Sonny Dykes once thought about a career change, but Fort Worth intervened.
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Contents/The 400
Features
10 / The Winner: Fort Worth Inc. Person of the Year Sonny Dykes wanted to come home to Texas. He landed in Fort Worth twice. We kept him the second time. The city and TCU are better because of it.
Departments
6 / Publisher’s Note
The 400
21 / Arts and Leisure Proponents of the city’s visual arts, music, and theater scenes.
29 / Banking and Finance Investments, equity, and all things finance.
43 / Economic Development Expanding the city’s reach in business and tourism.
51 / Education Shaping the next generation of Fort Worthians.
59 / Government Lawmakers and politicians in both the city and the state.
68 / Health Care and Life Sciences Leaders in medicine and medical research.
75 / Industry From food and beverage to oil and gas.
93 / Nonprofits and Foundations Organization leaders making a difference.
103 / Philanthropy The city’s biggest donors.
109 / Professional Services Influencers in marketing, human resources, law, and other fields.
121 / Real Estate Builders and flippers, buyers, and sellers.
139 / Religion Spiritual life in the city.
145 / Sports The true ballers.
149 / Transportation Leaders in transit.
How did we do it?
The compilation of The 400 is an exhaustive monthslong process of research and reaching out to sources and making inquiries to industry leaders about their most admired peers in their respective professions in the Greater Fort Worth area. We also scrutinized our categories to make a few changes. In this year’s edition, upwards of 75 new members appear. Put together, the vigor of the life of Fort Worth comes into focus.
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TCU Coach Sonny Dykes, Person of the Year
OWNER/PUBLISHER HAL A. BROWN
As we reflect on the past year, many notable Fort Worthians provided significant contributions to making Greater Fort Worth a better place to live and work, which is the criteria for our Fort Worth Inc. Person of the Year award. There is one individual, however, who moved the needle more than the rest: TCU head football coach Sonny Dykes.
While coach Dykes has had an incredible coaching career, leading numerous teams to success over the years, it was his unprecedented success at TCU this past year that has earned him the honor of being our Fort Worth Inc. Person of the Year.
In his first season as head coach of the Horned Frogs, Dykes turned around a football team with a four-year record of 24 losses and 23 wins to an undefeated regular season, a win in the College Football Playoff National Championship semifinals, and a spot in the National Championship game for the first time in 84 years.
Coach Dykes’ passion for the game, his players, and the university was evident in every game, and his determination to succeed was infectious. He has become a model for aspiring coaches nationwide through his exceptional coaching ability and leadership. Dykes not only inspired his team to a successful season, but he also brought TCU and the Fort Worth community together.
While the Horned Frogs ultimately fell short of winning the prestigious national title, the marketing value of TCU’s playoff run cannot be understated. The Cinderella season put TCU on the national stage like never before. In addition, the city of Fort Worth also benefits significantly from TCU’s success. With the team’s exhilarating playoff run, the city’s name has been shared over and over on a national level, generating positive attention and attracting tourism and business opportunities.
Over 38 million TV viewers were estimated to have watched the College Football Playoff National Championship semifinals and the National Championship game. For the season, TCU was credited with 29.2 billion (with a “b”) media impressions with an estimated value of $3.4 billion.
Sonny Dykes’ 2022 impact on TCU football and the Fort Worth community cannot be overstated, which is why he was the obvious choice for this year’s Fort Worth Inc. Person of the Year. We congratulate Coach Dykes on this well-deserved recognition and can’t wait to see what he and his exceptional team accomplish in the future.
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 2, SUMMER 2023 owner/publisher hal a. brown vice president of operations mike waldum editorial executive editor john henry creative director craig sylva senior art director spray gleaves advertising art director ed woolf director of photography crystal wise contributing editor brian kendall digital editor stephen montoya copy editor sharon casseday advertising main line 817.560.6111 territory manager, fort worth inc. rita hale x133 advertising account supervisor gina burns-wigginton x150 advertising account supervisor marion c. knight x135 account executive tammy denapoli x141 client services manager julia martin marketing director of digital robby kyser marketing supervisor sarah benkendorfer content marketing specialist grace behr corporate cfo charles newton
To subscribe to Fort Worth Inc. magazine, or to ask questions regarding your subscription, call 817.560.6111 or go to fortworthinc.com.
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THE WINNER
Fort Worth Inc.'s 2023 Person of the Year Sonny Dykes brought TCU to the very top of college football, and a worldwide audience watched.
WORDS BY JOHN HENRY IMAGES BY CRYSTAL WISE
Before the season, TCU’s 2022 football team was thought to be as worthy of a vote in a national preseason poll as, say, Charlie Sheen a spot in the seminary.
The Horned Frogs’ peers in the Big 12 Conference, meanwhile, forecast a team that would be an also-ran. Big 12 coaches picked TCU down the ballot, seventh, in fact, placing Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Kansas State, and Iowa State all ahead of the hometown fellas.
Conventional wisdom dictated the Frogs were a program in transition, with a new coach, new staff, new philosophy, new culture, and new players.
No one saw the storm about to hit shore.
The Frogs kept proving everybody wrong, week after week, figuring out how to win close games. In total, TCU won six games by a single score. We all knew something special was brewing after the Baylor miracle on the Brazos River. That sort of thing doesn’t merely happen.
Still, the smartest people on Twitter kept waiting for the Frogs to slip, despite having great leadership, particularly at quarterback,
an offensive line that mixed it up in the trenches, and a tough and physical defense that collected turnovers.
In the end TCU became the envy of the state, going where no football team in Texas has gone before: the College Football Playoff. There was something about this team that everyone missed. That particular quality that drives the analytics nerds crazy because there is no value you can put on it. You can’t quantify it or gauge it. It’s the it factor. TCU had it.
There’s an anecdote that perfectly characterizes this team.
A writer, a gentleman by the name of Elbert Hubbard, spent a long night thinking about the coming Spanish-American War and “all this Cuban business” in 1899. It manifested in his penning an essay titled “A Message to Garcia.”
It tells a fictional story of First Lieutenant Andrew S. Rowan.
President William McKinley was desperately trying to send a message to the leader of the Cuban insurgency, a man named Garcia, who was somewhere in the mountain fastness of Cuba, “no one knew where.”
“There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan,” the President was told; he “will find Garcia for you, if anybody can.” The man, Rowan, was sent for and given the letter. Never asking
the President where this Garcia was, Rowan sealed the letter in an oilskin pouch, strapped it over his heart, and in four days landed at night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat. He disappeared into the jungle and “in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and having delivered his letter to Garcia.”
The author concluded: “There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze, and the statue placed in every college in the land. It is not book learning young men need, nor instruction about this or that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies, do the thing — ‘carry a message to Garcia!’”
This entire TCU football season, with its band of gritty performers, was a daring escapade of can-doism that should never be forgotten, cast in bronze even, if necessary.
The season’s success validated the university’s selection of Sonny Dykes as head coach after the difficult decision to part ways with Gary Patterson in 2021, a move that left many fans and alumni cranky. You don’t just give the coach who sits at the right hand the boot, or so the thinking goes whenever this kind of thing happens.
But there is a time and a place for every-
thing, we are told.
Hiring Dykes as steward to the legacy of Meyer and Patterson instinctively just felt right. A West Texas guy taking over the football program in the city “Where the West Begins.”
That was the constellations aligning. And they aligned more than once in a winding trail of circumstances in the story to be told.
Dykes was selected for 10 National Coach of the Year awards this season, including The Associated Press, the Eddie Robinson Award, Paul “Bear” Bryant Award, and Stallings Award.
The Frogs finished No. 2 in the final Associated Press poll and the second team to be in the CFP after starting the season unranked. TCU also became just the third team since 1998 to play for a national title while beginning the season unranked. TCU’s six wins over ranked opponents tied for most in the nation.
Dykes is Fort Worth Inc.’s 2023 Person of the Year, an honor bestowed on an individual who has demonstrated a significant contribution to making Greater Fort Worth a better place to live and work with emphasis placed on their contributions over the past year. One must also be a member of the magazine’s The 400, the list of Fort Worth’s most influential people, who were honored during a reception at the Fort Worth Club on May 18.
He did it so quickly through building relationships of trust, says Brian Estridge, TCU’s play-by-play voice and founder of Frogs Today.
“The first thing he did was build trust among the players, the staff members who were already here … the training staff and equipment staff,” says Estridge. “The first thing he recognized was in order for them to be on the same page, they had to trust each other. He did that by being fully transparent. There were no secrets or hidden agendas, or backroom deals. He doesn’t talk ill of people behind closed doors. He also took care of the players. He made nutrition a priority, and he made rest a priority. It wasn’t always grinding, grinding, grinding.
“I have a vision for what I want things to look like, but I want input from everybody. I want everybody to feel like they have a voice in our program. My dad was that way as well. I think he had an idea of what he wanted the end result to look like, but he realized there were a million different ways to get there. I kind of feel the same way.”
TCU’s run to the CFP National Championship Game — including a victory, victory, right, right, right over Michigan in the national semifinals — brought the university and city worldwide, in some cases even unprecedented, attention.
Dykes was only the third head coach in the CFP era to guide his team to the playoff in his first season. The unanimous Big 12 Coach of the Year, Dykes became the first head football coach in TCU and Big 12 history to start 12-0 in his first season and was only the fourth head coach nationally since 1996 to accomplish the feat.
“The second thing he did was laid it all out. This is what we do, and why we do it. They had to realize there was a method to the madness. When they saw the method to the madness and knew that they could trust him … .”
The most special season in TCU history ensued.
The season changed a program, and it changed lives, including the eight Horned Frogs who were taken in this year’s NFL Draft, the third-most of any school, behind Alabama and, ahem, Georgia. Guys going to the NFL included Quentin Johnston, Steve Avila, Kendre Miller, Dylan Horton, Derius Davis, Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, Dee Winters, and Max Duggan.
Five more will get chances to play as rookie free agents, including Alan Ali, Taye Barber, Emari Demercado, Gunnar Henderson, and Lwal Uguak.
“Somebody told me that after the Michigan game, I don’t remember who it was. I want to say it was somebody from ESPN,” Dykes says. “We were doing a postgame interview, and they’re like, ‘You know, you realize now your life is going to be a lot different.’ I remember at the time thinking, I don’t think that’s the case, but it has been. You just get recognized a little bit more.”
He can’t go much anywhere in town without being recognized.
It all represents a remarkable turnabout and ascent in college football for Dykes, who for a minute actually considered a career change.
That was before Fort Worth intervened. Dykes in Fort Worth, by all appearances, was simply meant to be.
Dykes had just been fired at California, an unfortunate turn of events. The fit was never a good one when he left Louisiana Tech for Berkeley, ground zero for the counterculture movement of the 1960s — Bezerkely, it has been called — a seemingly strange place for a guy whose roots were planted next to an oil rig and football field in West Texas.
The school is more, like, into Nobel Laureates than football. It’s a difficult place to win. Plus, the president who hired him had retired, and the athletic director was fired within a year of Dykes’ arrival.
Dykes went to Cal to rebuild. The Bears went 3-9 the year before, 2012, and unsurprisingly Dykes went 1-11 in his first year there. His second saw marked improvement, 5-7, and year three represented a breakthrough, an 8-5 record, with Jared Goff, the future No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, under center, and a spot in the Fort Worth’s Armed Forces Bowl. It was after that year that things really began to sour. Dykes reportedly interviewed for vacant positions at Missouri, Virginia, and South Carolina.
He received a contract extension from Cal, but the next year Dykes interviewed at — hold your nose — Baylor, which hired Matt Rhule instead. However, Cal officials were miffed as Dykes, at least by appearances, continued to hatch an escape back to Texas.
A 5-7 year in 2016 was reason enough for Cal, looking for a reason, to file for divorce.
“Sonny undoubtedly built up our program — both on the field and in the classroom,” athletic director Mike Williams wrote at the time. “We credit Sonny for Cal football’s turnaround throughout the 2013-2016 seasons.”
He closed one portion of a letter to alumni that “we look for a head coach who wants to be at Cal.”
Of his tenure at Cal, Dykes says he “loved it. It was a great place. The Bay Area was a really cool place. I got to do and see some amazing things that I would have never had a chance to see or experience. I was proud really of the progress we made in the program.”
The Lord and college athletics work in mysterious ways.
So, Dykes and his family loaded up their things and hightailed it back to Texas, where they belong.
“What happened there, I think, it was a great lesson for me,” Dykes says. “I went there for a couple of reasons. No. 1, there was tremendous stability within the university and the football program. They had had a president that had been there for over a decade and an athletic director had been there over a decade.
“Well, I take the job and the the president retires three months after I take the job and the AD gets fired. It was challenging. [Those two] knew the challenges within Cal football; they knew it was gonna kind of take a while to rebuild.”
That was the allure of the job, Dykes says, the president and AD knew the program required a total tear down and rebuild, and then, suddenly, “they weren’t there.” Interim presidents and athletic directors followed.
“It just showed me how important leadership is … just top down alignment in leadership. And it was just such, it was, it was rocky because of there just wasn’t that. It worked out where I got to come home. We were really thankful it worked out the way it did. Certainly.”
Sonny Dykes’ given name is Daniel Dykes, the youngest of three siblings born to Sharon and Spike Dykes. He was born in Big Spring. Daniel was the name of one of Spike’s best friends. Another close friend was Sonny Everett.
“My dad swears that Sonny was my middle name,” Dykes explains. “But my mom didn’t put [Sonny] on the birth certificate because she didn’t want to call me Sonny. But my dad ended up calling me Sonny my whole life.”
Spike died in 2017 at age 79. Sharon passed away in 2010. In Dykes’ office is a framed letter of condolence President George H.W. Bush sent to Spike on the event of Sharon’s passing. Spike and Bush had been friends in Midland.
His father is one of the most revered coaches — and characters — in Texas football history, retiring from the game in 1999 after 13 full seasons as head coach at Texas Tech.
Spike gained renown for the wisdom and witticisms he dispensed regarding football and football outcomes.
“They whipped us like a tied-up goat.”
“When you have five turnovers, miss two field goals and get another one blocked, my gosh, that’s enough to choke a mule.”
“A lot of people want to be around when you’re having a parade, but not many want to serve as pallbearer.”
“They say you lose 10% of your fan base every year. And I’ve been here 11 years, so, you do the math.”
“Last time Texas Tech was in the Cotton Bowl, Moby Dick was a minnow.”
The way the story goes, it was one of Spike’s assistants at Big Spring who first held baby Sonny. The Steers were at practice when Sharon went into labor, so, Spike sent a trusted assistant, Gary Griffin, to go check on her.
When Sonny arrived, he was passed to Griffin, who had gone above and beyond his charge.
Spike was a high school football coach ini-
tially after graduating from Stephen F. Austin, beginning in Eastland in 1959.
Between his own career and his father’s, Dykes counts at least 21 moves.
Big Spring, Alice, Austin (where his father was an assistant of Darrell Royal’s staff); Albuquerque, New Mexico; Starkville, Mississippi; Midland; and Lubbock.
Sonny Dykes’ career has taken him to Monahans and then to Richardson; Corsicana; Lexington, Kentucky; Monroe, Louisiana; back to Lexington; Lubbock; Tucson, Arizona; Ruston, Louisiana; Berkeley; Fort Worth; Dallas; and Fort Worth.
Moving is a reality in the profession, but after Cal and the move back, Dykes and his family “desperately” wanted to stay in Texas.
Long ago, when he was thinking about life after college — he was a baseball player at Texas Tech — Dykes had considered leaving the family business of coaching. His brother Rick had also made livelihood out of it.
“I started thinking about my life without football and without being a part of a team and just that experience of, you know, being a part of something. The idea of being on a team has always appealed to me, the shared sacrifice for a greater good. That’s always moved the needle for me. So, I start thinking, ‘OK, if I go into business, what’s that gonna be like? I’m not gonna have that.’”
When he arrived at TCU in 2017 as an offensive consultant under Patterson, he again thought, if only briefly, about another professional life. By this time, of course, he had established himself as a college football coach, but he had uprooted his family to move all over the country in pursuit of a coaching career, first to Arizona to become offensive coordinator under Mike Stoops, and then to Ruston, Louisiana, as the head coach at Louisiana Tech, and then off to Berkeley.
Had he not landed the job at SMU, where would the Dykes’ family, which so wanted to stay in Texas, have landed?
“I think I was trying to cover my bases more than anything,” Dykes says of thoughts of a different career. “I wanted to coach, and I feel like in a weird sort of way, it’s probably my calling. So, don’t know that I would have done [something different as a career], but it kind of got to that point where I thought I better start to look around a little bit.”
Dykes’ wife Kate also comes from a coaching family. There are three Joe Goldings, and all of them were or are coaches. Her grandfather, like Spike, made a legend of himself at Wichita Falls High School. Joe Golding Sr.’s Coyotes teams reached the state title game six times in his 15 years, winning four, including in 1961 when Wichita Falls beat Paschal in the state semifinals at Farrington Field. Kate’s father, Joe Golding Jr., coached girls basketball at Wichita Falls for almost 20 years before retiring. And Joe Golding III, her brother, is the head basketball coach at UTEP.
Together, Dykes and his wife, married 17 years, have three children, Ally, Charlie, and Daniel, a tribute to his mother, Sonny says, who wanted a Daniel all those years ago.
TCU holds some practices in the morning so that Dykes can pick up the kids from school and have dinner with them. A typical day during the season begins at 4:30 in the morning and can finish up somewhere
around 10 p.m.
When Dykes was growing up, dinner could be at 10:30 at night because that’s when Spike’s workday wrapped up, too. This Dykes didn’t want that for his family, at least one person says.
His mother, Sharon, was a big influence on him growing up, with Spike at his office all the time. Sharon impressed on him a love of the arts and reading. Dykes has a degree in history from Texas Tech.
“She loved to read; she loved music,” Dykes says of his mother. “All that stuff had a huge effect on me. Because of her, I’ve always been a reader, and I’ve always been somebody who really enjoyed music and the arts and have an interest in those kinds of things. We used to go to garage sales all the time when I was a kid and buy used books. I might have been
in fourth grade, and we bought, you know, Jaws and The Godfather and Roots and all these things, and started reading them, you know, probably before I should have.”
His most recent book was a Paul Newman biography, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: a Memoir, but he has also consumed all of Malcolm Gladwell’s bibliography.
Reading, he says, has provided an essential ingredient to being an executive: perspective. We all have a point of view simply based on our upbringing and background and to what we’ve been exposed. Another has a completely different point of view for the same reason. Now, combine 85 different perspectives. Some come from stable, two-parent homes in a higher socioeconomic condition. Others come from dysfunction. Still, others weren’t raised by their parents at all.
“That’s what makes this thing so unique,” Dykes says. “I think it’s one of the biggest challenges that we have is trying to get everybody in that room to walk in somebody else’s shoes, to see things from their perspective and respect their differences and, really, celebrate their differences.
“We work really hard to have that kind of a culture within our program. And I think our players enjoy that. I think they like that we respect that and honor that and appreciate it.”
Dykes told me once in the past that the best thing he learned from Spike was how to treat people. The best player on the team, the worst player on the team, the biggest donor to the guy cleaning the office. They were all treated with the same dignity and respect.
“Everybody was the same to him,” Dykes says. “That’s certainly something I’ve tried to emulate in my life. An understanding that everybody is important, and everybody matters. I thought he understood that as well as anybody and demonstrated that as well as anybody could.”
There’s a relatively unknown story about Spike that could have set off a butterfly effect at TCU.
The year was 1994 and then-TCU coach Pat Sullivan was flirting with LSU, his alma mater, about becoming its next coach. All that was holding up Sullivan’s move was a buyout clause in his contract with TCU. It was never resolved, and Sullivan stayed.
While the drama played out over 10 days in December, TCU athletic director Frank Windegger was drawing up contingency plans.
One of those was Spike, then at Texas Tech, who wasn’t seeing eye to eye with Texas Tech athletic director Bob Bockrath. It was a story I’d heard at the time from former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Johnny Paul, who didn’t have anything firm other than a gut feeling after talking to Windegger about it. Windegger would neither confirm nor deny that he had talked to Spike about the job, if Sullivan bolted to Louisiana.
Paul never wrote a word about it because he had nothing to go on except a hunch. Windegger’s reaction to the question of whether he had talked to Spike had Paul convinced, however.
As it turned out, Johnny Paul was right.
(Johnny loves to hear people say that, by the way.)
“I do know for a fact that TCU reached out to Spike,” says Rick Dykes, Sonny’s older brother who coached under his father from 1990 – 99. “I was actually in my father’s office when those calls came through. A lot of people felt Pat was going to be the coach at LSU. I’m not sure what [Spike] would have done [had he received an offer]. But that is true.
“Spike always thought TCU was one of the better jobs in the state of Texas. Every year we prepared to play TCU, we thought TCU had as much potential as any job in the state. He felt that way up to the very end. I think Fort Worth and TCU are special places. The potential here is unlimited.”
If Spike had come to TCU, Dennis Franchione might not have been hired, or — gasp — Gary Patterson.
Said Sonny: “I didn’t even know that. I probably wouldn’t be here now. That would preclude me from being here. Probably. You know, our business is strange, and you just really never know. But it’s funny, my dad always talked about how much potential he thought TCU had.”
While Rick Dykes coached with Spike, Sonny joining his staff at Texas Tech never was an option. Spike wanted Sonny to go his own way, create his own path. Dykes wanted that, too.
“I think we both knew it was probably not gonna be a good move for us,” Dykes says simply from a football standpoint. Spike was a defensive-oriented coach with an old-school mentality. Old-school is cliché, but no one was going to mistake Spike for cutting edge.
“I think we both value the same things that we both believe what you have to do to win football games,” Dykes says. “We both believe in relationships with players, how important that is. We both believe that this profession is certainly about more than just winning and losing because I really do believe you get to have an impact on a lot of people’s lives, and he appreciated that part of coaching. I do, too.”
Dykes instead left the state and found a situation as cutting edge as you could find at the time.
Coming home is a theme in Dykes’ career, and he’s done it at key moments. His route back to Lubbock started in
Kentucky with two guys who were doing things differently. Dykes moved to Kentucky to work as a graduate assistant under Hal Mumme and his offensive coordinator, Mike Leach, both quirky guys with revolutionary ideas about how to move the football with a frenetic, hyperactive, pass-happy philosophy with receivers spread along the line as far as the eye could see.
It was called the Air Raid offense, and it or a derivative of it eventually spread across the landscape like a pathogen from Wuhon.
Dykes says his chief mentors in leadership were Spike and Leach, the only guy to win more games at Texas Tech than Spike Dykes.
“I have a vision for what I want things to look like, but I want input from everybody. I want everybody to feel like they have a voice in our program. My dad was that way as well. I think he had an idea of what he wanted the end result to look like, but he realized there were a million different ways to get there. I kind of feel the same way.
reflected: “A big part of my feelings pregame will be about Mike, the impact he had on my life. I wouldn’t be here without him.”
As an homage to Leach, the Frogs wore a pirate flag sticker on their helmets.
Perhaps no one in college football has been as innovative in the new era of the transfer portal as Dykes, who always seemed able to fill holes at SMU through the portal. At TCU last year, he and his staff added 14 key pieces.
They also hung onto key pieces, including Quentin Johnston, now a member of the Los Angeles Chargers after April’s NFL Draft. A trip to the Johnstons’ home in Temple was among the first recruiting visits Dykes made after being hired at TCU. Johnston was considering hopping into the portal. His leaving would have been a huge loss. Johnston’s parents were immediately sold on the new coach.
“I started thinking about my life without football and without being a part of a team and just that experience of, you know, being a part of something. The idea of being on a team has always appealed to me, the shared sacrifice for a greater good. That’s always moved the needle for me.”
“I learned a lot from Mike Leach, just in terms of thinking outside the box and being creative and not being afraid to try something different and not paying attention to convention.”
Always trying to build a better mouse trap, as he says. In college football, Dykes says, you have to kind of reinvent yourself every year and be willing to change and be flexible.
“Things change so much in our profession, in our industry. You can’t afford to just keep up; you have to be innovative. You gotta be ahead of the curve. I always felt like Mike and many of those guys I worked for were that way. They had a principle that they believed in, some core beliefs, but they were willing to talk and scheme ways to get there differently than other people.”
Dykes returned to Lubbock as a member of Leach’s staff when “the pirate” got the Tech job. That is where he met his wife.
When Leach died on the eve of TCU’s victory over Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl, Dykes
“He’s just warm,” Johnston’s father told The Athletic. “He’s easy to talk to. Just the way he carries himself. I like his disposition.”
That’s a description I can attest to, as well, after spending an hour and a half with the coach, who might have ultimately put himself in a corner.
How does one follow up a first season in which you lead your team to the national championship game?
“I think in some way, yeah, probably [it makes the job more difficult],” Dykes says. “It certainly raises expectations, but I think that’s a good thing. I really do believe that. We’ve got a lot of support from the administration, community, and fans, and we’re fortunate to have all those things, and, as a result, we should put a good product on the field.”
Says Estridge of the national championship game and the future: “It didn’t feel like the end-all because there was meat left on the bone at the end. This one felt like, ‘OK, we’re supposed to be here. We didn’t finish the job.’ I don’t think they’ve reached the pinnacle. I’m not willing to say that this was the greatest year in TCU football ever. I’m not willing to say that.”
Arts and Leisure
Fort Worth’s arts and leisure scene has been recognized worldwide for decades, showing off an assortment of museums and cultural venues for the likes of the city’s Prince of Soul, raised in our own backyard. The star of the city’s reemergence from the pandemic is the Bass Hall of arenas on Montgomery Street. Dickies Arena continues to be a hit with pop culture’s top stars and events, as well as guests.
ARTS AND LEISURE
Brad Barnes President Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo
The Fort Worth Stock Show made a triumphant return in 2022 from COVID-19 under the leadership of Brad Barnes, who took over the top job in 2010, stepping in for W.R. “Bob” Watt Jr. Barnes has led a successful public-private partnership that has helped Will Rogers become a top equestrian and livestock international destination, boosting spending and tax revenue from the Stock Show and numerous other equestrian events each year at Will Rogers. The Stock Show has invested tens of millions in improvements and expansion at Will Rogers since 1944. The latest improvement, Dickies Arena, is the new home to the rodeo. Barnes is vice president and secretary of the Event Facilities Fort Worth nonprofit, which capped the city’s costs for the arena and guaranteed to raise the rest.
Michael Fouraker Executive Director Fort Worth Zoo
Under Michael Fouraker’s decadeslong leadership, the Fort Worth Zoo has transformed into an international leader in conservation, animal care, and education. After joining the zoo in 1993 as the director of animal programs and conservation, he became the executive director in 2001. Today, Fort Worth Zoo is among the best, having been named the No. 1 zoo in North America and one of the “world’s greatest,” among other accolades. Fouraker founded the conservation organization International Elephant Foundation and the Zoo Disaster Response Rescue and Recovery group. He serves as president of the International Iguana Foundation and Caribbean Wildlife Alliance and serves on the board for the following organizations: Friends of the Fort Worth Nature Center, the International Rhino Foundation, and Zoological Association of America.
Leon Bridges Musician
Fort Worth soul singer
Leon Bridges’ star continued to rise like a Musk rocket ship with 2021’s release of Gold-Diggers Sound, his third album since climbing up to the top of pop culture only eight short years ago. Gold-Diggers Sound was inspired by a series of concerts played at Gold-Diggers, a hotel and bar in East Hollywood. Bridges is also putting his newfound celebrity to good use, teaming with former TCU football coach Gary Patterson to form The Big Good. The two joined forces for a second fundraising event in April that officials said exceeded the previous year’s mark of raising more than $1 million for its three main beneficiaries: Tarrant To & Through Partnership, United Community Centers, and Upspire.
Kay Fortson
Chairman Kimbell Art Foundation
The niece and sole heir of Kay Kimbell, benefactor of the Kimbell Art Museum, Kay Fortson grew up surrounded by art and culture and has spent her adult life carrying out the mission of her uncle to create a worldclass museum in Fort Worth. The Louis Kahn-designed Kimbell Art Museum, Renzo Piano Pavilion, and acclaimed collection are recognized internationally. Fortson’s husband, Ben Fortson, is executive vice president and chief financial officer of the foundation, which owns and operates the museum. Kay Fortson relinquished her position of president of the foundation in 2017 to the couple’s daughter, Kimbell Fortson Wynne, while retaining the position of chair. The museum brought to exhibition last year the range of bronzes, ceramics, and metalwork that John D. Rockefeller III and his wife collected over 40 years.
Matt Homan President and General Manager Dickies Arena
When Matt Homan took the job as president and general manager of Dickies Arena, he vowed to make the 14,000-seat, state-of-the-art arena a destination for marquee attractions. Consider that promise fulfilled. World-renowned acts, events, and teams have all paid a visit, generating an economic impact in the hundreds of millions. Before becoming the first hire of Trail Drive Management Corp., the not-for-profit that manages the arena, Homan, a Philadelphia fellow, was the general manager of the Wells Fargo Center, one of the busiest arenas in the country and home to two major-league sporting attractions, the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers and the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association. Homan has a bachelor’s degree in sport and entertainment management from the University of South Carolina.
Dione Kennedy
President and CEO
Bass Performance Hall
Dione Kennedy has been president and CEO of Performing Arts Fort Worth, the nonprofit that owns and operates Bass Hall, since 2009. The organization boasted the secondhighest subscription numbers in its history for the Broadway at the Bass Series. PAFW celebrated the 25th anniversary of Bass Performance Hall. In addition to the regular lineup of Broadway, symphonies, ballets and operas, several special performances were booked to celebrate this milestone anniversary, including the Kyiv City Ballet for its only Texas engagement, a return of Disney’s “The Lion King,” a Community Open House, and more. Kennedy holds a bachelor’s from the University of Cincinnati, is president-elect of Independent Presenters Network, serves on the Board of Governor’s for the Broadway League, and is a Tony Awards voter.
ARTS AND LEISURE
Eric Lee Director Kimbell Art Museum
Eric Lee is the Kimbell Art Museum’s fourth director. A native of North Carolina, Lee received his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D., all in art history, from Yale University. Since his arrival in Fort Worth in 2009, the Kimbell constructed and opened the Renzo Piano Pavilion; acquired numerous masterpieces, including Michelangelo’s “Torment of Saint Anthony,” the artist’s only painting in the Americas; and organized acclaimed exhibitions such as “Monet: The Late Years.”
The Kimbell is currently celebrating its 50th Anniversary with a number of acquisitions and a full year of programs, and will welcome special exhibitions “Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art” this summer and “Bonnard’s Worlds” in the fall.
Opal Lee Community and Civil Rights Leader
The life’s work of Opal Lee, 96, became a reality in 2021 with an invitation to the White House for a bill signing making Juneteenth a federal holiday. “I’m so happy I could do a Holy dance,” she said. For more than 40 years, Lee, the 2022 Fort Worth Inc. Person of the Year, had worked to expand Juneteenth, commemorating June 19, 1865, the day Texas slaves learned they were free. In 2016 at age 90, she started a cross-country walking campaign to lobby for a national Juneteenth holiday. Last year, 33 members of Congress, led by Fort Worth’s Mark Veasey, sent a letter to the Nobel Prize committee to nominate Lee for the Nobel Peace Prize. Lee, an I.M. Terrell graduate, has a bachelor’s from Wiley College and a master’s in guidance and counseling from the University of North Texas.
Stacie McDavid CEO
McDavid Investments
Stacie McDavid is CEO of McDavid Investments Company, which holds real estate, investments, and equine breeding, training, ranch operations. McDavid’s a near cultural icon in Fort Worth. As a lifelong competitive athlete, McDavid competes in the National Cutting Horse Association, where she was inducted into the Non-Pro Hall of Fame in 2013 with more than $1 million in earnings. In 2014, she was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 2016, she earned distinction in the cutting world as the American Quarter Horse Association Amateur Cutting World Champion. McDavid followed that up with Reserve World Champion in 2017. McDavid is vice president of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. McDavid holds a Bachelor of Science from Texas Woman's University, where she currently serves as chairman of the Board of Regents.
Jonathan Morris Co-Founder Hotel Dryce
Born in San Antonio but raised in North Texas, Jonathan Morris left his native state to study business management at Morehouse College in Atlanta. His return to Texas landed him in Fort Worth, where his girlfriend was living. He took a job in Dallas at a digital marketing firm but soon was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. He opened up a successful barbershop in Fort Worth yet dreamed bigger. With Allen Mederos, in August, Morris opened the three-story, 21-room Hotel Dryce on the site of a 50-yearold dry-ice factory right off of Montgomery Street. From there — and in his role as a reality TV star on the Magnolia Network — he is an unofficial ambassador to the city he calls “Funky Town,” derived from R&B radio hosts who decades ago referred to the city as “Funky Fort Worth.”
Jacques Marquis
President and CEO
The Cliburn
A native of Montreal, Jacques Marquis was named president and CEO of the Cliburn in March 2013. The global cultural organization is best known for its quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. First held in 1962 and infused with local hospitality, it is widely regarded as one of the top three contests of its kind in the world. Innovations in branding and reach under Marquis' leadership resulted in a historic 2022 edition: Webcast views topped 40 million across 177 countries. He also expanded the Cliburn's local offerings with new concepts like the club series Cliburn Sessions and free Cliburn in the Community concerts, and he launched the Cliburn Junior, the top international piano competition for 13- to 17-year-olds, in 2015. Marquis holds bachelor's degrees in music (piano) and business administration.
Marla Price
Director Modern
Art Museum of Fort Worth
Marla Price, nationally renowned for her expertise in contemporary art, joined the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth as chief curator in 1986. Price was appointed acting director in April 1991 and director in January 1992, and the museum has continued to grow in stature during her tenure. She was instrumental on the building committee that oversaw the construction of the Modern’s new building, designed by Tadao Ando and completed in 2002. Price received a bachelor’s degree from Mary Washington College and a doctorate in art history from the University of Virginia, with a dissertation on the American painter Milton Avery. She worked previously as deputy information officer and then associate curator of Twentieth Century Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
ARTS AND LEISURE
Taylor Sheridan Principal Bosque Ranch Production, Inc.
Taylor Sheridan, a Hollywood actor, screenwriter, and director who graduated from Paschal High School, returned to town to make the Fort Worth Stockyards a centerpiece for his “Yellowstone” prequel, “1883,” starring Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Sam Elliott, all of whom spent time in Cowtown during weeks-long filming. He was back in town this year filming “The Bass Reeves Story.” Sheridan, who has a ranch in Weatherford, reached the apex of his profession — or he thought he did — with “Hell or High Water,” which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 2016. That was before the “Yellowstone,” which has been a critically acclaimed artistic and commercial success. From Burk Burnett’s iconic Four Sixes Ranch, which he bought with a group in 2022, a “Yellowstone” spinoff, “6666,” will be based.
Andrew Walker Executive Director Amon Carter Museum
Andrew Walker was named director of the Amon Carter in 2011, making his way to Fort Worth from the St. Louis Art Museum, and has played a critical role in the way the museum connects with the community. The museum in 2018 established Carter Community Artists, an annual initiative dedicated to working with local artists to enhance the museum’s events, connect the North Texas area with practicing artists, and build a diverse network. Walker was formerly assistant director for curatorial affairs at the St. Louis Art Museum. Before that, he was director of collections and conservation at the Missouri Historical Society and formerly an associate curator at The Art Institute of Chicago. He has a bachelor’s in art history from Bowdoin College and a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert Spano
Music Director
Fort Worth Sympony Orchestra
Robert Spano, 61, four times a Grammy Award-winning musical director with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, had been a principal guest conductor since 2019 but assumed the permanent position of music director last August. Spano is the 10th musical director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, dating to 1912. He is also music director of the Aspen Music Festival & School. Prior to his 20 years in Atlanta that included the creation of the Atlanta School of Composers, Spano was assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and for eight years the director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Spano studied at the Oberlin Conservatory, where is on the faculty, and the Curtis Institute of Music. Spano was also the recipient of the Georgia Governor’s Award for the Arts & Humanities.
Jay Wilkinson Artist
Jay Wilkinson grew up with what he calls an “intense case of dyslexia.” In an effort to help him combat it and his distaste for reading, his mother bought him comic books, hoping that the images would draw him to reading the captions. Instead, he says, it just made him want to draw everything he saw. Today, he is a Bass Artist in Residence and operator of Dang Good Candy, a gallery and studio downtown that he uses to stage emerging or mid-career artists who haven’t had an opportunity to do a solo exhibition. These are the artists to buy before they take off, he says. The name Dang Good Candy is in honor of his late friend Jeremy Joel. Their mission, the two friends’, was to be a “strong anti-establishment voice you’d expect from the young, broke, and unseen.”
Juan Velazquez
Muralist
Fort Worth artist and U.S. Army reservist Juan Velázquez gained a large following as a result of the popularity of his murals in early 2020. He has COVID-19 to thank for it. He had lost his job, and rather than take the safe route and simply go get a job, any job, he went bold. Velazquez’s eye-opening murals have been a hit in the neighborhoods he beautifies and communicates with. Velazquez is the artist of roughly 100 public murals around Fort Worth. With them he conveys the emotions of joy and grief, among others, and he expresses the concepts of Mexican culture and history, as well as awareness, in an amazingly breathtaking uber-realistic style with spray paint. Velasquez attended Haltom High School and Tarrant County College.
Angela Turner Wilson
General and Artistic Director
Fort Worth Opera
Fort Worth-based opera singer Angela Turner Wilson was appointed the general and artistic director, effective in December. She arrived with a reputation as an exceptionally accomplished opera performer who had appeared with the New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Lyric Opera, Atlanta Opera, Portland Opera, and the Dallas Opera, among others. Wilson served on the faculty of the Vocal Arts Division at TCU since 2008. She was named chair of the Vocal Arts Division at TCU in 2019. She was also the founding director of the TCU’s “Festival of American Song.” Wilson has performed at several historic events, including performing at the Clinton White House for a state dinner honoring Italian Prime Minister Roman Prodi in 1998.
Double helping.
Stuart Balcom President and CEO Six-time honoree
Ashley Freer Principal, group director and strategist Four-time honoree
L-R, Partners, Dee Kelly, Marianne Auld, David Keltner
Photo Credit: Sommer + Co
What will the future of banking look like?
Hear from Eric Hyden on the current state of private banking and what it means to build trust with clients.
In the past, private wealth management and banking were limited to financial services such as asset management and wealth planning. Today, financial institutions can offer a variety of additional services including financial planning, investment insights and counsel on complex estate planning. Online banking has made private banking more accessible than ever, with clients able to exercise more control over their wealth by observing and evaluating their whole financial picture. Hear from Eric Hyden, Executive Director and Senior Private Client Advisor at Texas Capital Bank, on the current state of private banking and what it means to build trust with clients today.
How has your background contributed to your success as a leader within the Texas Capital Private Wealth organization?
I’ve been in this business 34 years—a long tenure that began with my first degree in business from Southern Methodist University. The bank I started with was where I served as an Estate Administrative Trust Officer. In my many years in that role, I found that working for the total good of the client, rather than one part of their financial picture, was much more rewarding.
Over the course of years developing an expertise in trusts, estates and investments, you see generational wealth develop and prosper in real-time—including how that wealth transfers. I believe that planning for generations of families is the most important service we offer at a full-service financial institution. It’s an exciting experience to be a part of. Specifically, seeing your Wealth Strategist, Trust Officer and Investment Advisor demonstrating synergy as a team and with the families they serve.
How is Texas Capital Bank different from other financial institutions?
Texas Capital Bank as an institution has earned the right to position itself as a premier provider. Here, ideas are generated upward. There is a receptive ear from leadership to make things better and perpetually improve upon what we do every day. As a professional in this field, there’s a certain confidence that comes with working for a reliable institution like Texas Capital Bank. I can talk with clients regularly and feel confident offering recommendations because I trust my colleagues and partnering teams to deliver.
How do you go about building trust with your clients?
The goal should be to listen first. I try to offer a sympathetic, yet-curious ear. Clients will tell us what they want to accomplish;
it shouldn’t be the other way around. We work to make the experience as mutually beneficial as possible and eliminate worry for our clients.
How has the private banking landscape changed?
There is no question that technology has been the most significant change in private banking. Advancements are near constant. For example, I have noticed an increased desire from clients to have an interface that lets them observe data and analytics in real time. It’s been wonderful to be able to bridge that gap with technology and interact with your clients in that new way. Clients are still very concerned about preserving their assets, but now newer dimensions of value, like intellectual property, are also changing the landscape. Texas Capital Bank does an excellent job at recognizing and staying ahead of those changes.
What are you most excited about this year in terms of Texas Capital Bank’s success?
Last year was huge for us, but this year has me just as excited. In addition to launching improved internal processes that help us better align and engage with our clients, we will be introducing so many new products and solutions. I’m particularly looking forward to our new Family Office services, our refreshed digital Private Wealth Advisors Client Portal and to see what extraordinary things come from the Texas Capital Bank Charitable Gift Fund. Things around here are always changing for the better, and that’s something worth staying excited about.
To learn more about Texas Capital Bank Private Wealth Advisors, visit texascapitalbank.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and options of Texas Capital Bank.
wealth-management/ services-solutions#Disclaimers
Banking and Finance
Banking, credit services, insurance, angel investing, private equity, and wealth advisers are part of the region’s financial services ecosystem. Bankers were again pushed into action in the face of lingering inflation, rate hikes, and uncertainty.
Laura Baldwin Managing Director Golden Seeds
Laura Baldwin is president of Waco Bend Asset Management Ltd., where she manages her family’s investment portfolio. She is also a managing director with Golden Seeds, a national angel investment group that invests in women-owned-and-led companies. She previously worked in various roles at Triad Hospitals, most recently as VP of finance and investor relations, and in equity research and investment banking. Laura is on the board and chair of the Finance Committee of the Foundation for the Young Women’s Leadership Academy of Fort Worth. She is also a member of the Investment Committee of the Texas Women’s Foundation, member of the board and the Finance Committee for TechFW, and on the board of the North Texas Angel Network (NTAN). Bachelor’s, UT Austin and an MBA from SMU.
Bob Ferguson Investor
Bob Ferguson, a Fort Worth native and graduate of Paschal, is an entrepreneur and investor, as well as a member of the Cowtown Angels Steering Council. After time in Hartford, Connecticut, and Dallas, he returned to Fort Worth to join The Brants Company. He became the company’s president in 1983 and remained president of Brants-Wortham from 2O00-11. Ferguson is also a founding investor and board chairman of Cx Precision Medicine, Inc., which was formed in 2017. In 2019, the UNT Health Science Center gave Ferguson its Vision Award, its highest honor, for his work to raise the university’s reputation. Ferguson is an Emeritus member of the UNTHSC Foundation Board and is a generous donor to the Health Science Center. He was foundation chair, 2014-16. He received a BBA from SMU.
Bill Buechele
Managing Director of Business Development Capital CFO Partners
Bill Buechele, an experienced board of directors’ member and retired Deloitte & Touche audit partner now focused on serving public and private companies as a director, is chairman of Fort Worth’s Cowtown Angels investment group. He is a longtime business advisor and investor with diverse industry experience, including private equity, technology, health care, manufacturing, and energy exposure. Buechele was formerly a leader of Deloitte’s Growth Enterprise Services practice in North Texas. Buechele has a bachelor’s and an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business.
Carolyn Cason
Professor Emeritus Cowtown Angels
Carolyn Cason has a distinguished career as scientist, teacher, academic leader, and innovator. A retired professor and associate dean for research in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at the University of Texas at Arlington, Cason serves on the Steering Council of the Cowtown Angels. She built the nation’s first comprehensive simulation center, the Smart Hospital, creating the prototype and simultaneously launching rigorous research on instructional methods. She developed Smart Care, a living laboratory dedicated to developing noninvasive, pervasive technology to support independent living. Her patent, commercialized as a CPR card, provides feedback to those delivering CPR to victims of cardiac arrest. Inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at UTA, 2009. Bachelor’s and master’s, nursing; Ph.D., educational psychology, all UT-Arlington.
Tyler Head
President and Founder Corbett Capital
Tyler Head is the president and founder of Corbett Capital, LLC, a closely held investment company focusing on growth capital investments in early-stage and lower middle market companies. Before founding Corbett Capital in 2011, Head served as an officer and F/A-18 pilot in the United States Marine Corps from 1998-2009, attaining the rank of Major prior to transitioning to the private sector. He is a founding member of Cowtown Angels and formerly served on the group’s steering council. He currently serves on the board of directors of the World Craniofacial Foundation and has served on the boards of numerous other public, private, and nonprofit entities. Head has a bachelor’s in political science with a minor in Spanish from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Robertson is cofounder of Bios Partners, a Fort Worth private equity firm. She's a member of the Cowtown Angels investing group in Fort Worth and has served on its Steering Council. Robertson is known in the Fort Worth tech startup and angel community for her guidance on prospective health care investments. Robertson has more than 25 years in pharmaceutical research and development, including R&D strategies, project management, clinical trials, regulatory filings for U.S. and international, product launch, market support, and translational medicine. Robertson was a VP in R&D for Alcon and received a Ph.D. in biology-immunology from Johns Hopkins. She serves on the boards of early-stage companies and volunteers with the incubator-accelerator TechFW, local university entrepreneurial programs, and ARVO's Women in Eye and Vision Research.
Stella Robertson Investor Bios Partners
Stella
AND FINANCE
Elaine Agather Chairman Dallas Region JPMorgan Chase
Elaine Agather also serves as the Central Region head and managing director of The Private Bank at J.P. Morgan. In 1999, she was elected chairman and CEO of the region. Agather is the chairman of the board for Performing Arts Fort Worth and serves on the board for the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, the JF Maddox Foundation, as well as secretary of the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show. She also served as co-chair of Fort Worth Now, the task force formed by Betsy Price to help guide the city’s businesses out of the pandemic. Agather graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s in history and economics and received her MBA from the University of Texas.
Rusty Anderson Market President Texas Capital Bank
Rusty Anderson was tapped to lead the market for Texas Capital Bank in September. He joined the bank after having served in the same role for Prosperity Bank. Anderson previously served as senior vice president, relationship manager for Bank of Texas. He has also held commercial banking roles at Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and North Dallas Bank and Trust. Anderson earned a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA in finance from Texas Tech University. He serves on the board of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. He enjoyed past affiliations with the March of Fort Worth and the Tarrant County Bankers Association, where he also served a stint as president. He also served on the executive committee for Light the Night fundraiser.
Daniel Berce
President and CEO GM Financial
Daniel Berce has been president and CEO of the Fort Worth-based GM Financial since October 2010 when General Motors purchased AmeriCredit and renamed it GM Financial. Berce held various executive posts at AmeriCredit starting in 1990, including CEO from August 2005 to September 2010. Before AmeriCredit, Berce was an auditor with Coopers & Lybrand for 14 years and a partner with the firm. He is a CPA and graduate of Regis University in Denver, where he is also a member of the board of trustees. Berce has been active in many civic and philanthropic organizations, including serving as the past president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and past chairman of Cook Children’s Health Care System. GM Financial is the wholly owned captive finance subsidiary of GM.
Eddie Broussard
Market President UMB Bank
After a successful, multifaceted career in North Carolina, Eddie Broussard returned to Texas in 2013 to join Texas Capital Bank as a senior vice president and commercial banking executive. In 2019, Broussard was named regional president. Broussard left Texas Capital Bank in last year, eventually being named market president for UMB. He is also currently the chair of the Fort Worth Sports Commission, which played critical roles in bringing the men’s NCAA basketball tournament and Professional Bull Riders World Finals to Fort Worth, as well as the NCAA Gymnastics championships. “There’s just such a significant economic engine through sports and sporting events,” he says. “That’s what the heart of what sports is doing for Fort Worth.” Broussard is a graduate of Texas Tech University.
Lori Baldock
Market President Simmons Bank
Lori Baldock has served as Fort Worth market president for Simmons Bank since 2019. In this role, Baldock leads Simmons Bank’s strategy, talent acquisition, and loan and deposit production for the Fort Worth market. She joined Simmons, formerly Southwest Bank, in 2011 and has more than 35 years of commercial banking experience, specializing in commercial and industrial (C&I) and real estate financing. Baldock serves on the boards of the Fort Worth Chamber and Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. and is an active member of CREW, the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, and Women Steering Business. Baldock is also an active supporter of Fort Worth Colonial Charities’ Executive Women’s Day and the Women’s Business Council Southwest. A Stephen F. Austin State University alum, Baldock is also a graduate of the Intermediate Banking School at SMU.
Steven Colwick Market President Comerica Bank
Steven Colwick oversees business and community development efforts across the retail, business banking, middle market, and wealth management lines of business for Comerica Bank, which will be celebrating its 175th anniversary in the upcoming year. Colwick began his career at Comerica 23 years ago as a credit analyst and has spent most of his career in the middle market sector. Before becoming market president, Colwick supported the bank’s middle market efforts across North and Central Texas as a relationship manager. Volunteers: board, Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth; Junior Achievement of Chisholm Trail; March of Dimes; United Way of Tarrant County. He has a bachelor's from Texas State University, an MBA from Texas Tech, and a graduate of the SMU Graduate School of Banking program.
BANKING AND FINANCE
Mark Drennan President, North Texas Region Southside Bank
Mark Drennan has been Southside Bank’s North Texas Region president since September 2017, promoted into the post from executive vice president, commercial lending for the North Texas Region. Drennan has more than 20 years in banking, including commercial banking, managing a commercial real estate group, and starting and managing a health care and seniors housing banking team. His board memberships include past chair of Leadership Fort Worth and graduated the program; served on the Vision Fort Worth Advisory Council of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce; Texas Health Resources Research and Education Council board; and Fort Worth Metropolitan YMCA board. Drennan has a bachelor’s and MBA from Texas Tech, and he is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at University of Pennsylvania.
Jason Harvison President and CEO Elevate Credit
Jason Harvison was promoted to CEO of the Fort Worth-based Elevate Credit (NYSE: ELVT) in 2019, moving up from chief operating officer, a job he held for five years. Elevate sells credit products for nonprime customers and touts itself as remaking subprime lending with transparency. In 2021, Harvison was selected a finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Southwest Award, which recognizes leaders around the world who are building and sustaining successful, dynamic businesses. “Jason brings an energy and enthusiasm to his work that inspires employees, retains customers, and drives results,” Elevate Chairman of the Board Saundra Schrock said at the time. Harvison was also a finalist for the Fort Worth Chamber’s 2021 Susan Halsey Executive Leadership Award. Harvison earned a bachelor’s in finance from Texas A&M.
Jim DuBose Chairman Colonial Savings
Jim DuBose was appointed chairman of Colonial Savings in 2006, succeeding his father and Colonial founder James S. DuBose, who died in 2017. DuBose has served on the Residential Board of Governors of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and is a former director of the Federal Home Loan Bank in Dallas. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University. Founded in 1952, Colonial is a national, multi-service financial institution headquartered in Fort Worth and is one of largest servicers of mortgage loans in the U.S., with a servicing portfolio of $26 billion. It is the parent of Colonial National Mortgage, CU Members Mortgage, and Colonial Savings. It is also affiliated with Colonial Life Insurance Co. of Texas, DuBose & Associates Insurance, and Colonial Lloyds.
Brian Happel Fort Worth Market Executive Regions Bank
Brian Happel, a banking executive veteran in the North Texas region for decades, joined Regions’ commercial banking team in June 2021. He is also the bank’s Fort Worth market executive. Happel’s career includes credit and mortgage and commercial banking leadership positions with JP Morgan Chase. Most recently, he worked in commercial banking with BBVA USA. Happel’s community engagement includes board memberships with the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Fort Worth Inc. Happel is also a member of UT Arlington’s College of Business Advisory Board. He has a bachelor’s in business administration from UTA and was a member of the football team as the placekicker in the early 1980s. After college he went to camp and had stints with four NFL teams and three in the USFL.
Daniel Herron Market President Happy State Bank
Daniel Herron is Fort Worth market president for Happy State Bank. Founded in 1908 as First State Bank in Happy — a town in the Panhandle, population 613-ish — the bank operated solely in that community during its first 81 years. Happy derived its name from nearby Happy Draw, named so because cowboys were ecstatic about finding water there. In 1990, J. Pat Hickman formed Happy Bancshares, Inc. The group purchased the bank. They changed its name to the unforgettable Happy State Bank in 2004. In 1990, the bank had six employees overseeing just over $10 million in total assets. Today, Happy State Bank is a division of Centennial Bank (merger 2022) with combined assets of just shy of $25 billion. Herron has a degree from TCU.
Dale Klose Territory Executive PNC Bank
Since 2021, Dale Klose has been executive vice president and territory executive for PNC’s southwest and mountain regions. Before his current role, Klose served as regional president for Kansas City and leader for PNC’s expansion market regional presidents. With over 37 years of banking experience with PNC, Klose has held executive leadership roles in many areas including corporate and institutional banking, international banking, and retail banking. Klose currently serves on the board of directors for Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., National WWI Museum and Memorial, member of the Fort Worth Chamber Investor Board, and member of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Klose earned a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace College in Ohio.
AND FINANCE
Greg Morse President and CEO Worthington National Bank
Greg Morse has more than 38 years in Tarrant County banking, including nearly 20 as CEO and founding member of Worthington National Bank. The San Angelo native’s appreciation of fine art, especially Texas artwork, is visible at each bank location. Morse followed a bachelor’s in business from SMU with an MBA from TCU and successfully completed the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at SMU. Morse is an adjunct professor at UT Arlington, teaching MBA and senior-level finance. His work there has been recognized with the Excellence in Teaching Award. He serves on the board of directors for several area nonprofits, including the Navy Seals Foundation Board, Fort Worth Stock Show, Tarrant County Blue, the Arlington Police Foundation, Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers' Foundation Board, and Amon Carter Museum Ambassadors Council.
Mark Nurdin
President and CEO Bank of Texas
Mark Nurdin wears multiple hats for Bank of Texas. He’s been executive vice president of parent BOK Financial since September 2019, responsible for managing two commercial banking teams. He’s also been CEO of the Fort Worth Region since 2009. Before his time at Bank of Texas, Nurdin was senior vice president and regional manager of the Wealth Management Group at Wells Fargo, where he was responsible for leading a team delivering insurance, investment management, and trust services. Under his leadership, the Fort Worth office achieved Concorde Elite status in 2006 and 2008. His board memberships include Visit Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Stock Show. He earned a bachelor’s in accounting and finance from Texas Tech University.
Lonnie Nicholson President and CEO EECU
Lonnie Nicholson became president and CEO of EECU in 2006, previously serving as chief operating officer and credit union service organization president. Nicholson is a 30-year credit union veteran. He is past president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce board and serves on the boards of the Credit Union Coalition of Texas, EECU Community Foundation, National Association of Federal Credit Unions. Asked what the best advice he received from a mentor, Nicholson says: "Understand what motivates one person may not motivate another. Take time to know your people and help them grow.” Nicholson attended Fort Hays State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and has an MBA from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
Martin Noto Jr. Executive Vice President/
Chief Administrative Officer
Inwood National Bank
Martin Noto has an extensive background in commercial banking, with 38 years in banking. Before joining Inwood in 2019, he was president and CEO of the Fort Worth Region for First Financial Bank. Noto previously worked for Origin Bank and BBVA Compass Bank. Noto began his career with JP Morgan Chase Bank and experienced all sides of the banking industry. Before leaving, he oversaw the approval process and credit quality of a $3.5 billion loan portfolio originated by 26 bankers in eight offices located in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. He serves on the United Way Board and Finance Committee and is a member of the executive committee of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. Noto is also past chair of the Fort Worth Chamber. BBA, marketing; MBA, finance; University of North Texas.
Wayne Parkman Area President BancorpSouth Fort Worth
Wayne Parkman opened the first Cadence Bank in the Tarrant County Market in 2022 (formerly BancorpSouth) located in the Stockyards. He has been with Cadence since July 2021. Cadence Bank was strategically placed in the Stockyards area to serve residential and commercial customers. The institution strives to meet the demands of the community by being a community bank in the Stockyards. Cadence Bank in the Stockyards offers mortgage lending, commercial loans, consumer, and business deposit accounts. Parkman earned a bachelor’s in agricultural business from Texas Tech University and certification from the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at SMU and volunteers with Catholic Charities of Fort Worth.
Mike Pavell Market President Bank of America
Mike Pavell joined Bank of America in 1993. He is the bank’s Fort Worth and Tarrant County market president and a private client advisor for the Bank of America Private Bank. Before rejoining the Fort Worth team in 2004, Pavell was a principal and portfolio management officer in the former Global Corporate and Investment Bank. While in GCIB, Pavell had coverage responsibilities in the media/telecom industry and in the financial services industry. Board memberships include Trinity Valley School; Davey O’Brien Foundation; International Board of Visitors of the TCU Neeley School of Business; elder and former trustee of First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth. Past president of the Neeley Alumni Board and past member of the Frog Club. Pavell earned a BBA and MBA from TCU.
BANKING AND FINANCE
Charlie Powell President and CEO Ciera Bank
Charlie Powell’s career spans more than three decades, and he counts the relationships he’s built and people he’s mentored as his legacy. He was previously recognized by the Tarrant County Bankers Association with the Banker of the Year Award in 2011. Other awards include Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Distinguished Health Service, Association of Fundraising Professionals National Philanthropic Outstanding Volunteer, HurstEuless-Bedford Chamber of Commerce Leadership and Community Service, Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizens Award, co-chair of the Tarrant County United Way Campaign. He has held leadership positions on numerous community and nonprofit boards, including past board chair at JPS Health Network. He is a graduate of the University of Texas.
Mark W. Warren
Fort Worth Region Chairman
PlainsCapital Bank
Mark Warren is a 48-year veteran of the Tarrant County banking industry. As Fort Worth region chairman, he oversees bank management, business development and recruitment for Fort Worth and surrounding branches. He previously was president of PlainsCapital Bank in Arlington and senior vice president and senior commercial relationship manager at JP Morgan Chase Bank in Arlington. Warren's current board affiliations include River Legacy Foundation, where he serves as vice president of the board and as a member the finance & executive committee. Mark was elected to the River Legacy Board in 2006. He has been involved with Young Men for Arlington and the Arlington Noon Optimist Club, where he was a former officer. Warren has a BBA in finance from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Neil Randel CEO First American Payment Systems LP
Neil Randel is CEO at First American and managing director of Deluxe Corp., a major business technology company. Randel founded National Merchant Services, an independent sales organization providing merchant services throughout Texas, followed by FirstNet Corp., which facilitated credit card processing, before joining First American in 1993 and leading the company to become of the fastest-growing payment processors in the U.S. In 2004, Randel was selected EY's Entrepreneur of the Year in Business Services, a program that recognizes entrepreneurial achievement among individuals that demonstrate vision, leadership, and success. He is a founding board member of 5 Stones Foundation, which supports anti-trafficking and victim advocacy efforts in Tarrant County.
James Stokes Jr. Executive Director Alliance Lending Corp.
James Stokes, with 37 years of experience, is executive director of Alliance Lending Corp., an SBA lending source and provider of long-term, fixed-rate financing for growing businesses. Stokes is charter and past president of the North Texas Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders and continues to serve as a board member. He also is secretary of the National Association of Development Cos. Both associations have a mission of keeping the interest of borrowers and before members of Congress. Alliance Lending was chartered in 1976 as the Fort Worth Economic Development Corp., and it changed its name to Alliance Lending in 2005. Stokes earned a bachelor’s in finance from LSU.
Rick Wessel CEO and Vice
Chairman First Cash
Rick Wessel has served as vice chair of First Cash since September 2016 and CEO since November 2006. FirstCash is the leading international operator of pawn stores, with more than 2,770 retail pawn locations and 17,000 employees in 24 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and El Salvador. FirstCash focuses on serving cash and credit constrained consumers through its retail pawn locations, which buy and sell a wide variety of jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, musical instruments, and other merchandise, and make small consumer pawn loans secured by pledged personal property. Wessel joined the company in 1992 as chief financial officer. Previously, he worked for Price Waterhouse.
Hadley Woerner
President, Tarrant Region Frost Bank
Hadley Woerner has more than 40 years in banking, and today is president of Tarrant Region for Frost Bank, celebrating its 155th year. Woerner, who has built expertise in the business issues of entrepreneurs, corporations, nonprofits, and governmental organizations statewide, including assignments in commercial lending and relationship management for various kinds of middle market organizations, oversees development and expansion of relationships across all Frost financial services. He currently serves as chairman of the board of directors for United Way of Tarrant County, as well as on the board of Cook Children’s Health Foundation, North Texas LEAD, Davey O’Brien Foundation, Tarleton State University Foundation, and the Fort Worth Chamber. Woerner’s credentials include a bachelor’s in business administration from Howard Payne University in Brownwood.
BANKING AND FINANCE
Gus S. Bates CEO Hub International/Gus Bates Insurance and Investments
Working alongside his father, Gus S. Bates started his insurance career in 1990 and grew into a full-service insurance brokerage, selling retirement plan services, employee benefits, property and casualty, and personal insurance lines. Bates and the company have been longtime Fort Worth supporters of numerous causes, including many proposed by employees. In 2020, Hub International, the global insurance brokerage, acquired the assets of Gus Bates Insurance and Investments. Bates divided proceeds among employees and remained with Hub. Outside of insurance, Bates has built other businesses, including the Pop’s Gym boutique fitness studio and a commercial real estate portfolio. Bates has a bachelor’s from TCU.
Jim Hubbard Managing Director/ Employee Benefits Higginbotham
Jim Hubbard has been with Higginbotham since 1989, when he co-founded the firm’s Financial Services Division, and is a director and member of the management team. Higginbotham serves as a single source for insurance, risk management, and financial services, selling commercial and personal property and casualty coverage, employee benefits, retirement plans, life insurance, and executive compensation plans through more than 250 regional and national carriers. Higginbotham is the nation’s 30th-largest independent insurance brokerage and second largest in Texas. Has served on the Fort Worth Country Day School and Trinity Habitat for Humanity boards. Hubbard has a bachelor’s in business administration and management from the University of North Texas.
Matt Morris President Hub International/Gus Bates Insurance and Investments
Matt Morris graduated Aledo High School and headed west to Hardin-Simmons University, where he earned his BBA in finance and leadership, was a two-time NCAA All-America offensive lineman, and met his wife to be, Sarah. He began working for Gus Bates in 2002 in accounting and operational support. In 2020, assets of the firm, then with 60 employees and $13.5 million annual revenue, were purchased by HUB International. Morris, as president, helped lead the search for a sale partner that would continue the Bates “people first” culture. He remained as area president. His board membership includes First Financial Bank Fort Worth Advisory Board and Aledo Growth Committee, and he is active in both C12 and in Christ Chapel Bible Church. He also has an MBA from TCU.
John Pergande CEO InsureZone
John Pergande founded InsureZone in 1999, a venture-funded company whose goal was to bring technology to insurance by creating a comparative quoting service and other tools to sell and provide service for insurance policies, all online. Original strategy was to lever the brands of financial institutions that wanted to sell insurance on their sites. But major marketing partners generated few leads, so InsureZone rebuilt its plan to focus instead on serving agents, rather than consumers. Today, InsureZone is a holding company with a combination of software development and insurance services. Its software is used by over 35,000 agencies around the U.S. for policy shopping and service. Pergande’s nonprofit interests include: STARS Scholarship Fund, Cristo Rey, Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation, and the Fort Worth Symphony. B.A., economics and political science, Yale; MBA, Northwestern.
Mark Jones Chairman and CEO Goosehead Insurance
Mark Jones — then a senior partner at Bain & Co. — and his wife, Robyn (a real estate investor), co-founded Goosehead Insurance in 2003 in Westlake, with an independent multi-carrier franchise model. Today, Goosehead represents more than 140 insurance companies that underwrite personal lines and small commercial lines risks, and its operations include a network of nine corporate sales offices and over 1,400 operating and contracted franchises. Shares of the publicly traded company, traded on the NASDAQ, were worth more than $2 billion in April. In September, the husband and wife announced a $100 million gift to Montana State University to train nurses and expand access to health care in the state’s rural areas. Jones earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta and an MBA from Harvard University.
Rusty Reid CEO Higginbotham
Rusty Reid has been president and CEO of Higginbotham since 1989. The company has become one of the largest U.S. independent brokerages and largest in Texas, with full property and casualty and financial service lines in its nearly 50 offices in 10 states. Reid implemented the firm’s “single source” service model and established the company’s employee ownership structure. Reid began his career as an assistant to the principals of Ramey, King & Minnis Insurance Agency in 1983. He moved on to American General Fire & Casualty Company before joining Higginbotham in 1986. He is president of the All Saints’ Episcopal School board, first vice president of the Davey O’Brien Foundation board, a member of the Casa Mañana board, and a former regent at the University of North Texas, his alma mater.
BANKING AND FINANCE
Lee Bass
Lee M. Bass Inc.
Lee Bass, youngest of the four Bass brothers, has an estimated $2.3 billion net worth, according to Forbes The brothers’ uncle, oilman Sid Richardson, bequeathed each nephew $2.8 million when he died in 1959. The brothers turned their inheritances into fortunes, investing in oil and other vehicles. In 2017, the brothers sold oil holdings in West Texas to Exxon Mobil for up to a total $6.6 billion. The brothers invested in developing a big piece of downtown Fort Worth into Sundance Square. In 2019, Ed and wife Sasha Bass announced they had taken 100% ownership of Sundance Square except for the City Center Towers. Lee and wife Ramona (see Philanthropy) give to conservation, education, and other causes through Lee and Ramona Bass Foundation. Bachelor’s, Arts/Sciences, Yale; MBA, University of Pennsylvania.
David Bonderman Chairman and Founding Partner TPG
David Bonderman, who worked for Robert Bass before leaving to found the TPG private equity group (nee Texas Pacific Group) with Bass colleague James Coulter in 1992, has built an estimated $6.5 billion net worth, according to Forbes. TPG is a global investment firm headquartered in San Francisco and Fort Worth, with more than $135 billion in assets under management and 12 offices around the world. The firm works in private equity, real estate, and hedge funds. Bonderman works from Fort Worth, and Coulter from San Francisco. Their first deal was a $66 million investment in the struggling Continental Airlines that made the firm a $640 million profit, according to Forbes. Bonderman holds a bachelor’s from University of Washington and law degree from Harvard University.
Robert Bass
Keystone Group LP
Robert Bass has an estimated $5.1 billion net worth, according to Forbes. The brothers’ uncle, oilman Sid Richardson, bequeathed each of his nephews $2.8 million when he died in 1959. Each turned the inheritance into multibillion-dollar net worths, investing in oil and other vehicles. The brothers in 2017 sold West Texas oil holdings to ExxonMobil for up to a total $6.5 billion. In 2019, Ed and wife Sasha Bass (see Real Estate) announced they had taken 100% interest of the family’s Sundance Square holdings, except for the City Center towers. Robert Bass is investing in a startup, Aerion, developing a supersonic commercial airliner and business jet. Robert and wife Anne (see Philanthropy) direct their giving through their Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Foundation. Bachelor’s, Arts/ Sciences, Yale; MBA, Stanford.
Douglas Bratton
Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer
Crestline Investors
Douglas Bratton has been an investment professional with organizations using alternative asset strategies since 1983. He has extensive experience in hedge fund management, credit strategies, private equity, and venture capital. Since 1989, Bratton has managed portfolios using these strategies on behalf of organizations associated with Fort Worth’s Bass family and has negotiated alternative asset related purchases and joint ventures for Bass and Crestline entities. Bratton is majority owner of Crestline Investors. Prior to founding Crestline, he spent six years with Taylor & Co., an investment organization associated with the Bass family. Bratton serves on the Fort Worth Zoo board. He received a B.S. from North Carolina State University in 1981 and an MBA from Duke University in 1984.
Sid Bass, eldest of the four Bass brothers, has a $4 billion estimated net worth, according to Forbes The brothers each inherited $2.8 million from their uncle, oilman Sid Richardson, when he died. Each turned that into a multibillion-dollar fortune, investing in oil and other vehicles. The brothers sold oil holdings in West Texas to ExxonMobil in 2017 for up to $6.5 billion, a deal negotiated directly between Sid Bass and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, according to Forbes. The brothers invested in converting a big piece of downtown Fort Worth into Sundance Square. In 2019, Ed and wife Sasha Bass announced they had taken 100% interest in Sundance Square except for the City Center Towers, owned jointly by Ed, Sasha, Sid, and Lee Bass. Bachelor’s, Arts/Science, Yale; MBA, Stanford.
Rafael Garza
Co-Founder and Managing Director Bravo Equity
Rafael Garza is a cofounder and managing director of Bravo Equity. Since 1989, Garza has worked almost exclusively on U.S.-Mexico businesses, specifically those benefiting from the U.S. Hispanic market. Garza has been a frequent speaker on forums addressing U.S. Hispanic growth and U.S.-Mexico integration. Garza serves on the board of directors of portfolio companies: Vantage Bank, Southwest Bank, Innoventions (Media), Bravo Pizzas (Food/retail), Avante (Education), Pequeno Mexico (Consumer), and Plaza Financial Services (Pawn). He is a trustee on the boards of TCU, Cook Children’s Medical Center, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. He has also served on the board of Streams and Valleys and The Lena Pope Home. Garza has a BBA in accounting from TCU.
Sid Bass
Sid R. Bass Inc.
Craig Kelly President Kelly Capital Partners
Craig Kelly was one of the founding partners of Vintage Capital Partners Fund I in 2005. He later raised two additional Funds: Kelly Capital Fund I in 2010 and Kelly Capital Fund II in 2014. Kelly has raised more than $350 million in private equity and has over 30 years in commercial real estate. His expertise is in acquisition, development, brokerage, and asset management. From 1992 to 2006, Kelly was a partner in Kelly, Geren & Searcy, a full-service real estate company that sold in 2006 to Coldwell Banker Commercial. He served on the city of Fort Worth Planning Commission, the boards of Leadership Fort Worth and The Cliburn, and DFW Center for Autism, where he was chair. Kelly earned a bachelor’s from the University of Texas at Austin.
Scott Kleberg
Principal
and Managing Partner
CA Partners Holdings
Scott Kleberg is the principal and managing member of CA Partners, LLC, a registered investment adviser in Fort Worth, managing investments and advising families. Kleberg is chief investment officer of Bluestem Partners, L.P., a diversified family investment partnership, and founding principal and president of Private Equity Partners, Inc., a private equity investment firm started in 1996 in Fort Worth. Prior to forming Private Equity Partners, Kleberg worked for Luther King Capital Management as an investment analyst, portfolio manager, and vice president. Kleberg is great-great grandson of Capt. Richard King, who founded the King Ranch in South Texas in the late 1880s. From 1984-90, Kleberg was employed by King Ranch, Inc., owner of the 820,000-acre ranch. Bachelor’s, Texas A&M; master’s, Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Ardon Moore President and CEO Lee M. Bass Inc.
Along with serving as CEO of Lee M. Bass Inc., Lee Bass’ investment vehicle, Ardon Moore is active in the Fort Worth community. He’s president of the executive committee of the Fort Worth Zoological Association. He’s a former trustee of the Cook Children’s Medical Center and All Saints’ Episcopal School boards. He’s also former vice chairman of the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Co., which manages the UT System’s investment assets. Moore and wife Iris direct giving through their Ardon and Iris Moore Foundation, which held $8.34 million in net assets in 2016, according to its annual federal filing. The Moores were honored in 2016 by the All Saints’ Episcopal School for matching contributions dollar-fordollar to an $11.6 million capital campaign. Moore is past board president of All Saints.
Geoffrey Raynor Founding Partner Q Investments
Geoffrey Raynor founded Q Investments in 1994 in Fort Worth. The firm doesn’t limit itself to specific industries or strategies, and it has deployed capital into long-term investments in aviation, private equity, distressed and special situations, and activist spaces. It estimates it has more than $2 billion in invested assets. The firm says internal partners represent about 85% of the capital, with a “few outside investors.” The firm has 50 employees. Raynor’s Once Upon a Time foundation had $189.45 million in net assets at the end of 2018, according to its federal filing, and makes many of its major gifts to higher education, including the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. UT Southwestern recognized Raynor and the foundation for $10 million in gifts to support research led by several faculty members.
Les Kreis Managing Partner and Co-Founder Bios Partners
Les Kreis has more than 25 years of investment experience in global public and private equity. In addition to the Fort Worth-based Bios, he is managing principal at Steelhead Capital Management, which manages a portfolio of small business investments and startup ventures. Kreis is a founding member of Cowtown Angels, the Fort Worth angel investment network. Kreis was formerly a vice president at HBK Investments, a multi-strategy global hedge fund based in Dallas. During his 11 years with the firm, he managed a $3 billion global portfolio of stocks, bonds, and derivatives products. He was one of two professionals who launched HBK’s London office, and he traded in many financial markets including Japan, India, Europe, United Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. Kreis received a BBA in finance from TCU.
Sunny Vanderbeck Managing Partner Satori Capital
Sunny Vanderbeck’s leadership training began when he served as a section leader of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, U.S. Special Operations Command. After leaving the military, Vanderbeck applied his skills to business. Vanderbeck in 1996 co-founded Data Return, a leading provider of managed services and utility computing. The company reached a $3 billion market capitalization after a successful IPO, making Vanderbeck one of the youngest CEOs to lead a Nasdaq company. His experiences with building, selling, buying back, and reselling Data Return, along with his involvement in dozens of businesses at Satori, led Vanderbeck to publish his book, Selling Without Selling Out: How to Sell Your Business Without Selling Your Soul. He co-founded Satori Capital — a multistrategy investment firm — with Randy Eisenman in 2008 in Fort Worth on the principles of conscious capitalism.
BANKING AND FINANCE
J.T. Aughinbaugh Market Manager
JPMorgan Chase
J.T. Aughinbaugh and head of investments Kyle Hitchcock in Dallas oversee $24 billion in total client positions and lead more than 57 bankers, investment specialists, trust and estate attorneys, wealth advisers, lending advisers, and client service professionals. Aughinbaugh was born in Houston and moved to Fort Worth to play football at TCU. He never left. He has spent nearly his entire career with J.P. Morgan in the Fort Worth office and is a 17-year veteran of the financial industry. Outside of work, Aughinbaugh has been active with Colonial Charities, James L. West Center for Dementia Care, Presbyterian Night Shelter, and the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. He has a degree in finance and an MBA, both from TCU’s Neeley School of Business.
Jeff Conner serves Fort Worth and West Texas as a senior wealth strategist for Northern Trust, responsible for helping clients preserve and grow wealth through asset management, estate planning, trust administration, and private banking. Conner previously spent 19 years in the J.P. Morgan Private Bank on business development and client acquisition in Fort Worth and West Texas. Conner chairs the Cook Children's Medical Center board and serves on the Cook Children's Health Care System board. Other board memberships include, Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate; past chair, Child Study Center Foundation board, past member, Child Study Center board. He earned a bachelor’s in business administration with a focus on finance from Texas Tech University.
Brendan Hall Senior Vice President/GM Fidelity Investments
Brendan Hall, a 23-year Fidelity Investments veteran, currently serves as a senior vice president and general manager in the personal investing business. He has been the Texas Region co-leader since 2019. As region co-leader, Hall is responsible for amplifying and delivering on corporate strategies at a local level, promoting diversity and inclusion, recruiting talent, and driving regional engagement across the more than 10,000 Fidelity employees in North Texas. He is also a member of all 10 Fidelity Employee Resource Groups. He volunteers in the North Texas community through Fidelity Cares events and volunteers as a coach in various youth sports leagues. Hall has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Becker College and Nichols College in Massachusetts.
Mark L. Johnson
Principal/Vice President Luther King Capital Management
Mark L. Johnson has 38 years in investments, joining Luther King Capital Management in 2002. He previously was a principal and portfolio manager at GSB Investment Management, chief investment officer at Mtrust Fort Worth, and credit loan review officer at First National Bank of Fort Worth. Johnson is son of the late Ruth Carter Stevenson, who founded the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and grandson of Amon Carter. As chair of the TCU board of trustees, he was intimately involved in the hiring of Sonny Dykes as Gary Patterson’s replacement as football coach. He is president of the Amon Carter Foundation and serves on the Carter museum board, where his sister, Karen Hixon Johnson, is president. Johnson earned a bachelor’s from Duke University.
J. Bryan King
Principal/Vice President Luther King Capital Management
J. Bryan King has been an investment manager responsible for micro and small-capitalization public and private investments since 1994 at Luther King Capital Management, which had $25.7 billion in assets under management as of March 31. In 2000, King established and is a managing partner of LKCM Private Discipline Management, L.P., LKCM Capital Group, and LKCM Headwater Investments, a middle-market buyout firm. King serves as chair of the board of directors or managing partner of several businesses. He is a member of the Fort Worth Zoological Association board, among others. King graduated with a bachelor’s in history from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard
Jeff King
Fort Worth Region President Northern Trust
Jeff King opened the Fort Worth office of Northern Trust in March 2013, the firm's first direct presence covering West Texas and New Mexico. He previously was managing director of the J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Fort Worth, where he was market manager for over 25 years and ran the firm's local commercial real estate group and oil and gas services. His board membership includes: The Cliburn, chair; Fort Worth Zoological Association. King is past chair of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Visit Fort Worth, Fort Worth Sister Cities International, and University Christian Church. Former vice chair, Cook Children’s Health Foundation and Fort Worth Zoning Commission. In the past, he has served on the boards of Trinity Metro. King has a bachelor’s in finance and real estate from TCU.
Luther King CEO Luther King Capital Management
J. Luther King Jr. founded his eponymous firm in 1979 in Fort Worth. The SEC-registered investment advisory firm has offices in Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas. The firm has 85 employees, including 53 investment and other professionals, 31 CFAs, seven CPAs, three CFPs, and 32 employees with MBAs. As of March 31, the firm had $25.7 billion in assets under management. King earned a bachelor’s and MBA from TCU. He served as TCU’s board chair, 2005-11. In 2021, TCU honored King, attributing several achievements to his leadership: dedication of four residence halls, refurbished Frog Fountain, new Brown-Lupton University Union, Sam Baugh Indoor Practice Facility & Cox Field, Meyer-Martin Athletic Complex, invitations to six football bowl games, and TCU’s first College World Series appearance.
Scott Orr Vice President,
Government Affairs
Fidelity Investments
Scott Orr is vice president of Government Relations and head of Southern Regional Public Affairs for Fidelity Investments. He is responsible for all governmental relationships at the local, state and federal levels for Fidelity regions west of New York. He speaks frequently to client groups and financial professionals regarding the regulatory and political climate in Washington and its implications for investors. He is state government relations chair for the North Texas Commission, treasurer of the Public Affairs Council and a board member of more than a dozen national and regional civic, trade, and nonprofit organizations. Orr spent a decade serving as the CEO of two nonprofit organizations and seven years as an elected public school board trustee. BBA, accounting, Abilene Christian; MBA, Harvard Business School.
Jim Lacamp
Senior Vice President
The Money-Sense Team at Morgan Stanley
Jim Lacamp is a longtime Fort Worth wealth manager known for his frequent guest appearances on CNBC, Fox News, and Fox Business. Lacamp has been in investment management since 1985 and works with his business partner, Pat Reddell, also a senior vice president and senior portfolio manager. Together they boast 65 years of experience in the financial markets. Lacamp serves on the boards of Cristo Rey, the Fort Worth Employee Retirement Fund, the Presbyterian Night Shelter and the Fort Worth Club. He also plays in a band, “6 Feet High and Rising.” A holder of double degrees with bachelor’s in economics and finance from Baylor University.
Hal Lambert CEO Point Bridge Capital
Hal Lambert founded Point Bridge Capital in 2013, providing high net worth individuals with investment advice and independent custody of assets and trustee services. Point Bridge Capital is a fee-only, noncommission, SEC-registered investment adviser. Lambert frequently appears on CNBC and Fox Business to discuss markets, Fed policy, and the economy. After President Trump took office, Lambert, a Republican, created the MAGA exchanged-traded fund, trading in stocks of companies with demonstrated histories of Republican support at top. He served on Trump’s Inaugural Committee and worked as a National Finance Chair for presidential campaigns. Before Point Bridge, Lambert managed portfolios at Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase and was a credit analyst in convertible bond arbitrage for Fort Worth’s Bass family. BBA, finance, University of Texas at Austin; MBA, Georgetown.
Bob Semple
Chairman, Tarrant County Market Executive Bank of Texas Private Wealth
Bob Semple’s history in banking goes back several decades. He served in various leadership posts in the Bank One organization from 1977-98 and subsequently was chairman and CEO of Worth Bancorp. Semple also spent five years with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. He is Bank of Texas Private Wealth’s chairman for Tarrant County and market executive. He serves on the Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. board. Past board membership includes TCU Neeley School of Business Advisory Board, Davey O’Brien Foundation, All Saints Health System, where he served as chairman, and chapter president for West Texas Chapter of Young Presidents. Semple is a graduate of TCU.
Mark Steffe President and CEO First Command Financial Services
Mark Steffe was promoted to CEO of First Command Financial Services, which provides personal financial coaching to 290,000 military client families around the world, in January 2020. First Command, based in Fort Worth, has more than 175 offices, maintains more than $35 billion in managed accounts and mutual funds, and has more than $62 billion in life insurance coverage in force. First Command Bank holds more than $960 million in deposits. Steffe joined First Command as a senior vice president. Promoted to president in 2017, added chief operating officer’s duties a year later. He is First Command’s first CEO without military experience. When COVID-19 hit, First Command rapidly adjusted operations to continue to help clients without in-person coaching and offered financial relief. B.S., finance, Illinois; Harvard University Advanced Management Program.
Over 130 Years of Customer Relationships
We like to keep it simple.
1. Customers come first... What a concept!
2. NO outside shareholders or board members.
3. Keep your information PRIVATE
4. NO red tape or BS.
5. Fast decisions, made locally.
6. 7 shareholders, all family, all involved.
7. More than anything, we support our Texas communities and like to have fun!
We focus on the long-term not the next quarter.
Unlike any other bank you’ve ever seen, we are proud to be the largest family-owned bank in the nation. Founded in 1892, and now five generations later, we’re still led by the Ware family.
Fort Worth Branch (682) 354-2700
4501 Camp Bowie Blvd Fort Worth, TX 76107
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Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County (WSTC), under the direction of the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), is one of 28 local workforce development boards located throughout the state. WSTC’s primary goal is to meet the needs of Tarrant County employers and workers through locally designed market-driven workforce development initiatives and services. All employers, workers and job seekers are eligible to take advantage of these services.
Workforce Governing Board Members
*Judge Tim O’Hare, Tarrant County (WGB Chair)
Kimberly Baker-Jones, Union Auto Workers Local 276
Lillie Biggins, YWCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth
Dr. Marcelo Cavazos, Arlington ISD
Mike Doyle, Cornerstone Assistance Network
Mary Farris. Health & Human Services
Mike Gerro, Frost Bank
Jon Gustafson, Lockheed Martin
Dr. Marie Holliday, Sundance Square Dentist
Andrew Johnsen, Columbia Strategic Consulting Group
Deb Jones, Vocational Rehabilitation Services
Antoinette Karriem, Live by Loews
David Klein, Klein Tools
Dr. Jacque Lambiase, Texas Christian University
Jennifer Limas, Girls Inc. of Tarrant County
*Mayor Mattie Parker, Fort Worth *Mayor Jim Ross, Arlington
Jerletha McDonald, Early Learning Alliance
*Rosa Navejar, The Rios Group
Bruce Payne, City of Arlington - Economic Dev.
Jeff Postell, Post L Group, LLC
Vickie Powell, TPPB, LLC
Buddy Puente, Southwest Office Systems
Dr. Di Ann Sanchez, DAS HR Consulting
Leslie Scott, Mother Parker's Tea & Coffee
Michael Smith, Con-Real
Robert Teran, TC Central Labor Council AFL-CIO
Raymond Todd, Texas Workforce Commission
*Estrus Tucker, Historic Como Preservation Council
*Judy McDonald, Executive Director, Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County
*Workforce Solutions congratulates our honorees in The Fort Worth 400
Economic Development
Fort Worth’s economic development team has a big job: drawing new business to the city, retaining what’s here, and participating in the conversation about what makes Fort Worth a better place to live, work, do business, and play. Its role has never been more pivotal as the city grapples with exponential population growth that has Fort Worth ranked as the 13thlargest city in the U.S. and surging.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Robert Allen CEO Fort Worth Economic
opment Partnership
Devel-
Robert Allen was hired earlier this year to lead the new Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, an arm of the Fort Worth Chamber designed to lead business recruitment and attraction for the city. Allen was formerly president and CEO of the Texas Economic Development Corporation, based in Austin. During his six years leading the Texas Economic Development Corporation, Allen spearheaded initiatives that advanced the organization’s mission to market Texas to business interests, including major international business missions to Japan, India, and Europe. Under Allen’s leadership, TxEDC hosted many premier events featuring industry executives from across the state. He and his team raised nearly $20 million to promote Texas and support the day-to-day activities of TxEDC. Previously, Allen was chief of staff to Gov. Greg Abbott. He is a graduate of the University of Texas.
Mike Brennan CEO Near Southside, Inc.
Mike Brennan became president of Near Southside, the nonprofit leading its revitalization, in 2018 after 12 years leading planning and development. Near Southside has become a model of the walkable, mixed-use urban vision other parts of the city aspire to. The Near Southside’s reemergence has been nothing short of Lazarian after years of decay, demonstrated by withdrawal and abandonment. However, it is again a vibrant extension of the central business district. It puts on a range of community-focused programs, including festivals and events that attract thousands, and various business assistance initiatives. Brennan received a master’s in urban planning from Harvard's Graduate School of Design. He is founding chair of Fort Worth Bike Sharing, Inc.
Hayden Blackburn Executive Director TechFW
Hayden Blackburn has been executive director of the nonprofit TechFW incubator and accelerator, and director of the Cowtown Angels angel investing group, since 2016. Blackburn moved to TechFW from the Idea Works collaborative. TechFW’s programs include ThinkLab, Cowtown Angels, EpiCMavs at UT Arlington, TechNest, and M-Crew. TechFW is also now a sub along with nine other statewide organizations on a DoD grant with UT Austin for the Microelectronics Precision Rapid Innovation & Scaling Manufacturing Network. Board member: International Business Innovation Association (InBIA), TIF 4: Southside/Medical District, Fort Worth Public Library Foundation, and Near Southside Inc. Blackburn has been a founder or leading contributor to the major annual Fort Worth Business Plan competition, 1 Million Cups, Startup Weekend, and Entrepreneur Summit. BBA, Texas Tech.
Cameron Cushman Assistant Vice President of Innovation Ecosystems UNT Health Science Center
Since 2017, Cameron Cushman helped develop and connect Fort Worth’s entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem. Cushman helps usher the next generation of Fort Worth innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors build and grow their startup companies in an idea-friendly environment. These entrepreneurs are able to move faster, avoid failure, create more jobs, and build wealth. Cushman began his career as an executive assistant in President George W. Bush’s White House and moved to Bush’s Commerce Department, where he worked in trade negotiations. Cushman moved to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City and led initiatives to build entrepreneurial communities, including the co-founding of 1 Million Cups, a weekly educational event now in over 150 cities and 30 countries. Bachelor’s, political science, Texas A&M.
Trey Bowles Managing Director Techstars Fort Worth
Trey Bowles, a serial entrepreneur, is managing director of Techstars in the Physical Health Fort Worth Accelerator. Bowles was co-founder and president of InnoCity Partners LLC, a smart-cities consulting and project management firm focused on providing counsel to organizations across the public and private sectors to design, plan, and implement smart cities programs. Bowles co-founded the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, a nonprofit created for entrepreneurs to learn how to start, build, and grow businesses through training, education, mentorship, and capital investment. Bowles also worked closely with the Startup America Partnership, a nonprofit organization started by Steve Case, the White House, and the Kauffman Foundation, leading a team of entrepreneurial experts across the country to help high-growth startups find greater success. Bowles earned a BBA from Baylor.
and CEO
Michelle Green-Ford was named president and CEO of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce in January, selected the permanent replacement for the late Devoyd Jennings. She is the first female president in the chamber’s 40-year history. “She has executive leadership and business ownership experience that prepares her to produce superior results for the Black Chamber,” board chair Reginald Gates said. Green-Ford, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, has served in various leadership roles, including most recently vice president and chief diversity officer for JPS Health Network. In addition, she owned a training and consulting company. Board memberships include Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber and an advisory board of the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber.
Michelle Green-Ford President
Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Cortney
Gumbleton
Host FoundHersClub
Cortney Gumbleton became a figurative bullhorn to inspire what she believes is a sea of would-be women entrepreneurs with the launch of “The FoundHers Club,” a podcast in which she shares through interviews the stories of women who are re-defining entrepreneurship. Gumbleton was founder, co-owner, and managing partner of Locavore, an event center and commercial kitchens rental business. Before that, she was executive director of The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation, where she implemented Texas’ first peerto-peer suicide prevention program for youth. Additionally, she created the Hope Initiative, which trained thousands of community members with tools to save lives. She has a bachelor’s from TCU, a master’s from UT Arlington, and a certificate of women’s entrepreneurship from Cornell.
Marco Johnson
Sparkyard
Marco Johnson took over in 2019 as UNTHSC’s Sparkyard network builder, an initiative to help connect entrepreneurs to resources, advocate on behalf of entrepreneurs to community leaders, and conduct research and data analysis on the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Johnson co-leads the annual Global Entrepreneurship Week Fort Worth. He was formerly director of programming at the Accelerate DFW Foundation, where he led the effort to relaunch the former Idea Works incubator. Johnson lived overseas for more than 12 years, most recently working in Tanzania, managing operations for three for-profit social enterprises. Johnson holds a bachelor’s in international affairs from Lewis & Clark College and an MBA in international business from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Megan Henderson Director of Events and Communication Near Southside, Inc.
Megan Henderson, a tireless champion of the historic South Side corridor who produces community programs and events, including ArtsGoggle, Open Streets, and Art South, working with and advocating for stakeholders in Fort Worth’s historic Near Southside, now totaling more than 140 independent storefronts, all, or most, a part of a master plan that has become an exemplar of revitalization blueprints. In 2022, The Pool Near Southside opened as the district's first community art space and has hosted nearly a dozen arts events in partnership with local artists and arts nonprofits over the last year. This year, the Near Southside will witness the grand opening of Fire Station Park and Dickies Skate Plaza. Henderson serves on the board for Arts Fort Worth and on the Visit Fort Worth Marketing Committee.
Anette Landeros President and CEO Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Anette Landeros became the Hispanic Chamber’s new CEO in 2019, bringing more than a decade of background in government and nonprofit posts. In championing inclusive economic growth, Landeros has worked to increase membership, created new ways of measuring outreach and impact of programming, and educated businesses in how to bid for contracts. In three years, she has doubled chamber membership and led the organization to its healthiest financial position of the last decade despite the pandemic. Under her leadership, the chamber has acquired more than $100,000 in grant funding. Board memberships include the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and the executive council of Tarrant To and Through. Landeros holds a bachelor’s in public policy analysis from Indiana University and master’s in public affairs from UT Austin.
Bob Jameson President/CEO Visit Fort Worth
Bob Jameson celebrated 10 years at the helm of Visit Fort Worth in January. Results from 2022 show that 10.9 million people visited Fort Worth. They left behind an economic impact of $3.1 billion and received services from 31,000 Fort Worthians employed in the hospitality industry. A re-organized Visit Fort Worth team has continued to find and support opportunities in convention, sports, music and film business. Leisure travelers are enjoying the new experiences in the Stockyards, the diversity of entertainment at Dickies Arena, and an increasingly vital downtown. This year, construction will begin on the first phase of the Fort Worth Convention Center Expansion. Jameson had a 36-year career in the hotel industry. Jameson has a bachelor’s in history from the University of San Francisco.
Mary-Margaret Lemons
President Fort Worth Housing Solutions
Mary-Margaret Lemons became president of Fort Worth Housing Solutions in December 2017, after serving as general counsel for two years. In her role, she is the face and voice of Housing Solutions, which is at the center of creating affordable housing options citywide and “decentralizing” poverty. She oversees a budget of $100 million and a real estate portfolio of $1 billion. A native of Fort Worth, she has advised financial institutions on federal and state banking laws and served as in-house counsel for a locally headquartered $1.2 billion bank. Her board memberships include DFW, Inc., North Texas LEAD, and LVTRise. Lemons earned a bachelor’s in public relations from the University of Texas at Arlington and her law degree from Texas Wesleyan School of Law.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Stacy Marshall Executive Director Southeast Fort Worth, Inc.
Stacy Marshall, a Mississippi native raised in a small community, in 2015 was named president of Southeast Fort Worth, Inc., a nonprofit that’s seeking to revitalize Southeast Fort Worth through leading economic development, driving improvements in public education, and influencing public policy. Marshall formerly served as CEO of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and as a consultant for nonprofits and for-profit organizations. After college, Marshall moved to Dallas in 1999 and soon became involved in several civic and political activities. Marshall has been widely recognized for his leadership in strategic planning and growing businesses in the community with a grassroots approach.
Judy McDonald Executive Director Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County
Judy McDonald has been executive director of Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County since 1996, responsible for overseeing the employment training and child care funds that benefit Tarrant County businesses and citizens. She has been recognized as an exemplar in workforce delivery systems. McDonald oversees five full-service workforce centers and provides employer services, labor market information, job search assistance, career counseling, occupational training, and child care information and assistance at no cost that empowers clients and leads them in a career path of their choosing. McDonald, who has a degree from UT Arlington, is a past president of the Texas Association of Workforce Boards and past president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council.
Richard Riccetti
Chairman Hemphill Corridor Task Force
Richard Riccetti, director of licensing and international sales for the Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co. in Fort Worth, is a longtime Southsider and entrepreneur. Riccetti and his wife, Chandra, have taken on the redevelopment of The Bastion property on Hemphill Street into multiple uses, including multifamily and an event venue. Riccetti is chairman of the Hemphill Corridor Task Force, a group charged with developing a plan and toolbox of incentives to help revitalize Hemphill Street. The idea, similar to the one that revitalized West Magnolia Avenue, has been met with skeptics among property owners who fear being pushed off of Hemphill by gentrification. Riccetti holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management of Arizona State University.
Stacey Pierce Executive Director Streams and Valleys
Stacey Pierce, a longtime Fort Worth marketing, communications, and development executive, has been executive director of Streams and Valleys, the nonprofit advocacy group for the Trinity River system through Fort Worth, since 2013. Pierce is former marketing and admission director for All Saints’ Episcopal School; marketing and communications director for Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.; development director for the Fort Worth Zoo; and marketing and PR director for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. She has also played a major role in many high-profile events, including promoting Fort Worth during Super Bowl XLV, producing the Lonesome Dove Cast and Crew Reunion, and leading the celebration for the opening of the 7th Street Bridge. She has a bachelor’s in music education from TCU, an MBA from TCU, and Graduate Management Certificate from SMU.
Bob Ray Sanders
Communications Director
Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce
Bob Ray Sanders’ award-winning journalism career in print, television, and radio has landed at the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, where he serves as communications director. A 1969 graduate of University of North Texas, Sanders is past president of the Press Club of Fort Worth. He serves on the advisory board of Community Hospice of Texas, the AIDS Outreach Center in Fort Worth, and Goodwill Industries. Sanders has received some of journalism’s most prestigious awards, including: five awards from the Houston, New York, and Chicago film festivals; five Dallas Press Club KATIE Awards; three Corporation for Public Broadcasting Awards; a regional Emmy Award; a National Association of Black Journalists award for Best TV Sports Feature; and a National Headliner Award for outstanding investigative reporting.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Maegan South Economic Development Manager
Tarrant County
Maegan South has worked in the Tarrant County Administrator’s Office for the better part of 10 years as a management analyst and economic development manager. In that role, the economic development manager is responsible for coordinating county economic development issues and incentive programs with municipalities, businesses, chambers of commerce, and other taxing entities in the county and state. The focus of the county's Economic Development Division has been in the areas of tax abatements and tax increment financing programs that are being utilized to attract and encourage growth and development in Tarrant County. Before joining the Administrator's Office, South worked for the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office/Civil Division, as well as lawyer Michael Maloney. Bachelor’s, paralegal studies, Texas Wesleyan.
Jennifer Trevino Executive Director Leadership Fort Worth
Jennifer Trevino joined Leadership Fort Worth as new executive director in 2021. A graduate of the 2009 Leadership Class, she sees her charge as ensuring the organization’s programs and classes reflect Fort Worth’s diversity. Prior to her appointment, she was the chief development officer of Girls Inc. of Tarrant County, where she led the agency’s fundraising and marketing efforts; management consultant, Brittain-Kalish Group, a management consulting firm based in Fort Worth that specializes in health care. From 2007-17, Trevino was vice president of administration and chief of staff to the president at UNT Health Science Center. Trevino also served as a member of Fort Worth’s Race & Culture Task Force. She has a bachelor’s in business administration from Texas Tech and an MBA from TCU.
Robert Sturns
Economic Development Director
City of Fort Worth Economic Development
Robert Sturns has more than 25 years in local government, commercial real estate, and banking operations. As economic development director with the city, Sturns is responsible for the economic development program for the city, including business attraction and retention, business diversity initiatives, and small business/ entrepreneurship development. Sturns estimates he’s been involved in $3 billion of new announced capital investment and 25,000 jobs by leveraging public-private partnerships. He received a commission as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves where he served for 10 years, reaching the rank of captain. He has a bachelor’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University and an MBA from TCU.
Jarratt
Director
Watkins
Fort Worth Tarrant County Innovation Partnership
Jarratt Watkins is the director of the Fort Worth Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, formerly Fort Worth Now, an economic development nonprofit teaming with the city and county to serve as the point of coordination between the developer or developers of the new Texas A&M campus, A&M officials, corporate tenants, and local stakeholders. Watkins is a lawyer at Kelly Hart, providing legal services covering mergers and acquisitions, business/corporate and energy and natural resources, and securities and corporate finance. He was selected a Rising Star for 2022-23. He served as director of Fort Worth Now, the task force organized by then Mayor Betsy Price to coordinate pandemic relief efforts and economic development opportunities. Bachelor’s, history and government, University of Texas; J.D., SMU.
Andy Taft President Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.
Andy Taft has been president of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., since 2003. DFWI is downtown’s advocacy organization, and it manages the downtown planning process, two Public Improvement Districts, the downtown Tax Increment Finance District, two city parks, the MAIN St. Fort Worth Arts Festival, and the Parade of Lights. DFWI developed the JFK Tribute in Fort Worth and is working to renovate and reopen Heritage Plaza. Taft is a past president of the International Downtown Association and past president of the Rotary Club of Fort Worth. A native of Tampa, Florida, he graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in marketing and began his career in commercial real estate with the Florida Commercial Development Association.
Operating Officer
Mitch Whitten serves as COO of Visit Fort Worth, where he supports teams dedicated to convention sales & services, sports, and marketing. Since he joined the organization in 2013, Fort Worth has been ranked among the Top 50 destinations to visit by Travel & Leisure Magazine and a Top 5 “Destination to Watch” by Condé Nast Traveler. Tourism is one of Fort Worth’s largest industries, supporting more than 30,000 jobs. Whitten helped form the Hear Fort Worth music initiative, the Hispanic Tourism Advisory Board, and the Fort Worth Film Commission, which had a $500 million economic impact in its first seven years. Visit Fort Worth has been recognized for modernized branding, events at SXSW, and for community engagement. Bachelor’s, history/journalism, SMU; master’s, history, University of Virginia.
Mitch Whitten Chief
Visit Fort Worth
Luther King CapitaL ManageMent
Mark L. Johnson, Jr., CFA, CIC Principal, Vice President, Portfolio Manager
J. Luther King, Jr., CFA, CIC Principal, President, Portfolio Manager
J. Bryan King, CFA Principal, Vice President Managing Partner - Headwater Investments
LEADING WITH
IMPACT
The University of Texas at Arlington is proud to congratulate Harry Dombroski, dean of the College of Business, for his recognition as an impactful business leader in Fort Worth. As a UTA alumnus, Dombroski has what we call The Maverick Factor: An unwavering commitment to excellence that makes a difference in our communities close to home and well beyond.
BY THE NUMBERS
9,461 graduates since 2011 who live in Fort Worth
3,852 students in spring 2023 from Fort Worth
417 new UTA students in spring 2023 who transferred from Tarrant County College
276 graduates from Fort Worth ISD high schools who enrolled at UTA in fall 2022
136 students enrolled in at least one class at UTA Fort Worth
UTA AND FORT WORTH
TAKE THE LEAD ON INNOVATION
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Moving FOR ward requires VISion
Administrators continued to wrestle with the issue of outcomes and a shortage of teachers that has school leaders perplexed. The Fort Worth school district welcomed a new superintendent who has come on board vowing to improve learning. More controversy and drama at school board meetings, but this year it’s over what students can read. Many more are concerned that students can read.
In Austin, Gov. Abbott is again pushing for school vouchers, this time under the umbrella of “parental rights.”
EDUCATION
Sylvia Trent-Adams President UNT Health Science Center
In taking over as president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center in September and formally inaugurated in March, Sylvia Trent-Adams became the first Black woman to lead a health science center in Texas. She has set in motion an ambitious agenda to bolster campus research, fundraising, and enrollment, in addition to raising the profile of the university. She began her health care career in 1987 in the U.S. Army. Trent-Adams served from 2015-18 as the Deputy Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She earned a bachelor's in nursing from Hampton University, a Master of Science in nursing and health policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and a doctorate in public policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Victor Boschini Chancellor
TCU
Victor Boschini, 20 years into his post as chancellor, is throwing lots of parties this year to commemorate the 150th birthday of TCU. It is a landmark time for the university in many other ways, starting with medical school buildings emerging at Henderson and Rosedale in the Medical District. The university is on track on a plan to enhance the school’s academic profile and endowment. Enrollment has grown, and as of April the school’s most ambitious fundraising effort in its history — “Lead On” — had raised $946 million of a $1 billion goal. Boschini sits on the boards of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Van Cliburn Foundation, Moncrief Cancer Institute, and Fulbright Scholar Advisory Board. Master’s in personnel, Bowling Green; doctorate in higher education administration, Indiana University.
Bobby Ahdieh Dean, Law School/VP Professional Schools and Programs
Texas A&M System
As dean of the law school and now vice president for Professional Schools & Programs at Texas A&M, Ahdieh has established new and distinctive academic programs, driven dramatic increases in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, and, perhaps most importantly, helped inspire the creation of Texas A&M-Fort Worth — a new innovation-focused, academic/ industry campus in downtown Fort Worth. Ahdieh is a Princeton undergrad and Yaleeducated lawyer. Ahdieh served as law clerk to Judge James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before selection for the Honors Program in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. While in law school, Ahdieh published one of the seminal treatments of the constitutional transformation of post-Soviet Russia.
Elizabeth Brands President and CEO Morris Foundation
Elizabeth Brands, formerly head of education giving at The Morris Foundation, was tapped to be the foundation’s president and CEO last year. The Morris Foundation, founded in 1986 by Linda C. and Jack B. Morris, serves Fort Worth and Tarrant County and focuses its support in the areas of education, health care, and social services. Brands is also executive director of Read Fort Worth, a nonprofit launched in 2016 to attack low third-grade literacy in Fort Worth schools with volunteer tutors. Early literacy is a Morris focus. COVID dealt a blow to progress, and Read Fort Worth is collaborating with the schools and other organizations on summer programs to help kids catch up. Brands holds a master’s in education from Notre Dame and a doctorate from the University of Oklahoma.
Tad Bird Head of School All Saints’ Episcopal School
Tad Bird has been head of school at All Saints’ Episcopal School for 25 years. He has served amidst unprecedented change and overseen transformative growth in enrollment, fundraising, and programmatic elevations. Bird was previously headmaster of The Trinity School of Texas in Longview, head of upper school and dean of students for St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, and associate admission director for Christchurch School in Christchurch, Virginia. Bird holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Austin College and was named to the Athletic Hall of Honor. He also holds a Doctor of Ministry in Educational Leadership from Virginia Theological Seminary and was a 2001 Klingenstein Visiting Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University. Bird currently serves on the boards of Episcopal Church Foundation and Hope Farm.
EJ Carrion Founder and CEO Student Success Agency
EJ Carrion is co-founder and CEO of the Student Success Agency, a fast-growing education software company that partners with school districts to offer digital wraparound services to their students from their cell phones. Carrion is a first-generation college student who received the prestigious Bill and Melinda Gates Scholarship and was Forbes 30 Under 30 in Education honoree in 2018. Carrion, a guest of the Obama White House event recognizing innovative approaches to increasing access to vital educational services to underserved students, holds a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. Each Monday, he co-hosts a weekly podcast with Jimmy Sweeney, discussing local politics, business, and cultural trends to keep busy Fort Worthians informed about the changing landscape of their city.
Harry Dombroski Dean, School of Business UT Arlington
As a UTA alum, Class of 1979, and CPA with the state of Texas, Dombroski brings a unique perspective to the College of Business. Dombroski was a longtime senior officer with Hunt Consolidated Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the nation. Many new initiatives for the College of Business have been launched under his leadership, including Dean’s Leadership Circle, Mavs100, The Business Maverick (College of Business magazine), Sam Mahrouq Financial Markets Lab, and the Diversity, Racial Equity, and Inclusion initiative. Prior to becoming dean in 2018, he served on the College of Business Advisory Council, holding several positions, including president. He also served as chair of the university’s Advisory Council from 2014-18. The College of Business presented him with the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011.
Tobi Jackson President
Fort Worth Independent School District
Tobi Jackson is the president of the Fort Worth School Board, which she has served on since 2010. A lifelong East Sider and Fort Worth public-school graduate, Jackson has served more than three decades in public service in Tarrant County. She is director of Fort Worth SPARC, an after-school program collaboration, and also serves on the board of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an independent public policy organization based in Austin. Recently, Jackson has been recognized in the community, including receiving the Amiga Award from The Tarrant County United Hispanic Council, and the “Good Samaritan” Award from Southside Youth Association. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and a master's degree from the University of North Texas.
Rodney D'Souza
Managing Director, The Davis Family Entrepreneur in Residence TCU Neeley School of Business
Rodney D’Souza was awarded the 2017 Freedoms Foundation Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education and the 2017 University Award for Excellence in Outreach and Engagement. He has developed and delivered undergraduate courses on entrepreneurial mindset, opportunity recognition, idea valuation, new venture creation, new venture management and business plan writing, and an MBA module on innovation and competitive intelligence. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Computer Management from the University of Pune, an MBA from Northern Kentucky, and a doctorate from the University of Louisville. Before joining the faculty at TCU, he was the director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Northern Kentucky.
Elva LeBlanc Chancellor Tarrant County College
Once a Tarrant County College student and professor, Elva LeBlanc is now the system’s chancellor, moving into the role permanently in December. Before that, LeBlanc served as executive vice chancellor and provost, as well as the president of the college’s Northwest Campus, one of five sites in the Tarrant County College District. LeBlanc has made stops at Galveston College, where she served as president, and Austin Community College, where she served as executive vice president for instructional affairs. LeBlanc has bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from the University of North Texas. She also completed post-doctoral work at Texas A&M. LeBlanc serves on the Boards of Higher Education Resource Services; Community College Humanities Association; National Community College Hispanic Council; Texas Statewide Health Coordinating Council; and Arts Council of Fort Worth.
James Hurley President Tarleton State University
James Hurley was unanimously appointed the 16th president of Tarleton State in August 2019. His signature initiatives include robust enrollment growth, innovative student funding models, accelerated degree completion, improved operational efficiency and collaborations with business and community stakeholders. Additionally, Hurley launched the largest-ever comprehensive capital campaign in Tarleton’s history. The university shattered that $100 million goal in 2022, two years ahead of schedule, and set a new target — $125 million — to commemorate its 125th anniversary in 2024. Tarleton topped that goal in March. He holds a doctorate in education from Morehead State University, a master’s from Indiana University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pikeville in Kentucky. He completed the Institute for Presidential Leadership at Harvard.
Eric Lombardi Head of School
Fort Worth Country Day School
In 2015, Eric Lombardi became the sixth head of school at Fort Worth Country Day, one of the city’s most prestigious independent schools, founded in 1963 and initially led by head of school Peter Schwartz. Celebrating its 60th year in 2023-24, the school is involved in a deep dive community-wide dialogue about its future and the future of education, a conversation that will result in a portrait of an FWCD graduate. Previously, Lombardi was middle school division head at St. John’s School in Houston for 16 years. He also had upper school leadership positions at schools in Oklahoma City and Oakland, California. Lombardi, who attended school at St. Mark’s in Dallas, holds a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College and master’s degrees from Duke University and Columbia University.
EDUCATION
Blair Lowry Head of School
Trinity Valley School
A leader in independent school education, Blair Lowry became head of school at the Trinity Valley School in June 2020. An educator for more than 25 years, Lowry began her career in South Florida as an upper school economics and history teacher at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. She then served as head of the middle school at Hammond School in South Carolina and assistant head of school at The Hockaday School in Dallas. Lowry, who has a master’s in political economics from the University of Hull in England, is the first woman to serve as head of school at Trinity Valley where she is spearheading several "future-forward" initiatives while focusing on the school’s values of fine scholarship and intelligent citizenship.
Kim McCuistion Associate Vice Chancellor Texas A&M-Fort Worth
Kim McCuistion serves as the associate vice chancellor and director of the new Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus. In this role, McCuistion's focus is to lead the development of the new campus as an innovation core to stimulate commercial entrepreneurism between key Fort Worth industries and top research, education, and workforce training programs of excellence within The Texas A&M University System. Formerly, McCuistion was dean of Tarleton State University’s 80-acre Fort Worth campus along Chisholm Trail Parkway for the better part of two years. She also held status as a tenured faculty member in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. McCuistion holds a bachelor's degree in animal science from Texas A&M, a master's in animal science from Kansas State University, and a doctorate in agriculture from West Texas A&M University.
Angélica Ramsey Superintendent Fort Worth Independent School District
Angélica Ramsey assumed the role of superintendent in September after most recently serving as superintendent of schools in the Midland ISD. Previously, she was superintendent of the Pleasant Valley School District in California for almost five years. Her career began as a classroom teacher in the Socorro ISD in El Paso, where she became an assistant principal and a principal. Ramsey serves on the Texas Association of School Administrators Advocacy Committee and Texas School Alliance Legislative Committee. She is part of the board for North Texas LEAD and is a member of the North Texas Commission, Longhorn Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and Junior Achievement of the Chisholm Trail. Bachelor’s, University of the Pacific; master’s, UT El Paso; doctorate, educational leadership, Liberty University.
Michael Sherrod
William M. Dickey Entrepreneur in Residence TCU Neeley School of Business
Michael Sherrod has been the Dickey Entrepreneur in Residence at TCU’s Neeley School of Business since 2011. Sherrod is an entrepreneur whose history has been in online media, knowledgeable in digital strategy, nonprofits, journalism, fundraising, and startups. His teaching at Neeley centers around entrepreneurial thinking, processes, and real-world applications. Publications include The Marketing of Suburban Community Newspapers (1976), How to Advertise & Promote Your Small Business (1984), and — who doesn’t need a little guilty pleasure — Bad Baby Names: The Worst True Names Parents Saddled Their Kids with, and You Can Too! (2008). In 2010, Sherrod became the first publisher of The Texas Tribune newspaper. Bachelor’s, Notre Dame; master’s, University of Missouri; executive MBA, TCU.
Daniel Pullin President TCU
Daniel Pullin, John V. Roach Dean of the TCU Neeley School of Business, was named president of TCU late last year. Pullin was named Neeley dean in 2019, moving from the University of Oklahoma, where he was the business school dean. Since joining TCU, he has utilized his combined experience in higher education across multiple roles, as well as an early foundation in leading corporations and private industry to serve as a steward for the Neeley School. Under Pullin’s leadership, Neeley has driven dynamic faculty and staff growth and curriculum innovation; earned increased national visibility and rankings; realized development success; built community and civic engagement; and has placed an unmistakable focus on inclusive excellence. He holds a bachelor’s from Oklahoma, MBA from Harvard Business School, and a law degree from Oklahoma.
Natalie Young Williams
Executive Director T3 Partnership
Natalie Young Williams replaced Mattie Parker, who left to become mayor of Fort Worth, in 2021. The T3 Partnership, founded in 2020, was designed to bridge the high school to higher education and workforce gap with pathways for students in Tarrant County. Williams joined T3 from Paul Quinn College in Dallas, where she served as chief of staff and director of institutional advancement. Prior to joining Paul Quinn, William was the chief of staff and senior vice president of achievement solutions and corporate strategy for EdisonLearning. While there she was the executive director of Friends of Magic, a corporate and community engagement effort for the national network of Magic Johnson Bridgescape Academies. Williams is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School and Arizona State University with degrees in philosophy and journalism.
Congratulations to Sonny Dykes, head coach of TCU Football, for being named Fort Worth Inc.’s “Person of the Year.” You led the Horned Frogs through an amazing season.
And congratulations to all the Horned Frogs who made this year’s list. Thank you for embodying what it means to Lead On.
Victor J. Boschini, Jr., Ed.D.; Chancellor
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.; Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
Rodney D’Souza, Ph.D.; Managing Director, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Davis Family Entrepreneurin-Residence and Associate Professor, TCU Neeley School of Business
Dr. Stuart D. Flynn; Founding Dean, Burnett School of Medicine
Daniel W. Pullin, J.D.; President Michael Sherrod; William M. Dickey Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Instructor, TCU Neeley School of Business
Dale Klose,
Thanks to your energy and foresight, Tarleton State University is on the rise.
We’re outpacing our peers as the first-choice destination for anyone seeking a university degree.
Opportunity is rising. More than 15,000 students call Tarleton home — a 14 percent increase in three years. They come from across the street and around the world to pursue the unknowns and the never-been-dones.
Discovery is rising. Faculty trailblazers and student explorers are solving real world problems and boosting quality of life, as befits our elevated status of Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity Research funding is at an all-time high.
Learning is rising. Fourteen market-responsive majors have been added since 2019. The new Interprofessional Education Building on our Fort Worth campus will add offerings in occupational and physical therapy, teacher education and physician assistant programs. Move-in is set for 2024.
Reputation is rising. Arts. Athletics. Innovation. Instruction. Bright minds just don’t go to Tarleton, they take Tarleton with them. And word is spreading: We truly belong with America’s great public universities.
And this increases our hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Thanks, President Hurley. You bleed purple.
Congratulations, Dr. James Hurley, on being one of Fort Worth’s 400 Most Influential People.
Government
The faces of local government have their hands full guiding Cowtown through the potholes of growing into an international destination and hub of commerce. It’s an election year for the government closest to us. Might need to clean up your boots.
GOVERNMENT
Elizabeth Beck
City Council Member City of Fort Worth
Elizabeth Beck is running for a second term as District 9’s member of the City Council. Her first-term swearing in, in 2021 marked a successful second swing through the electoral process after defeat in a race for the state House of Representatives in 2020. She has vowed a priority on passing policies designed to alleviate homelessness, as well as a culture of inclusive entrepreneurship. Beck graduated Fort Worth Southwest High School and joined the U.S. Army Reserves. Beck is an Iraqi War veteran. Her first taste of public policy was as transportation planner at the North Central Texas Council of Governments, where she worked while completing a master’s in city and regional planning at UT Arlington. In addition to a bachelor’s from UTA, Beck also earned a law degree from Texas A&M School of Law.
Roy C. Brooks
County Commissioner Tarrant County
Roy Charles Brooks was first elected in 2004, succeeding the retiring Dionne Bagsby, the first woman and minority elected to the Commissioners Court. His district includes much of Fort Worth and several other cities. He was reelected to a fifth four-year term in 2020, with 60% of the vote. Brooks has long had interests in the underserved, including public policy dedicated to access to health care, infant mortality, re-entry services, early childhood programs, prostate cancer, and Alzheimer’s education. As a past president of the National Association of Counties, he continues to serve on NACo boards and committees. Brooks led in establishing the Tarrant County Mental Health Jail Diversion Center. He is a longtime trustee and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Texas Wesleyan University.
Gyna Bivens
City Council Member City of Fort Worth
Gyna Bivens, elected to the Fort Worth City Council in 2013, is mayor pro tem. Her district currently includes stretches from Stop Six, Bivens’ home, to CentrePort outside Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and Trinity Lakes in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district. Economic development and opportunity remain the district’s biggest challenges. Bivens is president and executive director of North Texas Leaders and Executives Advocating Diversity (LEAD), a consortium of major employers in North Texas that seek to increase diversity in their managerial ranks. Bivens previously became the first Black corporate spokesperson for Oncor Electric Delivery. She has served on more than 30 boards, the Metropolitan YMCA of Fort Worth, and the American Cancer Association. Bivins is a five-time winner of the Dallas Press Club’s Award of Excellence.
David Cooke City Manager City of Fort Worth
David Cooke became Fort Worth’s city manager in 2014. Cooke manages the $2.3 billion city budget and 7,877 employees, and he is charged with navigating Fort Worth’s new place in the world as the 13th-largest city. Cooke’s focus has been on maintaining service, planning and implementing infrastructure needs, stressing partnerships, and keeping a long-term perspective. Cooke encountered controversy the past year involving a trip he took to Colorado with Ed and Sasha Bass, leading to a reprimand from the City Council, which said the trip showed “questionable judgment.” As a result, the city manager must recuse himself from all city business tied to Sundance Square, which the Basses own, and the Downtown Public Improvement District. Bachelor’s and master’s in public administration, University of North Carolina.
Alan Blaylock
City Council Member City of Fort Worth
Alan Blaylock was elected to fill the term of Cary Moon in District 4 in 2022 but is now running for a full term in District 10, his home in the city’s new district map. He has been a proponent of increased funding for public safety and improvements in infrastructure in the booming Alliance corridor, where growth has outpaced the framework. He has also run on a platform on lowering the tax rate, which was ultimately lowered last year but not to his expectations. Blaylock’s platform for running for the City Council was through the Heritage Homeowners Association, where he rose to vice president. He was also a board member of the Public Improvement District 7. Blaylock has a bachelor’s in computer science from TCU.
Michael Crain City Council Member City of Fort Worth
Michael Crain ran unopposed for a second term in 2023 representing District 3. Service on the City Council marked his most recent foray into public service, having served in the presidential administration of George W. Bush, including chief of staff of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. In his capacity as a real estate broker and partner with Northern Crain he was a Fort Worth Inc. Entrepreneur of Excellence Award winner. His board memberships include Fort Worth Sister Cities International, The Texas Lyceum, and Fort Worth Food + Wine Foundation Advisory Committee. He went to Texas A&M for a business degree, earned a law degree from the A&M School of Law in Fort Worth, and has an MBA from Rutgers.
Jim Davis Fire Chief City of Fort Worth
Jim Davis, an Ohioan with a list of credentials as long as a firehose, was sworn in as Fort Worth’s 14th fire chief and successor to Rudy Jackson, who retired with more than 30 years with the department. He arrived after a close-to-30-year career in Columbus, Ohio, where he was an assistant fire chief. He was responsible for all areas of training and education for the 1,550-member department. Davis, a registered nurse with more than 20 years as a flight RN/EMT with Medflight of Ohio, said his priority in Fort Worth was to give every member of the department the best opportunity to go home at the end of their shifts. Davis has a bachelor’s from Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, an MPA from Central Michigan, and two other master’s degrees.
Gary Fickes
County Commissioner Tarrant County
Gary Fickes was elected commissioner in 2006, representing Precinct 3, a district that includes Northeast Tarrant County and North Fort Worth. Fickes, a Republican, was reelected in 2020 with 64% of the vote. He announced earlier this year that he would not seek another term in 2024. Fickes has focused on transportation in the sprawling precinct, health care, seniors, and quality economic development. His office assisted in projects such as the now-completed DFW Connector and North Tarrant Express.
“Empowering Seniors” is a seminar conducted each October that regularly attracts more than 2,300 for free health-care screenings and senior-focused topics. Fickes served as chair of Harris Methodist Hospital HEB and as a trustee for the Harris Methodist Health Foundation. He also is a past chair of the Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition.
Charlie Geren
State Representative State of Texas
Charlie Geren was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in November 2000, representing Fort Worth’s District 99. Geren chairs the Local and Consent Calendars Committee, and he is a member of the Licensing and Administrative Procedures and Energy Resources committees. In 2023, Geren filed a bill that would abolish the Tarrant Appraisal District and instead have it run by the Texas Comptroller’s Office. Geren, a businessman, is president of Railhead Smokehouse and the LGS Godley Ranch. He has been honored with the Champion for Free Enterprise award by the Texas Association of Business. His work on behalf of Texas business has earned him the Guardian of Small Business and Most Valuable Player awards from the National Federation of Independent Business/Texas.
Craig Goldman
State Representative State of Texas
Craig Goldman first won election to the Texas House in 2012, serving District 97, which covers Southwest Tarrant County, and that was represented for years by longtime incumbent Anna Mowery. In the 88th Session in 2023, Goldman was elected chair of the Republican caucus, serving as top deputy to House Speaker Dade Phelan. Goldman is chair of the House Energy Resources Committee and a member of the Licensing & Administrative Procedures and Redistricting committees. A fifth-generation Texan, Goldman and his father ran a gourmet food and wine store in Fort Worth before Goldman took office. His appointment on the Sunset Advisory Committee expires in 2023. Goldman holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and is a partner in several real estate investment companies.
Carlos Flores City Council Member City of Fort Worth
Carlos Flores, a son of Fort Worth’s North Side and a graduate of Nolan Catholic High School, was elected to the City Council and took office in 2017. He represents a diverse district that includes the historic Stockyards and parts of north of 820. He followed a path of public service and interest in neighborhoods onto the council, serving as president of the North Side Neighborhood Association and the Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods, and chair of the Fort Worth Zoning Commission. Flores is a member of the North Texas Council of Governments executive board. Educated as an engineer at the University of Texas at Arlington, Flores worked for Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Parker Hannifin. He ran unopposed for a fourth term in 2023.
Kay Granger Representative U.S. House of Representatives
Kay Granger ascended to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee in 2023. Granger was previously the first Republican woman to sit on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and went on to serve as chair. In the past year she was able to secure federal funding for the Trinity River Vision project after years of delays. She is a powerful ally in Texas A&M’s plans to build a campus in Fort Worth and said she has no plans to leave Congress until the project is completed. Granger made history in 1997, becoming the first Republican woman to represent Texas in the House. Granger was elected to the City Council serving the East Side and then became the city’s first woman mayor, elected in 1991. Granger is a trustee at Texas Wesleyan, her alma mater.
GOVERNMENT
Jeff Law Executive Director Tarrant Appraisal District
Jeff Law is easily one of the most scrutinized public officials in Tarrant County. And he’s been under the broiler the past year. As chief appraiser of the Tarrant Appraisal District since 2008, Law’s office is responsible for coming up with property valuations annually for property tax assessments. This year, however, has been different. Following a spate of controversies, Law managed to keep his job after a motion by the board president to fire him. Instead, they issued a directive requiring him to correct and address concerns within 90 days. Law was previously chief appraiser of the Hood County Appraisal District and senior appraiser of the Johnson Central Appraisal District. Law earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from TCU in finance, with a real estate emphasis.
Tim O'Hare County
Judge
Tarrant County
Tim O’Hare was elected
Tarrant County Judge in 2022. Prior to assuming office, O’Hare spent the last 25 years building a successful legal practice and real estate investment company. O’Hare also served as a City Councilman in Farmers Branch for three years, before serving as mayor from 2008-11. He was previously appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the State Board of Dental Examiners, where he focused on ways to prevent Medicaid fraud in the dental industry. In 2018, O’Hare was appointed by Sheriff Bill Waybourn to serve as chairman of the Tarrant County Civil Service Commission. He has also served on the National Board of Directors for the Christian Legal Society. He serves on the North Central Texas Council of Governments Executive Board. Bachelor’s, University of Texas; J.D., SMU.
Chris Nettles
City Council Member City of Fort Worth
Chris Nettles ran unopposed in 2023 to win a second term as District 8’s member on the City Council. He was a comeback kid in 2021, returning from electoral defeat in 2019 to win in a rematch against Kelly Allen Gray. The election actually marked Nettles’ third. He introduced himself as a candidate for mayor in 2017, a contest he lost to Betsy Price. Early in his term, Nettles has found his voice on a number of issues, such as a police oversight board, affordable housing in his district, and contentious redistricting negotiations. Before assuming office, Nettles also worked as an administrative court clerk and assistant court manager for a Tarrant County justice of the peace. Nettles studied Christian ministries at Dallas Baptist University.
Neil Noakes
Police Chief City of Fort Worth
Neil Noakes was hired as chief in January 2021. He was homegrown, a product of the city’s Police Academy, Class 102 in 2000. His first years on the job witnessed an uptick in violent crime. Noakes has a goal of reducing violent crime by 10% over the next year. He responded to the City Council’s rejection of a police advisory board with his own and with a diverse list of people he recruited to serve on it. Members of the council criticized it as not independent of the department. He is viewed as a progressive leader on police and race relations. He appointed the first woman African American commander, as well as the department’s first Asian American commander. Bachelor’s, Tarleton State; master’s, criminal justice and criminology, TCU.
Mattie Parker Mayor City of Fort Worth
Mattie Parker faced off with a handful of candidates in a bid for reelection in 2023. In her first term, she put an emphasis on maintaining a clean, safe city, while working on neighborhood revitalization with investment in infrastructure and parks and greenspace. She was also a leading voice in economic development and competing in the global economy through corporate relocation and making the city a foundation for entrepreneurs. Parker, at age 37, was elected the youngest mayor of a big American city in 2021 with a mantra of “It’s ‘go time’ for Fort Worth.” Parker was the founding CEO of Fort Worth Cradle to Career and the Tarrant To & Through Partnership. Parker has a degree from UT Austin and studied law at Texas A&M-Fort Worth.
Manny Ramirez County Commissioner Tarrant County
Manny Ramirez was elected in 2022 to replace retiring Commissioner J.D. Johnson, the longest-serving member of the court in the county’s 174-year history. Precinct 4 is in the northwest corner of Tarrant County and includes portions of 15 municipalities and 10 school districts, spanning more than 265 square miles of Tarrant County. Before elective politics, Ramirez had more than 15 years as a police officer, detective, and sergeant of the Fort Worth Police Department. His assignments included patrol officer, robbery detective, hostage negotiator and investigator for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security National Gang Unit. Most recently, Ramirez served as president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, an elected position in which he represented more than 1,700 police officers on the local, state, and national level.
Jim
Ross
Mayor City of Arlington
Jim Ross was elected to mayor of Arlington in 2021, succeeding Jeff Williams. After an honorable discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps, Ross joined the Arlington Police Department, eventually becoming a member of the city’s first full-time SWAT unit. Despite having invested 13 years in the department, Ross went back to school to study law at Texas Wesleyan. He began his law career representing clients in environmental exposure cases. He struck out on his own, opening the Jim Ross Law Group, which has grown from an office of one to three offices, in Arlington, Dallas, and Fort Worth, and more than 40 employees, including a dozen attorneys. Board memberships include the Arlington Police Foundation, Special Olympics, and the American Heart Association. He has a bachelor’s from Dallas Baptist University.
Mark Veasey Representative U.S. House of Representatives
Marc Veasey, a graduate of Arlington Heights High School, won his first term for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, jumping from the Texas state House to Washington to represent the newly drawn District 33. In the 118th Congress, Veasey served on the Committee on Energy and Commerce. He was also appointed whip for the Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce. He was a founding member of Congressional Voting Rights Caucus and serves as its co-chair. In addition, he started the Blue Collar Caucus. He is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the New Democrat Coalition, and the U.S. Helsinki Commission. Veasey earned a bachelor’s in mass communication from Texas Wesleyan University, where he sits on the board of trustees.
Alisa Simmons County Commissioner Tarrant County
Alisa Simmons’ first run at elective public office was a success, culminating in her election to the Commissioners Court representing Precinct 2. She succeeded Devan Allen, who elected not to seek reelection. Simmons is a former journalist who transitioned into the public sphere as a county 9-1-1 administrator, supporting dispatch operations across Tarrant County EMS, police, and fire departments. Simmons has served on the Arlington Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, Chisholm Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross Board of Directors, and a 10-year member of the YMCA Arlington Board of Directors. She also serves as president of the Arlington NAACP, first vice president of Texas NAACP, and a member of the ACLU of Texas Board of Directors. Simmons has a bachelor’s in journalism from Texas Woman’s University.
Jared Williams
City Council Member City of Fort Worth
Jared Williams was elected to the Fort Worth City Council June 2021 to represent District 6, which now includes the southwest Fort Worth and the historic Lake Como neighborhood. Jared Williams faced two challengers in his bid for reelection and a second term. Williams has extensive experience as a nonprofit executive leading education initiatives, organizing communities around common good, and building coalitions to advance equitable policy and systems change. He serves as the vice president of advocacy for the Tarrant Area Food Bank. Williams has a bachelor’s degree in plant science and biotechnology from Fort Valley State in Georgia, a master’s in environmental science from TCU, and a doctorate in environmental science from University of North Texas.
Phil Sorrells District Attorney Tarrant County
Phil Sorrells was elected as Tarrant County’s 17th district attorney in 2022, replacing the outgoing Sharen Wilson. His election marked his return to the department. His first job out of law school was working as a prosecutor under Tim Curry. At age 32, he was elected judge of County Criminal Court No. 10, defeating incumbent Pete Gilfeather. Sorrells remained on the bench for 25 years until stepping aside to run for D.A., an office of more than 300 that manages more than 45,000 cases filed each year, ranging from capital murder to misdemeanor theft. As a judge, Sorrells gained a reputation for efficiency, taking a court with the largest backlog to the smallest. Sorrells earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Texas Tech University.
Roger Williams
Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
The son of a Fort Worth automotive giant, Roger Williams blazed his own trail in politics, first as Texas Secretary of State, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, and now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from District 25. First elected in 2012, Williams has used his father’s experience and his own as a car dealer to be a voice for small business in the halls of the federal government. In the 118th Congress, he served as chairman of the Small Business Committee and a member of the Committee on Financial Services. A former baseball star at TCU, where he later coached, is chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Baseball Caucus. A graduate of TCU, Williams now serves on the board of trustees at his alma mater.
Right here in Fort Worth, NanOlogy is on the forefront of cancer drug research. Led by CEO, H. Paul Dorman, our team of dedicated researchers is in clinical development of a technology that forms submicron particles of cancer agents for targeted delivery directly to the site of the tumor. Once there, the particles are designed to slowly release drug prolonging the tumor kill without the side effects normally associated with chemotherapy. We believe the enhanced direct tumor kill is also eliciting a pronounced antitumoral immune response potentially positioning our investigational drugs as ideal companions to boost other immunoncology therapy to fight metastatic disease. Upon successful completion of clinical development, NanOlogy hopes to gain FDA approval to bring our therapies to cancer patients.
DENNIS MARTIN CEO & Founder, SEL Supply Chain Solutions
Whole Person. Whole Health.
Caring for the whole person means more than treating their immediate symptoms. It means empowering people to participate in their physical, mental, spiritual and financial well-being, and creating environments where they can thrive. The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth is leading the way in promoting Whole Health in North Texas.
Health Care and Life Sciences
Fort Worth’s rapidly growing health care and life sciences sector is represented here. Biotech is emerging on a scene populated by hospitals, and Fort Worth companies, both emerging and long-standing, are leading in developing therapies to improve lives.
HEALTH CARE AND LIFE SCIENCES
Suchi Acharya Founder and CEO AyuVis
Suchismita Acharya is the founder, CEO, and chief scientific officer for AyuVis Research, Inc., a startup pharmaceutical company in Fort Worth that has constructed a series of novel compounds which produce an antiinflammatory and antimicrobial activation of white blood cells to prevent and treat a broad spectrum of diseases, including pediatric and adult respiratory, skin, gut, ocular, and other indications including treating sepsis. Acharya is a pharmaceutical scientist with over 15 years of experience in drug discovery and development with companies like Alcon and Novartis where she has been involved in the entire lifecycle of drug development to commercialization. Master’s in chemistry, Utkal University; Ph.D., organic chemistry, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderbad; postdoctoral, UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Mike Ball Chairman Alcon Laboratories
Mike Ball has been in health care for nearly four decades. Before becoming chair of Alcon, the giant Fort Worth-based eyecare products company, Ball was CEO of the division and a member of parent Novartis’ Executive Committee. Novartis completed a spinoff of Alcon into a standalone publicly traded company in 2019. Ball previously served as CEO of Hospira, Inc. from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that, Ball held a number of senior leadership positions at Allergan, Inc. Before joining Allergan in 1995, he held roles of increasing responsibility in marketing and sales at Syntex Corp. and Eli Lilly & Co. Ball served on the boards of several organizations, including Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Hospira, IntraLase Corp., AdvaMed, and sTec, Inc. He began his career in 1981. B.S. and MBA, Queen’s University, Canada.
John Q. Adams, Jr. Co-Founder Spectrix Therapeutics
John Adams, a biotech executive who was CEO of Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, is cofounder of Spectrix Therapeutics, LLC, in Southlake. Two drugs in Spectrix’s pipeline: a treatment for hypothyroidism designed to mimic normal release of two hormones; and a formulation for a once-daily treatment of dry mouth and eyes associated with Sjögren’s syndrome, an immune system disorder. Adams Respiratory developed Mucinex and was subsequently acquired by Reckitt Benckiser for $2.3 billion in 2007. Adams' net sales grew to $332 million in annual sales in 2007, from $14 million in 2003, growth drive by the FDA’s approval of Mucinex in 2002. John Adams also founded and manages Legacy Capital Partners, LLC, an investment management and private equity firm focused on health care technology and pharmaceutical development.
Barclay Berdan
CEO
Texas Health Resources
Barclay Berdan’s
Texas Health Resources nonprofit health system cares for more patients in North Texas than any other provider. Texas Health is ranked No. 37 on the 2022 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list and has been named No. 1 on the Fortune Best Workplaces in Healthcare list for eight consecutive years. Texas Health under Berdan took the lead on Fort Worth’s successful push to be certified as a Blue Zones Project healthy living city and is the largest Blue Zones® Project approved worksite in the world, 2016-21. Berdan, who has 35 years at Texas Health, became CEO in 2014, promoted from senior executive VP and COO. Berdan joined Texas Health in 1986 as VP/administrator for THR Harris Southwest. B.S., TCU; MBA, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
Keith Argenbright Director UT Southwestern Moncrief Cancer Institute
Keith Argenbright, M.D., wears a number of hats at UT Southwestern. Among them, he is director of the Moncrief Cancer Institute in Fort Worth. Argenbright formed alliances to bring cancer prevention and early detection services and population science research to more rural areas of Fort Worth and surrounding counties, resulting in a service network of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening collaborators and genetic screening. Argenbright is also a professor in the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health where he serves as the chief of community health sciences. In 2014, Argenbright earned the UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, considered the top teaching prize in the UT system. Bachelor’s, Oklahoma; Med school, Tulane; Master of Medical Management, Carnegie Mellon.
Sulagna Bhattacharya
Co-Founder and CEO Nanoscope Therapeutics
Sulagna Bhattacharya is co-founder and CEO of Nanoscope Therapeutics, whose MCO-010 therapy to restore vision to those impacted by a group of rare eye diseases recently received fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after its most recent clinical trial demonstrated “unprecedented” results. Nanoscope, founded in 2009 by Bhattacharya and Samarendra Mohanty, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing gene therapies to cure genetic diseases that cause vision impairment and blindness, including retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, and Stargardt disease. Bhattacharya in 2022 was selected as the winner of Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 Central Plains Award. She is winner of Healthcare Heroes award in 2019. Education: Southern California and executive MBA from Northwestern.
HEALTH CARE AND LIFE SCIENCES
Ben Coogan CEO Medical City Fort Worth
Ben Coogan joined Medical City Fort Worth as CEO in July 2021. His career spans more than 20 years, with leadership roles in several Medical City Healthcare facilities, including COO of Medical City Dallas and Medical City Children’s Hospital where his leadership contributed to enhancements in patient experience and employee engagement, along with growth of services. During his tenure, the hospitals were recognized for outstanding patient care, including a Leapfrog Group A safety rating. Coogan also served as COO at Medical City Arlington where he helped pave the way for a successful opening of the $60 million Medical City Women’s Hospital Arlington, new neurotrauma ICU and inpatient rehabilitation units, and the expansion of the emergency department, among other accomplishments. Bachelor’s, psychology, Texas A&M; MBA, health services management, University of North Texas.
Paul Dorman CEO DFB Pharmaceuticals
Paul Dorman’s DFB is a Fort Worth holding company that Dorman and partners started in 1990. DFB grew from four companies and $18 million in annual sales to more than $400 million in sales. DFB sold three businesses for more than $1.5 billion. It continues to operate three businesses, including the Fort Worth-based NanOlogy, formed in 2015 by DFB in collaboration with CritiTech, and US Biotest and is led by representatives from each company. NanOlogy is in clinical trials on a new cancer drug delivery method: forming microparticles made of proven cancer drugs and injecting them into tumors. Dorman guaranteed first-year tuition for the first class — the “Dorman Scholars” — of the new TCU School of Medicine. Dorman holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Tulane and law degree from Loyola University in New Orleans.
Joseph
DeLeon
President
Texas Health Harris
Methodist Fort Worth
Joseph DeLeon, who became president of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth in January 2018 after almost five years as president of Texas Health Hospital Southwest, oversaw the finished product of the Justin Tower, the largest construction project in the history of THR. Hospital officials welcomed the tower’s first patients in April. In total, the nine-story, $300 million building will add 400,000 square feet to the 1.7 million square feet of the Harris campus downtown. DeLeon, a former captain in the U.S. Air Force Medical Services Corps, has worked in health care management since 1991. He joined Texas Health in 2005. DeLeon earned a bachelor's in political science and a minor in business management in 1991, and a master's in public administration in 1994 from Texas A&M University.
Karen Duncan CEO JPS Health Network
Karen Duncan serves as CEO and president of JPS Health Network, a tax-supported health care system, which employs more than 7,200 and offers comprehensive services, including primary care, behavioral, dental, pediatric, women, and pharmacy, at more than 25 community locations. During her tenure, Duncan has led efforts to improve patient access, develop the hospital workforce, and facilitate the master facility plan. In addition to her experience at JPS, Duncan has worked in large public health academic centers in Atlanta and Chicago, and previously practiced pediatrics for more than 20 years. Duncan studied medicine at Emory University School and completed her pediatric residency at University Hospitals in Cleveland. She has a bachelor’s in biochemistry from Smith College and competed the executive MBA program at Georgia State University.
Elyse Dickerson Co-Founder and CEO Eosera
Elyse Stoltz Dickerson is CEO and co-founder of Eosera, Inc., a female-led biotech company developing innovative products that address underserved health-care needs in the ear-care space. Eosera, winner of TechFW Impact award in 2022, has products in more than 28,000 retail stores nationwide, including major retailers such as CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Rite Aid, Albertsons, and Kroger. Prior to Eosera, Dickerson spent 13 years in the biotech industry, where she managed portfolios with annual revenues of $1.7 billion and drove product innovation and the commercialization of numerous technologies across the globe. Dickerson is the recipient of numerous industry awards, including ranking on Inc 5000's National List of fastest-growing private companies two years in a row, 2021-22. She earned a bachelor’s from Notre Dame and an MBA from SMU.
Stuart Flynn Founding Dean TCU School of Medicine
Dr. Stuart Flynn is founding dean of the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at TCU, which is building a campus in the Medical District. Flynn came to the school from the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, where he was founding dean. He was formerly a professor of pathology and surgery at Yale University School of Medicine. Flynn received his medical degree and residency training from the University of Michigan and completed a fellowship in oncologic pathology at Stanford University. Flynn has authored more than 100 articles, books, and monographs, and has received numerous honors, including America’s Top Physician’s Award from the Consumers’ Research Council of America, the Bohmfalk Teacher of the Year Award from Yale, and the Averill A. Liebow Award for excellence in the teaching of residents, also at Yale.
HEALTH CARE AND LIFE SCIENCES
Simon Fraser President, Advanced Wound Management Smith+Nephew
Simon Fraser joined Smith+Nephew, the British medical technology company in 2019, with responsibility for its Fort Worth-based Advanced Wound Management franchise. Fraser has more than 25 years in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostics, including wound management and a background in managing global organizations with responsibility for profits and loss and growth of the business and market share. Prior to joining Smith+Nephew, Fraser was group vice president of Dentsply Sirona’s Dental Implant Global Business Unit; vice president, US Commercial Infectious Diseases at Abbott Laboratories; president, Latin America, Alere, Inc.; and various roles, Johnson & Johnson. He has a bachelor’s in physiotherapy from Montreal University and MBA from INSEAD in France.
Jeff Keyser Co-Founder, President, and Chief Operating Officer Renibus Therapeutics
Jeff Keyser has 40 years in developing and commercializing new therapies. He has invented products leading to significant improvements in patient care and has numerous patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Keyser was co-founder and chief operating officer at ZS Pharma, acquired by Astra Zeneca in 2015 for $2.7 billion. While working at Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, he developed and executed the R&D and regulatory strategy for bringing the company’s Mucinex to market, as VP of development and regulatory affairs. Reckitt Benckiser acquired the company for $2.3 billion in 2007. The Southlakebased Renibus is seeking to transform the treatment model for kidney disease. He also held senior positions at Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Medeva Americas, Marion Merrell Dow and Abbott Laboratories. He is chairman of the board for Lantern Pharma.
Luke Hejl CEO TimelyCare
Luke Hejl is CEO, chairman, and co-founder of Fort Worth-based TimelyCare, the leading virtual health and well-being solution for college and university students. Since its founding in 2017, TimelyCare (formerly TimelyMD) has delivered complete clinical care to more than 1.5 million students at more than 250 campuses nationwide. Last year, Hejl was selected a Fort Worth Inc. Entrepreneurs of Excellence winner in health care and life sciences. Dallas Innovates featured him on its “Future 50” list of influential leaders. In March, Forbes named TimelyCare America’s No. 1 health care startup employer. The company is also listed among Inc.’s Best Workplaces and Dallas Morning News’ Top 100 Workplaces and was ranked as the fastest-growing company in Fort Worth on the Inc. 5000 Regionals Southwest list. Hejl is a graduate of Abilene Christian University.
Rick Merrill President and CEO Cook Children's Health Care System
Rick Merrill, president and CEO of Cook Children’s since 2007, has led the organization through record growth, including nearly tripling the size of the Cook Children’s Medical Center campus on the Near Southside. Under Merrill, Cook Children’s has streamlined its mission into a “promise” to improve the health of every child in the region through treatment and prevention. Merrill formerly served as CEO and president of Driscoll Health System in South Texas. He led development of the fully integrated pediatric health system, which included Driscoll Children's Hospital, physician organizations, and the Driscoll Children's Health Plan. He oversaw the opening of two Driscoll Children's Specialty Centers in Brownsville and McAllen. Merrill has a bachelor’s from Texas Tech University and a master’s in health care administration from Trinity University.
Richard Johnston CEO, Chief Physician Officer USMD Health System
Dr. Richard Johnston has been on the scene in North Texas since 1978, when he began his practice in internal medicine in Dallas. His group joined the Medical Clinic of North Texas in 2004. In 2006, he became president of MCNT and was in that post in 2012 when MCNT became part of the merger that created USMD Health System. Johnston graduated from the Texas Tech School of Medicine in 1975. He is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and continues his practice in Las Colinas. He completed an internal medicine residency at Austin Breckenridge Hospital. He is a member of the American College of Physicians, Texas Medical Association, and the Dallas County Medical Society. He also serves on the American Medical Group Association CEO Council.
Janet Miles President of the Medical Staff
JPS Health Network
Miles is serving a term as president of the medical staff from 2022-23. She formerly served as the vice pesident of medical staff and is the current medical director of the Department of Pathology. Miles is board certified in anatomic and clinician pathology and neuropathology. She was named Physician of the Year at JPS in 2017 and a North Texas COVID Hero by the DFW Hospital Council in 2021. Miles served as the Pathology Residency Program Director at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics and has authored over 30 publications. Prior to joining JPS Health Network, Miles served in numerous administrative roles including chief medical officer of Physicians Reference Laboratory in Kansas City, Kansas. B.A./M.D. program, University of Kansas CityMissouri; residency and fellowship training, Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
HEALTH CARE AND LIFE SCIENCES
Sid O'Bryant
Professor and Executive Director, Institute for Translational Research UNT Health Science Center
Sid O’Bryant’s lab at UNTHSC studies approaches to Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, including Down syndrome, Lewy body disease, Parkinson’s disease, and traumatic brain injury. In October, he was a newsmaker. The university announced the Institute for Translational Research had been awarded a five-year grant of up to $148 million from the National Institutes of Health. The funding will go to one of the largest studies ever of Alzheimer’s disease within a health disparities framework seeking to understand the differences in the disease among multiethnic populations. The examination is being led by O’Bryant, who has an undergraduate degree from Louisiana State and graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in neuropsychology from the University of Albany in New York. With this grant, $210 million has now been invested in the study.
Vinny Taneja Director of Public Health Tarrant County
Vinny Taneja became public health director in September 2014, succeeding Lou Brewer, who retired. Under Taneja’s leadership, the department was among the first 100 in the U.S. accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board. He was one of the most prominent members of the team that crafted the region’s response to COVID-19. Taneja received a medical degree from Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India and a master’s in public health from Eastern Kentucky University. In 2006, Taneja served as an ambassador to the Wisconsin governor’s e-Health Initiative. He helped develop a strategic plan for statewide adoption and exchange of electronic health records. He previously served as Deputy Health Officer and Acting Director of the Wayne County Health Department in Michigan.
Shawn Parsley President and Chief Operations Officer Texas Health Physicians Group
Shawn Parsley was named president of the Texas Health Physicians Group in 2013. In 2018, his role expanded to include chief operations officer with oversight of all THPG operations, and in 2019, he became the Physician Channel leader for Texas Health Resources. Under his leadership, THPG has grown to include more than 1,200 primary care physicians, specialists, and advanced practice providers in more than 250 locations. Parsley was a U.S. Army Health Professions Scholarship winner and served in the Army, where he was chief of clinics for the largest outlying health clinic in the European Regional Medical Command. He is chair of the Care N’ Care Insurance Company board and serves on the board of Southwestern Health Resources. Bachelor’s in biology, Southwestern University; Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, UNTHSC.
Michael Williams Chancellor University of North Texas System
Michael Williams, who became sixth president of UNTHSC in 2012, was elevated to chancellor of the UNT System in 2021. Williams, a Fort Worth native who earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the university, became its first alumnus to serve as president. From 2008-13, Williams served as CEO of Hill Country Memorial Hospital. During that time, the hospital received numerous state and national awards. Williams practiced anesthesiology and critical care medicine in Texas for more than 20 years. In 2011, Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed Williams to serve on the UNT System Board of Regents. Williams completed his anesthesiology and critical care training at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. Williams also has an MBA from Duke and master’s in health care management from Harvard University.
Michael Sanborn
President Baylor All Saints Medical Center
Michael Sanborn took the helm of Baylor Scott & White All Saints in 2016, leading the acute care hospital with more than 2,400 employees and 1,100 medical staff members. Under his leadership, the hospital created a partnership with the TCU School of Medicine to develop a physician residency program that will ultimately train over 170 residents annually. Sanborn previously was president of Baylor Scott & White–Carrollton, and before that, corporate vice president of cardiovascular services for the system. Board appointments include Fort Worth Chamber, Healing Shepherd Clinic, Healthy Tarrant County Collaborative (chair and treasurer), DFW Hospital Council, and the executive committees of Near Southside and Fort Worth Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Coalition. Bachelor’s and master’s, pharmacy and administration, University of Kansas.
David Winter Past Chairman and President Baylor Scott & White Health Texas Provider Network
David Winter is the founder of HealthTexas Provider Network, a 1,200-plus physician organization in partnership with Baylor Scott & White Health, and has served as its president, chairman, and chief clinical officer. He is in the private practice of internal medicine at the Tom Landry Center at Baylor University Medical Center. As a medical writer, he has published a book, Service Extraordinaire: Unlocking the Value of Concierge Medicine, plus numerous scientific articles and papers, and serves on the editorial staff of the Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. He serves on the board of the Baylor Scott & White Health Care System. He earned his medical degree at UT Medical Branch in Galveston; intern and residency, Baylor University Medical Center; master’s in medical management from the UT Dallas.
Leading health care
Barclay Berdan CEO, Texas Health Resources
Joseph DeLeon President, Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth
Shawn Parsley, D.O. President and Chief Operations Officer, Texas Health Physicians Group
Laura McWhorter President, Texas Health Resources Foundation
Cowtown Kudos to TCU Football Coach Sonny Dykes
From the Hometown Fans and Families at TTI
Thanks for Shining the Bright Lights on Fort Worth and an Unforgettable Year of Frog Football
(10) 2022 National Coach of the Year honors, Including AFCA, AP, Sporting News and Big 12
Undefeated Regular Season
First Big 12 College Football Playoff Team
National Championship Title Game
1.800.CALL.TTI
The 400’s representation of industry comprises leaders in aerospace and aviation, distribution and logistics, energy, food and beverage, manufacturing, media, and retail. Distribution and logistics continued their emergence after the pandemic.
John Ashour
Founder and President InterConnect Wiring
John Ashour started InterConnect at the age of 29 in a spare bedroom of his home. He also serves as chairman of the board. Since its inception, Ashour made it InterConnect’s mission to excel in quick turnaround programs while being committed to exceptional quality. Prior to InterConnect, Ashour worked for Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant and General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) in the F-16 wiring harness design group. Ashour has served on the Navy League of Fort Worth Board of Directors and the board of directors in charge of commissioning the USS Fort Worth. Ashour is also a member of the Fort Worth Air Powers Council, the U.S. Air Force Association, and the Army Aviation Association of America (QUAD-A). Bachelor’s, nuclear engineering; MBA, University of Phoenix.
Raanan Horowitz President and CEO Elbit Systems of America
Raanan Horowitz was named president and CEO in 2007 of the Fort Worth-based Elbit Systems of America, the U.S. unit of the Israel-based Elbit Systems Ltd., a global provider of technology-based systems for defense and commercial applications. Elbit (Nasdaq: ESLT) had a $9 billion market capitalization as of mid-April. The Ethisphere Institute has named Elbit Systems of America one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies,” one of two aerospace and defense companies worldwide to earn the distinction. Horowitz has been instrumental in leading Elbit’s American organic growth and acquisitions. Before ascending to his current role in 2007, Horowitz was executive VP and GM of the company’s subsidiary, EFW Inc. He earned an MBA from Grand Valley State University’s Seidman School of Business and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Tel Aviv University.
Eric Fox
Senior Director/Government Relations
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Eric Fox, the senior director of governmental relations for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, has worked for the company since 1999. A Fort Worth native and graduate of Paschal High School, Fox previously served on the staff for the House Appropriations Committee while working for Rep. Henry Bonilla of Texas, who championed deregulation and fiscal conservatism. Fox also served on the staffs of U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana, a former livestock auctioneer who served three terms in Washington, and Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and economics from Southwestern University in Georgetown. Fox is past chair of the North Texas Commission, which advocates for the region at state and federal levels.
Mitch Snyder President and CEO Bell
Mitch Snyder was named CEO of Bell in October 2015 and has led a rebranding of the company — one of Fort Worth’s largest employers — to reflect its interest in technology behind the company’s traditional history as a helicopter manufacturer. “Welcome to the future of flights” encompasses autonomous flight and urban air taxi for uses such as cargo delivery and carrying of passengers. Before being named CEO, Snyder was executive vice president of the company’s military business, responsible for providing strategic direction, overall management, and performance for all of Bell’s government programs. Since joining Bell in 2004, Snyder has led the manufacturing centers and several of the most significant initiatives, including the V-22 tiltrotor program. Snyder earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Kansas State University in Manhattan.
Rob Gurney CEO oneworld
Rob Gurney, who became CEO in 2016, announced the relocation of the company’s headquarters to the American Airlines campus in Fort Worth in October. Gurney has broad commercial and operational experience in the travel and tourism industry, both in Australia and overseas, having held a number of senior roles with Emirates, Qantas Airways Limited, and British Airways. Prior to joining oneworld, Gurney oversaw Emirates commercial operations in the Americas based in New York, having moved from a similar role with the airline based in Sydney in 2015. He also spent 15 years with the Qantas Group, his last position being Group Executive Qantas Airlines Commercial where he was responsible for, among other things, global sales, marketing, distribution, and channel management. Bachelor’s, economics and BBA accounting, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia.
Greg Ulmer
Executive Vice President of Aeronautics
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program manager for three years, was named executive vice president of the company’s aeronautics unit in the first half of 2021. Ulmer is Lockheed’s top executive over its aeronautics programs, including the Fort Worth-made F-35; the F-16, whose production the company moved to South Carolina from Fort Worth in 2019; the F-22 and C-130 programs; and the Skunk Works product development unit in California. Before leading the F-35, Ulmer was head of Skunk Works, whose work Lockheed keeps secret. Aeronautics is a more than $25 billion unit employing about 30,000 people. Ulmer has a bachelor’s in aeronautical engineering from Polytechnic State University and an executive master’s in business management, with an emphasis in aerospace, from the University of Tennessee.
Arnold Gachman Chairman Gamtex Industries
Arnold Gachman continues to chair the Fort Worth recycling company his grandfather started in 1914 and that’s become one of Texas’ largest metal recyclers. Gamtex stays up to date with new technology and automation, ensuring its processes remain efficient, safe, and environmentally effective. Jacob Gachman started the company with several small scrapyards. Gachman traveled by train around the state collecting scrap metal and carrying it in sacks to bring back to Fort Worth. By age 27, Arnold Gachman was named general manager of Gachman Metals and became president five years later. In 1986, he bought Gachman Metals and turned it into what is now known as Gamtex Industries. Iric Gachman, Arnold Gachman’s son, is president and CEO today — ensuring the company will stay in the family.
Walt Reynolds
CEO
The Reynolds Co.
Walt Reynolds and his brother, Donald Reynolds Jr., continue to run The Reynolds Co., a major electrical supply company that merged with the employee-owned McNaughtonMcKay in 2017. Reynolds had $650 million in sales in 2017. The brothers had taken over operation of the company in recent years from their father, Donald Reynolds Sr., who founded it 30 years ago. The company’s ability to handle large industrial and commercial projects worldwide has been a major contributor to growth and one of its hallmarks. The company in 2020 purchased Flow-Zone, the premier distributor of pipe, valves, fittings, instrumentation, controls, and measurement equipment for oil and gas markets throughout Texas and New Mexico. Reynolds attended the University of Texas in Austin.
Tom Head CEO Blackmon Mooring/BMS CAT
Tom Head, president of Blackmon Mooring and BMS Catastrophe since 2007, is leading an expansion of the company, which does commercial and residential restoration and construction jobs worldwide. Since early 2020, the company has acquired six companies that support BMS CAT’s growth, including firms in Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. Head started with the company as its Houston general manager in 2004. Under Head, the company several years ago built a new advanced headquarters and plant on Airport Freeway in Haltom City. The company was started in 1948 as a furniture and dye shop, and today is a leader in its market segments, often on-site for high-profile natural disasters. Head has a bachelor’s in marketing from University of North Florida.
Kelly Roberts CEO Ricochet Fuel
Since founding the company in 1988, Kelly Brett Roberts has built Ricochet Fuel into an award-winning $60 million company. Under Roberts’ leadership, Ricochet Fuel has become known for its cutting-edge technologies and sustainable solutions. The company, a major player in the renewable energy market, has made a commitment to sustainability as a vocal advocate for environmental conservation. Roberts actively supports initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable living. She is active in the community and contributes to various local charities, including the Tarrant Area Food Bank, the Women’s Center of Tarrant County, and the American Heart Association. She is also active in the Women’s Business Council supporting growth of women-owned businesses. She enjoys traveling, playing golf, and spending time with her family. Bachelor’s, UT Arlington.
Scott McClellen President R.E. McClellen Construction
R.
E. McClellen
Construction is a fullservice residential and commercial emergency cleanup and restoration for fire and water disasters of all sizes, including damage from kitchen fires, house floods, and other disasters that can be quickly and professionally restored. Founded in 1986, R. E. McClellen Construction began as a two-man team in Fort Worth, repairing fire and water damaged homes and properties. The company grew into one of the premier fire and water restoration companies in the area.
Glenn Smith
President and CEO
Mouser Electronics
Glenn Smith, while a college student, joined Mouser Electronics as a part-time warehouse employee in 1973. He rose to become president in 1988. In 2000, Fort Worth-based TTI bought the company, and, in 2004, Smith was promoted to CEO. In 2007, TTI and Mouser joined the family housed in the portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway. Today, Mouser is one of the world’s largest electronics components distributors, with more than 2,550 employees in 27 offices and more than $2 billion in sales, and Smith has been a recognized leader in the business community. For years, Smith has served as a member of the board of directors of the Electronic Components Industry Association, working to protect the authorized supply chain of electronic components. In 2011, he received the organization’s Distinguished Service Award.
Greg Bird CEO Jetta Operating Co.
Greg Bird co-founded Jetta in 1993 in Fort Worth. Bird, who’s been in oil and gas for more than 35 years, formerly worked for Cawley Gillespie & Associates, a petroleum consulting firm. Before that, he worked for Hunt Energy Corp. Bird is chair of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, president of the Boy Scouts of America Longhorn Council Foundation, and member of the TCU Energy Institute board. Bird was named a finalist in the 2020 Southwest Region for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. In 2013, he was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Graduates for the Petroleum Engineering department at Texas A&M. Bachelor of Science, petroleum engineering, Texas A&M.
Brian Crumley
Managing Partner
Vortus Investment Advisers
Brian Crumley is a managing partner and co-founder of Vortus Investments. Starting in 1998, his diverse principal investment experience in the energy industry includes equity, debt, and distressed investing across several cycles. Prior to Vortus, he was a founding partner of LKCM Private Discipline Partners LP, which was the first alternative investment partnership under the umbrella of Luther King Capital Management. He started his energy investment career with Natural Gas Partners in the Fort Worth offices of Richard Rainwater. Crumley serves on the board of Cook Children’s Health Foundation, Cook Children’s Health Care System, and Fort Worth Country Day School, STAR Sponsorship Program, and Fort Worth Chamber. Bachelor’s, political economics, Princeton; MBA, Stanford.
Jon Brumley CEO Bounty
Minerals
Jon Brumley, with others, has listed seven oil and gas companies on the New York Stock Exchange, including five he co-founded. He co-founded XTO Energy. Chair and CEO of Mesa Petroleum until it merged with Parker and Parsley to form Pioneer Natural Resources. Co-founded Encore Acquisition Co. and Encore Acquisition Partners with his son, Jon S. Brumley. Today, chair and CEO of Bounty Investments, formed to buy nonproducing minerals in the Utica Shale, Marcellus Shale, and Appalachia. The company has acquired about 65,000 net mineral acres. Began career with Southland Royalty Co. as a risk analyst in 1967 and became president in 1974. BBA, University of Texas at Austin; MBA, University of Pennsylvania.
Cody Campbell
Co-Founder and Co-CEO
Double Eagle Holdings IV
Cody Campbell and John Sellers have become astute builders and sellers of energy companies. Most recently, the pair joined forces with EnCap Investments L.P. to form Double Eagle Energy Holdings IV, focusing primarily in oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin. In 2021, Campbell and Sellers sold their DoublePoint Energy to Pioneer Natural Resources for $6.4 billion. The co-CEOs divvied up $1 billion in cash and 27.2 million shares of Pioneer between themselves and their private equity partners. It continues a good run for the young oil tycoons who have been buddies since their football-playing days in junior high in the Panhandle and at Texas Tech, the beneficiaries of Campbell’s and Sellers’ generosity. The two sold their Double Eagle Energy company to Parsley Energy for $2.8 billion in 2017.
Brad Cunningham Partner
Four Sevens Oil Co.
Brad Cunningham had flown corporate jets for Justin Industries when he got interested in oil and gas and joining his stepfather, Dick Lowe, at Four Sevens. Four Sevens assembled numerous assets in the Barnett Shale in the mid-aughts with Chesapeake Energy being a principal buyer, including 2008, when it sold a package to Chesapeake for $225 million. Cunningham had the biggest interest. Lowe had recommended securing a pipeline right-of-way and signing up drill sites in Fort Worth. Cunningham subsequently led the leasing of 7,000 acres. “Brad never drilled a well,” Lowe says, with pride. “He’s a lot smarter than Hunter [Enis] and I,” Lowe said. Four Sevens is currently drilling wells and acquiring minerals in the Midland Basin. Cunningham serves on the TCU Board of Trustees. Member of the TCU Flying T Club Advisory Board.
Hunter Enis Partner
Four Sevens Oil Co.
Hunter Enis took a flier on a tapped-out wildcatter named Dick Lowe, and the rest is Barnett Shale history. The two, with the help of geologist partner Larry Brogdon and others, put together big assemblages early on in the Barnett Shale and cashed out for $1 billion in sales. Enis has served on the TCU Energy Institute’s Board of Advisors, and he founded the Hunter Enis Endowed Chair for Petroleum Geology at TCU. Enis, a Fort Worth native, graduated from Poly High in 1955. At TCU, Enis earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology and lettered in baseball and football. In 1986, Enis was inducted into the TCU Letterman’s Hall of Fame. Enis and Lowe made lead gifts for the renovation of Amon G. Carter Stadium at TCU.
Jim Finley CEO Finley Resources
Jim Finley, out of the University of Texas with a BBA in accounting, began his career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen & Co., working primarily with oil and gas clients. In 1981, he joined Duer Wagner & Co. as CFO and, during 17 years there, became managing partner. With his partners, he moved into acquiring oil and gas properties. Finley went out on his own in 1997, establishing Finley Resources as an operator. Finley Resources, Finley Production, and Lonesome Oil and Gas, LLC own interests in 3,000 wells in 13 states. Jim and Charlotte Finley own Mesa Well Servicing, LP in Hobbs, New Mexico, and Mesa Southern in Jourdanton. Other investments include ownership stakes in community banks and commercial real estate. Finley’s active in several causes, including homelessness.
Mary Ralph Lowe CEO Maralo, LLC
Mary Ralph Lowe has been president and CEO of Maralo, LLC, a private oil and gas exploration and production company and ranching operation, since 1973. Lowe, along with her mother, Erma Lowe, established the Lowe Foundation ($45 million net assets) in 1988 to support preventative or rehabilitative programs that benefit the critical needs of at-risk women and children. In November, she made a significant philanthropic gift to help endow and name the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute at the TCU Neeley School of Business as a tribute to her late father. Lowe serves on the TCU, National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and Museum, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Baylor Scott & White All Saints Health Foundation, and Performing Arts Fort Worth boards.
Gloria Moncrief
Holmsten
President Moncrief Oil
Gloria Moncrief Holmsten has followed in the footsteps of her father Charlie Moncrief and legendary grandfather, Tex Moncrief, and great-grandfather, Monty Moncrief, as head of the family business. A veteran of President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign and inaugural committee, Moncrief Holmsten spent almost five years as a political appointee at the U.S. Department of State. Afterward, she spent a year working for a small investment firm in New York City before returning to Fort Worth. She is a board member of the Fort Worth Zoo, and she is a founding member of UNICEF’s Next Generation Committee, as well as a founding member of The 43 Club of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Holmsten is also the founder of the Saving Hope Foundation. BBA, finance, UT Austin; Colorado School of Mines Petroleum SuperSchool.
Jeffrey Miller CEO
Vortus Investment Advisers
Jeffrey Miller, co-founder and managing partner of Vortus Investments, has more than 30 years of significant financial, managerial, operational, and technical experience in the global upstream industry. Miller was director of upstream for Mercuria Energy, based in Geneva and Fort Worth, and previously was president of Moncrief Oil International and managing partner of Moncrief Minerals. Vortus, formed in 2013 by Miller and Brian Crumley, is a Fort Worth-based private equity firm focused on generating long-term capital gains through investments in the lower to middle market upstream energy industry in North America. Miller has a bachelor’s in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M and an MBA from Columbia University.
Brad Hunstable Co-Founder Linear Labs
Brad Hunstable’s Linear Labs of Fort Worth continues its run. It’s developing fully modular electric motors that produce twice the torque for the same size, weight, and energy input. It reached a deal in 2020 with the city of Fort Worth for $68.9 million in incentive to create a factory in the city. Linear sees applications in mobility, micro mobility, and air-conditioning. “You’ll see this in scooters, HVAC, and industrial applications this year. A car, two years after.” Hunstable and his father, Fred, a co-founder, won the Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 Southwest Award. Hunstable is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, as well as Ohio State University, where he received an MBA.
Bob Ravnaas CEO Kimbell Royalty
Partners
Bob Ravnaas has been CEO of Kimbell Royalty Partners since February 2017. The partnership has grown to be one of the largest private owners of minerals, royalties, and overriding royalty interests nationally. The Kimbell Art Foundation owns a stake. Kimbell owns mineral and royalty interests in approximately 16 million gross acres in 28 states and in every major onshore basin in the continental U.S., including ownership in more than 125,000 gross wells with over 46,000 wells in the Permian Basin. Ravnaas served as president of Cawley, Gillespie & Associates, Inc., a petroleum engineering firm. He worked as a production engineer for Amoco Production Company from 1981-83. Ravnaas received a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado and MS in petroleum engineering from UT Austin.
Davis Ravnaas President Kimbell Royalty Partners
Davis Ravnaas co-founded Kimbell’s predecessor, Rivercrest Royalties, LLC, in October 2013 and served as CFO. Ravnaas was an associate investment professional with Crestview Partners, a large New York-based private equity fund, where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and monitoring investments in energy and industrials companies. He started his career as an analyst in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs’ natural resource group. He has been drawn to oil and gas since he was a young boy, growing up hearing the stories of the legendary oil and gas executives from father, Bob Ravnaas. “I always admired the entrepreneurial spirit, the risk-taking, and the relationship-driven aspect of the business.” He has an A.B. in economics from Princeton, MS in finance and economics from the London School of Economics, and MBA from Stanford.
Jeffrey Ventura President and CEO Range Resources
Jeffrey Ventura joined the Fort Worth-based Range in 2003 as chief operating officer and became a director in 2005. Ventura was named CEO effective Jan. 1, 2012. Previously, he was president and chief operating officer of Matador Petroleum Corp., which he joined in 1997. Before Matador, Ventura spent eight years at Maxus Energy Corp., where he managed engineering, exploration, and development operations and was responsible for the coordination of engineering technology. Ventura was also with Tenneco Oil Exploration and Production, where he held various engineering and operating positions. Ventura holds a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from Penn State University.
John Sellers
Co-Founder and Co-CEO Double Eagle Holdings IV
John Sellers and Cody Campbell have become astute builders and sellers of energy companies. Most recently, the pair joined forces with EnCap Investments L.P. to form Double Eagle Energy Holdings IV, focusing primarily in oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin. In 2021, Sellers and Campbell sold their DoublePoint Energy to Pioneer Natural Resources for $6.4 billion. The co-CEOs divvied up $1 billion in cash and 27.2 million shares of Pioneer between themselves and their private equity partners. It continues a good run for the young oil tycoons who have been buddies since their football-playing days in junior high in the Panhandle and at Texas Tech, the beneficiaries of Sellers’ and Campbell’s generosity. The two sold their Double Eagle Energy company to Parsley Energy for $2.8 billion in 2017.
Ryan Vinson CEO Energy Domain
Ryan Vinson’s fast-growing MineralWare — a software and online platform he and partners launched that simplifies the management of mineral ownership — continues to generate new companies. The company sold to a strategic buyer last year. Terms were not available. Out of MineralWare came Energy Domain, an online platform designed to provide a secure marketplace for sellers to market their mineral, royalty, and working interests, and he started another site, Energy Freelance, that aims to connect project owners with freelancers. Neither company was involved in the sale. MineralWare said in the fall of 2019 that it had hit a target it set in 2017 for $250,000 in recurring monthly revenue. Vinson graduated from Texas Tech and went to work for Bessemer Trust.
Bob Simpson Chairman TXO Energy Partners
Bob Simpson’s MorningStar Partners announced late last year that it had filed for a proposed $100 million initial public offering and that it had changed its name to TXO Energy Partners. Simpson started the company after the 2009 sale of XTO Energy to ExxonMobil for $41 billion. Exxon moved the subsidiary’s headquarters to Houston in 2014. Simpson and two partners founded XTO Energy Inc., which began as Cross Timbers Oil Co., in 1986. XTO became the largest producer of natural gas in America. Simpson, salutatorian of his high school graduating class in Cisco, is co-chairman of the Texas Rangers baseball club. He earned a BBA in accounting with honors and then an MBA from Baylor. Simpson served in the Texas Army National Guard after graduation and then earned his CPA designation.
Mitch Wynne
CEO
Wynne Petroleum
Mitch Wynne, with partners, took their Kimbell Royalty Partnership public in recent years. The portfolio includes more than 16 million gross acres in 28 states and in every major onshore basin in the continental U.S., and ownership in more than 125,000 gross wells. The Kimbell Art Foundation in Fort Worth owns a big stake in Kimbell Royalty Partners. Wynne, husband of Kimbell Art Museum President Kimbell Fortson Wynne, has been in oil and gas since 1980. Wynne has served as president and owner of Exploration Investments, Wynne Petroleum Co., Wynne Operating Co., and MSW Royalties. His board memberships include the Fort Worth Zoological Association, Millers Mutual Insurance, Inspire Insurance Solutions, Union Gospel Mission of Fort Worth, and All Saints’ Episcopal School. Wynne has a bachelor’s from Washington and Lee University.
Nafees Alam CEO DRG Concepts
Nafees Alam, with partner Mike Hoque, has recovered from the duress of the pandemic shutdown with reopenings of his Fort Worth properties, Wicked Butcher, Chop House Burger, and Oven and Cellar. Wild Salsa is making a comeback, he says. Alam, born and raised in Bangladesh, was a 2022 Fort Worth Inc. Entrepreneurs of Excellence winner. He learned the restaurant business with Waffle House, where he directed regional operations. In 2005, Alam and Hoque founded DRG Concepts. Alam became CEO in 2015. DRG has built profitable brands in Dallas and Fort Worth while, like everyone else, running a pandemic obstacle course of lousy labor, supply, and marketplace conditions. Board member, The Bridge of North Texas Homeless Recovery Center. Bachelor’s, business, UT Arlington; MBA, focus on entrepreneurial studies, SMU.
Jim Crawford Vice President and Plant Manager Molson Coors Fort Worth
Jim Crawford took over in 2018 as vice president and plant manager of Fort Worth’s big Molson Coors brewery, one of the eight the company operates in the U.S. Crawford began his career with the company in 2006 as a business unit manager and spent his career in operations. Last summer, the company announced a $10,000 contribution to CommUnity Frontline of Fort Worth, part of a bigger, cumulative $3 million the company has donated to socially conscious organizations supporting Black, indigenous, and other communities of color. “Last year, we saw an outpouring of support for social justice. For us, that meant both looking within our organization and supporting external partners who were fighting for equity in Fort Worth,” Crawford said at the time. He has an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
Felipe Armenta President Chef Driven Restaurant, Inc.
Felipe Armenta grew up in a San Angelo family that gathered around fresh dishes and creative cuisine. He opened his first restaurant, The Grill, in San Angelo. He and his partners expanded to Fort Worth and other cities. He made big news last year in announcing that Graham Elliot was joining him to lead Armenta’s planned new steakhouse, The Duke, in the Stockyards’ Mule Alley. Today, he leads the prolific Far Out Hospitality, which has a number of brands, including The Tavern, Press Café, Pacific Table, and Maria’s Mexican Kitchen. A sixth Cork & Pig Tavern location was in the works, as well as a foray into French cuisine, Café Margot. He is also said to be planning an Italian restaurant in Montserrat and adding a Press Café in Southlake.
Jon Bonnell CEO Bonnell's
Jon Bonnell cracked the code on prix fixe curbside family meal packs, promoted over his robust social media feed, during the pandemic. Customers lined up daily, on some days a line literally a mile long. He has continued that service in what we hope is post-pandemic. Bonnell is owner, with a partner, of Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, Waters Restaurant, Buffalo Bros restaurants. Soon, another Bonnell creation will open, Jon’s Grille, an homage to his late friend Jon Meyerson, who died in 2001. The burgers will be made with Bonnell Ranch Beef, an enterprise of Bonnell and his brother, Ric. The second coming of Jon’s Grille will be at 2905 W. Berry St., around the corner from the original. Bonnell has a bachelor’s from Vanderbilt.
John Howard Hallam CEO
Ben E. Keith Co.
John Howard Hallam became CEO in 2018 of the family-owned Ben E. Keith, the major food and beverage distributor, one of the oldest companies in Dallas-Fort Worth with a founding in 1906. The distributor serves 14 states, transporting Anheuser-Busch to customers across that footprint, along with craft and import beer brands, spirits, and wine. Hallam is grandson of Gaston Hallam, hired by the company in 1928 to unload railcars and who, in 1959, became president. John Howard Hallam became vice president of Ben E. Keith in 2008. The privately held company began distributing Anheuser-Busch products in 1928. Hallam has a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Brent Johnson Former President RM Restaurant Group
This might be the last time Brent Johnson, a Fort Worth Inc. Entrepreneur of Excellence Award winner in 2021, is on the The 400 as a restaurateur. He sold his company’s seven locations of Rio Mambo and The Rim earlier this year to XRG. Johnson had four Rio Mambo restaurants, plus one in development in Tulsa, and two of The Rim. Johnson opened his first restaurant on Sept. 11, 2001, in Fort Worth’s Cityview Center. Post pandemic, RM Restaurant Group experienced a 25% sales increase across its Rio Mambo locations. In his youth, Johnson received a coveted appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but he didn’t like it and left. He took a job instead in the food service industry.
Richard King Co-Owner
Ellerbe Fine Foods
Richard King is co-owner and general manager of Ellerbe Fine Foods. He also spearheaded Ellerbe’s wine program, White Gloves, Purple Teeth, expanding the restaurant’s services beyond on-premises consumption and retail. King worked in every role in the restaurant industry — from busser to manager to back-of-house sales and consulting — for nearly 15 years before launching Ellerbe. After nine years in front-of-house operations, King moved into consulting with Strategic Equipment, which led him to a position at the Fort Worth-based Buxton Corporation. At Buxton, King made presentations on retail and restaurant trends at national and state-wide conferences. King and chef Molly McCook opened Ellerbe Fine Foods in Fort Worth’s Near Southside in June 2009. King is on the beverage committee for the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival. Bachelor’s, TCU.
Joe Lancarte Partner
Joe T. Garcia's
Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant was established in 1935, by Joe T. Garcia and his wife, both Mexican immigrants, with only six tables and Tex-Mex made from scratch. They made it, and the crowds followed. After Garcia’s death in 1953, his widow and daughter Hope Lancarte carried on. The sprawling restaurant and patio on Fort Worth’s North Side — and the enchilada and fajita dinners and pitchers of margaritas — are a staple of the city’s life and known in international locales. Today, the company is owned by the Garcias’ six grandchildren, including Joe Lancarte. The restaurant started in a small space, and the family has added pieces over the years, including an expansive patio, which they began expanding in the 1970s with lush landscaping that transformed the experience.
Russell Kirkpatrick Co-Founder Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival
Tim Love expanded his footprint over the past year with another restaurant opening, Caterina’s — leave your phone in the car and bring a sport coat —in the Stockyards. However, he wasn’t done. Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall opened its doors as the Stockyards’ newest live music venue covering 26,000 square feet and two stories with seating for upwards of 1,000 people that includes a restaurant and private event space with a full catering kitchen. California-based Live Nation is a partner in the music bookings. Also, in partnership with Live Nation, Love and Larry Joe Taylor put on the Fort Worth Music Festival and Conference in March, the first of a planned annual event in the Stockyards. Love is a graduate of the University of Tennessee.
Lou Lambert Partner Roy Pope Grocery/Paris Coffee Shop
Longtime restaurateur Lou Lambert resurfaced on the Fort Worth deal scene in 2021 with two purchases of old favorites — Roy Pope Grocery and Paris Coffee Shop — with partners. They reopened Roy Pope in 2021, with a robust wine and beer shop, prepared foods and deli, premium meats counter, curated grocery selection, and indoor and outdoor seating. Next was the Paris Coffee Shop, which opened last summer. Lambert, a former chef at Reata, has a history as a guy with a Midas touch. After attending the Culinary Institute in New York, he went to work at some of the nation’s top restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio in San Francisco. Since then, he has also given us Lambert’s Steaks, Seafood and Whiskey, and Dutch’s. Lambert also has a degree in hotel and restaurant management from North Texas.
Scott McPherson President and CEO Core-Mark Holding Co.
Scott E. McPherson assumed the role CEO of Core-Mark International, a Performance Food Group Company, in July 2018. He had been president and chief operating officer. During his tenure with Core-Mark, Scott led the company’s M&A practice, credited with closing eight transactions representing over $6 billion in annual revenues. He is known throughout the organization and industry as a sales and marketing innovator, spearheading numerous initiatives, including creating the company’s ground-breaking Core-Solutions Group. In addition to his efforts around sales and marketing, McPherson has a significant background in supply chain, division operations and is recognized for his influence on division and company culture. Scott McPherson has a BBA from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, with a BBA and an MBA from University of Portland.
Mike Micallef President Reata Restaurants
Mike Micallef has been president of his family’s nonmanufacturing businesses since June 2005. These include Reata Restaurants, 11,700-acre Sierra La Rana development in Alpine, and CF Ranch in Alpine. Micallef is co-founder of the Fort Worth Food + Wine Foundation. Micallef’s skirmishes with his Sundance Square landlord over valet parking reached a new level last year with his announcement that he planned to move his acclaimed restaurant after not receiving a lease extension. A new home won’t change “who or what Reata is,” he said. “More than anything, Reata has a strong brand and a loyal customer base that I believe will support us anywhere we go.” That new home is expected to be downtown. Micallef has a BBA from TCU and a certificate from the school’s Ranch Management program.
The phenomenon of Goldee’s BBQ went viral when Texas Monthly declared it the best in the state. Milne opened the restaurant with Dylan Taylor and Jonny White, all friends from Arlington who spent years in Central Texas learning the craft. Milne trained at Freedman’s in Austin with Evan LeRoy and Chris McGhee. Afterward, he spent a few years at Micklethwait Craft Meats and supervised much of the sausage production. The three chose the name Goldee’s in honor of Taylor’s old gold Ford F250 that pulled his pit. Everything at Goldee’s is made-in-house, from the smoked meats down to the homemade bread. Since earning distinction from Texas Monthly, the wait at the small space on Dick Price Road in southeast Fort Worth is hours long. But it’s worth it.
Fritz Rahr Owner Rahr &
Sons Brewing Co.
Fritz Rahr is the founder of Rahr & Sons Brewing Co. Rahr is a fifth-generation brewer who comes from a family with more than 175 years of brewing history in the U.S. Rahr has gone from its initial three-beer portfolio to offering over 16 varieties to choose from. Fritz and his wife, Tara, have started Rahr to the Rescue — a dog rescue charity designed to raise awareness of the importance of dog rescue and adoption. RTTR raises money to be given back to various dog rescue groups in the DFW area. The couple has also started T&F Homes and TLHARP LLC — both real estate development companies. He received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in business from TCU and has studied brewing in Germany and at the Siebel Institute in Chicago.
Sean Murphy
Vice President and CEO
Andrews Distributing Co.
Andrews Distributing significantly increased its Fort Worth footprint in 2014 when it bought Coors Distributing Co. from the McMillan family and gained eight brewing partners in Tarrant and Johnson counties and more than 3,000 retail accounts. Controls distribution of most major beers not named Bud in the region. North Texas native Sean Murphy, a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, has worked in beer for over 35 years, successfully integrated two beer distributorships into the Andrews family while continuing to manage its South Texas operations. He moved to Fort Worth in 2018 to manage sales operations of Andrews’ 530,000-square-foot distribution center, while continuing to oversee South Texas sales. He received his bachelor’s in marketing from the University of North Texas.
Doug Renfro President Renfro Foods
Doug Renfro works closely with his cousins, Becky Renfro Borbolla and James Renfro, to run the family-owned Renfro Foods, which was founded by his grandparents who started operations out of their garage in 1940. He has developed many of the Mrs. Renfro’s flavors. Son of second-generation owner Jack Renfro, Renfro started on the factory floor as a teen and weighed spices through college. He later recalled that during that time he had the “world’s most interesting-smelling Subaru.” After graduating from the University of North Texas, he worked seven years for EDS, becoming a divisional finance manager. He has an MBA from SMU. The company’s sales are about 10 times larger than in 1992, the year Renfro returned to the company.
Stefon Rishel
Executive Chef
Trident Restaurant Group
Stefon Rishel has a mohawk that matches his big personality. Plus, a love of food, of course. Rishel is executive chef of Trident Restaurant Group, which has brought to the Near Southside marketplace Tre Mogli and Wishbone & Flynt and spiced up Willow Park with the Parker County Ice House. Rishel was the winner of Fort Worth Magazine’s Top Chef competition in 2015 as well as recognized as Best Comfort Food, Best Use of Bacon, and Best Brunch. He arrived on scene as the executive chef of Max’s Wine Dive. He also served as executive chef for Texas Bleu Steakhouse prior to forming Trident in 2017 in a partnership with Kyle Bryson and Wallace Owens. Rishel’s start in kitchens was with Pappas Restaurants at age 23.
Jordan Scott Owner Mama's Pizza
The iconic Mama’s Pizza, a Fort Worth staple, is in as good shape now as it ever has in its 50-plus years of operation under the stewardship of Jordan Scott, who took over the eatery upon the death of Chris Farkas some 20 years ago. Today, 15 stores are standing — or soon will be — in the Greater Fort Worth area, Dallas, and Houston. Four of the stores are corporately owned. Eleven are owned by franchise operators. In 2008, bought back the rights to the Mama’s Pizza name and reopened Mama’s Pizza on Camp Bowie. In 2009, he established FCF Franchise Company to sell franchises. Scott, who played baseball at Texas Wesleyan, finished his studies at TCU with a bachelor’s in sports broadcasting and political science.
Brian Sneed Founder Rooftop Ventures LLC and Quince Rooftop
TCU graduate Brian Sneed introduced his special taste of San Miguel de Allende to Fort Worth this year in the WestBend development on the Trinity River. The original in Mexico, a collaboration of Sneed and architect Chantal Arias of Guadalajara, was extoled as the best rooftop restaurant in the world in 2020 by the Robb Report. The food is an eclectic mix of dishes created by San Miguel chef Gonzalo Martinez. His favorite: any of four ceviches. Also on the menu is shredded lamb dumplings, panko-crusted sea bass, and braised short ribs. Raw fish dishes fashioned into rolls or served in a nigiri sampler are also available. Before life as a restaurateur, Sneed was a hedge fund manager in Fort Worth. He has a bachelor’s from TCU.
Richard Stuart II
CEO
Chicken Express
Richard and Nancy Stuart brought into existence the concept of Chicken Express in 1988 with stores in Benbrook and Mineral Wells. Today, the company, Burleson-based Stuart Group Inc, headed by their son, Richard “Ricky” Stuart II, has more than 200 mostly franchised locations in Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, with more franchises sure to follow. One of his favorite pastimes is TCU athletics. The Stuart Family Courtside Club at TCU’s Schollmaier Arena recognizes the family signature gift toward renovation of the basketball arena. Stuart is also part of a group formed to help facilitate pathways for TCU athletes to benefit from NIL sponsorships and endorsements. A graduate of TCU, Stuart is on his alma mater’s board of trustees.
Brent Tipps Owner
BoomerJacks
Brent Tipps, a former franchise owner of CiCi’s Pizza, has steadily grown his restaurant group from one counter-service wings concept into now three dining concepts, including 17 BoomerJack’s stores across Dallas and Fort Worth, under one umbrella, On Deck Concepts, which he formed in 2020. It all started with a desire to get his wings concept into the Montgomery Plaza. Property management wasn’t interested in a wings restaurant, so, on the fly he created BoomerJack’s. He has ambitious plans to add four to six BoomerJack’s a year, he says, while also adding new concepts. His board memberships have included the Entrepreneurs Organization and the Baylor Scott & White All Saints Health Foundation. Tipps is a former Fort Worth Inc. Entrepreneurs of Excellence Award winner.
Greg Crouchley President Justin Brands
In April, Greg Crouchley announced that he was taking off his boots, figuratively, with plans to retire from his position as president of the venerable brand that dates to 1879, when H.J. Justin started a boot company from his home. In 2000, Berkshire Hathaway purchased the company. Justin’s lineup, including Justin, Tony Lama, Chippewa, and Nocona boots, is part of a bigger stable of footwear owned by Berkshire Hathaway Shoe Holdings. Justin continues to be based in Fort Worth. Justin and the Cowboy Channel entered a partnership in 2021 when Justin Boots was presenting sponsor of the Cowboy Channel's "Road to the Horse" broadcast and tailgate party in the Fort Worth Stockyards. As part of the deal The Justin Studio and the Justin Sportsmedicine Team Report were also introduced.
Thomas Ferguson CEO AZZ Inc.
Tom Ferguson has been president and CEO of AZZ since November 2013. The Fort Worthbased company is a global provider of metal coatings and other solutions to various industries. Ferguson has been credited with the digitization of AZZ’s galvanizing business, transformation in the electrical segment, international expansion of the specialty welding business, and implementation of the business platform for AZZ’s Surface Technologies. He has also been credited with building a corporate culture that strives to create value for shareholders and exceed customer expectations, while developing employees. Prior to AZZ, he served as CEO of FlexSteel Pipeline Technologies and in executive capacities with Flowserve Corp, a global provider of fluid motion and control products and services. Ferguson holds a bachelor’s in industrial distribution and technology from Texas A&M University.
Kenneth Shipley CEO Legacy Housing Corp
Kenneth Shipley cofounded Legacy Housing Corp. in 2005 with Curtis Hodgson, who both began working in the industry more than 35 years ago. The Bedford-based company (NASDAQ: LEGH, $445 million market value) is the fourth-largest maker of manufactured homes in the U.S. and considered an industry leader in “tiny homes.” The company offers affordable homes at a time when home prices are skyrocketing, ranging in size from 320 to 2,600 square feet in more than 80 floor plan designs. Legacy manufactures at three plants, in Fort Worth, East Texas, and Georgia. Backlog remains strong, the company said in its recent quarterly securities filings. Recognized as one of the country’s fastest-growing companies, Legacy Housing employs more than 900.
Mark Kirby President ATCO Rubber Products
Since 2018, Mark Kirby has been president and CEO of Fort Worth-based ATCO Rubber Products, the world's largest manufacture of flexible ducts. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Fort Worth Chamber. ATCO is based in Fort Worth with 15 locations across 10 states. The entire product line was developed for the purpose of efficiently moving conditioned air in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Prior to joining ATCO, he was VP of Supply Chain for Fort Worthbased Morsco and prior to that spent seven years in London in both the wholesale distribution and manufacturing industry. Kirby has a BBA/management and marketing from James Madison University and graduate work at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
Ed Watson President and CEO Acme Brick
Ed Watson succeeded Dennis Knautz as president and CEO of Acme Brick on April 1. Knautz was among the longest-serving presidents in Acme’s 132-year history after being appointed the company’s 11th president and CEO in 2005. Watson, in his 40th year with the company, previously served in the roles of vice president of production, general production manager (concrete operations), regional manager (Featherlite Building products), general manager (Texas Quarries), and plant engineer (Featherlite Building products). Before his promotion, Watson was the executive vice president of operations. “Ed is a personable and engaging leader who has proven to be an outstanding manager,” Knautz said. “His leadership and motivational skills will now be put to use in all areas of Acme. I have every confidence that he will continue Acme’s long-standing commitment to excellence.”
Sean Menke Executive Chairman Sabre Holdings
Sean Menke is transitioning to executive chairman after serving since 2016 as president and CEO of Sabre Corp., leading technology provider at the center of worldwide travel and one of Tarrant County’s largest employers, with more than 7,500 employees globally. Menke joined Sabre in 2015 as president of Sabre Travel Network, the company’s largest line, which processes $120 billion of travel spending annually by connecting airlines, hotels, rental car companies, cruise lines, destinations and travel services to more than 425,000 travel agents and corporate travel managers. Menke, with a career in the airline business of more than 20 years, is former CEO of Frontier Airlines and Pinnacle Airlines. He earned a bachelor’s in economics and aviation from Ohio State University and an MBA from University of Denver.
Karen Borta Anchor CBS 11
Karen Borta is a veteran journalist who joined CBS 11 News in 1995. She previously was an anchor and reporter at the CBS affiliate WTVT-TV in Tampa, Florida; KRBK-TV in Sacramento; and KCEN-TV in Waco. Borta has won numerous honors. In 2019, the Press Club of Dallas gave her a Legend of North Texas Journalism, the industry’s prestigious lifetime excellence award. Borta graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington. In 2003, Borta received UTA’s “Distinguished Alumni Service Award.” Borta has won multiple awards for her efforts to support the cause of finding a cure for breast cancer, as her mother, grandmothers, and numerous aunts and cousins have had breast cancer. Borta has also taken on the cause of finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes after her youngest child’s diagnosis in 2015.
Chris Cobler Publisher Fort Worth Report
Chris Cobler is the founding publisher of the digital Fort Worth Report, which launched in April 2021 under a nonprofit model and started with seed money from the estate of Anne Marion, who died in 2020. The Report has sought out space in the marketplace with specialization and exclusivity. He arrived in town with a load of experience in local daily newspapers, including as a reporter in his hometown of Topeka, Kansas. He also served as the managing editor of the Denton RecordChronicle and as the editor and publisher of the Victoria Advocate. Cobler, an award-winning leader of newsrooms who attended the University of Kansas, was the first Donald W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow for community journalism at Harvard University, where he studied the digital future of news.
Deborah Ferguson
Anchor
NBC 5
Deborah Ferguson remains highly visible in the community as co-anchor of NBC 5’s “Today” weekday mornings and a widely popular social media presence. She is also back emceeing fundraising galas and special invents, including the recent graduating class of the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Fort Worth. Ferguson joined NBC 5 in 1991 after starting her journalism career as a reporter and anchor for WBAP Radio in Fort Worth. She has won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award and a Gracie Award for Outstanding Anchor – News presented by American Women in Radio and Television. Ferguson spends much of her time outside the newsroom at community and charitable events, particularly focused on empowering. A proud Bulldog from Trimble Tech High School, Ferguson earned a bachelor’s in broadcast journalism from TCU.
Steve Coffman
President and Editor Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Steve Coffman has been the president and editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and startelegram.com since 2018. He has more than 30 years of experience in the news business, starting as a reporter and working in a variety of editing roles at the Wichita Eagle, Jackson Sun, and Fayetteville Observer, as well as publications in New York, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The Star-Telegram this year uncovered alleged improprieties in the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office over the death of an inmate, as part of an investigative series examining the deaths of 46 internees of the Tarrant County Jail over the past few years. Coffman has a bachelor’s in journalism from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.
Brian Estridge
Radio Personality Frogs Today
Frogs Today founder and host Brian Estridge brings more than 35 years of broadcasting experience to the Roxo Media House family Estridge begins his 25th season as the "Voice of the TCU Horned Frogs” in the fall. Estridge has also provided play-by-play for numerous ESPN television, Fox Sports Net, Mountain West Network, and CBS/Westwood One radio productions. He also spent 13 years as the co-host of the WBAP Morning News. The president of RedVoice Productions and a partner with First Team Ventures, his companies produce, market, and distribute college football bowl games on radio nationally. Estridge serves on the executive boards of the Davey O’Brien Foundation, the Armed Forces Bowl, the Ben Hogan Award, the Cliburn Marketing Committee, and the Board of Deacons at his church, First Baptist Grapevine.
Bud Kennedy Columnist
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth native and Arlington Heights graduate Bud Kennedy, who covers everything from restaurants to politics in columns for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and with a robust social media presence. He was among the first in the market to use the medium so widely to interact with readers. He got his start in journalism covering high school football when he was 16. He worked for the Fort Worth Press and newspapers in Austin and Dallas and then went to work for the Star-Telegram in 1981. He estimates he’s written thousands of columns on news, politics, and dining out. As he says, “If you don’t like what he says about politics, read him on barbecue.”
Baker Owner RLB Auto Group
Robbie Baker has been in the automotive industry for over 35 years. Throughout his career, he has specialized in all aspects of the business including wholesale, retail, and service. He recently launched a platform called Pro Capital which allows his capital fusionist team to appraise fleet vehicles and equipment from large corporations looking to liquidate assets at ease. Baker frequently travels around the country as he is continuously acquiring packages of assets from companies that specialize in energy and construction. He also has a well-rounded real estate portfolio in the DFW area and beyond. Baker continues to operate a high-line retail car dealership including a full-service facility and body shop. Baker is a car enthusiast himself with an impressive collection including a variety of unique vehicles.
Robbie
Will Churchill Co-Owner Frank Kent Cadillac
Will Churchill and his twin sister, Corrie Watson (see Real Estate), have plenty on their plates. Their holdings include Cadillac dealerships in Fort Worth and Arlington; a dealership in Corsicana selling Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Buick; Cadillac Wines; Fort Brewery & Pizza brewpub; Grease Monkey rubs; a website selling grills; and a portfolio of real estate holdings. Churchill and Watson also took the lead on developing Frank Kent’s Dream Park, a park accessible to children of all abilities, that opened in Fort Worth’s Trinity Park. Churchill and Watson in recent years took the proceeds they received from selling a Honda dealership and a piece of property downtown and reinvested them in property on the Near Southside to tenants such as MELT Ice Creams and Heim BBQ.
Tom Durant President Classic Auto Group
Tom Durant has been working in the automobile industry for over 60 years, starting off in his father’s wrecking yard and later at Durant Chevrolet, which his father purchased — lock, stock, and barrel — in 1960. While playing football at Texas Tech, Durant began working in the service department at his brother’s dealership in Weatherford. After graduating and a successful four months selling cars at Durant Chevrolet in Granbury, Durant’s father turned the shop over to his son. In 1988, Durant purchased Century Chevrolet and rebranded it Classic Chevrolet. Since 1992, Durant has opened, partnered, and operated 18 stores, which make up Classic Auto Group. Classic Chevrolet is a 20-time Dealer of the Year. Durant and his wife, Susan, established The Tom & Susan Durant Foundation in 2023.
Todd Dalhausser
Global Brand President Dickies, a Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co.
Todd Dalhausser was appointed global brand president of Dickies in April. He is responsible for accelerating growth by implementing a marketplace segmentation strategy, leading Dickies’ digital transformation, and building a consumerminded organization. Most recently, he was brand president of Altra. Under his leadership, he is credited with leading an evolution of the brand while maintaining its No. 1 position in trail. Dalhausser joined VF in 2018 from Wolverine Worldwide, where he served as senior vice president of sales for Saucony North America. Previously, he managed Saucony/Hind’s apparel business. He also held similar positions for both Vans and Reebok. Dalhausser earned a bachelor’s in sports administration from Trenton State College in New Jersey. He is a board member of the Running Industry Association.
Matt Furlong CEO GameStop
Matt Furlong, appointed CEO of GameStop in 2021, is a veteran e-commerce leader with significant experience implementing growth strategies across global geographies and product categories. Furlong was one of several former Amazon employees to join GameStop in a push to focus on e-commerce growth. Most recently, he oversaw Amazon’s Australia business during a period of substantial growth. He was previously a technical adviser to the head of Amazon’s North America consumer business. Throughout his nearly nine years at Amazon, he also ran a variety of product categories and oversaw strong market share expansion. Furlong began his career at Procter & Gamble, where was an executive focused on brand, marketing, and sales strategies. Furlong has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Miami University in Ohio.
Jerry Durant CEO
Jerry Durant Auto Group
Jerry Durant started working in the automobile business at his father's wrecking yard and later Durant Chevrolet in Granbury, which his father bought in 1960. After graduating from North Texas State University, Jerry Durant opened Jerry's Chevrolet in Weatherford when he was 22. Today, the Jerry Durant Auto Group covers 50 acres in Weatherford and sells Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hyundai, and Toyota. Durant gives generously to the Weatherford community and has won several local awards, including Weatherford Citizen of the Year, the James Doss Award, and the Weatherford College Carlos Hartnett Award. Durant also owns racing horses and cutting horses. He estimates he has earned more than $2 million from cutting horses, including the 2007 NCHA Futurity Open Reserve Championship won by Bubba Matlock and Durant's stallion Desires Little Rex.
Mike Hernandez CEO
D&M Leasing
Mike Hernandez is now more than 30 years at the helm of D&M Leasing, an auto leasing business he supposed was a stopping point en route to something else. The firm today has offices in Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Dallas, and Houston, a used car operation, and a finance arm. In addition, Hernandez is the owner and dealer principal of Ford, Buick, Chrysler, and Toyota dealerships. He is a member of the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association. Founder and president of the Hernandez Foundation and a member of the Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate. A member of the Board of Regents of Texas A&M, his alma mater, Hernandez is also part of an advisory committee to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on workforce training.
Jason Hiley President Hiley Dealerships
In the early 1980s, Randy Hiley opened Hiley Mazda and Volkswagen dealerships in Arlington. Today, Hiley’s sons, Jason and Matt, run the company and have led an aggressive expansion. The company bought Hiley Mazda of Hurst in 2003; acquired Mazda, Volkswagen, and Audi dealerships in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2009; opened Hiley Buick GMC in Fort Worth in 2010; purchased a Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and RAM dealership in Ada, Oklahoma, in 2014; opened a Hyundai dealership in Burleson in 2015; bought a Hyundai dealership in Fort Worth from Frank Kent in 2018; and rapidly, after that, bought Mac Churchill Acura in North Fort Worth, bought AutoNation Mazda in Fort Worth, and completed construction of a Mazda dealership in Burleson.
Robert Howard President Don Davis Auto Group
Robert Howard began his career at Don Davis
Oldsmobile after graduating from UT Arlington in 1985. Today, Don Davis Auto Group is recognized as one of the top dealer groups in the U.S. Howard served as preowned manager and general manager before being named president in 1994. Howard has overseen growth from a single point Oldsmobile store to three locations in Arlington representing Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Wagoneer, Jeep, Ram, and Nissan. Howard was recognized by UTA as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2000. Last year, Howard, along with football teammates, was inducted into the UTA Hall of Honor in recognition of their 1981 Southland Conference championship. Howard is an ardent supporter of Fort Worth Country Day School. Don Davis Auto Group is also a longtime sponsor of Santa’s Helpers Annual Toy Drive.
John Clay Wolfe President and CEO GivemetheVIN.COM
John Clay Wolfe has created a platform to sell your car so easily you can do it in your underwear. Well, so says a very catchy jingle on the radio. Wolfe has built a little auto wholesale empire through GivemetheVIN. com and a nationally syndicated radio show, on which he makes on-the-spot offers. Wolfe began life as a serial entrepreneur — he admits working for someone else isn’t a good idea for anybody — owning bars catering to the TCU college market. He was an SMU student at the time. That evolved into car dealerships. A motocross accident left him paralyzed and at a crossroads. He needed a new plan to market his dealerships: a radio show, which he could do sitting in a wheelchair, which he is now out of. Wolfe has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from SMU.
Randy Watson CEO
Randy Watson Boots
Randy Watson, for years a leader in the boot business at Justin, stepped out on his own in 2019 with his own brand, R. Watson Boots, which not in the too distant past got an unexpected boost when Drake, the hiphopster, showed up on Instagram wearing a pair of R. Watson’s Antique Saddle Full Quill Ostrich boots with a Royal Blue Goat Top. Watson said he got back into the business after retiring from Justin when vendors and retailers urged him to return with his own stamp. R. Watsons are carried by a number of retailers, including Cavenders, CB Finchers, Teskey’s Saddle Shop, National Roper Supply, Woods Boots, Lee’s WW, as well as outfitters in Oklahoma and Georgia. And, apparently, a place called Country General Store in L.A.
America First Investing
• Venture Capital – national security technology
• Politically Responsible Investing™
• Values based investing
There is a paradigm shift happening in the way technology for U.S. national security is developed and funded. The future won’t be in Silicon Valley or with the major defense contractors. The next generation of U.S. security technology will be led and funded by Texans.
— Hal Lambert, Founder Point Bridge Capital
Nonprofits and Foundations
Nonprofits and foundations are persevering in the aftermath of the pandemic, but with government subsidies coming back to pre-pandemic levels, challenges persist. Hunger, shelter — particularly with the lifting of pandemic-era eviction moratoriums — employment, financial assistance, mental well-being, and child care were among causes that continue to see demand.
NONPROFITS AND FOUNDATIONS
Amy Adkins President All Saints Health Foundation
Amy Adkins left her job as president and CEO of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in 2017 to take over as president of the All Saints Health Foundation, which had $60 million in assets in 2020. In her post, Adkins leads Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center’s fundraising efforts, including major gift and donor cultivation, capital campaigns, special events, and other philanthropic initiatives. Adkins earned a bachelor’s from Texas Tech University in music education and an executive MBA from TCU. During her tenure with the Symphony Orchestra, the organization enjoyed recordbreaking fundraising results, including an unprecedented 42% increase in corporate sponsorships and foundation giving. She oversaw winning campaigns, including the drive to fund the orchestra’s 2008 Carnegie Hall tour and managed the first $1 million gala in 2006 honoring Van Cliburn.
Charles Denison President BRIT Foundation
Charles Denison became president of the BRIT Foundation in November 2021. In that role, he collaborates with board members to oversee the foundation’s accounting and financial reporting processes, including the roll forward and annual draw calculations of 14 endowments. He works directly with outside advisers and consultants managing and monitoring a $75 million investment portfolio. As president, he also assists with the evaluation and updating of operating policies and procedures. Founded in October 1987 and based in Fort Worth, BRIT documents the diversity of plant life and conducts extensive research around the world. In the last 15 years, BRIT scientists have located and described scores of species previously unknown to science. Denison is director of investments and corporate development for Virtuoso Travel. He has a BBA in finance from Texas A&M.
Neils Agather
Executive Director
The Burnett Foundation
Neils Agather has stewardship of the Fort Worth-based foundation, created in 1978 with $200 million in assets by Anne Burnett Tandy to support a range of projects. Tandy’s daughter, Anne Windfohr Marion, was president of the foundation when she died in 2020. The foundation makes grants in arts and humanities, education, community affairs, and health and human services, chiefly in its Fort Worth home. The foundation also makes grants in New Mexico, largely in the arts. Marion founded the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe. Agather is married to the longtime banker Elaine Agather, chosen in 2020 Mayor Betsy Price to co-chair a Fort Worth nonprofit tasked with helping Fort Worth business rebuild from COVID-19 and find new opportunity.
Chris Cassidy President and CEO National Medal of Honor Museum
Chris Cassidy, a retired U.S. Navy Seal, leads the project to build the museum, monument, and institute of American heroes in Arlington. During his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star with combat "V" and received a second Bronze Star for combat leadership service in Afghanistan. In 2004, the platoon he commanded was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for a nine-day operation on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Cassidy was selected an astronaut in 2004. He is a veteran of three space flights and 10 space walks. He has flown to the lnternational Space Station aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. In 2015, he became NASA's 14th Chief Astronaut. Bachelor’s, mathematics, U.S. Naval Academy; master’s, ocean engineering, Massachusetts lnstitute of Technology.
Pete Geren
President and CEO
Sid Richardson Foundation
Pete Geren has been president and CEO of the Sid Richardson Foundation since 2011, overseeing grants in support of educational, health, human services, and cultural programs and projects that serve Texans. The foundation, named after the legendary oil wildcatter Sid Richardson, gave gifts of $23 million for 2019. The Richardson was one of 20 initial major backers of North Texas Cares, an initiative launched during COVID-19 to identify emergency needs. A University of Texas-educated lawyer, Geren won a special election to fill the House seat of former Speaker Jim Wright in 1989. He served four terms and returned to Fort Worth. He returned to Washington in September 2001 as special assistant to the defense secretary and later served as acting Air Force secretary and 20th Army secretary.
Jarred Howard Chief Developer Juneteenth Museum
Juneteenth as a federal holiday became a reality through a bill signed by President Biden in 2021. Also a reality: The National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth, the vision of Jarred Howard and Sable Brands, his Fort Worthbased marketing firm. It will double as a monument to Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” The museum will be part of a mixed-use development designed to aid in revitalization efforts in the city’s historic south side neighborhood. Juneteenth, which recognizes the day in 1865 that Union troops arrived in Galveston to inform enslaved people of their freedom, about 2½ years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, has been a state holiday since 1980. Howard estimates that cost of the museum will be about $70 million.
Mary Justin Director Jane and John Justin Foundation
Mary Justin is continuing the benevolence and philanthropic zeal of her late parents. Last year, the Jane and John Justin Tower, a nine-story building that added 144 beds, 15 surgery suites, and new pre- and postoperative suites services. It represented the largest construction project in Texas Health history, and it got off the ground as a result of a signature $10 million gift from the Justin Foundation. John Justin’s place in the history of the city as a businessman and civic leader is in a secure lockbox. Justin, who took the lead of Justin Boot Company in the late 1940s, transformed his company through marketing and sales innovations that remade the organization from a regional to national brand. Justin was mayor of Fort Worth from 1961-63.
Laura McWhorter President Texas Health Resources Foundation
In 2021, Laura McWhorter became president of the Texas Health Resources Foundation, an organization she has served in progressive roles for 24 years. Last year was especially significant for the foundation with the completion of the Jane and John Justin Tower at Texas Health Fort Worth, built with help from the largest and most successful philanthropic campaign ever for the hospital. Beyond the walls of the hospital, Texas Health has granted out more than $18 million over the last four years to create health equity in vulnerable communities. McWhorter received the Ben Franklin Outstanding Fundraising Executive from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in November. She is a member of Jewel Charity and served on the Blue Zones Project Steering Committee and with the Junior League of Fort Worth.
Todd
Rainwater
Director Rainwater Charitable
Foundation
Todd Rainwater is chair of the Rainwater Charitable Foundation, founded in 1991 by Rainwater’s father, the investor Richard Rainwater, to improve the lives of children in the U.S. Richard Rainwater died in 2015 of neurodegenerative disease. Rainwater, before he died, set the foundation down a path of investing millions to find a cure. In 2021, the foundation and Alzheimer’s Association announced they teamed up again to fund drug discovery research. As COVID-19 broke out, Rainwater signed onto North Texas Cares, a collaboration to identify and fund emergency needs. The foundation also is the lead backer of the new Fort Worth college readiness initiative Tarrant To & Through Partnership, focused on high school students preparing for college.
Jean Roach
Vice President The Roach Foundation
In 2022, Fort Worth mourned the loss of John Roach, longtime CEO of Tandy Corp./ RadioShack, and legacy at TCU, where he was board chair. Roach, named chairman in 1990, led the “1990s Project” that set TCU’s agenda for 10 years. Roach encouraged TCU to approve major increases in funding for technology for teaching and learning. Those technologies were put into place across campus. At Tandy, Roach launched the national Tandy Technology Scholars program, which rewarded teachers and students. Roach consistently set TCU’s agenda for conservative fiscal management. During his tenure, the endowment more than doubled to about $1 billion. Roach and wife Jean Roach, the vice president of the Roach Foundation at the time of his passing, direct charitable giving through the foundation. Jean Roach is a doer in the community.
Russell Morton Chairman Cook Children's Foundation
Russell Morton became chair of the Cook Children’s Foundation and Health Care System boards of trustees in 2021. Cook Children's Health Foundation matches the needs of the health care system with generous philanthropic support from the community to enhance patient programs and services. Philanthropy has been at the heart of the hospital’s mission since day one when Missouri Matilda Nail Cook earmarked the oil royalties from the Cook Ranch near Albany for the hospital. Cook Children’s comprises eight entities — Medical Center, Physician Network, Home Health, Northeast Hospital, Pediatric Surgery Center, Health Plan, Health Services, and Health Foundation.
John Robinson Executive Vice President/ Grant Administration Amon G. Carter Foundation
John Robinson is the longtime grant administrator at the Amon Carter Foundation, established in 1945 by the businessman Amon G. Carter and his wife, Nenetta Burton Carter. The foundation supports work in art and culture, civic and public affairs, education, health, and human services. As of Dec. 31, 2020, the foundation had made charitable gifts totaling over $718 million. For the five years through 2019, the foundation made $155.89 million in grants, 41% to the Amon Carter Museum. A lifelong resident of Fort Worth, Robinson graduated magna cum laude from TCU with a BBA in accounting. He became a CPA and worked for an international public accounting firm before joining the Carter Foundation as controller in 1980. In 1997, he was named executive vice president and assumed responsibility for all grant-making activity.
NONPROFITS AND FOUNDATIONS
Deborah Bullock Director of Adult and Family Services for Mabee Social Service Center
The
Salvation Army
Deborah Bullock is the director of adult and family services for Tarrant and Ellis counties. In this role, she is responsible for planning, developing, administering, coordinating, and evaluating adult programs that include social services, shelter and housing, behavioral health, and food services at the social service centers and corps located in Tarrant and Ellis counties. She has nearly three decades of experience working in the human services field. Bullock has extensive experience in serving specialized populations, including but not limited to substance abuse, homelessness, criminal justice, mental health, and survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence. Alongside Majors Frankco and Martha Higdon, Bullock provides emotional and spiritual support, shelter, meals, and rental assistance to those in need at the J.E. & L.E. Mabee Social Service Center in Fort Worth.
Anthony Chandler
Interim CEO Catholic Charities
Father Anthony Chandler has served as interim CEO of Catholic Charities Fort Worth since last summer. Chandler, on loan from the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, has two master’s degrees, one in theology from Catholic University of America, and an MBA in human resource management from the University of Maryland. He has also served as the vice chancellor of the Archdiocese for Military Services for three years in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw Roman Catholics in every branch of military service, Veterans Affairs, diplomats, and military academies. Chandler has a special interest in rural communities, veterans, and education. “I welcome Fr. Chandler as a fine priest, excellent administrator, and compassionate pastor,” said Bishop Michael Olson.
Julie Butner
President and CEO
Tarrant Area Food Bank
In 2020, Julie Butner became president and CEO of Tarrant Area Food Bank, where she provides executive leadership, fund development, board management, and financial management for one of the largest food acquisition and distribution organizations in the U.S. TAFB distributes more than 1 million nutritious meals a week across Tarrant and 12 surrounding counties. Before the Tarrant Area Food Bank, Butner, who served as a captain in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Storm, spent most of her career working in the health care and hospitality industries, specifically focused on food and nutrition, and has held a variety of leadership positions in operations and business development. Butner has a bachelor’s in nutrition and coordinated dietetics from TCU and a master’s in food systems management from Oklahoma.
David Cox President and CEO Goodwill North Central Texas
David Cox has been president and CEO of Goodwill North Central Texas since 2013. Cox views the calling of his work as providing disabled and disadvantaged individuals with the “open door of opportunity” so they may achieve maximum independence. Previously, Cox served Goodwill North Central Texas as director of community relations and as senior vice president of retail sales and marketing. Cox is a member of Leadership Fort Worth, Leadership Class of 2002; serves as board chair for Harvest Christian Academy; chair of the Texas Association of Goodwills; and is an active volunteer with his church. He also worked for the World Organization of Scouts in a small village in the Swiss Alps. Cox has degrees in PR/advertising and studio art from Texas Wesleyan.
Wayne Carson CEO ACH Child and Family Services
Educated as a civil engineer at the University of Missouri-Rolla, Wayne Carson worked for three years as an engineer but switched to social work so he could work with kids in need of families. Carson started working for the All Church Home in Fort Worth — now ACH — more than 30 years ago. He took over as CEO in June 2000 and subsequently completed his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Arlington. ACH’s big portfolio expanded last year when it assumed case management responsibilities from Child Protective Services in the region for all children in substitute care. With 700 dedicated staff, ACH operates 16 programs in several counties providing a range of services that both prevent and treat child abuse, neglect, homelessness and family separation.
In 2020, Ashley Elgin took over as CEO of Lena Pope, a long-recognized Fort Worth early childhood learning nonprofit. Elgin has been in youth and family advocacy, prevention, and early intervention for 30 years. Before Lena Pope, she worked for the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, Genesis Women’s Shelter, and SafeHaven of Tarrant County. In 2018, she was recognized as Nonprofit CEO of the Year by the Community Council of Dallas. Elgin has served or continues to serve on boards and committees for Mental Health Connection, Texas Network for Youth Services, Meals on Wheels of America, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, North Texas Association for Play Therapy, and Children’s Advocacy Center of Texas Partner Agency Council. Elgin has a doctorate in counseling from the University of North Texas.
Ashley Elgin CEO
Lena Pope
Bruce Frankel President and CEO DRC Solutions
Bruce Frankel is president and CEO of DRC Solutions, which leads in assisting individuals and families experiencing homelessness emerge from their situations as productive and healthy people. The nonprofit has set goals this year of street outreach team mobile analysts accessing at least 1,500 unsheltered individuals and housing 120; and work with at least 100 individuals assigned to housing programs through the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition to identify appropriate housing placement. DRC Rapid Rehousing programs quickly place people experiencing homelessness into temporary housing. Once housed, individuals or families are set on a path to secure permanent housing through professional case management and connection to the broader services available within the Tarrant County Continuum of Care.
Carla Jutson President Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County
Since 1974 Carla Jutson has been president and CEO of Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County, a $13 million agency serving about 1.7 million meals per year and delivering other supportive services to residents in Tarrant County. Juston was, in fact, a founding member and former treasurer of Meals on Wheels Association of Texas. She served on the board of Meals on Wheels Association of America from 1984-96, including president from 1988-90. In 1999, she was honored as the association’s Distinguished Executive of the Year. Construction is expected to soon begin on an expansion of their facility by approximately 17,000 square feet to accommodate additional freezer and dry storage space and client assistance storage, among other things. Jutson has a bachelor’s in special education from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Carlos Gonzalez-Jaime
Executive Director
Transform 1012 N. Main St.
Carlos Gonzalez-Jaime is the inaugural executive director of Transform 1012 N. Main Street, a nonprofit organization that, in an act of reparative justice, is transforming the former Ku Klux Klan Klavern No. 101 Auditorium in Fort Worth into The Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing. Gonzalez-Jaime, a seasoned consultant, art advisor, and business executive, has been working with nonprofit and cultural organizations since 2012, and his interests lie in the intersection of arts, culture, and social impact. Gonzalez-Jaime is the former executive director of Latino Arts Project in Dallas, a cultural institution designed to better understand Latinx and Latin American art, history, and culture. Member of the board of directors of The Family Place. Bachelor’s, industrial and systems engineering, Tecnológico de Monterrey; global MBA, Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Leah King President United Way of Tarrant County
Leah King was promoted to president and CEO of the United Way of Tarrant County in 2019, moving up from chief operating officer. With COVID-19, North Texas’ United Ways were thrust immediately into regional efforts to identify and fund emergency needs through the North Texas Cares initiative. King began her career in North Carolina as a salesperson and store manager with RadioShack. She subsequently held posts at Chesapeake Energy Corp., Holland Services, and Northstar Bank, before she was hired by the United Way of Tarrant County as senior vice president of development. Leah serves as a director on the boards of United Way of Texas, Cook Children’s Medical Center, Baylor Scott & White All Saints, T3 (Tarrant To & Through), and the Fort Worth Club.
Kathryn Jacob President and CEO SafeHaven of Tarrant County
In 2015, Kathryn Jacob was named the president and CEO of SafeHaven of Tarrant County, and since then, she grew the agency’s budget from $6.5 million to $10.5 million, deepened the quality of service delivery to survivors, developed and nurtured local relationships to support a coordinated community response to intimate partner violence, and championed the agency’s work to hold offenders accountable. Prior to SafeHaven, she served as the executive director of the Housing Crisis Center of Dallas. She spent time with the Appalachia Service Project and led extensive staff trainings on domestic violence in rural areas. Jacob also served in the U.S. Peace Corps and founded two sustainable women’s groups focused on women’s safety, rights, and equality in Turkmenistan. Bachelor’s, social work, Creighton University; master’s, social work, Fordham University.
Carol Klocek CEO Center for Transforming Lives
Since 2009, Carol Klocek has been the CEO of the Center for Transforming Lives, the $19 million agency designed to build financial and emotional well-being for women and their children experiencing poverty and homelessness. Under Klocek’s leadership, the Center for Transforming Lives has been positioned as a thought leader on addressing poverty and homelessness in women and children. Before her tenure at CTL, Klocek was executive director of Presbyterian Night Shelter. Her community involvement includes leadership team member at the Early Learning Alliance and Help Me Grow North Texas, and member, Maternal and Infant Care Coalition. Bachelor’s, philosophy, St. Mary’s College in Indiana; master’s, social work, UT Arlington; executive MBA, TCU.
NONPROFITS AND FOUNDATIONS
Mark Melson President and CEO
The Gladney Center of Fort Worth
Mark Melson joined Gladney in 2008 as chief development officer and became chief operating officer before being named president and CEO in 2018. Melson’s focus on bettering the lives of children in need extends not only to Texas but around the world through domestic and international programs. Melson has a bachelor’s and MBA from the University of North Texas. Before joining Gladney, Melson was director of finance and gift planning for Harris Methodist Health Foundation and as chief development officer for Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas. He serves on the board of directors of the Children’s Home Society of America.
Toby Owen CEO Presbyterian Night Shelter
Toby Owen has been executive director of the Presbyterian Night Shelter, one of Fort Worth’s major shelters, since 2009. Owen has overseen continued expansion of the shelter’s facility and services, which were stretched during COVID’s peak. The Clean Slate employment program offers jobs for residents in janitorial, staffing, and litter cleanup. Before joining the Night Shelter, Owen was vice president of residential services for All Church Home for children (ACH). Owen has a bachelor’s from Oklahoma Baptist University, a master’s in social work at the University of Texas at Arlington, and a master’s in church and community ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Heidi Swartz Executive Director Cowtown Marathon
Heidi Swartz, executive director of the Cowtown Marathon for 20 years, has made the race an annual destination for runners across the country as well as the world. Her responsibilities include putting on a safe race that is under budget and a challenge to runners at all levels. Swartz has also made the Cowtown a benefactor to young people with the CALF program, created in 2009 to encourage children to pursue a lifelong love for fitness and an awareness of good nutrition. The program was tabbed “The Top Kids’ Running Program in the Nation” in 2011 and 2020 by Running USA. The nonprofit has also delivered more than 50,000 grants and pairs of shoes to children in need. Swartz serves as a board member for Running USA, Marketing Committee for Visit FW, and serves on the board of Convening for Children’s Well-Being.
Kara Waddell
CEO
Child Care Associates
Kara Waddell joined Child Care Associates as CEO in 2014 where she leads more than 500 early learning professionals in providing Head Start, quality child care support, Pre-K and innovative pilot programs for 21,000 children across the North Texas region. With an operating budget over $100 million, Child Care Associates works to create the finest possible early learning system for families and children in need and is recognized as a leader in early education, both regionally and nationally. Waddell was recruited to Tarrant County after serving as the head of Oregon’s child care system. Prior to that, she spent 12 years in China leading a countrywide nonprofit. Waddell has a bachelor’s from Duke University and a master’s in public administration from Harvard.
Don Shisler President and CEO Union Gospel Mission
Since 1993, Don Shisler has served at Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, first as a volunteer and now as president and CEO, beginning in 1995. During his tenure, he has built and renovated six facilities on the 10-acre campus, including the organization’s most recent project, The Community Outreach Center. Set to open in 2023, this facility will offer training and certifications for industries with livable wages and will be available to everyone in the surrounding area. Don has served on numerous boards, including Tarrant County Homeless Coalition. He also helped to launch the Near Eastside Neighborhood Association. Shisler has received numerous awards, including The Ben Franklin Award for Outstanding Professional Fundraising Executive. Shisler attended Tarrant County College and the Neeley School of Business at TCU.
Dante Williams Co-Founder Community Frontline
Dante Williams is cofounder of Community Frontline, a nonprofit that aims to engage men in volunteer work, mentoring of youth, advocacy of policy change, and conversations about cultural issues like police accountability. The organization seeks to provide opportunities for police to serve in neighborhoods and for events like community cleanups and movie nights. Williams serves on the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission. During the pandemic, Community Frontline helped small businesses with grants. During the winter storm of 2021, the group repaired pipes, did other home repairs, and assisted with groceries for neighbors. Williams owns DIG Contracting, a commercial contractor. Williams, a son of Stop Six, graduated Dunbar High School and holds a bachelor’s in construction science from Prairie View A&M University.
Andreski,
Crain and Chris Nettles.
TEXRail | ZIPZONE | Bus | The Dash | TRE
Joe T. Garcia’s is more than a meal; this is our family tradition, our history, and our home. Our story starts when our family matriarch, Mamasuez, immigrated from Michoacán, Mexico, to Fort Worth in 1911. She brought little else besides a tireless work ethic and love for her family. Alongside her husband and restaurant namesake Joe T., she wanted to build a life for herself and the people she loved. Little did she know it would be the humble beginnings of an iconic restaurant and a Fort Worth tradition would be born.
Since 1935, we’ve invited every person who steps through our doors to experience our family tradition: the magic of food and good company. The Lancarte Family welcomes you to our family table.
DISRUPTING THE CYCLE OF POVERTY TAKES A LASTING STRATEGY AND VISIONARY LEADERSHIP.
The board and staff at Center for Transforming Lives would like to congratulate
Carol Klocek
on being named to Fort Worth Inc.’s 400 Most Influential People for 2023.
Fort Worth has a wonderful legacy of generous philanthropists, whose giving never seems to lapse in good times and bad, for better or for worse. Fort Worth’s givers have always been her most noble and dependable citizens.
Larry Anfin
K&L Ventures
Husband and wife duo Larry and Karen Anfin are ubiquitous, serving on numerous boards and highly visible at fundraisers and other community events. Among the events, foundations, and organizations Anfin is involved with include Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., a Wish with Wings, Fort Worth Police Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County, TCC Foundation, Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate, Accelerate FW, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber, Presbyterian Night Shelter, Salvation Army, and many more. Anfin is a grandson of the late John McMillan, who co-founded Coors Distributing Company of Fort Worth and ran it until he died in 2001. The Anfin family — Larry, who worked at the company from 1974-2014, and his three brothers — sold the company to Andrews Distributing Co. in 2014.
Ramona Bass Fort Worth Zoo
Ramona Bass, wife of Lee Bass, is longtime co-chair of the Fort Worth Zoo board and one of the country’s most noted supporters of conservation. In 1993, she and her husband founded the Lee and Ramona Bass Foundation to award grants for Texas education, community programs and projects for arts and entertainment; and national and regional conservation, education, and research. Past grants and gifts paid included Amon Carter Museum of Western Art; Fort Worth Art Association Endowment Foundation, for the Modern Art Museum; The International Rhino Foundation; Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas; The Peregrine Fund; San Antonio River Foundation; University of Texas at Austin; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Vanderbilt University; George W. Bush Foundation; Texas A&M University, Kingsville.
Anne T. Bass
Keystone Group LP
Anne T. Bass and husband Robert Bass direct their philanthropy through their Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Foundation. DFW grant and contribution recipients paid during the year, or approved for future payment: AIDS Outreach Center, Fort Worth; The Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Fund; AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas; Boys & Girls Clubs, Fort Worth; Brite Divinity School; Center for Transforming Lives; DRC; Fort Worth Museum of Science and History; Fort Worth Youth Orchestra; Goodwill Industries North Central Texas; James L. West Alzheimer’s Center; Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County; North Central Texas Academy; Presbyterian Night Shelter; SafeHaven of Tarrant County; Saving Hope Foundation; Texas Ballet Theater; Texas Health Resources; The Salvation Army; The Warm Place; The Women’s Center of Tarrant County; United Community Centers, Fort Worth.
Shelia Johnson
Amon G. Carter Foundation
Shelia Johnson is the secretary and treasurer of the Amon G. Carter Foundation. She is especially known for her work on behalf of children's issues. In the 1990s, she helped with legislation for Texas' "Baby Moses" law, which gives parents a safe and legal way to abandon a newborn at a fire station or a hospital emergency room. She is former board chairman of the Cook Children’s Healthcare System and is a past member and board chairman of Tarrant County Child Protective Services. She has also been a member of the Texas Wesleyan University Board of Trustees. As a trustee for the Amon G. Carter Foundation, she has directed significant resources to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and the University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Social Work.
Mercedes Bass Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Mercedes Bass, former wife of Sid Bass, is chair of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra board, which this winter completed a search for a new music director to replace Miguel Harth-Bedoya, who retired from the orchestra after 20 years. Bass in February announced the hiring of Robert Spano to become music director. Spano became music director designate starting April 2021 and assumed the title of music director on Aug. 1, 2022.
Working to make the cancer journey easier for others and creating forever families are important passions of Joan Katz, a former special education teacher. A four-time cancer survivor, Katz spearheaded the establishment of the Joan Katz Cancer Resource Center at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center. In 1992, Katz co-founded the Susan G. Komen Tarrant County affiliate and Race for the Cure. She has served on the boards of Beth-El Congregation, Camp Fire, Cook Children’s Woman’s Board, Gladney Center for Adoption, Jewel Charity, The WARM Place and Trinity Valley School. Katz and her husband, Howard, share their time, energy and resources with organizations that have personally and deeply touched their lives. In 1997, Howard Katz started The Gladney Cup, a National Fundraiser benefitting The Gladney Center for Adoption.
Joan Katz
Joan Katz Cancer Resource Center
Marsha Kleinheinz
Kleinheinz Family Foundation for the Arts and Education
Marsha Kleinheinz and her husband, John, direct their giving through their Kleinheinz Family Foundation for the Arts and Education. Major gifts in 2018, the most recent year for which information was available, included: $2.1 million to Stanford University (John Kleinheinz alma mater); $876,000 to Idea Public Schools in Fort Worth; $837,300 to Uplift Education in Fort Worth; $550,000 to the Fort Worth Zoo; $200,000 apiece to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; $171,766 to Lena Pope; $120,000 to the Van Cliburn Foundation; $75,000 to Performing Arts Fort Worth, owner and operator of Bass Hall; $75,000 to Teach for America; and $75,000 to the Texas Tribune.
Kit Moncrief
National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
Kit Moncrief is a familiar figure in the North Texas philanthropic community. She and husband Charlie, who died in 2021, have supported a number of causes, including wildlife, conservation, and animal welfare. Moncrief co-founded the Saving Hope Foundation, an organization that aims to end animal abuse and neglect through advocacy, education, and spay-neuter programs. President, National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame; co-chair, Fort Worth Zoological Association; first woman vice-chair, TCU board; past president and current vice president, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation; vice president, Moncrief Cancer Foundation; board member, UT Southwestern Moncrief Cancer Institute, Brown Lupton Foundation, Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Degrees: art history and ranch management, TCU; art history, SMU.
Marty Leonard
Fort Worth Nature Center, Historic Fort Worth
Marty Leonard was introduced to golf at age 3 by her father, Marvin Leonard, who founded the Colonial and Shady Oaks country clubs. She enjoyed a lengthy amateur career, built and owns the Leonard Golf Links teaching facility in Fort Worth, and built the Nike Research and Development building and Tech Center in the city. She’s a longtime supporter of Lena Pope, serving on the Lena Pope, Baylor Scott & White All Saints Foundation, and Kids Who Care boards. She is member of the Tarrant Regional Water District board, having been first elected in 2006. Leonard’s term ends in 2023. Leonard is a graduate of SMU.
Louella Martin
Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth Symphony Boards
Lou Martin and her husband, Nick, who died in 2021, have lavished gifts on numerous local organizations, including Texas Wesleyan University and Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center. Martin serves on the Texas Wesleyan, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra boards. The Nicholas and Louella Martin Fund made a signature gift for the construction of Texas Health Resource’s Jane and John Justin Tower, the largest construction project in the hospital’s history. The building opened last year. The Baker Martin Lobby was named in honor of her parents, Edward and Maxine Baker, who gave for the original Methodist Hospital 100 years before.
Rosie Moncrief Moncrief Investments
Rosie Moncrief, the wife of Mike Moncrief, devotes her time with issues involving our city, women and children’s health care, as well as reducing the cancer rate in all firefighters. In 1993, Moncrief chaired the first Texas Health Resources “Puttin on the Pink” Fashion Luncheon. Thirty years later, three Texas Health Mobile Units have been purchased and $6 million has been raised to underwrite the screenings. For more than 30 years, the Wellness for Life® Mobile Health Program has provided preventative screenings to more than 97,000 uninsured and underserved residents of North Texas. Moncrief is also part of the annual Cowtown Cancer Coalition symposiums to raise awareness, share data and science. Recent board memberships include FW Promotion Development Fund, Doris Kupferle Women’s Health Advisory Board and Community Hospice.
Gary and Kelsey Patterson
Gary Patterson Foundation
Former TCU football coach Gary Patterson and wife Kelsey Patterson work to strengthen local public education. Through the Gary Patterson Foundation, founded to help the city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, the Pattersons have raised substantial funds and awareness for struggling schools. Kelsey Patterson is a founding board member of Saving Hope, which teaches and encourages safe and kind interactions with animals. The Pattersons’ most recent project — The Big Good — launched last fall, bringing together the coach and acclaimed musician Leon Bridges in an enterprise designed to improve educational opportunities. Kelsey has a bachelor’s, communications, University of Texas at Austin; Gary, TCU's winningest football coach, has a bachelor’s from Kansas State.
Brand Content & Media
Congrats to the one who brought it all together, CEO Neil Foster
Here’s to the head of our Habitat. Where even after 50 years as an agency, we aren’t afraid to evolve. He envisioned the next generation brand agency — an entire creative ecosystem of brand, content and media all under one roof — and so he built it.
Services
Accounting, consulting, human resources, advertising, public relations and marketing, and the law fill out “The 400’s” professional services lineup.
Larry Autrey Managing Partner Whitley Penn
Larry Autrey, managing partner of the 500-employee Whitley Penn, has more than 30 years in tax, advisory, and business valuation with public and private clients. His areas of practice include mergers and acquisitions, manufacturing, distribution, profit enhancement, professional services, business valuations, and estate planning.
Autrey is the former chairman for the Major Firms Group, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TXCPA).
Autrey was formerly on the Cook Children’s Medical Center Board of Trustees, the Texas Land Conservancy Board, and former chair of ACH Child & Family Services Foundation, among many others. Bachelor’s BBA, accounting and finance, Texas Tech; MBA, data analytics, Abilene Christian.
Michael Flynn President Southland Tax
Mike Flynn is co-founder and president of Southland Property Tax Consultants. He has more than 35 years of experience in the property tax consulting arena. His duties include strategic planning, marketing, and business development. He is a member of the Texas Association of Property Tax Professionals and is licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation as a senior property tax consultant. A former football player at TCU, Flynn is a member of the board of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association, the Davey O’Brien Foundation, ESPN Armed Forces Bowl, the Greater Fort Worth Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and past president of the Block T Foundation. Other board memberships include Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and the Stephen Breen foundation. He earned a bachelor’s in business administration from TCU.
Kenneth Barr CEO BC Collaborations Consulting Group
Former Fort Worth
Mayor Kenneth Barr is a consultant on governmental relations and public affairs. Barr was elected to Tarrant County College’s District 7 in 2019 to a term that ends in May 2025. He was elected mayor four times, and he retired in 2003. Barr served 11 years as a member of the North Texas Tollway Authority, including chairman, and he played a key role in the development of several road projects, including the Chisholm Trail Parkway. He is past chair of the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, and he serves on the executive committee of The Cliburn. Barr grew up in Fort Worth, attended public schools, and holds a bachelor’s in business from TCU. His father, Willard Barr, was mayor from 1965-67.
Ron Holifield CEO Strategic Government Resources
Ron Holifield, a "servant leadership provocateur," led his Kellerbased Strategic Government Resources, with more than 700 clients in 45 states, to 39% growth in 2022, after over a decade of more than 20% growth. SGR specializes in recruiting, assessing, and developing leaders within a servant leadership value system, training over 1,000 employees per month, facilitating over 100 management team and governing body retreats annually. Holifield served as city manager in Garland and three other cities, as well as assistant city manager in Plano before launching SGR in 1999. He has also provided strategic marketing consulting to some of the leading corporations in the nation including NASA, American Express, IBM, People Soft, Waste Management, Xerox, and others. Bachelor's, Abilene Christian University; master’s, public administration, Texas Tech.
Robert Fernandez CEO Fernandez & Co.
Robert Fernandez founded his own public accounting firm in 1987. Fernandez performs accounting, tax, and consulting for small and midsize businesses, provides part-time controller/CFO services, and works with international public accounting firms on special projects. Board memberships include North Texas Community Foundation, Mary I. Gourley Scholarship Foundation, The Women’s Center Foundation, Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation, Partners for Sacred Places, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth Zoo, and the Southwestern Medical Center Foundation. Fernandez has been honored by the Texas Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs, as well as Texas Mexican American Chambers of Commerce and the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. BBA, accounting, and Spanish from Vanderbilt University.
Brad Jay, who began his career at Weaver, is the executive partner in-charge of the Fort Worth office. He has more than 26 years of public accounting experience, with a focus on financial reporting, auditing and review of financial statements, and consulting services. Serving as partner of assurance services, Jay is responsible for overall growth and strategy. He has extensive experience working with manufacturers, wholesalers, public corporations, as well as government and not-for-profit entities. He is an active local member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. He holds several leadership roles with community and civic organizations. Jay earned a BBA in accounting from Abilene Christian University.
Brad Jay Executive Partner Weaver
Bob
Mitchell Executive Recruiter WhitneySmith Co.
Bob Mitchell is one of Fort Worth’s connectors, spending more than 40 years in executive level experience in the banking and insurance industries before jumping to executive recruiting for WhitneySmith. Co-host of a popular downtown breakfast club for years, Mitchell has been a banking executive dating to the ‘70s, and he later co-founded an insurance company. Mitchell assists clients in the selection of candidates for a range of positions, professions, and industries, including senior and executive management positions. He has served on numerous civic boards. Mitchell has a bachelor’s in psychology from Loyola University in Chicago and a master’s in financial services from The American College at Bryn Mawr.
Rob Opitz Partner Forvis
Opitz has more than 30 years of experience serving clients in various industries including oil and gas, real estate, construction, and professional services. He also consults on tax planning and structuring for partnerships, S-corporations, and transactions. At Forvis, Opitz serves as the market leader for Fort Worth, the national tax leader for energy and natural resources, and the Southwest regional industry leader for commercial products. Before joining Forvis, Opitz served as managing partner and head of tax for BKD. He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Texas Society of CPAs. Opitz is a regular instructor for PDI’s Oil & Gas Tax Institute. Opitz earned a degree in accounting and a master’s in taxation from Texas A&M. Also, advanced business advisor program, University of Chicago.
Chris Pierce Partner RSM US
Chris Pierce is the Central Region private equity services leader at RSM US, where he has been employed since 1996. As a premier affiliation of independent accounting, consulting, and professional services firms, RSM US Alliance facilitates a diverse community of firms that collaborate to create strategic value. Since 1988, membership has allowed independent member firms access to the reach and strengths of a national firm while maintaining their autonomy and entrepreneurial culture. Pierce was also a staff accountant for Price Waterhouse in South Bend, Indiana, prior to joining RSM US. Pierce has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana.
Whit Smith President WhitneySmith Co.
Whit Smith founded the WhitneySmith fullservice human resources firm in 1989 in Fort Worth, currently providing services to more than 1,500 companies across the U.S. and Canada. Smith serves as expert witness and consulting expert in matters relating to discrimination, age, disability, sexual harassment, mitigation (employability and job search effort), recruitment practices, policy issues, and tort claims involving negligent hiring, negligent retention, and wrongful termination. Smith earned a bachelor’s in personnel management and marketing from the University of Texas at Austin. He also completed the requirements in the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking program at SMU. Smith is a director with Baylor Scott & White All Saints Foundation and former board chair of the Fort Worth Chamber.
Richard Payne
Managing Partner
Fort Worth
Ernst & Young
Richard Payne is managing partner of EY's Fort Worth office with more than 30 years of experience serving real estate and asset management clients. He was born and raised in Fort Worth before leaving to attend Washington and Lee University in Virginia, where he earned a bachelor’s in business administration and accounting. He began his career in Washington, D.C., and returned to Fort Worth in 1996. Payne has significant experience serving public and private investment funds and REITs investing in various asset types. He serves as the coordinating partner on several public and private real estate entities ranging in size from $500 million to over $5 billion in assets. Payne has served as the coordinating partner on several of EY’s largest SEC public company clients in the office, hospitality, and homebuilding sectors.
Estrus Tucker President and CEO DEI Consultants
Estrus Tucker’s DEI Consultants specializes in cultivating diversity, equity and inclusion utilizing dignity, empathy and integrity as essential cultural practices. Serving corporations, nonprofits, and government organizations. Tucker was principal consultant for Fort Worth’s Race and Culture Task Force that examined inequity and grew out of a high-profile police confrontation. He also served the same with the city of Arlington’s Unity Council Racial Equity Plan Initiative, as well as the lead facilitator and designer of the University of Mississippi Winter Institute's "Welcome Table" Model for Racial Reconciliation. Faculty and coach for the Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) National Equity Initiatives, and National Justice Department chair and faculty at the Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in Bangor, Pennsylvania. He has a bachelor’s in psychology from University of Texas at Arlington.
Stuart Balcom CEO
The Balcom Agency
Stuart Balcom grew up around the advertising business; his father worked for and owned several agencies. In college, Balcom started an agency using University of Texas students as staff. After college, he worked for several agencies and then started Balcom Agency in 1993 in Fort Worth. The agency has won numerous awards, including the 2018 Southwest Advertising Hall of Fame Governor’s Award. Balcom is a cyclist and climber, so much so that bicycled the entire length of the Pacific Coast, from northern Washington state to Southern California in nine days — by himself. Balcom also has climbed the highest peaks in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, as well as multiple ascents in South America, without guides. He holds a bachelor’s from the University of Texas at Austin. .
Ashley Freer
Principal and Group Director
The Balcom Agency
Ashley Freer, a partner at The Balcom Agency, leads a group that develops strategy for clients, including Cook Children’s Health Care System, Renfro Foods, The PARC, and Presbyterian Night Shelter. Originally from Georgia, Freer has 20 years of marketing experience with organizations including Ogilvy Public Relations, the Atlanta History Center, and BlueLinx Corporation. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America; served a two-year term on the board of Mayfest, Inc.; and is a graduate of Leadership Fort Worth's 2015 class. From June 2019 to May 2020, she served as the 90th president of the Junior League of Fort Worth. She has a bachelor’s in communication from Lee University and a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Tom Buxton Chairman Buxton
Tom Buxton left the Tandy Corp. and started his own analytics firm in 1994. Buxton built the industry-leading Fort Worth firm on incisive analysis meant to provide clients recommendations on where to locate, based on who their customer is, where they are, and what value they have to the company. Today, Buxton estimates it’s worked with more than 5,000 retail, restaurant, consumer packaged goods, health care, private equity, and public sector organizations. Buxton has been named a top influencer of retail by the National Retail Federation, one who “influences the future of retail real estate” by Retail Traffic Magazine. The company has been featured on the Fast 50 list by Fast Company, a silver award winner in the Most Innovative Company of the Year category at the American Business Awards. .
Chris Gavras
President The CG Group
Chris Gavras has been a strategic communications adviser in Tarrant County for more than 25 years. His firm advises nearly two dozen clients, including Fortune 100 corporations, privately held companies, several North Texas law firms, professional and trade associations, philanthropic leaders, sports entities, commercial developers, and higher education institutions. Gavras advises several North Texas elected officials. Gavras serves on the Davey O’Brien Foundation board.
Neil Foster CEO Agency Habitat
Neil Foster has been CEO at Agency Habitat, an award-winning advertising agency specializing in branding, marketing, content creation, and media distribution. In the past year, the firm achieved international recognition with seven Telly and Webby awards, including a brand video for House of Nigh; social media videos for MOOYAH Burgers; a Lowtown Studios commercial; and a fully animated reel promoting the agency. Foster started in the advertising business as a copywriter right out of college. He joined Agency Habitat, then GCG Marketing, in 1995 as a creative copywriter. In 1999, he was promoted to vice president and partner. In that role, he led in repositioning the agency with 12 employees to a full-service creative content agency with 45 employees and doing almost $10 million annually. Bachelor’s, journalism, University of North Texas.
Jennifer Henderson President J.O. Agency
Jennifer Henderson founded her own marketing communications shop in 1998, offering PR, brand development, marketing, communications, social media, and graphic design to clients that include local and national companies. In 2013, she founded The Cause Agency in Fort Worth, offering marketing and PR to local nonprofits at discounted rates. She serves on the executive board of Near Southside, Inc. and is an ambassador of The Amon Carter Museum. She also owns Gallery 440, featuring a large collection of international modern art as well as local, contemporary Texas artists. Henderson has a bachelor's in marketing from Texas Wesleyan University. Texas Wesleyan University’s Alumni Service Award in 2012; alumni scholar of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. She is also the recipient of more than 100 local to international design and public relations awards.
Beth Hutson Executive Producer Hutson Creative
Beth Hutson’s creative spirit has taken her from Hutson Creative, which she launched in 2004, to Elevated Content Co., the public relations and marketing brand she created and migrated to in 2019. The agency specializes in creating and distributing content for lifestyle and entertainment brands, including “collections” of authentic brand stories, videos, photography assets, and visual identity packages. Her clients include Agency Habitat, Lowtown Studios, Hearst Media, TXU Energy, Trademark, Blackstone, Vestar, Luminant, Clay Pigeon, Piattello Italian Kitchen, Rahr & Sons Brewing Co., and developments Waterside, Westbend, and Crockett Row. She also created the Elevated Elixir to raise awareness of alcohol-free craft beers, cocktails, and other adult beverages.
Susan Medina
Founder and President SKM Communication Strategies
Susan K. Medina founded SKM Communication Strategies more than 20 years ago. SKM provides client service in the areas of public, media, governmental, stakeholder and community relations/engagement and crisis communication. In early 2022, Medina colaunched the Mosaic SKM Collaborative, a firm managing clients through challenging political environments. SKM is also part of a network of public affairs and crisis communications experts across North America. She is a graduate of the Leadership North Texas. Board membership has included Fort Worth Chamber, Jewel Charity, United Way of Tarrant County, Brighter Outlook Community Center, Botanic Research Institute of Texas, Leadership Fort Worth, and Women Steering Business. BBA, business management/ marketing, UT San Antonio; graduate, New York University's Public Relations Institute.
Kasey Pipes
Partner and Co-Founder High Water Strategies
Kasey Pipes is co-founder and partner of High Water Strategies, a public affairs firm with Washington and Fort Worth offices. Pipes serves as national spokesman for several corporations and coalitions. Clients include Under Armour, IMG Worldwide, University of Texas at Austin, DFW Airport, Compete America high-tech coalition, Verizon, Justin Boot Co., and Bowl Championship Series. Pipes spent 10 years in the political arena as a communications and policy adviser. He was chief speechwriter for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and served President George W. Bush for five years. He began his career as an intern in the California office of former President Ronald Reagan in 1995. Wrote the 2019 biography After the Fall: The Remarkable Comeback of Richard Nixon. Bachelor’s, Abilene Christian; master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University.
George Popstefanov CEO PMG
George Popstefanov left his native Macedonia for the U.S. and ended up at TCU at age 19 in pursuit of opportunities in e-commerce and tech. After college, he joined a small digital agency before founding digital and technology company PMG in 2010 in Fort Worth. PMG, which supports enterprise businesses across data, insights, creative, media, and technology, has been named an agency of the year, a fastest-growing company, and among the top workplaces in the country. Popstefanov also oversees Koddi, a technology leader for the travel industry, which appeared on the 2019 Inc. 5000 with $27.3 million in revenue and 1,489% three-year growth. PMG has offices in Fort Worth, Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Cleveland, New York, and London. Clients include Apple and Nike. Also, a graduate of Harvard Business School OPM program.
Linda Pavlik CEO Pavlik & Associates
Linda Pavlik has more than 30 years in strategic communications. Clients of her firm are located across the U.S., and many do business internationally. Government clients include municipalities in the southwest, North Central Texas Council of Governments, state of Texas, DFW Airport, public transit agencies, and environmental sustainability initiatives. Earlier in her career, Pavlik was a news reporter for Daily Oklahoman, Fort Worth Press, Dallas Times Herald and Fort Worth StarTelegram, where editors nominated her for the Pulitzer Prize for two consecutive years. Pavlik has been named a Distinguished Alumna of the University of Oklahoma’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Pavlik is president of Women in the Environment and a board member emeritus of Amphibian Stage Productions. She is a member of the Arlington and Mansfield chambers of commerce.
Frost Prioleau Co-Founder and CEO Simpli.fi
Frost Prioleau is CEO and co-founder of Simpli.fi, a Fort Worth-based company that provides software and services that enable advertisers to optimize their digital advertising. The company has grown both organically and through acquisitions to employ approximately 600 and has attracted investments from private equity firms Blackstone and GTCR.
With its headquarters in the Fort Worth Stockyards' redeveloped Mule Alley, Simpli.fi has received numerous awards for its leading solutions and its work environment. Prioleau graduated Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science in engineering management systems and serves on the boards of Cook Children's Medical Center, Star Scholarship Fund, IDEA Charter Schools. Before Simpli.fi, Prioleau founded Personifi, a contextual and behavioral targeting company. Prioleau often speaks on the topic of online advertising at industry events.
Holland Sanders CEO Holland Collective
Holland Collective has built a reputation representing some of North Texas' most influential and impactful brands since its inception in 2016, including The SafeHaven of Tarrant County, North Texas Community Foundation, Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, MELT Ice Creams, Spiral Diner, M2G Ventures, Salsa Limon, Fred’s, and Amphibian Stage. Sanders launched CreativeCollaborator in March, a strategic marketing and communications consulting brand designed for professional creatives and creative professionals. Sanders was the former director of marketing and communications at the Fort Worth Opera. Sanders holds a bachelor’s in communications from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Red Sanders President Red Productions
Red Sanders’ career started at age 14 as a wedding DJ and videographer. He earned a bachelor’s degree in radio, TV, and film from TCU in 2004. Rather than go west, he stayed in Fort Worth. He has been instrumental in the burgeoning film scene in Fort Worth. His Red Productions is a full-service media production firm with offices here, Austin, and, yes, Los Angeles, working in national TV ads, digital content, brand films, and corporate communications. He also founded Red Entertainment, offering film and TV development, and Backlot Studio & Workspace, with 12,000 square feet of rentable office space and sound stage. He’s produced several feature films and helped found the Fort Worth Film Commission.
Ken Schaefer President Schaefer Advertising Co.
As owner and namesake of Schaefer Advertising, Ken Schaefer has built the agency on core values centered around the company’s mission: “Make Life Better.” Schaefer Advertising over 25 years has won numerous awards. Schaefer is a member of Near Southside, Inc.’s board. He holds a bachelor’s in marketing from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches. While in school he started a business that he sold his junior year, which funded the startup of a restaurant venture, which expanded to two locations. His career began at Procter and Gamble and continued with a move to the agency side at Ogilvy & Mather. Justin Boot Company recruited him to be director of marketing before leaving and joining forces with Jan Blanchard to establish Blanchard Schaefer Advertising, the forerunner to Schaefer Advertising.
Bret Starr CEO
The Starr Conspiracy
Bret Starr founded the agency in 1999 on the Near Southside, becoming one of the district’s creative anchors. He came up with the idea for a B2B marketing agency when, after working in sales and marketing leadership roles for HR tech companies, he tired of hiring firms he had to train in his business. The company has doubled in size in the past year, from 35 to 76 employees. He has also gotten involved in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. The Starr Conspiracy is in the midst of making arrangements to send body armor to a company it contracts with in Ukraine. They can’t get any in Europe, and Starr found out there’s a bunch of it sitting in warehouses in Texas. Starr has a bachelor’s from Southwestern and a master’s from North Texas.
Allen Wallach CEO PAVLOV Agency
Allen Wallach has led his PAVLOV agency to annual billings of more than $10 million. Clients include Choctaw Casinos, DFW Airport, Chesapeake Energy, Dean Foods, Texas Motor Speedway, TCU, and Visit Fort Worth, as well as disrupter brands such as Ariat Boots and ST9 Gas + Oil. Wallach, cofounder of the Concussion Agency, bought out his partner in 2013 and rebranded as PAVLOV. Under his leadership, PAVLOV has been featured in Adweek, and named 2006 Small Business of the Year by the Fort Worth Chamber. He invented and sold Koozball, the first foam football and drink koozie, after putting it into 7-Eleven and Walmart. He has a bachelor’s in advertising and PR from TCU.
Colby Walton CEO Cooksey
Colby Walton, trained as a lawyer and with 25 years in professional services and B2B marketing and municipal communications, became chairman and CEO of Cooksey Communications last year, stepping in for founder Gail Cooksey, who retired. Walton became partner of the firm in 2015 and most recently its president. His community leadership activities include board membership of the Duke Club of North Texas, Leadership Fort Worth, and the Virginia Morris Kincaid Foundation. He has also served on committees and in other leadership capacities with the city of Colleyville, the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, and the UNT Health Science Center. Walton graduated from Duke University in 1994 and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1997.
Marianne Auld Managing Partner Kelly Hart
Marianne Auld is the managing partner of Kelly Hart and the chair of the firm's appellate section. She has briefed and argued dozens of appeals in both state and federal courts of appeals. Auld began her career as a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Since rejoining the firm after serving as a tenured professor at Baylor Law School, she has worked primarily on complex civil appeals involving labor disputes, antitrust matters, oil and gas issues, and claims against Class I railroads. Ms. Auld serves on the board for a number of nonprofit organizations, including the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Report, and Tarrant To and Through Partnership. Bachelor’s and J.D., Baylor.
Marvin Blum Founder and Managing Partner
The Blum Firm
Marvin Blum is boardcertified in estate planning and probate law and is an expert on succession in family-owned businesses. A CPA, he received his law degree from the University of Texas, graduating second in his class. He has a BBA in accounting from UT, graduating first in his class. Worth magazine named Blum to its prestigious list of “Nation’s Top 100 Attorneys.” He has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and New Yorker Magazine for his expertise on the estate tax and income tax. Blum twice had the honor of asking questions to Warren Buffett at Berkshire-Hathaway shareholders annual meetings, in doing so attracting international media attention.
Vianei Braun Shareholder Decker Jones
Vianei Braun, a frequent author and speaker on employment law issues, heads the labor and employment law group for Decker Jones. She has represented employers for more than 25 years, providing advice on employment law compliance and avoiding litigation. She also serves as the firm’s chief development officer. Braun has represented large publicly traded companies, governmental entities, small to midsized businesses and professionals and executives. Braun is also a member of the board of directors of First Financial Bankshares, Inc. She has served on the board of directors for numerous nonprofits. She currently serves on the board of Texas Health Resources. She earned a bachelor’s from Princeton and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
John Allen Chalk Member Whitaker Chalk
John Allen Chalk is a recognized expert in alternative dispute resolution. A winner of the Tarrant County Bar Association’s Blackstone award for ethical ideals, courage, and service, Chalk applies cost-benefit and risk analysis to help his clients achieve efficient resolutions to their disputes. Chalk focuses on commercial transactions and litigation, state and federal regulatory matters, health care and ADR proceedings, and works domestically and internationally. He was recognized by Best Lawyers and published in the 24th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America 2019 and annually since, in the fields of arbitration and mediation. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tennessee Tech and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Steven Hayes
Principal Law Office of Steven Hayes
Steve Hayes has spent much of his four decades in practice assisting clients with complex appellate matters. He has appeared on Texas Monthly’s Texas Super Lawyer since 2009 and Top 100 since 2019. He also has a Tarrant County Top Appellate Lawyer by Fort Worth Magazine, a distinction held since 2008. Publications and speeches include “Brief Writing: Make Yourself Useful as well as Ornamental,” “Anticipating and Preventing Error Preservation Ambushes,” “Selling Your Case at Trial, Selecting Appellate Issues to Pursue, and Other Implications of Error Preservation Rulings,” “What Have You Got to Lose? Perhaps Your Appeal If You Don’t’ Use Error Preservation to Sell Your Case at Trial.” Hayes has a bachelor’s from Austin College and earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Albon Head Partner
Jackson Walker
Albon Head has practiced in the federal and state courts in Texas and in numerous other jurisdictions since 1971, with experience in lengthy jury and nonjury trials in complex business litigation. He has defended major oil companies against environmental claims relating to abandoned tanks and abandoned refineries, and banks and publicly traded companies against class actions brought by shareholders and former employees. Head was engaged in the formation and representation of The Texas Rangers, Ltd. in its purchase and operation of the franchise in the mid-1970s and was the lawyer for the Rangers during George W. Bush’s ownership. Head successfully handled all contested litigation matters for the court-appointed receiver in the sale of the iconic W.T. Waggoner Ranch, largest in the U.S. under one fence. B.A. and law degree, SMU.
