.”
“We want to empower our employees not just here at work, but also at home and in their communities.”
– Allison Hanson Mullis, Bell Helicopter
Bell Helicopter, another major regional employer, put itself on the Blue Zones track last fall, working toward worksite approval for its Hurst headquarters. The company is building off its 10-year-old Live Well at Bell program, which includes annual biometric assessments for employees, mammograms, employee assistance and smoking cessation programs, healthy
The average age of Bell’s workforce is 48, ranging from young to preparing for retirement, Mullis said. “I would say we have a good number of employees who will retire within the next 10 years,” she said. Employees’ use of health benefits is higher at Bell than at other companies owned by Textron, Bell’s parent, she said.
Bell launched a big pledge drive last fall, gathering almost 900 pledges, more than the Blue Zones goal. “We’re over our goal, but we want more,” Mullis said. The operator of the company’s cafeteria, which won its own Blue Zones approval, reworked its menus to emphasize healthy choices, and the chef runs plant-based cooking classes.
Bell has been working on promoting amenities it already offers, such as reduced-price passes on the Trinity Railway Express, whose Hurst/Bell station is a block from the headquarters. The company also is increasing the number of “quiet rooms” – small individual downshift rooms – on its campus. Every other Friday is now an off-day for employees. Bell has also printed walking maps of the campus and implemented “Blue Zones parking spots,” the farthest from the building’s entrance.
Mullis says she’s hoping to see change in the company’s health care metrics within the next few years. “I would like to see some positive impact by the end of 2018, 2019,” she said. “I think it’s doable.”
Eating Blue Foods Restaurants are one segment where Blue Zones Fort Worth has rewritten some of the rules to make it easier for restaurants to qualify, allowing points for innovations not already addressed in the restaurant checklist. Righteous Foods, one Blue Zones-approved restaurant in Fort Worth, offered incentives to employees who rode their bike or walked to work. “It can be any number of things,” Dufrene says.
Last year, Blue Zones ran a month-long server incentive program with participating restaurants. Fixture Kitchen and Social Lounge reported sales of Blue Zones menu items grew by 10 percent, while the price-per-person average rose nearly 13 percent, countering some restaurants’ fears that pushing lower-priced Blue Zones items could lower their average ticket. “It became a guest perception they could order another appetizer and glass of wine,” says Ben Merritt, chef of the Near Southside restaurant.
Outside the incentive program, Merritt also created Blue Zones lunch and dinner menus, in some cases changing the “verbiage” between his regular and Blue Zones menus but not the ingredients. For the Blue Zones menus, a kale salad became the $9 Kale Leaf, a mix of pepitas, feta, diced apple, mandarin oranges, spicy
Barclay Berdan, Texas Health Resources' CEO, works out regularly in the new fitness center at the company's Arlington headquarters.
Craisins, and citrus vinaigrette. “It’s one of our most popular items,” Merritt said. “I didn’t change any components.”
Blue Zones Fort Worth has also looked for ways to draw in food trucks and other restaurants that may not want to pursue Blue Zones approval but have dishes that can be highlighted as “Blue Zonesinspired.”
Two Fort Worth food trucks – Zatar and Down to Earth Vegetarian Food Truck – approached Blue Zones about participating and are serving “Blue Zonesinspired” menu items that Blue Zones helps promote. Food trucks also add variety to Blue Zones events and are easier to attract to events than restaurants, says Clay Sexauer, Blue Zones Fort Worth’s restaurant coordinator.
Blue Zones recently teamed up with three East Fort Worth restaurants – Lady and the Pit, Italy Pasta & Pizza, and The Library Café – to offer Blue Zones-inspired dishes from their menus and offer server incentives. None are Blue Zones-approved, but Sexauer says he believes Lady and the Pit, a barbecue restaurant, could successfully pursue Blue Zones approval by promoting its vegetable offerings differently.
Lady and the Pit has added four new sides: sautéed spinach, baked sweet potato, fruit salad, and sautéed zucchini and squash, served individually or as plates. The restaurant offers several plant-based items as sides, but customers can create a plate by picking three or four of the dishes. “It’s all about the initiative the restaurant wants to take and all about having the options,” Sexauer says.
Buffalo West, the West Fort Worth restaurant, is another business that took the initiative to think creatively about its menu, says Sexauer, who is working with the restaurant to offer a server incentive program. “They took the initiative to do it,” Sexauer says. “They didn’t take anything away that they already had.”
Blue Zones Fort Worth Report Card
Here’s an update on how the Blue Zones Project is doing in Fort Worth.
Worksites: 75 Blue Zones-approved, representing nearly 40,000 employees. 2018 goal: 70,000 employees represented. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is one of the latest to become Blue Zones-approved, representing 14,000 employees. TCU recently announced a campuswide health initiative that includes working toward Blue Zones approval.
Schools: Fourteen schools Blue Zones-approved, against a goal of 44.
Paschal High School in Fort Worth won Blue Zones approval, making changes such as adding a “downshift” area with bean bag chairs and video games in the library. “Students have been involved all the way,” Matt Dufrene, Blue Zones Project Fort Worth’s vice president says. “And when teachers are healthier, they’re in school more, and they’re more engaged.”
Grocery stores: Eleven Blue Zones-approved, compared to a goal of 14. This counts the locations of chain stores individually and includes locations of Kroger, Albertson’s, Tom Thumb, Fiesta, Central Market, and Whole Foods. “We are far ahead of our goal,” Dufrene says. Stores earn points by nudging consumers toward healthier choices.
Restaurants: Thirty-five Blue Zones-approved, against a goal of 63.
Restaurants earn points by offering plant-based
entrees and sides; “Blue Zones-inspired” dishes; smaller portions or entrees served on dishes that are 10 inches wide or less; fresh fruit dessert options; no salt shakers on tables; bike racks; easily accessible togo boxes; and alternatives to fried, including baked, grilled, and broiled.
Churches: Six Blue Zonesapproved, double the initial goal of three. The goal should have been higher, Dufrene says. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for us here in Fort Worth,” he says.
Participating organizations (non-traditional sites, such as neighborhood associations and retirement centers): Twenty-three approved today, compared to a goal of 25. “We continue to make significant progress there,” Dufrene says.
Individual engagement:
Nearly 40,000 individuals signed to personal pledges today, compared to the goal of 83,296. Individuals must commit to completing at least five of 13 actions within six months. The choices include: keeping walking shoes or a bike in plain sight; adopting a dog; attending a Blue Zones Purpose Workshop (people who know their purpose live up to seven years longer, Blue Zones says); removing computers and electronics from the bedroom to promote better sleep and weight; designating a space in
the home for quiet time, meditation or prayer; stocking the kitchen with 10-inch dinner plates to promote eating less; remove TVs and computers from kitchen and dining areas to reduce extraneous eating; own a bathroom scale put in plain sight and weigh in regularly; attend a plant-based cooking class; grow a garden; schedule a weekly happy hour with friends; have a conversation about getting older; and actively participate in a faith-based organization. People who belong to and actively participate in faith organizations live up to 14 years longer, Blue Zones says.
Built environment and policy: Fort Worth in connection with the Blue Zones project has conducted “walking audits” in major areas to look for ways to promote pedestrian-friendliness. It’s augmenting public transit. “As a community, we have to look at alternative means of transport,” Dufrene says. “It can be healthier and encourage interaction and connectivity.” On food policy, the city has identified its food deserts, passed an urban agriculture ordinance to make it easier for people to grow and sell produce, and approved an amendment to Fort Worth’s mobile pushcart ordinance to allow vendors to sell fruits and vegetables.
– Scott Nishimura
Turn to Page 92: Blue Zones brings the community together, Leadership Fort Worth's Harriet Harral says.
A Fort Worth entrepreneur, retired from Alcon Labs, pursues his vision for an eyedrop that would significantly correct nearsightedness – and hits it big.
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA
HOW BIG?
Bill Burns isn’t saying, declining to answer a reporter’s question about the size of his stake in Encore Vision, which he operated out of small offices at Fort Worth’s TECH Fort Worth incubator on the Southside. “I’m not gonna tell you,” he says firmly and politely, after taking a moment to consider the question.
It’s mid-January, just a day after Novartis, the global eyecare giant that owns Alcon, disclosed in a paragraph on page 191 of its annual report and federal filing that the company’s paying up to $465 million for Encore Vision – including $375 million in cash that it paid to close the deal and another $90 million to come for completion of future milestones. A month earlier, in announcing it was buying the company for undisclosed terms, Novartis cited data from human clinical trials that Burns’ EVO6 eyedrops work to significantly correct nearsightedness – the aging condition that affects 1.5 billion people worldwide.
You might expect the 68-year-old Burns – an unassuming, grandfatherly man – to be freaking out. Instead, he was having lunch – a plastic container filled with pasta he made at home, topped with an heirloom tomato sauce. “The sweetest sauce,” Burns, 68, said, after heating his lunch up in the microwave inside TECH Fort Worth’s small kitchen.
Sweet, indeed. That Burns was able to convert such a big payday for a company that has no sales and probably won’t come to market before the next three to four years elevated the career pharma marketer to superstar status in the halls of the incubator, where numerous other entrepreneurs are working on concepts they want to bring to market.
It was the first exit for the Cowtown Angels angel investor group, which was founded in 2013 by TECH Fort Worth and invested $4 million in Encore Vision, one of the first companies that pitched the Angels. Encore Vision was also the second big score for TECH Fort Worth; ZS Pharma, a Coppell company founded out of the incubator, sold in 2015 for $2.7 billion to AstraZeneca.
“We’re not a one-trick pony,” says Darlene Boudreaux, the TECH Fort Worth executive director and entrepreneur who built a contract pharmaceuticals manufacturer and sold it at $28 million in sales. “You can be lucky once, but I don’t think you can get lucky twice. We’re pretty good at picking these early-stage entrepreneurs who have potential and helping them.”
The reality of angel investing is that most investments go nowhere, and the few winners carry an investor’s portfolio. The Cowtown Angels had invested $15.6 million through 2016 in more than 20 deals, with no busts. To draw more capital, the Angels in December decreased their minimum investment to $10,000 from $25,000 for accredited investors.
“This exit freed up capital,” says Mike Butts, a roofing materials manufacturer and chairman of the Angels. “This is what the end game can be.”
Boudreaux, who founded the Cowtown Angels, says TECH Fort Worth has taken some calls from exiting Encore Vision investors. “They’re calling and saying we have more money,” she says.
The Angels haven’t disclosed any estimates on the potential value of their members’ combined stakes in Encore Vision after the sale. Eight Cowtown members invested in Encore Vision at different times. Bios Partners, the largest, invested $3.7 million.
Les Kreis, co-managing partner in Bios Partners and principal in Steelhead Capital Management in Fort Worth, declined in an interview to say what his group’s investment was worth in the sale.
But he said, “Our position was large enough to ask for and receive a position on the board of directors, so that should imply that it was somewhat meaningful.”
That Burns was pitching a treatment for nearsightedness might have startled investors. Years of eyecare research went into treatments for glaucoma and macular degeneration. Even Burns pitched it to a boss early on during his career at Alcon but was rebuffed.
“He said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’” Burns says. “Nobody’s going to lose their vision. They’ll just go to Walgreens and get readers. There are so many other vision problems. And he was right. There were no definitive studies on glaucoma then.”
Kreis says he readily understood the problem when Burns pitched it to the Cowtown Angels but didn’t understand all of the science. One of his investment partners is Dr. Stella Robertson, who spent 25 years at Alcon in research and drug development. “I was lucky [she] told
“Most angel investors are looking for things that are disruptive. Is it disruptive to the industry, and is there demand for it? Nearsightedness, that’s as disruptive as it gets.”
– MIKE BUTTS, CHAIRMAN, COWTOWN ANGELS
“If the same economics that apply to contact lens wearers is applied to presbyopia, then the math is quite simple – it is a vast, unmet vision correction need.”
– BILL BURNS, ENCORE VISION
me to pay attention to it,” Kreis, 45, says.
“Most angel investors are looking for things that are disruptive,” Butts, surprised when he heard Burns pitch the idea, says. “Is it disruptive to the industry, and is there demand for it? Nearsightedness, that’s as disruptive as it gets.”
Burns grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania, one of five siblings whose father worked in a steel mill and mother as a nurse. They ran dairy cows and farmed hay, corn, oats and wheat. “It had no address, no town,” Burns recalls.
He remembers being able to work the farm “when you were old enough and weighed enough to stand up on a clutch.” Burns was interested in science then, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Slippery Rock University in western Pennsylvania.
After college, Burns landed his first job working for a pharmaceuticals company in sales and then research and development. He moved to Alcon in Fort Worth for three years as a senior product manager and then marketing director. Then he moved to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. as director of business development in Evansville, Indiana, where he stayed five years before jumping back to Alcon in 1988 as marketing director for pharma products. He worked his way up through a series of executive jobs before retiring in 2005 as global vice president.
Burns says he loved specialty pharmaceuticals because it was easy to make contact with influencers. “When you’ve got 12,000 or 13,000, it’s not too difficult to learn who the movers and shakers are within a group,” he says.
While at Alcon, Burns had looked at data on the top reasons why patients visit ophthalmologists. The top reason is cataracts, and the second is presbyopia, or nearsightedness. Even after groundbreaking studies were done on glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration in the 1980s, ‘90s, and 2000s, Burns watched as nobody attacked presbyopia. “No one had latched on to
this vast opportunity,” Burns says. Why not? Encore Vision ended up pioneering an understanding of the role of the eye’s lenses in near vision, Burns says. Patients fear the risk of treating their eyes, he says. “Going blind is one of the biggest fears of anybody.”
With surgery and glasses the only treatments for presbyopia, Burns saw a huge potential market for a proven safe topical treatment, comparing it to the market for contact lenses and lens care products. In the United States, 10 percent of the population wears lenses and spends an average $600-$800 annually for them, he estimates.
“There has not been a practical alternative to glasses for vision correction for presbyopia,” he says. “If the same economics that apply to contact lens wearers is applied to presbyopia, then the math is quite simple – it is a vast, unmet vision correction need.”
Retired and doing consulting work, Burns was introduced to two men – Dr. Ron Blum, an optometrist and serial entrepreneur, and physician Jon Till – who were working together on a proposed method of treating nearsightedness at an incubator in Roanoke, Virginia. The men had secured a patent for the method, which applied energy into the tissue, reducing the charge between certain proteins. Burns agreed to carry out the patent to its use in the invention and come on board the company, Encore Vision, as president in 2006.
Serving as the company’s lone employee and working with a team of consultants experienced in developing ophthalmic pharma products, Burns soon proved the concept that a drug he developed could soften the eye’s lens. Presbyopia comes on as the lens hardens and loses function with age.
Working out of the garage of his North Richland Hills home in early experimentation – “these companies all start in your garage,” he says – Burns used an off-the-shelf reducing chemical agent and made a device that would
measure changes in a lens. He obtained pig lenses from a slaughterhouse in Oklahoma, soaked them in his solution, and measured whether they softened and flattened. Then he sent them to a histologist, a scientist who studies the microanatomy of cells and tissues.
“Sure enough, we made the lens softer in about two hours,” Burns says. And importantly, the histologist said “no change in the cell structure [from the soaking]. We had not damaged the lenses.” Burns next had a toxicology firm in Boston test the solution on human lenses that were 60 to 70 years old. “We felt we had a great proof of concept,” he says.
Burns raised $1.6 million from a group of ophthalmologists in a first round of fundraising in 2007, which gave the company enough money to build a lab and move forward with preliminary work on animal lenses on its drug. He brought in a husband-andwife team of research scientists on contract and began work on formulations and toxicology studies. “I’m a novice scientist,” Burns says. “I know enough
to be dangerous.”
Burns also joined TECH Fort Worth and its ThinkLab program, which helps entrepreneurs think through ideas and decide whether to proceed. “How do I talk about it in English instead of science-ese? What’s the right model? Licensing? Do I build a company?” Boudreaux, the executive director, says.
ENTER THE ANGELS.
In August 2012, Boudreaux, who was looking to form the Cowtown Angels, asked Burns to be the sole pitchman before an informal gathering of community members and potential Angels founders at the Fort Worth Club.
Boudreaux’s invitees were mostly older than 40, with deteriorating eyesight. “They all have this issue; we all just want to throw away these stupid bifocals,” Boudreaux says.
Kreis, who had been in just a few other pitches and says he harbored no expectations, was in the group. “I was just beginning to lose my ability to see near objects, and reading glasses were becoming an unfortunate reality,” he
Jorge Varela of TECH Fort Worth, Bill Burns, and Darlene Boudreaux of TECH Fort Worth
“He could have stopped and licensed it out. He could have built a manufacturing company. He ended up continuing the strategy of development, outsourcing, and selling when the opportunity happened.”
– DARLENE BOUDREAUX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TECH FORT WORTH
says. The Cowtown Angels formed and in 2013, Burns pitched again, becoming one of the Angels’ first investments.
“All of my friends are now starting to suffer from the same reading glasses misery, and so they continually ask me when the drops are going to be ready,” Kreis, now 45, says. “The truth is, I would have been happy to just get my money back and have a solution to reading glasses.”
Burns had various points where he could have exited, Boudreaux says. “It was more about what he didn’t want to do,” she says. “He could have stopped and licensed it out. He could have built a manufacturing company. He ended up continuing the strategy of development, outsourcing, and selling when the opportunity happened.”
In the summer of 2015, the federal Food and Drug Administration gave Encore Vision the go-ahead to begin human trials on EVO6, using 75 subjects, 50 of whom were kept on the drug for three months and 25 on a placebo.
“When you’re a small startup company and you have one shot on goal, you want to make that first study as meaningful as possible,” Burns says. “We made the first study as robust as possible.”
The project, which Burns estimates he’s run Encore Vision using as many as 80 people on contract, hasn’t been without setbacks. “Stupid ones,” Burns says. “This has all of the challenges that any R&D project has.”
In 2015, in preparation for its human study, Burns synthesized his active in-
gredient into a powder to be used in formulating the eyedrops. His provider in Boston shipped the product to a company in Philadelphia that would do the formulation. “This product needs to be kept refrigerated, with a required chain of control,” Burns says. The shipper got the product to the company in Philadelphia on time, but the employee who would have checked it in and put it in refrigeration had been allowed to leave early ahead of a winter storm.
“It sat on the desk over the weekend,” Burns says. “We couldn’t verify storage conditions and temperature.” The product had to be sent back to Boston for re-testing. “It was okay, but you have to test it,” Burns says.
EVO6, expected to be available by prescription, faces several development milestones before it comes to market, including dosage studies to identify the best drug concentrations, completion of clinical studies required for registration, FDA approval, and commercialization. Burns said he used only one drug concentration in the human clinical studies.
WHY SELL NOW?
Burns, who ran four rounds of fundraising, was facing having to raise more money to bring the product to market and its first sales, which he estimates will take three years or more to the United States. Using the consultants dramatically simplified EVO6’s development and reduced overhead.
“Overall, the amount of money invested…was dramatically less than such efforts in large established pharmaceutical companies, a very small fractional expense by comparison,” Burns says.
“While Encore Vision could have continued to develop EVO6 with a mostly consultant and contract research and development team, much more
spending would have been needed,” says Burns, who declined to disclose total cash raised, how much Encore Vision had invested, and how much more it might take to bring EVO6 to market.
“When you hit these next levels of cash required, most [investors] can’t keep their original positions; it makes sense to balance that out.”
Burns’ strategy from the start, he says, was to “drive research and development far enough to interest an established pharmaceutical company to acquire the asset and complete development and commercialize the product.”
Burns pitched the company to as many as 12 global pharma companies, using the relationships he’d maintained from decades of working in the space. “When we had clinical data, it was an easy reach,” Burns says. “We have something you want to see. It was a level of interest.”
Novartis, with $49.4 billion in 2015 sales, bit and announced Dec. 20 that it “confirms its leadership in ophthalmology by entering a new therapy.” Novartis called EVO6 a “first-in-class disease modifying topical treatment…in an area of high unmet medical need and high prevalence.”
Novartis said presbyopia affects 80 percent of people older than 45. “There is a large need for innovative, effective and safe treatment options for people with presbyopia, and there is currently no disease-modifying treatment available at all,” Vasant Narasimhan, Novartis’ global head of drug development and chief medical officer, said in a release.
Of the human trial, Novartis said EVO6 “showed a statistical significant difference to placebo…at all time points measured.” At the 90th day, 82 percent of the participants treated with EVO6 had 20/40 near vision, compared to 48 percent in the placebo group. “Near vision of 20/40 allows for majority of near vision tasks in most people.”
With Novartis having made the announcement early that morning in Europe, Boudreaux and TECH Fort Worth
director Jorge Varela received an email from Burns at 6:29 a.m. Fort Worth time.
“Nothing happens until somebody sells something,” Burns wrote. “Well, I only made one sale these past 10 years, but it’s a big one.”
WHAT’S NEXT FOR BURNS?
Burns says he’ll help Novartis complete the integration of EVO6 and Encore Vi-
sion. Once that’s done, he says he plans to serve as an advisor and board member for other small and startup companies.
“The entrepreneurial life gets into your system,” he says. “There are no textbooks on this type of work. Once you have been through the effort of a taking startup through to exit, there is knowledge that can be passed along to others in startup companies. It’s the American Dream.”
Rumor in the halls of TECH Fort Worth, days after Novartis’ January announcement on what it paid for Encore Vision, held that Burns had departed for a big vacation to Disney World with his children and grandchildren. Then Burns showed up in the kitchen in TECH Fort Worth with his homemade pasta and sweet sauce. Disney World? “That’s next week,” he said.
“The entrepreneurial life gets into your system. There are no textbooks on this type of work. Once you have been through the effort of taking a startup through to exit, there is knowledge that can be passed along to others in startup companies. It’s the American Dream.”
–
BILL BURNS, ENCORE VISION
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SKINDEEP
Fort Worth entrepreneur Art Clapp prepares to take his OTC cream Prosoria to market for treatment of psoriasis.
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA
As a business development executive for Galderma, a Fort Worth pharmaceuticals company, Art Clapp was a drug seeker, spending a lot of time looking worldwide for products to license and develop. “I was looking for drugs all over the world,” he jokes dryly. At one point, Clapp even lived in Paris for five years, spending his free time flying an airplane he owned across Europe.
Funny thing then, that Clapp, 58, who retired from Galderma at age 55 after two decades with the company to look for an entrepreneurial project, ended up developing his own product. Clapp expects to go to market in October with an over-the-counter topical treatment – a cream – for psoriasis, a painful, chronic skin condition. There are other treatments on the market for psoriasis, but Clapp says his treats the symptoms and underlying condition to keep it from coming back. “There’s no good treatments today,” he says.
Clapp, CEO of the startup he founded, NuvoThera, has completed product
development and now is in pre-launch, working with a contract manufacturer in Carrollton to make his treatment, called Prosoria. In February, he closed his first round of fundraising, declining to say how much he raised, that included investments by eight members of the Cowtown Angels angel group.
Clapp plans initially to sell the product through online channels like Amazon. com, dermstore.com and the company’s website. He’ll target dermatologists for referrals. Then he’ll move to retail, looking to get Prosoria into large drugstores like Walgreen’s and CVS and mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target.
The initial product line is a three-product kit that includes an anti-microbial gel, treatment gel, and exfoliating moisturizer.
Clapp estimates the U.S. psoriasis treatment market at more than $7 billion annually, with more than 7.5 million sufferers and growing 3-4 percent per year. Worldwide, psoriasis has 125 million sufferers. Clapp cites American Academy of Dermatology figures showing more than 85 percent of patients report their psoriasis symptoms are not well controlled with current therapies. Clapp hasn’t disclosed his pricing yet, but he expects to be able to price strongly.
“The psoriasis market is a well-priced market,” he says. “People will pay more to control their condition because of its severity. It used to be thought of as leprosy. Not only do they have to deal with the disease, they have to deal with people looking at it. The more nervous they get, the more it flares.”
Pathway: Botanicals
When Clapp, a Floridian who has undergraduate degrees in biology and bio-
NuvoThera co-founder Art Clapp is preparing to take his OTC treatment for psoriasis to market this fall.
chemistry from the University of South Florida and an MBA from TCU, started to develop the psoriasis treatment and look for a path to bringing the medication to market, he started down the path of botanicals, because those ingredients are already generally considered safe by the federal Food & Drug Administration.
“That’s still the pathway,” Clapp says, but he included some ingredients that appear on the FDA’s “OTC Monograph,” a list of approved ingredients that appear in other treatments on the market. The goal in combining the ingredients is to “get them to work together and work additively,” he says.
Prosoria controls skin scaling and inflammation, and the anti-microbial kills bacteria and fungus that can trigger frequent flare-ups, he said. In human trials, NuvoThera saw results in patients in as early as one or two weeks, he said.
“There seems to be a microbial link” to psoriasis, Clapp says. “These people have a genetic predisposition.” Current treatments don’t address chronic flare-ups, he said. “They make it go away, and it just comes back.”
Current topical treatments can atrophy the skin or suppress the immune system,
“The majority of people today, their symptoms remain uncontrolled.”
– Art Clapp, on self-treatment
he says. The history of treatment for psoriasis has included peeling off the diseased skin and treating with ultraviolet light.
“The majority of people today, their symptoms remain uncontrolled,” says Clapp, who figures 80 percent of people with mild to moderate symptoms can be treated topically. More serious cases would still have to be treated with oral or injected medication, he says. “If you could use steroids every day, you wouldn’t have a problem. Very rarely are people totally clear.”
Prosoria can be used as a “great piggyback treatment” alongside prescribed treatments, Clapp says. “I don’t want to replace prescription drugs that the doctor gives them. I want to be additive.”
Early Lab Rat
Clapp grew up the son of a “can-do” military pilot. His mother immigrated to the United States after World War II. The family coat of arms reads “Do the Right Things Despite the Consequences.” As a child, he gravitated quickly toward science. “I just liked the research side of things,” he says.
During a conversation about college one day, his brother, an entrepreneur, recommended a career in sales and marketing, Clapp says. Clapp entered pharmaceuticals as a sales representative and then moved into development, becoming Galderma’s vice president for business development.
“I always took the leader-
ship roles as a kid,” Clapp says. “I got into pharma, and I liked it. I knew consultative selling really well.” One early manager encouraged him to go down the road of “canned” approach, which Clapp says he resisted. “I knew the science; I could communicate at their level.”
Galderma hired him to launch Differin, a new acne treatment, and moved him to Paris for five years to handle the job.
Clapp, a pilot who obtained his license at age 17, shipped an airplane he owned – a single-engine, two-seat RV-4 sport plane – to Europe for play. Today, he owns a Russian acrobatic plane that he keeps in the Vintage Flying Museum at Meacham International Airport. “I always do at least one roll when I fly it,” he says.
Also while at Galderma, Clapp started studying botanicals, “as we used to do a couple hundred years ago,” where pharmacies had “jars of plants.” A lot of the ingredients are considered safe and known to combat symptoms such as inflammation.
He views over-the-counter treatments as fertile ground for innovation. “That’s the trend of what’s going on today” in health care, he says. “The government doesn’t have to pay.”
Entrepreneur in Retirement
In weighing the decision to retire early, Clapp says, “I could have continued my career and left at 65 or left at this time and tried this. There was an opportunity to create products that can help people.” After leaving Galderma, he looked into ideas on psoriasis, warts, toenail fungus, acne, and eczema, starting initially on a product for warts before settling on psoriasis.
Clapp has one partner in former colleague Mike Yankovoy, NuvoThera's chief financial officer, who lives in Pennsylvania and has held senior finance positions and run business units at Air Products and Galderma. Clapp and Yankovoy are considering taking on another partner, a biomedical engineer. NuvoThera joined the TECH Fort Worth incubator more than two years
Personal passion: Flying. Art Clapp, a private pilot, keeps a Russian acrobatic plane at the Vintage Flying Museum at Fort Worth's Meacham airport.
ago with a proposed device that could be used to treat another ailment before he moved on to psoriasis, recalls Darlene Boudreaux, the executive director, who built her own contract manufacturing company and sold it and has known Clapp since his days at Galderma.
TECH Fort Worth, as it does with other entrepreneurs, gave Clapp a raft of referrals and helped him talk through the business. He formed an advisory board and sought access to legal and marketing people and bankers. “When we have an issue, it’s great to be able to tap into that expertise,” he says.
Among the various referrals TECH Fort Worth gave Clapp was one to TMAC, the Texas public-private partnership that provides technical assistance and training to businesses. TMAC offers its first $10,000 of services free to clients.
TECH Fort Worth also helped Clapp put together his slides and presentation for the pitch last fall to the Cowtown Angels, which TECH Fort Worth and
Boudreaux founded in 2013.
“We talk a lot,” Boudreaux says of TECH Fort Worth’s relationship with Clapp. “Art is a guy who [spent a career] looking for companies to acquire. He came to realize it’s a whole different story when you acquire your own company.”
NuvoThera received a total $275,000 in investment from the eight Cowtown Angels members in the first round of fundraising. Clapp declined to disclose how much total he was raising in the round, other than to say it’s structured as convertible debt and he hasn’t surrendered equity to investors. He also declined to say how much money NuvoThera has invested to this point in Prosoria.
“We were bootstrapping all of this,” says Clapp, adding he came up with the formula quickly. “We spent a fraction of what we do at Galderma.”
Enter Investors
Ken Stephens, who spent 22 years working as a corporate “fix-it guy” for the Pe-
rot family before logging his 4 millionth mile flying and retiring at 49, is the lead Cowtown Angels member on the group’s NuvoThera investment.
“When you’re fixing stuff that’s on fire, you’re working hard,” he says. “I wanted to do something that legitimately added value, but I just didn’t want to work that hard” anymore.
Stephens joined the Angels three years ago and estimates he’s done 22 investments in 18 companies in that time.
“Some of these companies are doing very well and generally changing the world,” he says. “It’s genuinely great stuff.”
He remembers the NuvoThera pitch. “We’re all equals” at the Cowtown Angels, Stephens says. “When a company comes in the door, we all assess it. Somebody has to raise their hand and volunteer to be the lead. If nobody raises their hand, we kill the deal. I raised my hand.”
What he saw in NuvoThera: “There is some real value in over-the-counter medications that are coming to market,”
NuvoThera partners: Mike Yankovoy, who lives in Pennsylvania, and Art Clapp, of Fort Worth.
“That’s the trend of what’s going on today. The government doesn’t have to pay.”
– Art Clapp, on self-treatment
he says. “They’re a little more creative than we’ve seen in the past. It doesn’t have to be prescription. It doesn’t have to be harmful to the body.”
He feels younger consumers are driving some of the change. “There’s a huge wave of the younger generation embracing natural stuff,” he says. “It’s drinks, it’s clothing, it’s everything. They want healthy stuff.”
Moreover, he liked Clapp. “Art has a long track record.”
The Angels also like to consider companies they feel can break into a billiondollar-plus market, Stephens says. He remembers pitches for a bar and, recently, a wedding planning company where “if they blew it out,” the company would approach $1 million in annual sales.
“Awesome,” Stephens says, but that’s not
to the scale the Angels will consider. “If the target market doesn’t approach a billion dollars, you start questioning the investment.”
Some investors in NuvoThera are also exiting investors in Encore Vision, a TECH Fort Worth-spawned, Cowtown Angels-backed eye care company that in December sold to the giant Novartis for as much as $465 million.
But the Encore Vision investors committed to NuvoThera before the Encore Vision announcement, Stephens says. “All of the investors committed several weeks before Encore Vision cashed out, and they all provided their checks at least a month before they got their Encore checks,” Stephens says.
While TECH Fort Worth’s profile, and that of the Angels, is increasing with the success, the Angels remain “very conservative,” says Stephens, who drives a 2002 Chevrolet pickup with 231,000 miles and says he could easily afford a new truck, but doesn’t want one.
“And I wear jeans and a sweat top,” says Stephens, who joined the Angels after several members invested in Encore Vision and was not in on that deal.
“There’s no sort of craziness going on. There’s nobody throwing money around. Nobody going ‘drinks on me.’ It’s all very conservative, very intelligent. So when things like Encore Vision happen, there’s a flutter of noise, but it’s just a flutter.”
New Products, Then the Exit
As for the future, once NuvoThera moves Prosoria into retail channels, Clapp says he’ll look to launch new products. “Then you start looking for an exit at that point,” he says.
He expects to be able to develop other products and channels using the same approach he did for Prosoria. “We have a nice platform,” he says. Costs of goods are “quite acceptable,” time to market is quicker, margins are good, and exit multiples are “usually really good.”
The ability to use today’s technology to market digitally also represents a big asset in building a new-era health care company, Clapp says. “The time is right to reach out to people and have them reach out to us.”
Clapp views the international markets as strong for the products he’ll pursue. “We can sell these products in Asia and Latin America,” he says. Clapp views current treatments for warts, eczema, and toenail fungus to be “poorly effective solutions.”
Of his wart fancy, he says, “Cut ‘em, burn ‘em, freeze ‘em. There’s no good treatment today. The sky’s the kind of the limit. There’s no lack of people we can help.”
Art Clapp, with partner Mike Yankovoy and Jorge Varela, TECH Fort Worth director, at the Fort Worth incubator.
Art Clapp retired from 20 years at Galderma to pursue an entrepreneurial venture at 55.
In-house
Preimplantation
Carlos Guerrero, PhD Rebecca Chilvers, MD Dorette Noorhasan, MD
Jerald Goldstein, MD Satin Patel, MD
Marcelle LeBlanc
Sales didn’t surge the way The Velvet Box expected after the company opened its fourth store. So owner Marcelle LeBlanc moved to professionalize the business. Sales and margins responded.
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA / PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX LEPE
Marcelle LeBlanc knew something was off after she launched her fourth Velvet Box store in August 2015 in Lewisville. Sales were growing, but not as fast as they had at the company’s other three stores. That’s about as down as the downside has been in recent years for The Velvet Box, which sells a well-curated mix of lingerie, books, games, adult toys, massage oils, lubricants, condoms and bath items from its polished boutiques.
“After that fourth store, we just started to wing some stuff; we needed data,” says LeBlanc, who stresses that the Lewisville store is still paying for itself, even if at the lower growth rate.
But LeBlanc, a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, moved to fix what she saw as a problem. She brought on Culture Index as a consultant; Culture Index uses surveys of owners, managers and other employees inside its client companies to promulgate a data-based hiring and management system that aims to eliminate bad hires, add top salespeople, pare interview time, and make executives more effective. LeBlanc also hired Peak Retail Group, which helps its clients manage purchasing and inventory flow. In February, she brought on a consultant to bring the Traction management system into her company. And in the search for her next store, also in February, she hired Fort Worth’s Buxton, which uses extensive analytics to recommend the best sites for retailers and other clients.
What did you learn from Culture Index? They said only two people fit the profile of great salespeople in our entire organization. We turned over our entire organization as quickly as we could over four months, 10 people [out of 15 employees]. We had a dip in sales in our Alliance store. Once we replaced those people, it was like stepping on the gas again.
What else? They took my survey and Brandon’s survey [Brandon Wilcox, Velvet Box’s
buyer and operations director], and said the guy is a rainmaker, but you want to kill him half the time. It was as if [the survey taker] had been in our office. [Culture Index] said you need this third person with this type of [executive assistant] profile to complement you guys. It took six months to find her [and hire her in July]. She’s a visionary. She gets it. She understands my need to not have to say much in the office. She understands my directness and my curtness.
What’s been your investment in Culture Index? For our size business, the original investment was $10,000 in the first year and six grand after that a year. When you realize [a bad hire] is terrible, you’ve spent $20,000 in training.
What are you getting from Peak Retail? They consult us on our inventory. They look at our data and compare it to the rest of the world’s retail. They help us to create a better open-to-buy system and
forecasts. They’re able to find red flags in the store. After our first year, $40,000 was invested with them. Our sales are up, our margins are up, and we have quantifiable data.
Where are you looking for your next store? How about Southlake? Do you cover that from your North Tarrant Parkway store? We looked at Southlake, but Southlake wasn’t having it. Right now, Frisco and North Dallas are booming. There’s nothing up
there [in competition]. We will take the advice [Buxton gives] us. It may not match our guess.
Do you have the capacity to open another store right now? If we get a solid pool of people, we could probably move forward with another location. We can only grow as fast as our best people. I feel we’re teetering on not having enough people. It’s not like we’re strapped for cash. We have plenty of cash. But customer service is our No. 1 priority.
Thornton President and CEO, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce
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Persistence Pays
Brent Tipps was out of money, with no car and no place to live except in a warehouse.
But he kept pursuing his dream of owning a restaurant until it happened.
BY JASON FORREST
Forrest Performance Group
Brent Tipps, CEO of BoomerJack’s restaurants, knows a thing or two about persistence. His restaurants are known for excellent service, great food and fun. Brent knows better than most that business is simple but not easy. His determination to break into the restaurant industry began when he needed a
job. Brent was waiting tables at Steak & Ale when he realized he wanted to have his own unique restaurant. Through financial crisis, failed business ideas, and unthinkable living conditions, BoomerJack’s is now one of the top-rated restaurants and is continuing to grow.
From the opening of his first fullservice store on West Seventh Street in
2008, Brent began creating a great company culture by building a great team. He does this by aiming to make the right hire on the front end. When you bring
How Brent Tipps created a culture of accountability in his BoomerJack’s restaurants. Please see Jason Forrest’s video at fwtx.com/fwinc/videos.
Brent Tipps at BoomerJack's
in people who are “undervalued” – which just means they haven’t tasted business success, but possess the right beliefs and consciousness – you are more likely to find and retain the right people. Eighty-five percent of companies have a below-theline mentality. Their beliefs and attitudes are not aligned with their companies, and it shows. They are working for a paycheck. The other 15 percent play above the line. And BoomerJack’s possesses that.
Culture is what happens behind the boss’s back. When you have strong leadership, it trickles down to the rest of the company. Brent recalls times at the beginning where he would get on the restaurant floor with his staff and wash dishes. He set the example and the standard. This creates high accountability with your team. He has never had to worry about firing staff, because the ones who don’t fit in with BoomerJack’s standards of excellence, drop out. He calls this his selfcorrecting culture.
Providing a great work environment and culture, where employees feel valued and cared for, creates loyalty. Brent cares about his staff. Every few months, he will bring in a top chef to sharpen their menu and keep it fresh. Managers get a minimum of one, three-day weekend per month during summer hours, and he offers maternity leave. Such a strong company culture keeps turnover low and morale high.
Running Toward the Roar is about running toward the
“BoomerJack’s doesn’t work its staff six or seven days a week. Each person has at least two days off a week.”
fear. A lion is not the true hunter of prey; it’s the lioness who does the killing. A lion will sneak up on prey and create an ear-piercing roar to scatter its prey, right into the trap of a waiting lioness.
Brent Tipps is a great example of not letting the fear win. He believed he could do what he set out to do and accomplished it. Brent remembers calling a headhunter in the newspaper and went on an interview to CiCis Pizza.
With no experience in the pizza business, the owner politely turned him down. He credits his mistake to saying in his interview that it couldn’t be that hard to run a pizza business, which probably wasn’t the best comment to say to a pizza owner. Liking the business model for the company, he called Joe, the manager, every day asking for a job until finally he got an offer.
He stayed 12 years. In the end, the founder of CiCis would be the one to back Brent’s restaurant and helped him purchase a franchisetype store.
There are two types of people in this world. Everyone goes through the same circumstances. But, it’s either happening TO them or FOR them. One of Brent’s most challenging moments was being out of money with no car and no place to live except in a warehouse for storing equipment. He created a living space, complete with a shower. For six months, he made the best of the situation while pursuing his restaurant dreams. Looking back, he
now gives advice to be passionate about what you do, and do the best you can, where you are. Don’t let anything define or defeat you.
As for the future of BoomerJack’s, there is a new store under construction in Fort Worth, and they are looking forward to growing the company into $100 million in profit. Great companies create a “Unicorn Trifecta.”
1.Profit. Brent makes sure every BoomerJack’s gives people what they want. Its prototype for its stores are all full-service, with a full bar, great restaurant size and customer-driven menu.
2.Growth. Brent ensures accountability. Each store is its own team
and is there to serve the guests. This has helped BoomerJack’s prosper financially by making customers want to come back. In turn, it created a need for more stores.
3.Best place to work. BoomerJack’s doesn’t work its staff six or seven days a week. Each person has at least two days off a week. It’s a big family with over 700 employees. He gives employee feedback questionnaires and even takes the time to have lunch with them, just to see how they are doing.
These three things can elevate your team and grow your business, exponentially. Brent Tipps is setting the example for other managers and CEOs and has
established a restaurant business model that other companies should follow. It’s a simple process, but it’s not easy.
Jason Forrest is CEO of Forrest Performance Group, a global leader and designer of sales, management, and corporate training programs. Last year, the company made the Inc. 5000 list. Forrest grew up “under the influence” of his father, a business owner and professional salesman, and his mother, a persuasive speaking professor. Jason writes Running Toward the Roar for each issue of FW Inc.
Grand Home Designs, Inc.
Heroes for Hire
How Fort Worth Is Helping Put Veterans to Work
BY BRANDOM GENGELBACH
Executive Vice President of Economic Development Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce
If you’ve met me by now, you know that I often ask if you’re “living the dream” instead of simply “how are you.” Many of us in the business world have the freedom to live our dreams, thanks to the selfless sacrifice of our military service men and women, thousands of whom are transitioning into civilian life.
Employers are also challenged with finding employees who have a strong work ethic and are trustworthy, dependable, hardworking, well trained and understand the value of teamwork and leadership. Veterans fit that mold, and many are seeking employment in Fort Worth and North Texas.
Our Armed Forces provide up-to-date work experience in dozens of job specialties that are transferrable to the civilian workforce. Some of these include account-
ing, engineering, financial administration, human resources, law enforcement, logistics, security and trade skills such as construction, electrical and machining/ manufacturing.
The Fort Worth Chamber, through its popular Job Links program, connects employers with human resource representatives, businesses and organizations that are currently hiring. In recent years, Job Links has expanded its focus to include helping veterans, active military personnel and their families transition into jobs within the region. In doing so, the Chamber partners with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, the Texas Veterans Commission, Allies in Service, the Fleet and Family Readiness Center at the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative.
The partnership with Hiring Our Heroes is significant. Career events in Fort Worth and Globe Life Park in 2016 resulted in 278 businesses participating, 1,325 job seekers, 3,744 resumes collected and 1,756 veterans interviewed. The first 2017 Hiring Our Heroes event was January 31 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. More hiring fairs and expos are planned for the coming months.
In 2015, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation honored the Fort Worth Chamber with the three-star Chamber of Valor award. The award acknowledges the contributions of local chambers, industry associations and business development organizations that join the Hiring Our Heroes mission of finding meaningful employment for veterans, transitioning service members and military spouses.
“When it comes to supporting not just
veterans and military families, but the local businesses hiring them, the Fort Worth Chamber is setting a standard for others to follow,” said Eric Eversole, vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and president of Hiring Our Heroes. “The Fort Worth Chamber has actively engaged and educated its membership on the value of hiring talented veterans and military spouses throughout the state, and their community is stronger for it.”
Betty Harvey, director of workforce development and veteran and military affairs at the Fort Worth Chamber, manages the Job Links program. She’s diligent about connecting talent acquisition resources and people in the private sector and in 2013 added the advocacy for the military. In 2016, she was installed as an Honorary Commander in the 301st Fighter Wing and has participated in civic leader flights, Boss Lifts and Tours, including flying in an F-16.
Held on the first Wednesday of most months, Job Links is a one-hour format panel presentation followed by networking. Open positions and training programs are made available to placement specialists and career service representatives so they, in turn, can inform their candidates of job opportunities. The Chamber partners with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County, Tarrant County College, universities, school districts, businesses and nonprofits.
To register for Job Links or to learn more about the Chamber’s efforts with the military and workforce development, contact Betty Harvey at bharvey@fortworthchamber.com or (817) 338-3361.
Gengelbach is executive vice president of economic development for the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber provides an economic development update in
Brandom
each issue of FW Inc.
Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer (left) and U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Paul T. Patrick enjoyed Military Appreciation Night at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo and a special welcome by Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.
Vote May 6
City, school board, and Tarrant Regional Water District seats will be up for election May 6, and those seats will likely be decided by a low number of voters.
BY KAREN VERMAIRE FOX Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth
“This year, every member of the City Council, including Mayor Betsy Price, has an opponent.”
Miss the council’s 2017 Real Estate Forecast? Here are a few of the highlights. For greater detail, check out REC website at recouncilgfw.com.
• DFW added more jobs in the last six years than Salt Lake City’s total job base.
• The city of Fort Worth is set to reach one million in population by 2025.
• Multifamily units are starting plans for drone landing pads, as Amazon gears up for even more effective delivery systems and outsells Macy’s as the biggest apparel retailer.
• National investors are looking at Fort Worth as a major market, and industrial is their preferred product type (think Facebook, Amazon and American Tire Distributors).
• 2017 will outperform 2016. Let me now draw your attention to the next big thing happening in Fort Worth – the general election on May 6. Knowing that 2017 will out perform 2016, the citizens of Fort Worth need to be tuned into our leaders and what they are doing for the city, water and the 87,000 children
who attend school in Fort Worth Independent School District.
Historically, the May election has very low voter turnout. Currently, the population of Fort Worth is around 830,000 residents. In 2011, there was an open seat for Mayor and only 32,000 votes were cast. Voters passed a 2014 citywide bond election focusing on infrastructure improvements for roads and streets with a voter turnout of 14,500. In 2015, Councilman Cary Moon defeated a sitting member of the City Council, Danny Scarth, to represent District 4. That district has 85,000-90,000 residents, and only 3,800 turned out to vote. That same year, Councilman Sal Espino defeated his challenger by 27 votes.
On May 6, Fort Worth citizens have a full ballot. Candidates running for City Council only appear on the ballot if they have an opponent. This year, every member of the City Council, including Mayor Betsy Price, has an opponent. And in District 2, there is an open seat as Councilman Espino has chosen not to run for reelection.
That means the citizens of Fort Worth are going to be talking a lot about who should be leading our city in the coming months. Residents also have the opportunity to elect three members to the Tarrant Regional Water District Board. For more than 90 years, the Tarrant Regional Water District has provided quality water to its customers, implemented vital flood control measures and created recreational opportunities for Tarrant County residents and communities. The TRWD is led
by a publicly elected five-member board and owns and operates four major reservoirs, including Lake Bridgeport, Eagle Mountain Lake, Cedar Creek Lake and Richland-Chambers Lake. Water is vital to the growth and development of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, and getting to know the candidates running for TRWD helps ensure we have water for the future.
The final part of the ballot will focus on the election of five trustees to the Fort Worth ISD School Board. Four of the current trustees have opposition, so the voters in each of these districts will need to pay close attention to the candidates running for the school board. This attention is critical, given what we know about education and the children we need to further educate in Fort Worth to continue our vibrancy as a city. The mayor and the business and nonprofit communities led by Matt Rose and the newly established Literacy Partnership, Superintendent Kent Scribner and Tarrant County College Chancellor Eugene Gioviannini have all established education as a top priority. Electing FWISD trustees who share this vision and priority is paramount.
Smart growth, strong education systems, water and mobility are top issues for the commercial real estate community and the members of the Real Estate Council. Our members will be meeting with and conducting candidate forums for each of these critical elections. Strong leadership will continue to help Fort Worth grow and prosper and will ensure that 2017 is indeed an even better year for all our residents than 2016.
Karen Vermaire Fox represents the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, a regular contributor to FW Inc.
ROI: Blue Zones
When will Fort Worth begin to see a payoff from its investments in the Blue Zones well-being initiative? The initiative’s founder says he thinks he knows when.
BY SCOTT NISHIMURA
“People won’t necessarily know it’s happening. It’s hundreds of small nudges across the city. It becomes the new norm as opposed to the outlier. It starts to make a significant difference. It really starts to gain momentum in years four, five and six.”
—Dan Buettner
Fort Worth has set the baseline numbers for its move into the Blue Zones well-being initiative. What’s not clear is when the city might see a significant payoff from all of the small changes that are occurring citywide to make the community healthier, happier and more productive with lower health care costs.
Dan Buettner, the National Geographic Explorer who founded Blue Zones based on lessons learned from communities worldwide where people live the longest, thinks he has a sense of when the city will see results.
“People won’t necessarily know it’s happening,” he said in an interview. “It’s
hundreds of small nudges across the city. It becomes the new norm as opposed to the outlier. It starts to make a significant difference. It really starts to gain momentum in years four, five, and six.”
In California’s “Beach Cities” of Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and Manhattan Beach, Blue Zones helped drive higher fruit and vegetable consumption, lower tobacco use, lower body mass index, higher life satisfaction, and lower health care expense.
Fort Worth conducted a feasibility study in 2014 and moved into the program in 2015. The program is slowly building momentum as more people sign personal pledges, more worksites become Blue Zones-approved, and schools sign on.
Baseline well-being index scores computed in 2016 and 2015 showed Fort Worth’s score at 61.4 last year, compared to 61.3 the prior year. Some of the 2016 research’s findings:
• Consumption of at least five servings of product four or more days per week: 58.1 percent in 2016, compared to 55.7 percent the prior year.
• Exercise more than 30 minutes, three days per week: 55.2 percent, compared to 51.4 percent.
• Smoke: 16.3 percent, compared to 18.5 percent.
• Agree Fort Worth is the “perfect place” for them: 65 percent, compared to 64.3 percent.
• Favorable impression of Blue Zones Project: 78.6 percent, compared to 74.7 percent.
• Oldest school children who walked to school at least twice a week: 18 percent, compared to 16.6 percent.
• Usually walk or bike for short routine trips: 11.2 percent, compared to 10.5 percent.
“On multiple fronts in Fort Worth, it’s exciting to see that we are moving the needle toward becoming a healthier city for the sake of our residents, workforce, and students,” Mayor Betsy Price said.
Not everything was positive about the baseline research:
• Above normal weight: 67.9 percent, compared to 66.6 percent.
• Obese: 34.6 percent, compared to 30.6 percent.
• Report that healthy choice is always available at home: 43.9 percent, compared to 47.4 percent.
“We know there is more work to be done, and thanks to a strong network of community partners working toward the same goal, we believe we will continue to make strides in our efforts to improve the health of this community,” Matt Dufrene, vice president of Blue Zones Fort Worth, said.
Barclay Berdan, CEO of Texas Health Resources, which footed the $500,000 bill for the feasibility study, sees significant potential momentum in the year ahead for Blue Zones and school participation, as the initiative continues to reach out to schools and more become Blue Zones-approved.
“We all know health care is expensive,” Berdan said in an interview. “It’s not available to large segments of the population. What we wanted to do is find ways to move upstream in the process.”
THR’s Arlington headquarters has become Blue Zones-approved, implementing several measures to improve employee well-being. “We have to take care of ourselves if we’re going to take care of individuals in the community,” Berdan says.
Business Spring Cleaning
Analyze efficiencies to cut costs in managing healthcare, document retention, and government deadlines.
BY CASEY CAMPBELL
Managing partner, PSK LLP
Payroll Partners
Spring arrives with lengthening days, sprouting buds on crepe myrtle trees, landscaping flyers in your mailbox, and hopeful excitement to what new opportunities will await your business. As leaders in your respective businesses, a CEO has a responsibility to provide the best opportunity for success. Why not “spring clean” your business and work to find efficiencies?
Working with their Certified Public Accountant, companies can evaluate growing healthcare costs, document retention policies, and ever-changing government deadlines, helping trim administrative costs and plan for future efficiencies.
1. Healthcare: In today’s competitive marketplace, attracting, obtaining, and retaining the best team members are very difficult tasks. Along with the job requirements, annual salary, required hours, daily commute, and office environment, healthcare benefits are a very important factor to current and future
members of an organization. These costs should be analyzed closely every year. Your CPA can help a business owner analyze health plans. Is your organization a good candidate for a major-medical policy, self-insured plan, or even captive insurance plan? Each of these plans has substantially different expensing and tax ramifications.
2. Shredding Party! Year after year, many businesses hold onto paper documents well past the legally mandated period. Payroll and bank records, business loan records, human resource documents, tax reporting documents, customer records, and vendor files contain very sensitive information. Your business is exposing itself to unnecessary risk while using valuable office space for storage. The IRS, Department of Labor, and other authorities have specific guidelines on how long an organization should retain a document. For the documents you are required to keep, invest in a commercial scanner and save them electronically. Then have a shredding party for what you don’t need to retain.
3. Government Deadlines: Each January, an organization’s accounting department prepares annual
Form 1099 and W-2 tax forms for the previous year’s recipients. In the past, the company’s accounting department would issue the Form 1099s and W-2s to the recipients by Jan. 31 of the following year. Historically, the documents were not required to be remitted to the government until the end of February or March. Effective 2016, the IRS accelerated the remittance date for the government copies to the end of January from the end of February or March. So what does this mean to an organization? It meant frantic accounting departments working to issue correct statements by the end of January. This spring is a great time to learn from your organization’s previous stressful missteps.
Casey Campbell is managing partner of PSK LLP and co-owner of Payroll Partners, Ltd., an Arlington CPA firm and payroll company, and he’s writing this column on behalf of the Fort Worth Chapter of the Texas Society of CPAs, a regular contributor to FW Inc. PSK and Payroll Partners are celebrating their 53rd and 21st year in business respectively.
Co-owner,
Fort Worth Chapter of Texas Society of CPAs
Diversity: Seven Lessons Learned
After 20 years of success and failure in workplace diversity and inclusion, what have business leaders learned?
BY TERRI SWAIN Diversity Director Fort Worth Human Resource Management Association
“Diversity training by itself does not work. Training must be part of a comphrehensive strategy. If your organization has never done basic respectful workplace training, that's a place to start.”
Aquick Google search shows study after study that diverse companies make stronger businesses. Diversity and inclusion (D&I) was introduced in the 1980s as a reaction to Workforce 2000 statistics about the changing demographics of the future labor force. Unlike affirmative action and equal employment opportunity regulations requiring companies not to discriminate and to reach out to underrepresented populations, D&I goes further. It recognizes differences and seeks to include and value all.
After 20 years of diversity success and failures, what have business leaders learned?
1. Diversity/sensitivity training by itself does not work. Training must be part of a comprehensive strategy. If your organization has never done basic respectful workplace training, that’s a good place to start, but introducing diversity concepts without that
foundation and a plan is futile.
2. Diversity should be defined for your organization. While we think of race and gender as typical diversity issues, many find their issues are generational ones: corporate vs. field; union vs. nonunion; technical vs. non-technical. Until you understand what yours are, you can’t build a sustainable program. This requires candid conversations, surveys, etc. with your employees, customers and stakeholders.
3. You have to know your WHY. It’s no accident that consumer products companies have the best and most comprehensive D&I programs. WHY? Market share of all representative groups. Technology companies need the best and brightest creative problem solvers. If you don’t have a compelling WHY, you won’t have a sustained program.
4. If you are not diverse, your credibility will be shot. If your organization is doing recruiting/product videos or attending community diversity programs and you’re sending the same person to all of them, that’s often a sign you have representation problems. Fix that first.
5. When seeking diversity, look at your recruitment methods. Not only using diverse hiring panels, but using nontraditional recruitment methods and interview techniques.
6. Once you’ve achieved diversity mixes, are you retaining talent? Is the environment welcoming for everyone? Are all
treated with dignity and respect and feel that they can truly contribute? I worked at a company where we hired the best and brightest from a historically minority college, then placed them in the whitest/remotest places in the U.S. because that’s where our great opportunities were. We didn’t consider life outside of work.
7. Comprehensive D&I programs stretch beyond Human Resources – they are part of marketing, sales, procurement and various other facets of the business. Assigning a diversity champion from the senior leadership ranks will keep diversity in business conversations.
As a business leader who recognizes strength in diversity, here’s what you can do to get started. Look around. What does your leadership team look like? How about your board? Is it reflective of your communities or your customer base?
What do your employees say? Start with casual conversations with people in varying segments - gender, racial, age, place in the organization, field/corporate, etc. to uncover any perceived or real barriers to success within your organization.
Think about your WHY. A wellthought-out comprehensive plan may take longer to implement, but has proven to have more staying power.
Finally, assign a diversity champion in the organization. This should be someone in your top leadership team who will keep the conversations alive and credible.
is a human resource consultant. She founded and has led The HR Consultant since 1998 and is writing this column for the Fort Worth
Terri Swain
Human Resource Management Association, a regular contributor to FW Inc.
CONGRATULATIONS
FW Inc. would like to congratulate the prestigious winners of our 2017 Entrepreneur of Excellence awards.
Construction
Chris
Construction
Energy
Services
“I Am a Broken Leader”
An Open Letter to Broken Leaders and Overcomers.
BY TONY FORD Success Fort Worth
My name is Tony Ford, and I am a “Broken Leader” and an “Overcomer.”
Please don’t be confused. I am totally fine with my abilities to succeed – I’m just broken in a few places.
Starting 20 years ago, since a boating accident on Lake Benbrook, I have received two artificial spinal discs, an artificial knee, and a triple spinal fusion. If it sounds like this sort of damage might be a little painful, yes, it was. More than that, it totally re-arranged my abilities and priorities, especially when it came to leading my companies.
If you own or lead your own company and have gone through this type of trauma or supported a loved one who has, you know exactly what I am talking about. It turns your world upside-down.
Having a front-row seat in this crazy roller-coaster ride for the past two decades has taught me many lessons about myself, how to cope and overcome, and how wonderful others can be when given a chance to help. Now, I would like to share some of these “lessons learned” in the hope that it will help you:
1. Don’t “hide”: It confuses your people. They internalize how you have changed and think they are doing something wrong. Gently share your struggle and reassure them of your trust in them and your faith that by working together, the company will succeed.
2. Do surround yourself with trusted supporters: These are people in and out of your business who can fully appreciate your struggle and support you using
their particular skill-set. It only takes a few of these special people to keep you moving forward with confidence.
3. Don’t feel guilty: No matter what the circumstances are that started your physical, emotional or spiritual pain, it is real and takes your full and undivided attention. Guilt is a Band-Aid for feeling sorry for yourself, and it does nothing to help you successfully embrace future opportunities.
