April 2024 News & Notes

Distinguished Leadership Award Announcement

One of the unexpected pleasures I received is the honor to be a part of the selection process for the NLF Distinguished Leadership Award. I sat in a room with past recipients, all people who have gone above and beyond for our region to make it what it is today, and reviewed nominations of other tremendously worthwhile community and business leaders.

And today, I had the distinct honor of calling our recipient to share the news that she was selected and now I get to share with each of you that on Wednesday, April 24th at the Hurst Conference Center we will all be there to celebrate Euless Mayor Linda Martin as the recipient of the 2023 Distinguished Leadership Award!

We hope that you also will plan to attend, sponsor a table and support both Mayor Martin and Awards Luncheon Chair Chelsea Rose! It will be another honor to celebrate our recipient, and our region!

Chelsea and her committee are teaming up with the focus that in your family life, in your professional life, and then, your community work, the true wins come from working as a team. This year for the annual awards luncheon, we want to celebrate that teamwork!

Our guest speak this year will be LARRY LAVINE, the FOUNDER of Chili’s! He will share what he did to not only envision success, but to create a culture of teamwork and success. When Larry Lavine founded Chili’s in 1975, the restaurant’s singular location was situated inside a converted post office on Dallas’ Greenville Avenue. Today, Chili’s is one of the most well-known names in the casual-dining industry, with more than 1,600 locations across the world.

The Awards Luncheon committee would like to ask that you consider inviting your administrative teams to join us for great food and a celebration of a job well done in the northeast Tarrant County region.

Place the date on your team’s calendar for April 24, 2024, 11:00 – 1:00 at the Hurst Conference Center. You should have received a flyer for sponsorship opportunities, and we hope that you will consider stepping in at some level.

VIP Table Sponsors

Table Sponsors

Birdville ISD

Beyond the Known International

City of Bedford

City of Colleyville

City of Euless

City of Grapevine

City of Hurst

City of Keller

City of North Richland Hills

City of Southlake

Frost

Grapevine Chamber of Commerce

HEB Chamber of Commerce

Howard Shotwell

Medical City Alliance

ONCOR

Texas Health HEB

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE EVENT PAGE

Make Northeast Leadership Forum a Priority!

Now’s The Time – Mark Your Calendar – Save the Dates

All Events and Meetings to be held at the Hurst Conference Center.

Breakfast meetings open at 7:45 a.m. and the program will begin at 8 a.m..

DATE/TIME

Wednesday, April 24

11:30 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Tuesday, May 7

Tuesday, August 13

Tuesday, October 8

Friday, November 8

8:00a – 1:00p

MEETING

NLF Awards Luncheon - Distinguished Leadership Award

NLF Breakfast - NLF Scholarship Award Ceremony, Brian Dameris

NLF Breakfast - Robert Allen, CEO Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership

NLF Breakfast - NE Tarrant Economic Development Panel

HEART OF NORTH TEXAS CONFERENCE

SPONSOR

Sign Up Today!

Great Plains Bank

6 Stones Mission Network

Atmos Energy

Watch for details in May

Welcome New Members

At the next NLF event, please reach out to our newest members of Northeast Leadership Forum.

NAME

BUSINESS

SPONSORED BY

Giovanni Capriglione

Alison Ortowski

Charles McCaslin

Camille Koerner

State Representative

Southlake City Manager

Office of State Representative Capriglione

Aflac Insurance

RaDonna Hessel

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RaDonna Hessel

Craig Hulse

We ask each of you to consider inviting someone you know who would benefit from the networking and information provided by the NLF to the next meeting you attend, and ask them to become a part of this longstanding regional group of business and community leaders. CLICK HERE for the NLF membership application.

May 7 NLF Breakfast – Add it to your Calendar Today!

We are excited to continue the tradition (well, we did it last year and we are doing it again, so a 2nd year tradition) of hosting the recipients of the NLF Foundation Scholarship winners, giving out $44,000 – thanks to those of you who support the Annual Awards Luncheon and the Heart of North Texas, along with the Hamm Foundation!

This year we will also have Brian Dameris from the Dallas Mavericks Broadcast fame speaking to the students about setting their sight on their goal – and going for it using his path as a great example of “if you have a will, there is a way”! His journey can also be inspirational to every business leader in the room.

This is a “feel good” breakfast that reminds us of the phenomenal opportunity in our region with these future leaders for our business and our communities. You will not want to miss it so put May 7 at 7:45 a.m. on your calendar and make plans to attend this NLF Breakfast at the Hurst Conference Center. And thank you to our sponsor – Great Plains Bank!

One of the areas of work for the NLF is that we have roundtable meetings of the Mayors, Superintendents, Chamber and Economic Development Directors. Recently, we had the Chamber Presidents/CEO’s from Hurst Euless Bedford, Southlake, Keller, Grapevine, Metroport, Colleyville and Northeast Tarrant come together to talk about the exciting projects they have going in our business communities. Their next meeting will be in May. Thanks to all these executives as well as their chamber directors and businesses for all they do to build our region!!!

I hope that you have placed the NLF Awards Luncheon on your calendar and that you plan to attend. We look forward to celebrating the 2023 Distinguished Leaders Award recipient Euless Mayor Linda Martin, as well as recognizing the Hamm Foundation and Ish Arebelos from ARCA Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages for all they have done as a part of the NLF Foundation’s student scholarships! 

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to myself or any of the NLF Board members. We look forward to working with you and for you in 2024!

Be Safe & Be Kind (because life's too short to be otherwise!),

RaDonna

RaDonna Hessel, 2024 Chairman of the Board