Laura Hilton Hallmon Partner
Cantey Hanger
Laura Hilton Hallmon is board-certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, rated “AV Preeminent” by MartindaleHubbell, and chairs Cantey Hanger’s labor and employment practice. Hallmon has an undergraduate and law degree from Baylor. An employment law litigator, Hallmon focuses her practice on the prosecution and defense of state and federal employment law matters, including harassment and discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour disputes and restrictive covenants prohibiting competition. Hallmon also counsels clients on litigation avoidance through employment practices and compliance. Hallmon began her practice with the Law Offices of David Fielding in March 1999, becoming a partner in January 2005. In 2015, Fielding, Parker & Hallmon brought its labor and employment law practice to Cantey Hanger.
David Keltner Partner
Kelly Hart
Formerly a Justice on the Texas Court of Appeals, David Keltner has been lead counsel in over 300 appellate decisions. He was honored by Texas Lawyer as the Go-To Appellate Lawyer in Texas. Texas Super Lawyers selected him as one of the Top 10 Lawyers in Texas for the last 14 years. He was ranked No. 1 in 2009 – 2011. The Texas Bar Foundation honored him with the inaugural Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award, and he was named Best Lawyers Appellate Lawyer of the Year for Dallas/Fort Worth in 2016 and 2018. Keltner also won the Tarrant County Bar Association’s Blackstone Award in 2018. Keltner also has been recognized nationally as a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Bachelor’s from Trinity University; law degree from SMU.
Jeff Kearney
Principal Kearney Law Firm
For 35 years, Jeff Kearney has represented clients in federal and state court investigations and prosecutions, ranging from complex federal fraud allegations to the most serious state court offenses. Kearney is often sought out by other criminal defense lawyers to add him to their client’s defense team and by civil law firms with clients who find themselves in need of competent, high-quality criminal representation. Kearney regularly represents corporations, executives, business owners, elected officials, physicians, pharmacists, health care professionals, religious leaders, college and professional athletes, professional sports teams, law enforcement officers, and even other lawyers. He represented a member of the Branch Davidians in federal court in San Antonio. Inducted into the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Hall of Fame. BBA, TCU; J.D., Baylor.
Dee Kelly Jr. Partner Kelly Hart
Dee J. Kelly Jr. has spent his entire career at Kelly Hart since graduating from UT law school in 1985. He was elected to serve as the firm’s second managing partner from 2005-16 but returned to his litigation and administrative law. Kelly has been ranked as a Texas Super lawyer by Texas Monthly every year since 2003. Kelly serves on the executive committees on the boards of the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show, Performing Arts Fort Worth/Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth Symphony Association, Fort Worth Zoological Association, Southeast Fort Worth, Inc., and Cotton Bowl Athletic Association; board of trustees at UT and TCU. Kelly received a Presidential appointment to the United Service Organization in 2004 from President George W. Bush. Former chair of the Fort Worth Chamber. Bachelor’s, UT.
Steven Laird Attorney Laird &
McCloskey
One of the most honored and respected attorneys in Texas, Steve Laird has long been recognized for his tough negotiating skills, a trial-tested ability to connect with juries, and high ethical standards in the complex world of personal injury litigation. Laird is one of the few lawyers to be board certified in both Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, as well as designated as a specialist in both Civil Trial and Truck Accident Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Laird earned his law degree from the South Texas College of Law in 1980, received an MBA from TCU in 1977 and his undergraduate degree in business from Texas Tech University in 1976.
Veronica Chavez Law is a shareholder and director with Brackett & Ellis, P.C., focusing her practice on complex commercial real estate transactions and financial institution representation. Law has more than 20 years of experience handling an array of transactional work for nonprofits, governmental entities, private businesses, and individuals. She has been selected for inclusion as a Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star and achieving the Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished Rating for High Professional Achievement. Her board membership has included Fort Worth Sister Cities International, Leadership Fort Worth, and a member of the Advisory Committee for Tarrant County District 9 for the Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprise. Law earned her bachelor’s in economics and a law degree from the University of Colorado. In law school, she was elected president of her class.
Veronica Chavez Law
Shareholder and Director Bracket & Ellis
Andrew Lombardi Chief Financial Officer Crescent Real Estate Equities
Andrew Lombardi is the CFO for Fort Worth-based Crescent and provides oversight and strategic direction for all corporate operational aspects of the company and the accounting, finance, legal, human resources, compliance, and information technology departments. Additionally, he is responsible for all corporate and portfolio company debt. Lombardi previously served as Crescent's general counsel. Crescent uses its GP Invitation Fund series to acquire, develop, and operate real estate investments in hospitality, office, and multi-family. Lombardi serves on the board of directors of Cook Children's Health Foundation and the Fort Worth Chamber. He was previously an adjunct professor of management from 2011-16 at TCU and has served on various TCU alumni boards over the years. He has a BBA in accounting and finance from TCU and a J.D. from SMU.
Andrew Rosell Co-Chair, Business and Transactions
Department Winstead PC
Andrew Rosell is a member of Winstead's Corporate, Securities/ Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group, with a diverse practice representing private investment fund managers, wealth managers, mutual fund managers, family offices and public and private companies engaged in strategic transactions. Rosell focuses on representing registered investment advisers in formation and structuring, regulatory compliance, strategic transactions, strategic mergers and acquisitions, investment portfolio transactions, due diligence, fund formation and liquidation and business cessation. He is a member of the boards of Cook Children’s Medical Foundation, Cook Children’s Medical System, and Cook Children’s Health Plan. Rosell is former general counsel and chief compliance officer at Kleinheinz Capital Partners, Inc. BBA and law degrees, SMU.
Hunter McLean
Member
Whitaker Chalk
Hunter McLean focuses his practice on representing clients in commercial and business disputes, with an emphasis on large complex litigation. McLean has significant experience with complex disputes involving contracts, fraud, employment agreements, trade secrets, covenants not to compete, construction, real estate, leases, mineral interests, oil and gas, insurance coverage, personal injury, products liability, and health care. Has obtained favorable verdicts, arbitration awards, and settlements on behalf of clients and successfully defended clients against multimillion-dollar claims. He’s also an expert in alternative dispute resolution. BBA, SMU; law degree, University of Houston. “I have always held the truth as something that is lofty and honorable,” he says. “The justice system is what really holds everything in check and balance. For a society to function, it’s critical that you have law and order.”
Jay Rutherford Partner
Jackson Walker
Jay Rutherford has over 25 years representing management clients in employment litigation and avoiding litigation. Rutherford represents clients in labor issues such as labor arbitration, collective bargaining issues, and defense of unfair labor practice charges, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, civil rights, and other employment-related matters, such as hiring and disciplining employees, compensation, employee benefit plans, insurance benefits disputes, management training, employment contracts, reductions in force, and the protection of confidential and proprietary information. Rutherford serves as managing partner of Jackson Walker's Fort Worth office and firmwide chair of the labor and employment practice group. B.S., Texas Tech; law degree, University of Texas at Austin.
Brian Newby
Managing Partner/Austin and
Fort
Worth Cantey Hanger
Brian Newby, in addition to serving as Cantey Hanger’s managing partner, heads the firm’s public/regulatory practice. He has extensive experience in commercial litigation and regulatory matters. With more than 30 years of courtroom and state administrative law experience, he specializes in assisting clients in resolving high-profile, complex issues. He counsels large and small businesses and state and local governmental entities on a wide variety of administrative law and legislative initiatives impacting their day-to-day operations. Experienced in state and local government, Newby served as the chief of staff and general counsel to Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He co-chaired the state of Texas’ hurricane recovery efforts following Hurricane Ike. Newby retired as a major general in the Air Force. He has a bachelor’s from Texas Tech and a law degree, UT Austin.
Rick Sorenson Director and Shareholder
McDonald Sanders
Rick Sorenson is a director and shareholder at McDonald Sanders and served as the firm’s president from 1993–2022. Sorenson brings significant legal experience in real estate, construction and energy (oil, gas, and electric), and commercial litigation in these areas. Recipient of the Tarrant County Bar Association’s Professionalism Award in 2020, Sorenson is also a charter member and past chair of the Tarrant County Bar Foundation. A Fort Worth Magazine Top Attorney, as well as a Texas Super Lawyer in the field of business litigation. Community board memberships include Cook Children’s Health Foundation, Cook Children’s Health Plan, and former board member and past president of Friends of Children, Inc. (Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth). He has a BBA from Texas Tech and law degree from the University of Texas.
Fort Worth Is Home
A NEW LEGACY IS RISING MONTRACHET
The award-winning premier neighborhood, Montrachet is an escape into daily countryside resort living. The secure community features over 50 acres of green space with miles of hiking and biking trails, a beautiful box canyon, and thoughtful amenities. Whether your dream home has a sunset view or is placed carefully amid giant oaks and pecans, it is here, just waiting for you to build it.
Real Estate
Fort Worth’s skyline continues to evolve with architects, engineers, brokerages, construction companies, developers, investors, management companies, and homebuilders playing major roles in the city’s real estate landscape. Two major developments are coming to life: the Crescent on the West Side and Texas A&M-Fort Worth in downtown.
Michael Bennett CEO Bennett Partners
Michael Bennett has devoted his career to redevelopment of cities and preservation of the natural environment. After beginning his career in Texas, Bennett spent 12 years practicing in Europe and New York before returning to Fort Worth, joining the firm in 2004 and becoming CEO in 2008. In Europe he was responsible for a variety of notable corporate and mixed-use projects throughout central and eastern Europe. Bennett has led the design of many of the firm’s signature projects, including the Fort Worth Stockyards Horse & Mule Barns, Frost Tower, MOLA at the Fort Worth Zoo, Erma Lowe Hall at TCU, and led the firm’s involvement in Sundance Square Plaza. He has a bachelor’s in music theory and composition from TCU and a Master of Architecture from UT Arlington.
Travis Clegg
Principal
Peloton Land Solutions
Travis Clegg, an engineer, is a principal and business development manager at Peloton, providing program management for mixeduse and master-planned residential projects. Clegg has an extensive background in civil engineering design, entitlement, program management, and city and client coordination. He routinely represents clients at city planning and zoning meetings, city council meetings, and homeowner association presentations. Clegg is chairman of the PAC and serves on the board at Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council, chair of the Government Relations Committee and serves on the board at the Greater Fort Worth Builders Association and serves on the Governmental Affairs and Infrastructure Committees at Fort Worth Chamber. He also chairs the Fort Worth Development Advisory Committee. He earned a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Texas Tech University.
Mark Dabney
Principal/Fort Worth Market Leader
BOKA Powell
Mark Dabney leads BOKA Powell's Fort Worth office and as part of a more-than-30-year career has managed the renovation of Sundance West at Sundance Square, Tarrant County College's Trinity River East Campus, the Museum of Living Art at the Fort Worth Zoo, Visit Fort Worth's Main Street Visitor Center, Visit Fort Worth's corporate offices, Sundance Square Plaza, including the Commerce Building, Westbrook Building and Cassidy Building, and Fort Worth Future City Hall. Dabney is a past president of the Fort Worth Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, a recipient of the Texas Society of Architects' William Caudill Award for Young Professional Achievement, and the Fort Worth Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Young Professional Award. Past president, Leadership Fort Worth. Bachelor's in architecture from Texas Tech University.
Tom Galbreath Chairman of the Advisory Board Dunaway Associates
Tom Galbreath, a 35-year veteran of Dunaway, is the Fort Worth landscape architecture and planning firm’s chairman, stepping into the role earlier last year when Chris Wilde was named new CEO. As chair, Galbreath works to establish and maintain Dunaway’s reputation, level of service, employee well-being, and overall financial security. Galbreath is actively involved in regional development organizations, serving as liaison between private sector development and municipal agencies. Among his projects was the Marketplace at Highland Village, the 80-acre mixed-use project in Highland Village. Galbreath began his career at Dunaway. Galbreath has a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Brian Coltharp
President and CEO Freese & Nichols
Brian Coltharp walked across the stage at the University of Texas at Arlington with his civil engineering degree in hand in 1992 and went to work at Freese & Nichols. In 2017, he became the firm’s president and CEO. As an engineer and water practice leader, Coltharp has overseen more than $1 billion in pipeline and pump/lift station projects, including the Tawakoni Water Supply Project for North Texas Municipal Water District and the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant Influent Pump Station for Dallas Water Utilities. His board memberships have included United Way of Tarrant County (chair of the 2021-22 campaign), American Council of Engineering Companies of Texas, UTA’s College of Engineering and Department of Civil Engineering, Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., and North Texas LEAD.
Sloan Harris
Sloan Harris, who joined VLK Architects in 2003, became its CEO in March 2020. Since becoming principal and then partner, Harris’ vision triggered significant growth as the firm expanded to five locations from two, diversified its service markets, and more than doubled annual earned revenue. As partner, Harris oversaw a number of signature projects, including The 701, a mixed-use development in Fort Worth’s Near Southside, and Allen ISD’s STEAM Center. Harris is an alum of Leadership Fort Worth's Class of 2012. He has also served on the city’s Planning Commission and as a board member for the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, the Texas Transit Alliance, and the Cultural District Alliance. Bachelor’s and master’s in architecture, as well as an MBA, all from the University of Texas at Arlington.
CEO
VLK Architects
Chris Huckabee CEO MOREgroup
Christopher Huckabee is the CEO of MOREgroup, a family of architecture, design, and engineering brands that each focus on a single area of expertise. Formed through the combination of Huckabee, Rachlin Partners, TSK Architects, Image Engineering Group and E4H Environments for Health Architecture, each brand retained its distinct focus. Chris Huckabee stepped into the CEO role more than 30 years ago, poised to build upon a legacy his father started in 1967 when he founded Huckabee, a firm still focused exclusively on education and the founding brand of MOREgroup. Huckabee was twice appointed to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and recently served as the chairman of the Board of Regents at Texas Tech, his alma mater. Huckabee is also doing the design work for a new elementary school in Uvalde pro bono.
Alfred Saenz Chairman and CEO MULTATECH Architects and Engineers
Alfred Saenz, a nativeborn Fort Worthian raised on the North Side, joined MULTATECH in 1988 and became president and CEO in 1999, steering the firm toward a vision of becoming a full-service architectural and engineering firm. MULTATECH has added architecture and civil divisions to its already-successful mechanical, electrical, and plumbing group. Board memberships included Child Care Associates, City of Fort Worth Stockyards/ North Side Advisory Council, North Texas Community Foundation, chair, 2018 – 20; former chair, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Fort Worth Opera, March of Dimes, Texas Health Resources. In 2013, selected the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Hispanic Businessman of the Year. He was also selected to the Fort Worth school district Wall of Fame in 2017. An Army veteran, Saenz has a degree from UT
David Lee Principal Quorum Architects
David Lee announced recently that he will retire after 41 years in the profession, including 31 with Quorum. He leaves a legacy as a founding principal of a nationally focused architecture and interior design practice based in Fort Worth. He has worked on a number of projects at Howard Payne University, Tarrant County College, University Christian Church, and Six Flags Over Texas. Lee has also served in numerous capacities for Near Southside, Inc. since locating the firm in the area in 1999. He has served AIA Fort Worth in many ways, including chapter president and director of the Texas Society of Architects. He has also served with Cowtown Brushup. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from University of Nebraska.
Rosa Navejar President and CEO
The Rios Group
Rosa Navejar has expanded her Fort Worth-based Rios Group, which provides subsurface utility engineering and utility coordination services in recent years with new offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. The city of Dallas - Office of Business Diversity recognized The Rios Group as one of the 2019 4E Award recipients for Excellence, and the city of Austin - Small & Minority Business Resources recognized the firm as one of the 2018 Small Businesses of the Year. Navejar was president and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, first woman to hold the post. Today, she chairs the board of the Fort Worth Chamber. She formerly worked in banking for 25 years. Boards: Texas Wesleyan University, North Texas Commission, and past chair, Visit Fort Worth.
Arlington.
Gerald Schwarz Principal Schwarz Hanson Architects
Gerald Schwarz has more than 36 years of experience, including more than 25 years as principal of his company, Schwarz-Hanson Architects, the firm he founded in 1995 with Tod Hanson. The firm consists of five full-time registered architects, including the principals, two interior designers, and a team of project coordinators. In addition to Texas, the firm maintains licenses in Oklahoma and New Mexico. Schwarz is a member of the American Institute of Architects, Texas Society of Architects, and a LEED Accredited Professional. He is a former AIA Fort Worth Merit Award winner for the Park Hill Bridge. Schwarz earned a bachelor’s in environmental design and master’s in architecture, both from Texas A&M University.
Brent Sparks Principal/Director of Health HKS Fort Worth
Brent Sparks runs the HKS Fort Worth office, which has served clients for 14 years. Sparks’ team works with clients to design environments for family-centered care. Fort Worth projects have included the Moncrief Cancer Institute and True Worth Bank, and, most recently, the Jane and John Justin Tower, which has transformed the mission and the campus of Texas Health Resources Fort Worth campus. The nine-story edifice reinforces “why I got into health care architecture in the first place,” he says. “We are proud to be part of the Harris legacy and Texas Health Fort Worth history, and we are honored to help the hospital take a major leap forward to serve the community.” He’s been Fort Worth principal since 2004. Sparks has a BBA in architecture from Texas Tech.
Todd Burnette Managing Director JLL
JLL's Fort Worth office is overseen by Todd Burnette, who serves as the managing director. Burnette is a seasoned expert in the commercial real estate industry, with extensive experience in site selection, property acquisitions and dispositions, lease negotiations, and strategic consulting. Over his 36-year tenure in Fort Worth, Burnette has successfully negotiated more than 37 million square feet of commercial property transactions, including leases, acquisitions, and dispositions. In addition, he has facilitated the site selection process for over 3,000 acres on behalf of both corporations and public entities. Burnette has worked with a diverse range of clients, including Textron, Texas A&M, Tarrant County, Tarrant County College, Texas Cattle Raisers Association, Cassco Land Company, Williams Trew, Bell, Pier 1 Imports, Lockheed Martin, and JP Morgan Chase. BBA, SMU.
Sarah LanCarte President LanCarte Commercial Real Estate Inc.
Sarah LanCarte founded LanCarte Commercial, a veteran of 13 years in the industry and having closed more than 700 transactions totaling more than 13 million square feet. Earlier this year, LanCarte announced that the brokerage was expanding with the addition of an office in Dallas, the first phase of a 10-year plan to expand across all major markets of the state. She has been recognized by Fort Worth Magazine as a “Top Commercial Broker,” and by the Dallas Business Journal’s “Heavy Hitters List: Rookie 2010.” LanCarte’s professional affiliations include Commercial Real Estate Women, Certified Commercial Investment, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, Fort Worth Real Estate Council, Urban Land Institute, and the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks. She has two bachelor’s degrees from Auburn University, business administration - finance and Spanish.
Stephen Coslik CEO Woodmont Companies
Stephen Coslik cofounded The Woodmont Co. in 1980, directing the strategic planning and operational aspects of the company, including brokerage, development, investment sales and asset management, along with corporate vision and strategy. The company has developed 75 retail centers and 12 million square feet. The firm today manages 25 million square feet of retail space. Staff grew to more than 130 employees from one. He earned a bachelor’s from San Diego State and another in finance from Southern California. He’s a member of the Urban Land Institute, the International Council of Shopping Centers, and the chair of the DFW San Diego State University Alumni Association. Coslik began his career with the Lincoln National Development Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, before moving to Fort Worth and a job with Morrow Development.
Will Northern Broker
Northern Crain Realty
Will Northern founded Northern Realty in 2010 and grew it to include residential and commercial brokerage and property management. He has since partnered with Michael Crain. Northern also has expertise in assemblages. Northern learned real estate by managing and redeveloping his family portfolio of a dozen historic buildings around the San Saba courthouse. Northern, a Fort Worth native, chairs the Fort Worth Zoning Commission, a position to which he was appointed by former Mayor Betsy Price. Civic affiliations include the Development Committee for Fort Worth South, Inc.; The Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth PAC; Leadership Fort Worth, class of 2013; Historic Fort Worth, Inc.; Alumni Planning Committee for Country Day School; and the Mistletoe Heights Neighborhood Association. Northern has a bachelor’s in business administrationentrepreneurial management from TCU.
Jack Huff Principal Transwestern
Jack Huff specializes in brokerage and investment in commercial real estate in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He has negotiated more than 1,150 transactions since 1986, with a total consideration in excess of $1 billion. Prior to a merger with Transwestern, he was a founding member and principal at NAI Huff Partners, formerly NAI Stoneleigh Huff Brous McDowell. Specialization includes tenant representation, brokerage of office buildings, urban land and parking structures. Clients include BDO, Harris Finley & Bogle, Haynes & Boone, Keith Law Firm, Law Snakard & Gambill, Lockheed Martin, Lonestar Resources, Petroleum Club, PlainsCapital Bank, Range Resources, Thompson & Knight, Trademark, US Health Group, Virtuoso, Worthington National Bank. He has a bachelor’s in real estate and finance from the University of Texas at Austin.
Bob Scully is a senior vice president in Fort Worth within the CBRE Corporate Advisory Services division. A 30-year real estate veteran, Scully has handled more than 1,200 assignments, including corporate tenant representation, project leasing, acquisitions, dispositions, build-to-suits, sale-leasebacks, lease restructuring and renewals, subleases and corporate consulting. Scully has completed 75 million square feet of lease and sales transaction work for corporate, institutional and local owner and user clients. From 2020-21, Scully closed on 42 industrial and office lease and sale transactions totaling 4 million square feet and valued at more than $142 million. Scully is consistently recognized as one of CBRE’s top producers, receiving its DFW Top 20 Producer’s Award in 2007-08. While with Trammell Crow, he earned its National Top Producer Award. He has a bachelor’s in marketing, TCU.
Bob Scully Senior Vice President CBRE
Gerald Alley CEO Con-Real
Gerald Alley, who founded Con-Real in 1979 in Arlington, has been working hard at setting his company up for its future. Con-Real provides construction, real estate, program management, and technology and innovation services to local and global clients. The company, which partnered with Manhattan Construction on the Texas Live! project in Arlington, has set up an innovation technology department, looking at technology such as 3D, drone, and virtual and augmented reality to improve construction processes. Alley wants to apply those innovations to the company’s core construction business. “What are we doing in our core business that we could make better?” Alley says. Bachelor’s, University of Arkansas; MBA, SMU.
Russ Garrison President and CEO Sedalco
As president/CEO, Russ Garrison’s primary responsibilities center around implementing the key strategic initiatives of the firm. Garrison continues to take an active role in supporting the preconstruction services, providing contract negotiations, new project procurement, and client interface. Garrison has serves on the board of TEXO. He is chair of the government affairs committee for the chapter, also serves on the executive committee, and served as a chair in 2016. Garrison has also been active in the Construction Industry Advisory Council to the Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M. Garrison has served on the board of directors of the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show. Community service includes Lifeline Chaplaincy and Fortress Youth Development Center. Bachelor’s, building construction, Texas A&M; advanced management program, AGC of America.
John Avila Chairman Byrne Construction
John Avila bought Byrne in 1995 after a career as a senior executive at several of the nation’s top commercial contractors, and he built into a major concern whose clients include Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Sons Matt Avila and Paul Avila are the chief executive and chief operating officer, respectively, today. The firm has been the contractor on a number of projects at DFW International Airport, including the Terminal Renewal and Improvement Program and the Terminal B Expansion. Avila retired as a Brigadier General from the U.S. National Guard after 32 years of service. He is a 1974 graduate of the University of Texas and 1997 graduate of the United States Army War College. Boards: Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Tarrant County Mental Health Foundation.
Zach Muckleroy CEO Muckleroy
& Falls
Zach Muckleroy is CEO of the Fort Worth-based Muckleroy & Falls, taking over for his father, the longtime contractor Harold Muckleroy, who retired with partner Max Falls. Muckleroy joined the company several years ago with two others who formed the new ownership group. Harold Muckleroy and Falls repositioned the company several years for growth, as their successors came aboard. Revenue reached $86 million in 2018, up 87.44% from $45.9 million in 2015. The firm moved into a new headquarters fronting the Trinity River at University Drive. Muckleroy has a bachelor’s in business administration with a focus on accounting and finance, real estate concentration, from TCU.
Scot Bennett
Fort Worth Regional Director
The Beck Group
Scot Bennett leads The Beck Group’s design and construction work in the Fort Worth region, including pursuing integrated design and construction projects. His project leadership includes the construction of Dickies Arena, the Shops at Clearfork, and Sundance Square Plaza. Bennett was integral in developing the Beck School of Construction, a partnership with the city of Fort Worth to grow capacity for minority- and women-owned businesses. Bennett is involved with the Fort Worth Chamber, the Real Estate Council, the Cultural District Alliance, the Urban Land Institute, and the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. He has a bachelor’s degree from Woodbury University in Burbank, California, and studied business at Arizona State University.
Scott Price CEO Fort Construction
Scott Price, a 2022 Fort Worth Inc. Entrepreneurs of Excellence award winner, says the 2005 founding of Fort Construction can best be summarized using the maxim “Crisis is the mother of all invention.” He moved to Fort Worth for a job that “turned out badly. I found myself unemployed in a new town with a wife and two kids who wanted to stay here. Our family decided to stay and start our own company.” The first year was spent on two projects for a bonding company for a total of $450,000. Today, Fort Construction averages $35 million a year. Board membership includes past chair Boys & Girls Club, advisory board member at Cenikor, chair for Fort Worth South, and board member at Amphibian Theater. Bachelor’s, chemistry, Wesleyan University; MBA, University of Virginia.
Mike Berry President Hillwood
Mike Berry joined Hillwood in 1988 — the year the company broke ground for Alliance Airport, which he helped develop into the 27,000-acre, master-planned, community and global logistics hub known today as AllianceTexas. At the start a controversial project under the watchful eye of skeptics, Alliance has become the innovative economic engine proponents it said it would with roughly $111.5 billion generated in regional economic impact ($10.9 billion in 2022) and more than $3.4 billion in total taxes paid to public entities. Berry’s experience in complex public-private partnerships and approach to creating large master-planned developments has been instrumental in Hillwood’s success. Alliance also has been at the forefront of next-generation distribution technology. Berry has a B.S., economics, Vanderbilt; advanced management development, Harvard Graduate School of Design; MBA, TCU.
Bill Burton Executive Vice President Hillwood
Bill Burton joined Hillwood in January 1989 and has been key player in transforming Hillwood’s AllianceTexas into the 27,000acre, master-planned development that is home to more than 530 major companies today. Burton’s expertise includes master planning, building development, sales, leasing, marketing, economic development, and negotiation. He has directed build-tosuit and lease transactions totaling more than 50 million square feet with Amazon, AT&T Nokia, Bridgestone-Firestone, General Mills, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, and Volkswagen of America. Burton has managed portfolio sales for more than $1 billion and coordinated over 1,800 acres of land sale transactions with companies such as Citigroup, Deloitte, Fidelity Investments, Intel, Kraft Foods. He earned a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin.
Andrew Blake
Founder and Managing Partner
Presidio Interests
Andrew Blake is founder and managing partner of Presidio Interests, a commercial real estate investment and development firm opened in 2006. Presidio has acquired, developed, or redeveloped many urban infill commercial projects in Fort Worth, including the Foch Street Warehouses, Magnolia + May, and District 90. The company has recently begun developing urban apartments on the Near Southside. Active in the Urban Land Institute. Past chair of Cultural District Alliance Board, member of the Fort Worth Downtown Design Review Board, the Downtown FW 2023 & 2033 Strategic Planning teams, the city of Fort Worth Urban Forestry Advisory Board, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Lone Star Film Society & Festival, among many others. Blake has a bachelor’s from Vanderbilt and an MBA from University of Texas at Austin.
Craig Cavileer Vice President Majestic Realty
Craig Cavileer is Majestic Realty’s executive in Fort Worth who oversaw the major and highly successful Fort Worth Stockyards redevelopment in partnership with Fort Worth’s Hickman family. Cavileer is leading the development team. The redevelopment and adaptive reuse of the historic Mule Barns — transformed from vision to end use as “Mule Alley” — have drawn corporate relocations, new restaurant and retail tenants, and lots and lots of customers. The Drover Marriott Autograph hotel, a luxury property that anchors the west end of Mule Alley, opened last year and continues to garner rave reviews. Cavileer joined the California-based Majestic in 1988 as vice president of retail development and leasing. Cavileer is senior partner responsible for hospitality, mixed use, and other strategic developments throughout the U.S. Cavileer has a degree in marketing from Texas State.
Flora Brewer CEO Paulos Companies
Flora Brewer’s vision of economically viable housing for chronically homeless people in Fort Worth is gaining traction. Brewer, who redeveloped the old Palm Tree Apartments on Race Street near downtown Fort Worth for the chronically homeless, is part of a coalition of private developers, City of Fort Worth, First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, leading local foundations, and the DRC Solutions to End Homelessness in building a 48-unit, $4.7 million apartment project in West Fort Worth for chronically homeless people. The group welcomed the first 14 guests to three completed and fully furnished fourplexes, part of a $4.7 million project, in the fall. Most were unsheltered, living in parks and other locations outdoors. Its opening expanded hopes that these kinds of projects can be replicated in other parts of the city.
Conti CEO Conti Warehouses
The Fort Worth real estate investor Bruce Conti likes warehouses and industrial property and has a portfolio full of it. In one of his properties, at the southwest corner of Interstate 20 and Interstate 35W in Fort Worth, he’s carved out a section for growing entrepreneurial businesses. In another, a former retail center on Camp Bowie Boulevard in west Fort Worth, Conti’s divided a big grocery space into smaller ones and brought in retail tenants, including Boozie’s Brewery & Gourmet Sandwiches and Fort Worth Camera. In one of his industrial buildings farther down Camp Bowie, Conti built the Neurological Recovery Center, a large rehab center for major injuries, including one his son suffered while away at college.
Bruce
Brian Crowell Founder Maverick Development Group
Brian Crowell and longtime partner Bud Hudgins estimate they’ve acquired, entitled, developed, or sold more than 8,500 Class A apartment units and brokered numerous multifamily parcels in 14 years. Crowell founded Maverick Development to continue his partnership with The Hudgins Cos. and add more resources and capabilities. At Maverick, Crowell marshals through all aspects of the development process, from site selection to disposition. In addition, Crowell is also general partner for a number of investment entities that deploy venture capital specifically into innovative new products. Crowell, a member of the Near Southside Development Committee, has a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Georgia Tech, a bachelor’s in real estate and finance from University of North Texas, and a master’s in real estate development from University of Texas at Arlington.
Jessica Miller Essl Co-Owners
Susan Gruppi
M2G Ventures
Jessica Miller Essl and her twin sister, Susan Gruppi, are the co-owners of M2G Ventures, a commercial real estate private equity and advisory development company. The fast-growing company invests in distinctive mixed-use and industrial development projects located in DFW and the Central Texas region. Jessica is responsible for business development, strategy, marketing, leasing, and overseeing the company’s landlord advisory practices. Susan is responsible for finance, strategy, and value. She sources all equity financing for the company. Jessica serves on the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth and the board for the TCU Neeley Entrepreneurial School. Susan serves on the Director’s Loan Committee for Fort Worth First Financial Bank as well as a board member for the Cultural District Alliance. She serves on the Fort Worth Chamber board. Both have BBAs from TCU.
Ryan Dickerson
COO Walsh
Companies
Ryan Dickerson is responsible for operating the Walsh Companies, a collection of privately-owned companies based in Fort Worth, including Walsh Ranches and Walsh & Watts. The companies are involved in ranching, real estate development, oil and gas, renewables, mining, and investments. Dickerson was appointed by the Walsh family to his role in 2018 and oversees land development, commercial interests, and partnerships for the 7,200-acre property in West Fort Worth known as WALSH. Opened in 2017, WALSH is the connectivity point for economic development, corporate activity, and lifestyle in west Fort Worth and is home to nearly 4,000 residents. Dickerson has an Atrium Baccalaureus from Harvard College; Master of Philosophy, University of Cambridge; Juris Doctorate, Georgetown University Law Center.
Randy Gideon Co-Founder L2L Ventures
Randy Gideon and partner Tom Purvis took their conversations about permanent housing for the homeless with First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth to earnest in 2018. Gideon and Purvis developed the 250 Lancaster mixed-use project — now Pinnacle Bank Place — in 2016 in downtown Fort Worth. The two began hunting sites for an affordable housing development for the homeless and identified the Quali Trail, which opened as a $4.7 million home for chronically homeless people in the fall.
“Tom and I are real estate partners,” Gideon said. “We thought, how hard can it be to build some housing. We got a real education on the politics, all the physical parameters that have to be involved, all the revenue streams and taxes that impact operating costs.”
Crawford Edwards President Cassco Development Co.
Crawford Edwards is president of Cassco Development Co., Inc., developer of Clearfork in Fort Worth, and one of several members of Fort Worth’s Edwards family working in the company. Edwards works principally with cousin Paxton Motheral in running Clearfork. Edwards is the fifth generation of his family involved in managing his family’s ranching business, which predates the establishment of Fort Worth as a city and once spanned 7,000 acres. After graduating with a Bachelor of General Studies degree from TCU and the TCU Ranch Management program, he worked as a petroleum landman in West Texas. Edwards serves on the board of directors of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show, and the National Finance Credit Corporation.
Dak Hatfield CEO Hatfield Properties
Dak Hatfield founded his firm in 2005 as a full-service commercial real estate company, with brokerage, investment, strategy, development, and large-scale project management. Hatfield estimates the firm has completed more than $100 million in development and redevelopment projects. Hatfield Advisers projects initially focused on fun environments. The firm has developed several buildings in hot spots, such as the Magnolia and South Main Street corridor. Projects have also included multifamily, medical, creative office, retail and mixed-use. Hatfield has particular expertise in blending historic and new market tax credits with conventional debt and equity to finance urban development. His board memberships include chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee at Fort Worth Country Day School, and University Little League. He earned a bachelor’s in finance and real estate from TCU.
Brad Hickman CEO Hickman Enterprises
The Hickman family’s big Fort Worth Stockyards redevelopment in partnership with Majestic Realty has been a home run, with the redevelopment of the historic Mule Barns drawing corporate relocations and new retail and restaurant tenants, and lots and lots of people swinging by to check it out and spend money. Brad Hickman and his sister, Brenda Kostohryz, are the family’s leads in the partnership, which stirred up bitter disputes among friends and family members in the Stockyards over preservation of history and authenticity. The property was assembled years ago by Holt Hickman, father of Brad Hickman and Kostohryz. Holt Hickman redeveloped the former hog and sheep pens into Stockyards Station and recruited the Tarantula tourist train; what to do with the bulk of the property fell to his children.
Terry Montesi CEO Trademark Property Co.
In 1992, Terry Montesi founded the Fort Worth–based Trademark, which has since developed or invested in about $4.6 billion and 21 million square feet of lifestyle retail and mixed-use properties across the country. In Fort Worth, Waterside, WestBend, Alliance Town Center. Montesi sits on the International Council of Shopping Centers Board of Trustees and The University of Texas Development Board; is a member of the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors Hall of Fame and the Urban Land Institute. Montesi has held leadership positions with Union Gospel Mission, Christ Chapel Bible Church, Trinity Habitat for Humanity, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and Junior Achievement. Bachelor’s, Ole Miss; MBA, UT Austin. He hosts a podcast, “Leaning In,” which explores the future of retail and mixed-used real estate.
Mike Hoque President Hoque Global
Redevelopment of the Evans and Rosedale corridor on the Near Southside is a project being undertaken by Mike Hoque and his Dallas-based Hoque Capital. It’s been a long time in the making, but the project is slated to break ground soon. Plans include multifamily residential units, townhomes, commercial and innovation spaces, public amenities, and parking. It is anticipated — hoped – that with the development will come a growth district for this part of the city and its neighbors. Hoque has plans to increase his company’s involvement in Fort Worth. Hoque has been recognized as one of Dallas’ outstanding business leaders, and his corporate-led giving has extended to Fort Worth with initiatives that have benefited Lena Pope Home, the Kimbell Museum, and Hope Farm.
Paxton Motheral Vice President Cassco Development Co.
Paxton Motheral and cousin Crawford Edwards have the lead in running development of the sprawling Edwards Ranch in the heart of the Chisholm Trail corridor. Motheral flirted with running for the open District 7 Fort Worth City Council seat in 2021 but withdrew, citing potential conflicts with his involvement in the Clearfork development, which features a public-private partnership with the city. In the local campaign cycle of 2023, Motheral ran for a place on the Tarrant Regional Water District board, vowing to be a voice for investing in infrastructure to ensure a safe and reliable water supply and fighting for fiscal responsibility. Motheral has a BBA with a real estate emphasis and a bachelor’s in ranch management, both from TCU. He also has a master’s in real estate development from MIT.
Isaac Manning CEO Trinity Works
Isaac Manning’s development work has taken him far afield in recent years to West Virginia; Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America on consulting for Hillwood Strategic Services; home in Fort Worth (consulting for AllianceTexas and Edwards Ranch), and Dallas (American Airlines Center). Manning founded his Trinity Works in 2002, with primary focus on public-private partnerships. Manning’s volunteer work has been focused on Fort Worth public schools as an advisory board member for the Citizens for Great Schools PAC; the Paschal Legacy Project, which funded construction of a new field house; and a member of the Fort Worth ISD’s Citizens Oversight Committee, to oversee spending of voter-approved bond money. B.A., Vanderbilt; Master of Architecture, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; and M.S. in architecture, environmental design & development concentration, MIT.
Trey Neville Partner
Graham Limited
Developer Trey Neville has worked in the Fort Worth commercial real estate industry for more than 25 years. His most recent developments are urban, mixed-use developments with an emphasis on sustainability and great design. One of his more recent projects is the modern Hotel Revel on Eighth Avenue in Fort Worth’s Near Southside. Bart Shaw of Ibañez Shaw Architecture brought the concrete, steel, and glass edifice with the blue gradient steel fins to life. Neville was inspired to bring a contemporary boutique hotel to the Hospital District after staying in the Kimber Modern in Austin. Before starting Graham Limited, Neville headed up the Fort Worth office for Stablemade Development and Brokerage. Neville, a Fort Worth native, has a bachelor’s in finance, with a real estate emphasis, from Texas Tech.
Ken Newell Developer Trinity Custom Homes
Ken Newell and his brother, David Newell — kin to legendary golfer Byron Nelson — developed the Riverbend Business Park years ago in east Fort Worth, a 12,000-acre commercial development with more than 1 million square feet of office spaces and warehouses west of East Loop 820 and south of Texas 121. In recent years, Ken Newell has been focusing on a development just across Interstate 820 loop from Riverbend: Trinity Lakes, a 1,600-acre, mixed-use project he began developing in 1999. It was once a mostly barren stretch of land, a former sand and gravel and mining area that was dug up decades ago and left vacant. Newell grew up in development; his father started developing industrial property in 1954.
Chris Powers Founder and Executive Chairman Fort Capital
Chris Powers’ Fort Capital has invested more than $2 billion in Class B industrial throughout the state of Texas and the Sunbelt. It continues to build out its River District development on Fort Worth’s West Side. Powers has said it’ll be Fort Capital’s last ground-up development, reasoning there are better places to put investors’ dollars and demand for warehouses and distribution centers will continue to grow as the world moves online. Fort Capital says it’s seeking opportunities to acquire Class B Industrial and Urban Core Commercial/Land assets in high-growth markets between $15 million and $100 million. He is also the host of The FORT Podcast, a series of conversations with business leaders and entrepreneurs. Powers, who graduated from TCU, got his start in real estate buying rental property while in school.
Austin Reilly Broker Land Advisors Organization
Austin Reilly began his real estate career in 2008 with Burdine Realty Co., a boutique land brokerage firm in Fort Worth headed by his mentor, Landry Burdine. In 2010, Reilly and Burdine were tapped to run the DFW office of Land Advisors Organization, the largest commercial real estate firm in the U.S. focused exclusively on land. In 2022, Land Advisors completed more than 670 land transactions amounting to 35,700 acres and $2.7 billion in sales across the company’s network. Reilly participates in the Urban Land Institute (ULI) where he is a member of the national community development product council. He serves as a mentor within Forth Worth ISD and is on the board and past president at Lena Pope. Bachelor’s, American Studies, University of Richmond, where he played baseball.
Pretlow Riddick
President and Principal Criterion Development
Fort Worth’s Race Street and Scenic Bluff neighborhood continue to be a big focus for Pretlow Riddick’s Dallas-based Criterion Property Co. Criterion is transforming the Race Street/ Belknap/Sylvania triangle into the long-promised urban village with mixed uses. Criterion specializes in the development, construction management, and asset management of investment-quality multifamily communities in Texas and Massachusetts. Prior to founding Criterion Development Partners in 2004, Riddick worked for a large national developer managing the development of more than 50 apartment communities and 16,000 units in 14 states. In 1999, he established A Better Neighborhood Foundation to invest in faith-based community developments in the inner city. Riddick has a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from George Washington University.
Tom Purvis III Co-Founder L2L Ventures
Tom Purvis III is on board, as project manager with Randy Gideon, a coalition that built a 48-unit apartment complex in West Fort Worth near River Oaks that is occupied by people who were formerly chronically homeless. It’s a nonprofit version of developer Flora Brewer’s purchase and rehab of the former Palm Tree Apartments on Race Street, east of downtown, into housing for chronically homeless people. The coalition includes Brewer, city of Fort Worth, Presbyterian Night Shelter, local foundations, and the DRC Solutions to End Homelessness, which does on-site case management for Palm Tree tenants and will do the same at the West Fort Worth project. Purvis and Gideon have said they hope to replicate the nonprofit model elsewhere in Fort Worth to meet the demand for permanent supportive housing.
Paris Rutherford Principal Catalyst Urban Development
Paris Rutherford’s Catalyst Urban Development, a Dallas-based real estate planning and development company, this past year opened the Burnett Lofts, apartments and mixed uses being built on a package of city lots on the north side of Lancaster Avenue downtown. Catalyst and the city view the “SODO” district as a new gateway to downtown. Rutherford has worked for 30 years to create market-leading, mixed-use and residential districts, delivering profitable urban investment that capitalizes on demand for place. Catalyst has prepared award-winning planning strategies for more than 60 public and private entities, has arranged over $3 billion in debt and equity across 200-plus transactions, and developed more than $500 million in mixed-use and urban residential development. Rutherford has degrees from Southern California and Harvard.