4. Do account for your pain: Do not set unrealistic goals for yourself that will only result in an ongoing feeling of inadequacy. Pain in all of its forms requires a substantial commitment to be overcome, but it takes time and lots of extra effort. It is your “new normal” at least for a season. Embrace it; learn from it, and eventually you will be able to make up for some of your lost abilities.
5. Don’t compare yourself to others: They have their own battles to fight just like you.
6. Do become an example for others: Let’s face it; leading a company is hard on a good day. But when you are hurting and broken, there are no “good days,” only days with more or less pain and aggravation. That said, when we overcome our pain and perform our duties at a high level, it sets a tremendous standard of excellence for our people to emulate.
7. Don’t give up: During one of my hospital stays, I met a woman who was there to have her sixth joint replacement surgery. As I sat by her bed moments before she was wheeled into the
operating room, she grabbed my hand, looked me in the eye and said, “Tony, hopelessness is always premature!” For the past 20 years, I have embraced her words of wisdom.
During my journey through overcoming pain and disability, my constant companion Jane (my wife of 37 years) has been by my side encouraging me, praying for me and lifting my heart.
It is my practice to have her read every article I write before I send it to my editor. When I showed her these ideas, her comment was, “Aren’t you afraid that people will read this and be afraid to work with your new company?” This is a company called Success Fort Worth.
My reply was simple: “Maybe some folks will be concerned about my ability to help them, but I hope that most will understand that I don’t take on projects I can’t succeed at.” Consequently, our last six companies have done very well.
If you are a company owner or C-level manager who is struggling through pain while trying to fulfill your obligations as a leader, I invite you to contact me. I will be happy to visit with you on the phone or face-to-face and share some of the workarounds I have discovered to get the job done. Till then, just know that you are in my prayers.
Tony Ford is an award-winning entrepreneur with a history of starting and growing industryleading companies. He now helps other businesses grow and sell their companies and was program director for the 2017 FW Inc. Entrepreneurs of Excellence Awards program. Tony writes this column in each issue of FW Inc. Contact him at tony@tonyford.com.
Encourage the Heart
Leaders celebrate values and victories by creating a spirit of community.
BY HARRIET HARRAL Executive Director Leadership Fort Worth
Effective leadership practices result in a wide range of positive outcomes. Corporate bottom lines and nonprofit dashboards track results and provide the basis for rewards to the leaders in charge. Our final leadership practice in the Kouzes and Posner Leadership Challenge model, Encourage the Heart, adds a surprising outcome: the possibility of a longer life.
The perfect example of a business organization seeking to live out the practice of Encourage the Heart is Blue Zones Project. The initiative works with communities to adopt the secrets of longevity discovered in areas of the world where people live the longest. Fort Worth is the largest current Blue Zones Project demonstration site.
Blue Zones Project works to help us connect our business practices and a happy, healthy lifestyle. Nine practices, called the Power 9, encompass those elements held in common by those areas where people live the longest. The foundation is called “Belong” and calls for us to build a social network that supports healthy behaviors.
The Blue Zones Project website explains: “The people we surround ourselves with, even friends of friends, strongly influence our health. We create connections in a community — between individuals and community organizations, faith-based and community groups, and other social activities — so you can easily connect with your right tribe. As we say, belong to live long.”
Consider how similar this sounds to the description of the leadership practice of Encourage the Heart:
“Accomplishing extraordinary things in organizations is hard work. To keep hope
“In every winning team, the members need to share in the rewards of their efforts, so leaders celebrate accomplishments. They make people feel like heroes. They create a spirit of community.”
and determination alive, leaders recognize contributions that individuals make. In every winning team, the members need to share in the rewards of their efforts, so leaders celebrate accomplishments. They make people feel like heroes….They create a spirit of community.”
Among ways that the Blue Zones Project trains organizations to embrace a spirit of community are the creation of “moais,” small social circles that commit to support healthy behaviors over a long term.
“The moais — specifically the walking moais — have been wonderful for creating opportunities for getting more exercise and building friendships/social networks among staff and faculty,” says Christi Tallent, HR administrator at Texas Wesleyan University, a new Blue Zones-approved site. “Life is about relationships, and social support at work is essential to psychological well-being and ultimately increases cohesiveness in the workplace.”
In the Blue Zones Project office itself, the team on a quarterly basis gets away from work to connect around a healthy activity. The organization also offers colleagues the opportunity to work from
home one day per week.
Recognition is a particularly important element to the office, says Jan Titsworth, executive director. A part of the Blue Zones office culture is ringing a blue cowbell when someone has a work accomplishment to celebrate. The ringing bell is a call for the team to do a happy dance.
Another tool for recognition is a “WOW Wall,” a chalkboard on which they take turns providing “attaways” for colleagues.
Over the past several months, we have explored the Leadership Challenge model developed by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. The practices are:
• Modeling the Way, as demonstrated by Fidelity Investments,
• Creating a Shared Vision and the success this created at GE Manufacturing,
• Enabling Others to Act and the impact of leadership training at Southside Bank,
• Challenge the Process with a creative approach to changing the locus of responsibility for safety at BNSF, and
• Encourage the Heart, with a series of examples from The Blue Zones Project.
The commitment in Fort Worth to outstanding leadership practices is impressive. I would argue that it has led to the strong sense of community that we feel in our city.
Harriet Briscoe Harral, PhD, is executive director of Leadership Fort Worth, an organization that empowers and connects diverse leaders to serve as catalysts to strengthen and improve the Fort Worth community. She is a regular contributor to FW Inc.
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Kent Scribner
From sunup to dropping his third-grader off for school, to lights out, Dr. Kent Scribner, the Fort Worth Independent School District’s superintendent, is constantly searching for ways to help the city’s next generation of leaders.
5:45 a.m. – Wake, make coffee, do a quick check of email, texts and social media. Always appreciate hearing the news headlines from Trimble Tech High School graduate Deborah Ferguson. Next, I’m off to Jody Norman’s gym. He’s another FWISD grad and Paschal football standout. He’s doing his best to keep me in shape.
7 a.m. – Back to the house to get ready for the day. Still checking
messages from my senior staff about upcoming events and getting updates on the news that might have an impact on the day. The thought that motivates me, every day, is that the future of our city is attending Fort Worth schools today. Knowing that, the most important thing I strive for each day is to help others to be better, to be successful, to make a significant impact, not only for right now, but well into the future.
experience for me is to be around students and teachers. So, I’m in the habit of picking one school and stopping in for a visit, unannounced. We have over 140 campuses, and it is important that I see and hear from our campus leaders and the wonderful teachers who are working directly with our children.
9:30 a.m. Arrive at Central Administration. Recharge my smartphone for the first of what will be several times. Depending on the day, there will be meetings with my Leadership Team, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, or city staffers.
additional community representatives, individual Board members, school principals, higher education officials, and receive updates on immediate operational, as well as policy and planning matters, from our senior staff.
7:45 a.m. – Not only am I the Fort Worth ISD superintendent, but I’m also the parent of a Westcliff Elementary third-grader. So I have considerable experience at regularly navigating the student drop-off line.
8 a.m. – Breakfast meetings with community groups or individual community leaders are often a big part of the early morning schedule.
8:45 a.m. – The most rejuvenating
I do like to maintain close contact with Mayor Betsy Price and BNSF Chairman Matt Rose regarding the Fort Worth Literacy Project, known inside Fort Worth ISD as 100 x 25. Getting 100 percent of third-graders, across the city, to read at grade level by the year 2025, is one of the most important projects we have. And it is exciting that we are joined by the City of Fort Worth and the business community in meeting that goal.
Lunch may be at my desk or out of the office at events such as weekly Rotary meetings or the Executive Roundtable. During the remainder of the office day, I may meet with
5 p.m. – Leading a large school district means there is something always happening, and I’m invited. So, when I do leave the office, it is usually to a school athletic or academic event. Our Superintendent’s Scholars, for example, and other student and teacher recognition events are almost always held in the evening. And when several District athletic teams are playing at once, I can’t play favorites and must visit them all.
8:30 p.m. – When I do get home, it is usually to a great dinner where we sit around the table as a family and discuss our day. Before the day ends, I will return a few phone calls and review the schedule for the next day. Our school district depends on teamwork. And so does our home life. So, before I’m done, some nights you may find me taking the trash and recycling to the curb while concluding a final phone call.
10 p.m. – Lights out.
RANCH
