MOMENTUM
WINTER 2023-2024
A PUBLICATION OF
A CONVERSATION WITH BARBARA BASS LT ALUMNUS CORE CLASS ONE Barbara Bass, former Mayor of Tyler and member of LT Core Class One, took time to visit with me about how Leadership Tyler got its start and how far the organization has come over the last 37+ years. “It all started when a group of women from the City of Tyler Women’s Commission, led by Carol Lott, went to the Chamber of Commerce Board to pitch the idea of a community leadership program, which Carol had brought back to Tyler after she participated in the statewide Leadership Women – Texas program,” Barbara explained. The Chamber leadership recognized the need to train citizens to become better community leaders. The proposal was also endorsed by Jim Hardy, executive director of the Chamber, and Tom Jordan, assistant director, who had been hearing about community leadership programs at their Chambers of Commerce conferences for several years.
to the business community and to service club leaders, who were encouraged to attend or send someone from their organization to a reception where the new leadership program would be announced. Barbara said, “I felt lucky to have been invited to the reception and knew immediately that I would be applying to be in the program. The announcement was well received and created a lot of excitement in the community”. Leadership Tyler was started under the umbrella of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce in 1986. Twenty-five participants were chosen from more than 100 applications submitted and the first class embarked on their leadership journey.
The program continued under the chamber’s leadership for 17 years. Then leaders recognized that it was time for a program “refresh”. The board of directors voted to take off a year as they built the new program platform. The organization hired its first full-time executive director, Cindy Klein, and Core Program Class 18 inaugurated the new way of conducting leadership training in Tyler and Smith County. The next milestone for Leadership Tyler resulted from an observation Barbara made when the Tyler Economic Development Council leaders were working on their 2010 strategic plan. Barbara Bass - continued on page 2.
The concept was approved by the Board and a committee, led by Bob Bandy and Carol Lott, was appointed to develop the initial program, which they did in a very short time. The Chamber got the word out leadershiptyler.org | 1