Donnie and Colby Sirrat
Co-Owners
Montserrat
Hills
In 2003, the Siratt family, headed by patriarch and entrepreneur Don Siratt, purchased the first piece of property that would become the highly successful gated community of Montserrat. Fast-forward to 2017, just a few months after Don Siratt had passed away, the Siratts were approached about buying the property just west of Montserrat. After a couple years of planning, brothers Donnie and Colby Sirrat, head of Montserrat Hills, LLC, broke ground in early 2020 on Montrachet. Despite the pandemic and fearing an economic downturn, the brothers pressed forward. Montserrat Hills was formed to develop the Montrachet neighborhood which consists of 169 lots on 255 acres in west Fort Worth. Originally projected to take up to 10 years to sell out, it is significantly ahead of schedule.
F. Howard Walsh III President Walsh Companies
F. Howard Walsh III leads the Walsh Companies, a collection of privately-owned companies based in Fort Worth, including Walsh Ranches and Walsh & Watts. The companies are involved in ranching, real estate development, oil and gas, renewables, mining, and investments. Walsh joined his family’s office in 1999 and has served as president of the Walsh Companies since 2018. Walsh is guiding the development vision at the 7,200acre property in West Fort Worth known as WALSH. Opened in 2017, WALSH is the connectivity point for economic development, corporate activity, and lifestyle in west Fort Worth and is home to nearly 4,000 residents. He is the son of F. Howard Walsh Jr., one of five children of the late F. Howard Walsh and the late Mary D. Fleming Walsh, both major Fort Worth philanthropists. Bachelor’s, Yale.
Eddie Vanston Developer 117 St Louis, LLC
Eddie Vanston’s latest completed adaptive reuse project is the Near Southside’s Dickson-Jenkins Building Lofts, nee the Branch-Smith Building. The circa-1926 warehouse was an apparel factory. Years later, Branch-Smith Printing acquired the building. Vanston turned the building into industrial-style loft condos. Vanston, a transplanted New Yorker, for more than two decades has been buying historic Fort Worth buildings and converting them to residential uses. The Supreme Golf Warehouse and Markeen Apartments are two projects. Vanston maintains higher valuations are pushing developers like him out. He’s one of a chorus of voices worried that high rents will price Near Southside creatives out on their rents.
Jake Wagner Co-CEO Republic Property Group
Jake Wagner is co-CEO, with Tony Ruggieri, of the Dallas-based Republic Property Group, development partner on the 7,200-acre Walsh development in far West Fort Worth. Walsh selected Republic as master developer in 2015. At the time, F. Howard Walsh III said the family chose Republic based on innovative vision, youth, and experience. “They will be able to grow with this community.” Part of that innovation in Walsh Ranch is what the developer has called the first-ever makerspace — a place where people with shared interests, especially in technology, can gather to work on projects — in the heart of a new residential community. Wagner and Ruggieri took over as co-CEOs in 2013. Bachelor’s, English, University of Texas at Austin.
Corrie Churchill Watson Co-Owner Frank Kent Enterprises
Corrie Churchill Watson and her twin brother, Will Churchill, triggered the latest rush to West Magnolia Avenue when they reinvested the proceeds from two major assets sales in Near Southside property. The twins recruited tenants they wanted, like MELT Ice Creams and Heim BBQ. Watson and Churchill sold the Kent & Cos. wines business in 2019. The twins also led the development of an all-inclusive playground at Trinity Park. Watson serves on the board of Ladies on the Lamb, which buys champion lambs from girls who show them at the Fort Worth Stock Show and place high enough in awards to enter the annual Junior Sale of Champions.
Ed and Sasha Bass Co-Owners Fine Line Diversified Development
Ed Bass ($2.5 billion estimated net worth, Forbes) took his family’s lead years ago in the development of Sundance Square downtown. Sundance shone and became a gathering spot after the 2014 opening of Sundance Plaza. Late 2019, Ed and wife Sasha Bass announced they took 100% interest in the Sundance properties from the family, except for the garages held by Ed, Sasha, and brothers Sid and Lee Bass. Early 2020, Ed and Sasha Bass announced major management changes, bringing in outsider Henry S. Miller, among them. Later in the year, Sundance reverted to in-house management. Tenants angry over string of retail tenant losses, what they say is suddenly unresponsive management, and what they view as botched response to COVID-19. Bachelor’s, arts/sciences, Yale.
Bill Boecker President Fine Line Diversified Development
In November 2019, Sundance Square management announced an ownership and management division in Sundance Square, severing the City Center towers and parking garages into a separate entity. Sundance also announced that Ed and Sasha Bass had recently taken 100% interest in Sundance Square from the family, and that Ed, Sasha, Sid and Lee Bass were in a partnership that owned the City Center. In the fall of 2020, Ed and Sasha Bass announced they were taking management back in-house, headed by Henry S. Miller III and Bill Boecker.
John Goff CEO Crescent Real Estate
With Richard Rainwater, whom he calls “a brother, father, partner, all wrapped into one,” John Goff built and sold Crescent Real Estate Equities to Morgan Stanley for $6.5 billion. He bought it back in distress two years later for a fraction of what he sold it for. With it, Goff is building the Crescent Fort Worth, a hotel and office development that will open later this year in the Cultural District. It will house Crescent Real Estate, Crescent Energy, Goff Capital, and Canyon Ranch. Goff’s pièce de résistance is what he’s doing pro bono, the visionary behind Texas A&MFort Worth, Aggieland North in downtown, which will bring the city a Tier 1 research facility. Goff has a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Texas.
Steve Murrin CEO River Ranch
Steve Murrin’s family bought a ranch west of Fort Worth in 1934. Murrin still lives at the West Fork Ranch and throws himself a big, well-attended birthday party each year. After he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1960 and served in the Air Force, Murrin entered real estate as a broker and later as an investor and developer. He and partners brought Wild West shows and rodeo back to Cowtown Coliseum in the Stockyards. Murrin — known for his cowboy profile, with boots, big hat, and handlebar mustache — owns River Ranch venue in the Stockyards and other real estate. Murrin, the unofficial mayor of the Stockyards, with Philip Murrin, is infusing life into Westland, the community west of Loop 820.
Bobby Patton CEO TCRG Properties
Bobby Patton’s investments run the range of oil and gas, office buildings, ranches, cutting horses, and a minority stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. Patton bought a 343-acre ranch from investor Jon Winkelreid, now San Francisco-based co-CEO of TPG. And when Alice Walton put 90 horses on the sale block, Patton bought many of them. More recently, he hired a Fort Worth fund manager to launch a venture capital fund, dovetailing with Fort Worth leaders’ pitch to have wealthy Fort Worth families invest locally in venture deals. He and his wife, Sherri, also invested in the future, giving $20 million to the University of Texas’ College of Liberal Arts. Patton earned his law degree from St. Mary’s in San Antonio and a master’s in law from SMU.
Matt Mildren President Tug Hill Real Estate Partners
Matt Mildren has over 25 years in leasing, development, and acquisitions of real estate properties. THREP is a private equity investment company focused on purchasing U.S. real estate. Portfolio includes office buildings, apartment complexes, shopping centers, medical office buildings, senior housing, and industrial buildings. Boards: Presbyterian Night Shelter, BBVA Compass, All Saints’ Episcopal School, Cristo Rey Fort Worth High School. BBA, TCU; Real Estate Advanced Finance Certificate, Harvard University.
David Auld President and CEO D.R. Horton,
Inc.
David V. Auld has been president and CEO since October 2014 of the Arlington-based D.R. Horton homebuilder, one of Tarrant County’s Fortune 500 headquarters. Auld was executive vice president and chief operating officer from November 2013 until October 2014. He was region president overseeing the company’s homebuilding operations in Florida, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama from 2005 to 2013. From 1988 to 2005, Auld was division president of the company’s Orlando Division. Prior to 1988, he worked for Texas American Bank and General Dynamics. Auld graduated from Texas Tech University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting.
Chris Baker
Attorney and Co-Owner
Fidelity National Title
(The Baker Firm)
The eponymous Baker Firm focuses on title insurance, a fee office for Fidelity National Title which started in 2010 and has grown to seven offices. Since then, The Baker Firm has consistently been Fidelity’s top fee office. Baker also opened Baker Monroe in 2015. It is focused on real estate, transactional, corporate, and lending matters. Prior to that, Baker was of counsel with Murphy, Mahon, Keffler and Farrier for six years. He was also general counsel and COO of N3 Development, Ltd., a national real estate development company, for approximately five years. Baker has a BBA, real estate and finance, from SMU, and a law degree from St. Mary’s.
Mike Bowman President and CEO Century 21, Mike Bowman Inc.
Century 21 Mike Bowman has enjoyed perennial status as the No. 1 Century 21 office in Texas. Bowman, who started his career in 1969 and opened his first office two years later, has operated Mike Bowman Inc. as part of Century 21 since 1975 with two agents. He was the first Century 21 broker in the Texas-ArkansasOklahoma-Louisiana region. The firm has grown to 200 agents and has been named the No. 1 Century 21 office in the world — in the world — 18 times, according to his biography. To put that in better perspective, there are 153,000 independent sales reps in about 14,250 offices in the Century 21 family across the U.S. and 86 countries and territories. Bowman has been involved in numerous charity organizations throughout the DFW metroplex.
Travis Buck Branch Operations Manager Stewart Title
Since 2018, Travis Buck has been branch operations manager at Stewart Title, today one of the largest global title insurance companies and underwriters in the industry, 130 years after its founding in Galveston. He has an interesting back story. Before arriving at Stewart Title, Buck had a career in local politics, first as city councilman and mayor of Grandview, a town of 1,800 in Johnson County, a 35-minute drive from Fort Worth. He stepped down from that position to become the city’s administrator. Under his watch, the city installed a 300,000-gallon capacity water tank, witnessed the construction of a Walmart Express, with the accompanying 30 jobs and a before-nonexistent pharmacy. Member of the board of directors of the Northern Texas Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. Bachelor’s, SMU; TCU School of Ranch Management.
Johnny Campbell President and CEO City Center Management
Johnny Campbell has worn just about every hat on his way to president and CEO of City Center Management, starting with landscaper at a Houston shopping mall owned by the Rouse Company at age 16. At 21, he became the youngest security chief ever at the company. He eventually became director of operations for some of the most prominent mixed-use developments in the nation, ultimately landing as president and CEO of Sundance Square, the Bass family real estate portfolio in downtown Fort Worth. He switched hats in 2020, when Ed and Sasha Bass announced they’d taken 100% ownership of Sundance Square properties, except for the City Center office towers, held separately by family members. Campbell shifted over to run the office towers and garages.
Bryan Braswell Owner Braswell Custom Homes
Braswell’s roots in homebuilding and a future enterprise began in high school when he worked in remodeling and roofing jobs. He went out on his own, starting his own roofing business when he was 18. At 20 years old, he constructed his first house at the request of a good friend. Not completely sure what he was doing, he went out on his own to do research on how to build a home and do it as cost effectively as possible. The first one out of the way, he built and sold five houses over the next 18 months. An aptitude discovered, he went on to work for several local homebuilders before founding Braswell Homes in 2001 in what has become a well-known residential builder of high-end custom homes.
Michael Dike Co-Founder and President Village Homes
After graduating with a business degree from the University of Texas, Village Homes’ co-founder and president Michael Dike accepted a position at a leading Austin production homebuilder. The cookie-cutter design approach did not coincide with his vision, so Dike went on a mission to create a company from the ground up. In 1996, he discovered a like-minded financier in Fort Worth developer Jim Harris, and Village Homes was born. Village Homes has maintained a reputation for blending the style and quality of well-detailed existing homes with the open floor plans and efficiencies that today’s buyers expect.
Scott McKnight Attorney and Owner McKnight Title
With experience gained from working several years for a Fidelity National Title fee-attorney office, Scott McKnight went out on his own and opened McKnight Title in 2012. An attorney educated at the University of Oklahoma School of Law, McKnight’s practice is in the areas of Texas real estate, including comprehensive representation of buyers, sellers, and investors of both residential and commercial transactions. He’s a licensed escrow officer, and his expertise includes title insurance laws and regulations and in-house title search and examination. In addition to his law degree, which he earned in 1993, McKnight received a bachelor’s in business administration from Oklahoma.
Jack Rattikin Jr. Chairman Rattikin Title
The son of founder Jack Rattikin Sr., Jack Rattikin Jr. grew up in the title business. Rattikin graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s in business and law degree. Though he was protected from the 1950s draft during law school, after graduation in 1957, Rattikin joined the Army and served in the Transportation Corps in Virginia. After the Army, Rattikin returned to Texas, where he practiced criminal law for a short time before joining the title company in 1969. Rattikin served as president of the Texas Land and Title Association from 1974–1975 and the American Land and Title Association from 1984–1985. He was awarded TLTA Title Man of the Year in 1964 and YMCA Chi-Rho Award in 1980.
Ramon Romero Jr. CEO
Ramon Romero Corp.
When not representing his Southeast Fort Worth District 90 in the Texas Legislature, Ramon Romero spends time tending to his portfolio of businesses: A-Fast Tile & Coping, Stone Mason Supply, rental homes and houses he flips. Romero remembers he looked for odd jobs from a young age to make money. Those included hanging out at the Poly car wash and offering to wash cars for anybody who stopped, scooping ice cream at the Ashburn’s Ice Cream Parlor, and working as an appointment setter for a health and life insurance company. In the mid-’90s, Romero helped form the first neighborhood association in his mother's neighborhood. City Councilman Ralph McCloud noticed and gave Romero his first city appointment.
Scott Watson Owner Arch House Collaborative
With more than 30 years of experience, Scott Watson has dedicated his career to the pursuit of design. Shortly after graduating with a bachelor’s in architecture from the University of Texas, Watson established his first design firm in 1996. Watson Design Group catered to the world of residential architecture in Dallas which created the opportunity for Watson to expand his business. In 2013, a new firm was established, Flynn Watson Architects, which focused on high-end residential architecture and incorporated commercial design. With this company, Watson was able to expand his business to include offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Southlake. His newest venture, Arch House Collaborative, aims to combine the worlds of art, architecture, and interior design with the fast-paced technology industry.
Anthony Wonderly Partner
Bellrock Real Estate Partners
Prior to founding Bellrock, Anthony Wonderly led and grew a profitable multifamily property management firm from two to nearly 500 employees nationwide. There he crafted a well-awarded “Best Company to Work For” culture. He was instrumental in creating and managing all the departments, policies, and procedures that strategically grew the portfolio value to over $2 billion. He also helped source and manage significant investor capital from both private and institutional investors. At Bellrock, Wonderly continues to keep his ear to the ground and his eyes on the future. Wonderly is a member of the Young Presidents Organization, former president of the Apartment Association of Tarrant County, former legislative chairman for the Texas Apartment Association. He earned a bachelor’s from UT Arlington, and he’s a graduate of the Stagen Integral Leadership Program.
Jennifer Edwards
Vice President of Sales Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty
Jennifer Edwards is a seasoned real estate professional working out of the Southlake office, mentoring and coaching agents. A native Texan, Edwards was raised in the Grapevine-Colleyville area and is a third-generation real estate professional. Her grandparents started Davidson Realty in Colleyville. Her mother and aunt worked there. Edwards actually began her professional life working with nonprofit organizations traveling all over the world, even living in Thailand for three years helping run community outreach programs through a local church. After moving back to the U.S., she went into real estate and eventually became an independent real estate broker before joining Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty. Edwards earned a bachelor’s in medical technology from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Matt Lewis Partner League Real Estate
Saturdays were a big day for Matt Lewis growing up in the West Texas oil boomtown of Midland. He would tag along as his father checked on his rental properties. Then the two would go to for ice cream. The real estate stuck with him. LEAGUE Real Estate began as a conversation among three friends five years ago. Partners Matt Lewis, Luke Syres, and Jeff Anderson celebrated the firm’s fifth anniversary this past year by moving into its third home in a renovated historic building on Locke Avenue after a record 2020 year. The firm has grown to 91 agents, with more than 68 in Fort Worth, earning the title of “largest independent brokerage in Tarrant County by sales volume. Lewis has a BBA in real estate and finance from Baylor.
Rick Wegman Realtor Compass
As a founder of the Walsh, Wegman, Giordano Team, Rick Wegman helps lead Compass' largest real estate team in Texas. Wegman has been in Fort Worth real estate since 2003, including 17 years in residential brokerage and construction. He was instrumental in growing HGC Residential Development into the area's largest custom home builder. Wegman launched and owns an interior decorating firm and a property management firm. He has listed and sold some of the area's most significant properties. Wegman is a member of TCU's Investor Society and serves on the TCU Clark Society Board, the TCU Frog Club Advisory Board, and the Casa Manana Theatre Board. Wegman graduated from TCU and received master's and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Nova Southeastern University.
Martha Williams
Realtor WilliamsTrew
Martha Williams specializes in the relocation of corporate executives and is one of the top 1% of Realtors nationally, which she attributes to integrity, knowledge of neighborhoods, and a deep network that gives her “unparalleled access to some of the finest properties in the Fort Worth market.” Before co-founding Williams Trew in 2000, Williams worked for several real estate companies. She’s been in real estate for more than 38 years. Williams serves on the boards of Fort Worth Country Day School, UT Southwestern Medical Foundation in Dallas, and The Cliburn. She is a founding member of the Fort Worth Professional Women's Organization. She also is a former president of the Junior League of Fort Worth.
John Zimmerman Principal Agent/The John Zimmerman Group & Founding Agent Compass Fort Worth
John Zimmerman has been a top-producing Fort Worth sales agent for nearly three decades, deeply involved in the development of Montserrat and La Cantera neighborhoods. Zimmerman, who leads Compass’ growth into Fort Worth and the Greater Tarrant County area, is a top-producing agent for nearly three decades, has been ranked the No. 1 agent in Fort Worth for eight years, No. 2 in the state, and among the top one-half percent of Realtors nationwide. Zimmerman, who grew up in the Ozarks in Fayetteville, studied finance and real estate at the University of Arkansas. He's lived in Fort Worth for nearly 30 years and lives in the Shady Oaks Country Club neighborhood.
Randy White
Owner/Realtor
Randy White Real Estate Services
Randy White might have been born to be in real estate, this son and grandson of real estate professionals. While a student at the University of Texas at Arlington, he decided their footprint would be the career path he would follow and pursued a real estate license. His agency in Southlake, which specializes in upscale neighborhoods in Colleyville, Grapevine, Keller, Southlake, and Westake, among others, has been recognized for its efficiency and customer-based focus. “My main concern is for the customer and what is their best interest. It is important to educate the customer as we move through the process of buying or selling so the absolute best decisions can be made.” He serves on the board of GRACE Grapevine and Fort Worth Christian School.
HONORING A LEGACY. BUILDING A FUTURE.
Congratulations CRAIG CAVILEER
ON BEING ONE OF THE 400 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN FORT WORTH 2023
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AT MAJESTIC REALTY CO.
CEO AT SILVERTON CASINO HOTEL
MANAGING PARTNER AT STOCKYARDS HERITAGE DEVELOPMENT CO.
Terraces at Solana
Future Fort Worth City Hall
Bowie House | Auberge Resorts Collection
Travis Buck Branch Operations Manager – Fort Worth North Texas Division
Since 1893, Stewart Title has pioneered efforts to make your real estate closings better. We go the extra mile to personalize every interaction.
As your Fort Worth’s experienced title and escrow provider, we’re here to serve you. We’ll help take the wild out of your real estate ride. Contact us.
Religion
Faith traditions have always been part of the fabric of the culture of Fort Worth. Like all the rest, religious traditions were tested during the pandemic. Many churchgoers didn’t return from shutdowns, reviving a pre-pandemic challenge of people walking away from the church doors. For others, meanwhile, the pandemic strengthened their faith.
Moujahed Bakhach Imam Islamic Association of Tarrant County
Moujahed Bakhach is imam of the Islamic Association of Tarrant County. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Islamic Jurisprudence, both from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Bakhach is an international speaker on “Islam in America” and director of a radio program, “The Message of Islam.” Bakhach also is a certified mediator, negotiator, and arbitrator, with more than 20 years in providing workshops and lectures on mediation. He’s director of the Mediation Institute of North Texas. He teaches marriage counseling and mediation for Guidance College and also the director of the Family Counseling Department at Muslim American Society of Dallas. He has made presentations on a variety of topics, including “The Muslim Family vs. American Society,” “The First Step Towards Islam,” and “The Role of Islam in Health, Culture & Society.”
Lance Marshall
Senior Pastor
First United Methodist Church
Lance Marshall is senior pastor at First United Methodist Church, passionate about teaching Scripture and discipleship in ways that are relevant, engaging, and life-giving. Marshall has ministered at the church since 2013. He was born in Houston and raised in Colleyville. He was a young adult when he discovered the message of Christ as an alternative to a “world around me was offering a story that really wasn’t worth living into.” He was living in Chicago at the time and had no Christian peers, so, he studied on his own, seeking out resources on the life of Christ. He ultimately chose, he said, a life transformed by the presence and work of Christ every day. Bachelor’s in communication studies, TCU; Master of Divinity, Brite Divinity School, TCU.
Andrew Bloom
Rabbi
Congregation
Ahavath Sholom
Andrew Bloom has been rabbi at Congregation Ahavath Sholom since 2011. Growing up in Maryland, he made aliyah at 19 to Israel. Bloom served for 2½ years in the Israeli Army as a combat medic in an artillery unit in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza, as well as serving as his unit's medical chemicals expert during the Gulf War. Upon being honorably discharged in 1991 at the rank of Sergeant, Bloom studied education and history at the State Teachers College — Seminar Hakibutzim and received his ordination and master’s degree at The Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem. His rabbinic thesis: “The Psychology of the Mourning Process.” Bloom currently serves on the advisory board of Unbound Now of North Texas and founded the Cowtown Clergy.
Cody McQueen
Senior Pastor
Christ Chapel Bible Church
Cody McQueen is lead pastor at the nondenominational Christ Chapel, one of the county’s largest churches, with locations in Fort Worth, Aledo, and Burleson and about 10,000 regularly in attendance before COVID-19 disrupted churches. McQueen holds Master of Theology and Doctor of Ministry degrees from the Dallas Theological Seminary. McQueen came to Christ Chapel after earning his master’s degree, having been connected to the church through one of his seminary professors. “He asked me what I planned to do after graduation,” McQueen says. “He must have had pity on me because when I told him that I didn’t know, he asked for my résumé. The rest is history.” Before being named senior pastor, he was Life Stage 2 pastor, teaching pastor, and West Campus pastor.
David Dockery
President
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary & Texas Baptist College
David S. Dockery was elected the 10th president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in April, “God’s man for Southwestern Seminary in this hour,” said Danny Roberts, chairman of the board. Dockery is regarded as one of the recognized leaders and senior statesmen of Christian higher education. He succeeded Adam Greenway, who resigned, saying he had not been prepared for the enormity of the “legal and financial realities,” facing the seminary. In 2018, longtime president Paige Patterson was fired after a series of controversies. Before Southwestern, Dockery for two decades had been president of Union University in Tennessee and later served as president of Trinity International University near Chicago. B.S., University of Alabama at Birmingham; Master of Divinity, Grace Theological Seminary; M.A., TCU; Ph.D., UT Arlington; Master of Divinity, Southwestern Seminary.
Robert Morris
Senior Pastor
Gateway Church
Robert Morris founded the Bible-based evangelistic Gateway Church in Southlake in 1999. Since then, it’s grown to 10 campuses; and broadcast online and prison ministries; and what it estimates are more than 100,000 active attendees. Morris’ television program airs in more than 190 countries, and his radio program, “Worship & the Word with Pastor Robert,” airs in more than 2,800 U.S. radio markets across America. Morris is the author of The Blessed Life, Frequency, Beyond Blessed, and Take the Day Off. In 2018, Gateway opened its first prison campus at the Coffield Unit in Anderson County. In 2019, the church launched its first extension campus outside of Texas in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Michael Olson Bishop Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth
Michael Olson was ordained bishop and installed in 2014 as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth, shepherd to more than 1 million Catholics. Olson holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from the Catholic University of America, and two master’s in theological studies from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Olson was a charter recipient of the CRS Global Fellowship in 1993, through which he traveled to Egypt and Burkina Faso to study global development in social justice. He is also a past recipient of the Presidential Fellowship of Saint Louis University, where he studied at the Center for Health Care Ethics in the Catholic Tradition. In March 2011, he earned his doctorate in moral theology at the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome.
Russ Peterman Senior Minister
University Christian Church
In 2017, Russ Peterman became senior minister of University Christian Church, which this year will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding as TCU's University Church. Peterman was ordained in 1995 and has served churches in Texas, Georgia, and California. Prior to coming to UCC, he served as the Senior Minister to First Christian Church of Concord, California, from 2005-17, the same church where he was baptized as a youth. He serves on the Mayor’s Faith Based Cabinet, the Board of Trustees for Brite Divinity School, and is a mentor with Academy 4. Peterman holds a Bachelor of Arts from TCU, Master of Divinity from San Francisco Theological Seminary, and Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary.
Ryan Reed Bishop
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth
Ryan Reed became coadjutor bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth in 2019 and later that year bishop after the retirement of Jack Iker. The year 2021 was a big one for the diocese as its divorce proceeding in a schism with the national church was decided in its favor after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, leaving a lower court’s decision to grant property of the diocese and the name “Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth” to Iker’s breakaway group. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Reed was raised near Houston. He has a bachelor’s in political science from Texas A&M University, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets, and a Master of Divinity degree from Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
Kyev Tatum
Pastor
New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church
Kyev Tatum has used his pulpit to rail against excessive use of force by police. He’s focused his ministry on advocacy, in the past year traveling from Dallas to San Antonio with 40 students to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the hangings of 13 members of the mostly-Black 24th U.S. Infantry. He lobbied city leaders to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King’s visit to Fort Worth. Tatum and peers created the Community Peacemakers, a program that trains Fort Worth residents to mediate community conflicts. He is president of the Ministers of Justice Coalition of Texas, using his position to speak out against a teacher who permitted a racial slur to be used in the classroom at Paschal. Tatum graduated from Trimble Tech High School and earned a bachelor’s from North Texas.
Ryon Price
Senior Pastor
Broadway Baptist Church
Ryon Price has served as senior pastor of the historic Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth since 2017. A Lubbock native, Price graduated from Texas Tech University before moving on to the Duke Divinity School at Duke University. He previously served churches in Lubbock, Vermont, and Durham, North Carolina. Price is a member of the Brite Divinity School at TCU Board of Visitors, the Fort Worth Near Southside Inc. board, advisory board for the North Texas Community Foundation’s Fund to Advance Racial Equity. In 2021, Price was recognized with the Erma C. Johnson Hadley Servant Leadership Award, presented by Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.”
Brian Zimmerman Senior Rabbi Beth-El Congregation
Brian Zimmerman is a 12th generation rabbi, following his father and grandfathers. Raised in New York, Zimmerman received a bachelor’s from Boston University. He moved to Hollywood, intent to work in film but instead earned a Master of Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and was ordained at Hebrew Union College in New York. Zimmerman served as the regional and rabbinic director for the South District of the Union for Reform Judaism, tending to the spiritual and physical needs of clergy and congregations in an 11-state district. Zimmerman has merged his passions, Judaism and film, through his temple classes and other outside commitments. He was co-chair of Cinema Emanu-El, a summer Jewish film festival that hosts over 2,000 attendees.
Opening Summer 2023
A new level of luxury within Aledo Schools and just minutes from Lockheed, the Medical District, Cultural District, and Downtown.
A variety of rental homes include traditional apartments in one- and two-bedroom configurations, one- and twostory “casitas” with garage parking for those who’d enjoy a cottage-style home, and three-bedroom townhomes with dedicated two-car parking garages and yards.
All rental homes with sophisticated interiors including stainless steel, front control ranges, French-door refrigerators, granite counters, matte black fixtures, keyless entry, and ultra-high-speed community-wide WiFi.
Next-level community amenities will include a fenced dog park, nature trail, resort-style pool, fitness facility, separate yoga/Pilates studio, and an Alys Beach-inspired “café” building with a coffee lounge, fireside community room, coworking veranda, and reservable patio.
Building relationships.
Driving results.
Simmons Bank congratulates Lori Baldock, Fort Worth Market President, for once again being named to The 400. Lori provides the leadership and teamwork that help move our community forward.
For 120 years, we’ve worked hard to make our customers’ financial goals become reality, whether those goals look like buying a home, starting a business, sending a child to college – or simply having greater confidence when it comes to managing your money.
CONNECTING PEOPLE TO THEIR DREAMS
Corner of the Garage to Corner Office
You’ve always been fascinated by how things work – whether taking things apart or researching the finer points of a business plan. Likewise, our passion is connecting people to their dreams by learning what truly makes them tick. Every great relationship has an Origin story. Start yours today at Origin.Bank/YourStory
Dickies Arena was a great venue for the WTA, which held its championships here in protest of a controversy involving one of its players in China. The NCAA has become a regular, sending its gymnastics championships back to Fort Worth, and the PBR arrived. The Texas Rangers made another big splash in the free agent market this offseason, and they hired a bona fide as manager. The Dallas Cowboys continue to print money for being a little above average. However, hope springs eternal for those guys. One of these days.
SPORTS
Jeremiah Donati Athletic Director TCU
Jeremiah Donati was named TCU’s director of intercollegiate athletics in December 2017, moving up from deputy. Donati found himself on the wrong side of football fandom by firing the school’s beloved football coach last year. Despite the backlash, he steered ahead, keeping his eye on the one coach he wanted and ultimately hired: Sonny Dykes. Donati has played a crucial role as a fundraiser through donor-supported facility upgrades, the most recent major upgrade, the $113 million Legends Club & Suites at Amon G. Carter Stadium, completed in 2020. Donati also led in guiding student-athletes through the NIL, collaborating with the business school to form curriculum around the issue. Donati holds a B.A. in politics and government from the University of Puget Sound and a law degree from Whittier Law School.
Dennis Roberson Tournament Manager Colonial Country Club
Dennis Roberson has been manager of the PGA Tour’s annual stop at Colonial Country Club since 1985. Roberson is most visibly connected to the community through the substantial annual charitable gifts the tournament makes. In 2020, the tournament was the PGA Tour’s first stop since COVID-19 broke out, with no fans allowed. Roberson’s responsibilities include coordinating with marketing, operations, charity, special events, media relations, volunteers, budget oversight, and strategic planning. He also helps coordinate with the PGA Tour, television networks, club staff, city, title sponsor, and other partners. Recognized by PGA Tour in 2009 with three "Best Of" awards and runner-up in "Best of Show" category among all PGA Tour events. Roberson holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Sonny Dykes
Head Football Coach
TCU
Sonny Dykes was introduced as TCU’s new head football coach on Nov. 30, 2022, leaving behind one of the Horned Frogs’ most despised rivals for the football pastures of Fort Worth. It has turned out to be a match made in heaven. Dykes led TCU to the pinnacle of college football, advancing to the College Football Playoff Championship game against Georgia in January. Coming to TCU represented a for Dykes, who served as a consultant under former coach Gary Patterson in 2017. He was sought after because of what he did at SMU, turning the Mustangs into a top25 program with three consecutive winning seasons, something that hadn’t happened there since the 1980s. He is the son of Spike Dykes. Dykes, a graduate of Texas Tech, had previous coaching stops at Louisiana Tech and California.
Jason Sands Executive Director Fort Worth Sports Commission
Jason Sands is executive director of the Fort Worth Sports Commission, an arm within Visit Fort Worth designed to secure, manage, and market high-profile, signature sporting events for the city. Major events secured and managed by the Sports Commission, such as the PBR Finals and WTA Finals, have brought unprecedented national and international media exposure to the city and made it a premier sports event destination. Prior to Fort Worth, Sands was the executive director of the Evansville Sports Corporation (2013-17) where he worked with elected officials and corporate/community leaders to secure and manage. He also led the sports tourism charge in Northwest Indiana for the South Shore Sports Commission. He has a bachelor’s in sports communications from Indiana University.
Jerry Jones
Owner and General Manager
Dallas Cowboys
Jerry Jones’ Dallas Cowboys have been No. 1 among Forbes’ most valuable National Football League teams for 13 years. Forbes pegs Jones’ net worth at $11.9 billion, including a $6.5 billion valuation on the Cowboys, which he purchased for $150 million in 1989. The Cowboys have won three Super Bowls under Jones’ ownership. Jones, who made his initial fortune in oil and gas, continues to invest in energy and real estate. Jones’ leadership in marketing, promotion, salary cap, television contracts, and the development of stadiums as revenue centers has helped transform the NFL. Jones and his wife, Gene, direct charitable giving through their Gene and Jerry Jones Foundation. Jones holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas. Jones was co-captain of Arkansas’ 1964 national championship team.
Chris Young General Manager Texas Rangers Baseball Club
Chris Young is in his third season as the Rangers’ executive vice president and general manager. The 43-year-old this past year assumed leadership of the Rangers’ entire baseball operations group. This offseason, he hired three-time World Series-winning manager Bruch Bochy and found a No. 1 starting pitcher in free agency, giving Jacob deGrom a five-year, $185 million contract. Prior to joining the Rangers, Young spent the previous three years working for Major League Baseball and was promoted to senior vice president, baseball operations, in February 2020. Young, a native of Dallas who grew up in Highland Park before going to college at Princeton, was a pitcher who played 13 major-league seasons for five clubs, including the Rangers. He is the ninth general manager in Rangers’ history.
With Ransomeware At An All-Time High,
Over the last year, there have been significant increases in cyber-risks, and NEW mandates for greater cyber protections for ALL businesses, being driven by a growing number of government agencies, insurance companies, and even customers who are demanding their vendors have proper cyber protections in place as a condition of obtaining their business.
This free information, along with the free Cybersecurity Risk Assessment, will undoubtedly reveal areas where you are at risk, and might save your business from serious financial, reputational, and operational losses due to an IT security oversight.
Transportation
Where does transportation go next in a region poised to become the third-largest metro in the U.S.? What do we need, and how do we pay for it? Our transportation leaders are charged with sorting that out.
Richard Andreski President and CEO Trinity Metro
Richard Andreski was appointed CEO of Trinity Metro in 2022. Andreski is a veteran of 23 years in public transportation, most recently bureau chief for public transportation for the Connecticut Department of Transportation since 2015. In this capacity, he oversaw public transportation in Connecticut and had an operating budget of $850 million and a team of 110 planners, engineers, and rail and transit professionals. The Connecticut DOT includes 22 transit providers that serve 80 million people annually. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Lafayette College and a Master of City & Regional Planning degree from Rutgers University. He also completed the Jurisdictional Crisis Incident Management Program from Texas A&M Engineering Extension and is a graduate of the APTA Leadership Program, Class of 2009.
Sean Donohue CEO Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Sean Donohue is CEO of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports and a primary economic engine for North Texas. Donohue is responsible for the management, operation, and strategic planning of the airport, which connects North Texas with nonstop service to more than 200 destinations in five continents. DFW historically produces more than $37 billion in annual economic impact and generates an average 60,000 jobs. Donohue, who graduated Boston College with a Bachelor of Science in marketing, joined DFW in 2013, after 28 years in airlines in various executive roles with Virgin Australia Airlines and United Airlines, where he started as an accounting clerk and rose to overseeing its operations worldwide over a 25-year career there.
Henry Borbolla Chairman of the Board DFW Airport
Henry Borbolla III has blended his morethan-30 years in banking and finance with service to Fort Worth, most recently serving out his term as chair of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport board. Borbolla was initially appointed to the board by Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price in 2015. Borbolla’s career in the financial industry includes service as a CFO in the manufacturing sector in addition to commercial and private banking. Borbolla serves as a member of the boards of the Trinity River Authority as an appointee of Gov. Rick Perry, Baylor All Saints Health Foundation, Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., Historic Fort Worth, Inc., and ACH Child and Family Services. He is also member of the Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate. Borbolla is a graduate of TCU.
Bill Davis
Chairman
Fort Worth & Western Railroad
Fort Worth oilman Bill Davis, chairman of Fort Worth & Western Railroad, is in the middle of Fort Worth’s renewed efforts to extend the TEXRail commuter line to the Medical District from T&P Station on the Near Southside. Davis’ railroad owns the right of way that TEXRail needs to run on for the station, which will be on the west side of Baylor All Saints Medical Center property at Mistletoe Boulevard. Davis chartered the railroad in 1988 to buy trackage from BNSF. He’s grown it to more than 275 miles of track through eight counties, from the original 6.25 miles. Davis’ Fort Worth and Texas roots run deep. He’s the son of Kenneth Davis, one of the founders of the Petroleum Club of Fort Worth. Davis and his wife, Mitzi, are prominent supporters of arts organizations.
Cristal Hernandez-Galvan
Executive Director Tarrant Transit Alliance
Cristal Galvan was appointed executive director of the Tarrant Transit Alliance last July. Her duties include overseeing TTA’s legislative agenda, advocacy, and funding and education efforts. Galvan has worked in both the private and public sectors, including owning a multiservice small business, specializing in business development, strategic consulting, advocacy, and funding proposal development. She is a member of the Fort Worth Mayor’s Hispanic Advisory Council, board member of the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Friendly Fort Worth, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber Advocacy Committee and Ambassador, Hispanic Women’s Network, State Board, Grants Manager, Artes De La Rosa Board of Directors, Friends of the IM Terrell STEM & VPA Academy Foundation, and is an alumni of LeaderPrime Fort Worth. Bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies, Texas Wesleyan University.
Katie Farmer took over for Carl Ice in January 2021, becoming the first woman in nearly 200 years of railroads to head a Class I railway. Farmer, who holds a bachelor’s and MBA from TCU, was executive vice president of operations, a post she’d held since September 2018. She started her railroad career with BNSF in 1992 as a management trainee and held leadership positions within BNSF’s operations throughout her career. Farmer is a TCU trustee and member of the executive committee of the Fort Worth Symphony. Farmer is one of several CEOs of Fort Worth-based Berkshire Hathaway companies. BNSF, the largest U.S. railroad, is based in Fort Worth and employs about 36,000 people, with routes in 28 states and Canada.
Katie Farmer CEO Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Robert Isom CEO American Airlines
Robert Isom took the reins of American Airlines, the Fort Worth-based carrier that employs more than 123,000, as CEO in March 2022, succeeding Doug Parker. Both played integral roles in the integration of US Airways and American. Isom joined American when the airline and US Airways merged in 2005. He was named president in 2016. Before US Airways, Isom held senior executive operations, finance and commercial roles at GMAC, Northwest Airlines, and America West Airlines. He started his career at The Procter & Gamble Company. Isom earned bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and English from the University of Notre Dame, as well as an MBA from University of Michigan. “I want to thank Doug for his partnership over the past two decades,” said Isom at the time of his promotion.
Michael Morris Director of Transportation North Central Texas Council of Governments
Michael Morris plays a lead role in the region defining its transportation priorities and hunting for funding. His office is amid three transportation studies, including one focusing on the western half of the metroplex. Morris is working on extending TEXRail south to Fort Worth’s Medical District and with Arlington on better connectivity inside the city and to DFW Airport. He’s advocating for a westbound high-speed rail line to Fort Worth from Dallas if the proposed privately funded Texas Central Partners line connecting Dallas to Houston goes forward. Morris also is looking into an array of next-generation technologies, like hyperloop, in which vehicles travel at high speeds through sealed tubes. Morris has been director since 1990. He has a master’s in civil engineering from State University of New York at Buffalo.
Ian Kinne Director of Logistics Innovation Hillwood
A Texas native, Ian Kinne serves as director of Logistics Innovation at Hillwood, the developer of AllianceTexas and leader of the Mobility Innovation Zone. Kinne leads the planning and implementation of the surface freight innovation program and affiliated real estate transactions. He works with established global corporate leaders as well as midto-late-stage, logistics-focused companies to encourage technology commercialization within the Mobility Innovation Zone. Ultimately, these efforts drive the future of mobility and supply chain efficiencies for Hillwood’s partners and the region. Kinne attended TCU, where he graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration in finance with a real estate emphasis. Kinne joined Hillwood full time after graduation on the transaction team, with a focus on office and industrial leasing.
Reed Pigman Jr.
CEO Texas Jet
Reed Pigman grew up in aviation, beginning with a flight school started by his dad in 1939. In 1978, Pigman, a pilot who has a Learjet-type rating, founded Texas Jet at Fort Worth’s Meacham Airport, selling fuel, hangar space, and service to pilots and aircraft owners. Texas Jet opened with 35,000-square-foot hangar and has grown to 24 hangars encompassing more than 500,000 square feet, hangaring more than 100 aircraft. “A lot of people really like doing business in Fort Worth,” he said. “As a result, we’re picking up approximately two to three new transient turbine customers per week.” Texas Jet's a perennial award winner, being ranked by pilots the No. 1 or No. 2 independent fixed base operator 12 times since 2007 in the Professional Pilot Magazine PRASE survey.
John Kleinheinz Principal Texas Central Partners
John Kleinheinz, a successful Fort Worth hedge fund manager and a philanthropist, is a principal in Texas Central Partners, which proposes to build a privately funded 240mile, high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston. The group completed an initial $75 million investment round in 2015. Dallas and Houston leaders have long championed the project, saying the bullet train would be an economic stimulant for the entire state. The project, however, appears to be in limbo. “I am thrilled to invest in such an exciting project in Texas,” Kleinheinz has said. “I believe Texas Central will pay dividends for Texas, its citizens, and its environment for decades to come.” Kleinheinz, who graduated from Stanford University, opened Kleinheinz Capital Partners in Fort Worth in 1996.
Alicia Winkelblech Director of Transportation City of Arlington
Alicia Winkelblech is the city of Arlington’s director of Transportation. Areas of responsibility include the municipal airport, the city’s transit services in the form of on-demand rideshare and paratransit service, bicycle and pedestrian planning, thoroughfare development planning, and innovative transportation initiatives such as autonomous vehicles, high-speed solutions, and urban air mobility. A Richland High School graduate, Winkelblech has more than 18 years in transportation and planning. She was formerly the city’s director of Office and Strategic Initiatives, whose portfolios included new, data-driven approaches to strategic city planning and transportation. She has a bachelor’s in environmental design from Texas A&M and a master’s in urban planning from the University of Washington.
Thank
you for coming!
The 400 and Person of the Year Cocktail Reception
A special cocktail reception took place on Thursday, May 18, at the Fort Worth Club in celebration of The 400: Fort Worth’s Most Influential People and Fort Worth Inc.’s 2023 Person of the Year: Sonny Dykes.
A special thank you to our sponsors who made the event possible.
