The Latest News for You from the Northeast Leadership Forum

December 2023 Newsletter

Greetings from your NLF Chair, Dr. Eli D. Mercer

🎄 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 🎄

We wish you and your families a joyous holiday season filled with love and laughter. This is a special time of year to lean into family, reflect, and count our many blessings. Thank you for your leadership in Northeast Tarrant County and your support of NLF in 2023.

Thank You Service Organizations and Volunteers

We celebrate all of you who lead service organizations or volunteer in Northeast Tarrant County to serve those most in need during this holiday season. We pray for you and your teams as you serve. We also pray for provision, warmth, and connection for all people in need during the holiday season. Thank you for your dedication and service. We are grateful for this community of leaders who are dedicated to improving quality of life for all people and creating a culture of community service.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all.

Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve and Welcome New Officers

It has been a distinct honor to serve as Chairman of the Board of NLF over the past year. 2023 has been a banner year for NLF with advances in membership, financial growth, and our digital footprint. Membership continues to grow and expand to represent our growing community. Thanks to our sponsors and partners, the Annual Awards Luncheon and the Heart of North Texas Conference yielded thousands of dollars in scholarships. We have implemented new ways to engage and onboard leaders into the NLF and updated our ability to take electronic payments. The new NLF website is now underway and will be rolled out in spring of 2024. Thank you to our 2023 officers, board members, membership, and community partners for making all of this possible. We are delighted to welcome RaDonna Hessel as incoming Board Chair and an outstanding slate of new officers. It is exciting to see such a dynamic group of leaders to build upon this momentum into 2024. Thank you all for your leadership and service.

We Look Forward to Seeing You in 2024

The NLF provides a forum for collaboration, dialogue, and engagement to build stronger communities through relationships. Click here to download the membership application. We look forward to seeing all of our members and community partners as well as new faces in 2024.

With tremendous gratitude,

Dr. Eli D. Mercer, Chairman of the Board of NLF

eli.mercer@kingdomecosystems.com

❆ Incoming Chairman: RaDonna Hessel❆

RaDonna Hessel may be the most connected person you will ever meet. When NLF wanted to invite Alliance, Texas CEO Ross Perot, Jr., to keynote the Heart of North Texas two years ago, RaDonna called him on his mobile phone.

She further demonstrated her resourcefulness this year as chair-elect by creating the “Trains, Planes, and Automobiles” theme that led to such breakfast speakers as Michael Morris (Director of Transportation for North Central Texas Council of Government), Richard Andreski (CEO of Trinity Metro), and Sean Donohue (CEO of DFW International Airport).

RaDonna has played a leadership role as tri-chair of our Heart of North Texas Conference for the past three years which have all resulted in sellouts due to the dynamic speakers the team recruited. The team included Kathryn Rotter as chair and Craig Hulse as fellow co-chair.

She began her career in the chamber of commerce sector 32 years ago as office manager of the Farmers Branch Chamber of Commerce. She served as President of the Cedar Hill Chamber of Commerce (1997-2000) and as President of the Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce (2000-2008).

RaDonna became CEO of the Grapevine Chamber 15 years ago and has led that chamber to five-star certification, the highest level of performance any chamber can attain. Less than 2% of our nation’s chambers of commerce have attained this level of excellence, and the Grapevine Chamber has maintained the five-star certification since 2015.

She is more than active in the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), where she has served on the Board of Directors since 2015. She has served on the Board of Directors of Northeast Leadership Forum for the past 11 years.

RaDonna and her husband Marvin are the parents of two daughters, two sons-in-law, and five grandchildren.

We look forward to seeing RaDonna’s creativity and energy continue to positively impact NLF.

❆ Board welcomes new officers, chooses committee chairs ❆

RaDonna Hessel

Chairman

Craig Hulse

Chair Elect

Mary Martin Frazior

Secretary

Randy McCauley

Treasurer

Katherine Rotter

VP of Events

❆ Incoming Chairman, RaDonna Hessel,

announced the following committee chairs ❆

Committee chairs will be

Programs

Craig Hulse

Breakfast & Event Sponsors

John Fletcher

Mayors’ Roundtable

Armin Mizani

Heart of North Texas

Kathryn Rotter

Craig Hulse

RaDonna Hessel

Chamber Presidents’ Roundtable

Jack Bradshaw

Economic Development Directors’ Roundtable

Garin Giacomarro

Superintendents’ Roundtable

Dr. Joe Harrington

Awards Luncheon

Chelsea Rose

Membership

Jim Griffin

❆ Nominations Due for NLF Distinguished Leadership Award ❆

Nominations are open for the annual Distinguished Leadership Award, the NLF’s highest honor. The award recognizes that person who has given many years of service to the Northeast Tarrant County area.

The selection criteria are as follows:

Service in civic or educational roles, non-profit organizations, chambers of commerce, elected office or other areas that allowed the individual to make general contributions to the quality of life and well-being of the residents of the Northeast Tarrant County area.
Preferably, positive involvement in multiple areas of our community with innovative activities and leadership qualities.
Various volunteer responsibilities and longevity in one or more organizations.

We require two nominators for each candidate. Each nomination may also include up to three letters of support. For a list of previous honorees as well as the nomination information and form, please click here.

Nominations are due by Monday, March 18.

We were pleased to recognize Howard Shotwell, a community volunteer and member of the City of Hurst Planning & Zoning Commission, with the 2022 Distinguished Leadership Award.

❆ Year-End Giving ❆

Consider Northeast Leadership Forum Foundation

As you consider year-end giving, please consider the NLF Foundation, where we continue to award scholarships.

For the past four years we have partnered with the Nancy & Alan Hamm Foundation to award $44,000 in scholarships to graduating high school students planning to attend a four-year university, a community college, or a vocational school. The Hamm Foundation also funded an additional $11,000 in vocational scholarships this past year.

And once again, our friend Ish Arebalos, Director of Public Affairs ArcaContinental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, has agreed to provide a new Dell laptop computer for each scholarship recipient.

The Northeast Leadership Forum Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that is certified by the IRS. For details about a potential gift, please reach out to Shelby Bruhn at 817-564-2300.

Also, please remember that any scholarship money that specifies Tarrant County College will be matched by the Tarrant County College Foundation, so your contribution provides twice as much benefit if you give through NLF Foundation!

❆ NLF Membership Grows by 10 in December to 30 new for 2023 ❆

Membership Drives the Influence of NLF

Our membership has grown by 30 new members over during 2023, so please continue to invite colleagues and influential members of our community to join NLF.

As you interact with business and community leaders who impress you, please invite them to the next breakfast on Tuesday, February 6, starting at 8:00 a.m. at the Hurst Conference Center.

These influencers are making a difference in our area, so let's invite them to participate in NLF. Membership is the lifeblood of our organization, and we are providing a valuable forum for new members to have close access to so many of the decision-makers who shape the course of events in Northeast Tarrant County.

For any prospective NLF members you know, CLICK HERE to download the membership application. We want both established and emerging leaders to continue to join our organization to further the dynamic economic growth of Northeast Tarrant County.

We ask you to warmly welcome visitors and new members to our breakfast meetings. Growing the power of networks is one of the main benefits of NLF.

Please welcome these new members who were approved by our NLF Board of Directors on Thursday, November 30: