I am delighted to see somewhat of a return to normalcy. The Hurst Conference Center – one of our event venues – will reopen to public meetings. Venue General Manager Chris Connolly reports that the venue will undergo deep cleaning protocols for a week starting July 1 and then start hosting events. 

Despite the falling numbers of cases and deaths, Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja cautions us that this new Delta strain of the virus is very strong and that we should continue to exercise precautions.

We are grateful to the Texas Star Conference Center for hosting our May 11 breakfast that featured Ian MacLean, CEO of Highland Landscaping in Southlake and Chairman of the Small Business Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

We are seeing many of our members and their families taking vacations for the first time in well over a year. And one of our past chairmen – Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley – may have more time on his hands when his term expires, as he recently announced that he will not seek re-election in 2022.

Our NLF schedule continues with our August 10 breakfast that will be held at the Texas Star Conference Center, featuring Dr. Kristen Bennett, Executive Vice President of Advancement at Tarrant County College.

We appreciate our colleague and NLF member Conrad Heede, who had served as Chairman of the Tarrant County College Board of Trustees, introducing us to Kristen. Not only has she submitted her application for membership to our organization, but she will address the strong need for vocational education for Tarrant County, Texas and nationwide.

Meanwhile, our Heart of North Texas Conference team led by Eli Mercer, RaDonna Hessel and Craig Hulse continues to work diligently with their committee to discuss the upcoming agenda and our location.

Most of our roundtable groups are back to meeting now that Covid-19 appears to be subsiding.

Let's commit to being valuable resources during the balance of this pandemic. I appreciate what each one of you does in Northeast Tarrant County and with NLF. Your commitment and passion for growing leaders in our region helps make us successful. If you have any ideas or suggestions or if I can be of help to you, please contact me at ghshotwell@gmail.com or (817) 247-3240.

Our Tarrant County Commissioners Court has a heavy load of priorities moving forward. The Court announced Tuesday, June 22, that its members are in preliminary planning stages for how to distribute an approximate $400 million through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Following the launch of the NLF workforce development initiative with our new NLF Vocational Skills Scholarship Program, Tarrant County College’s Dr. Kristen Bennett, Executive Vice President of Advancement, will share her insights on how TCC is customizing job and career training for a variety of industries.

NLF Chairman Shotwell met with Dr. Bennett and then-TCC Board of Trustees Chairman Conrad Heede in the spring to discuss how our organization could play a role in helping fund workforce development training on the Northeast Campus.

Prepare to be amazed at the technology and career opportunities available to first-time job seekers as well as students (of all ages!) wanting to expand their skills and capabilities.

We extend our appreciation to the City of Grapevine for sponsoring our August breakfast meeting. Please join us at Texas Star Conference Center at 7:15 a.m.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Eli Mercer and his fellow committee chairs RaDonna Hessel and Craig Hulse, along with their committee, are hard at work preparing the curriculum and speakers list for Heart of North Texas Conference.

The committee has sent a survey to our members and the results of those returned surveys will help determine the theme and topics of our conference. The committee plans to meet next Tuesday to finalize the location and discuss the direction of the event. Click here for the survey.

The Heart of North Texas will take place on Friday, November 5, with a continental breakfast at 8:00 a.m. and concluding with a hot lunch and keynote that will end at 1:00 p.m.

Eli reports that many of our major sponsorships are already confirmed and there are still two positions remaining. We thank Texas Health Resources: Texas Health HEB, Texas Health Southlake, Texas Health Foundation and Tarrant County College Northeast for their sponsorship renewals, and we look forward to announcing more sponsors next month.

Please contact Eli at elidmercer@global.t-bird.edu for sponsorship information.

One of the defining aspects of Northeast Leadership Forum is the way we develop leaders and create a forum for leaders to share best practices.

Our most recent updates on the roundtables, as of Tuesday, June 8:

Keep NLF Dynamic and Growing

Your NLF board voted to accept a new member at our June 8 board meeting – Trasa Cobern, Senior Director of Development at 6 Stones. Since then, we have received another application.

When you interact with business and community leaders who impress you, please invite them to our next meeting, which will be our breakfast meeting on Tuesday, August 10 at the Texas Star Conference Center.

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 growth of Northeast Tarrant County. 

Marcia Etie moves all over our community, establishing and growing relationships. She served as Outreach Representative for U.S. Congresswoman Kay Granger from 2002 to 2012, and then began a longstanding commitment to volunteerism. She served multiple terms on the board of the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains (she is former Vice Chair) and the United Way of Tarrant County.

In addition, Marcia serves as Blue & Gold Officer for Admissions for the U.S. Naval Academy and United Way of Tarrant County. She also worked for then Tarrant County Precinct 2 Commissioner Andy Nguyen to help establish his outreach program.

For the past two years, Marcia has overseen special projects for Mosaic Strategy Partners, a public affairs/government relations firm in Fort Worth. She and her husband, Tom, live in Arlington.

James Wright has leveraged his 30-year banking career into a pair of enterprises. Four years ago, he co-founded JC3 Ventures in Keller which focus on marketing/branding and strategic capital and debt structures for start-ups, acquisitions in the services industry. A year later, he kept JC3 Ventures going and added a second full-time position as Vice President/Business Owner of EVP Information Services, a telecommunications enterprise.

James is a graduate of Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, where he received his BBA in Finance. He serves on the Board of the HEB Chamber of Commerce, is a graduate of Leadership Northeast Tarrant, and is a past Board member of the Rotary Club of HEB. James and his wife Cindy live in Keller with a son and daughter as well as their two dogs.

Northeast Leadership Forum is providing a 50% leadership tuition scholarship for one person in each of the chambers of commerce leadership programs in our area. In addition, NLF is offering a 50% tuition scholarship for one member who is accepted in Leadership North Texas. Contact your local chamber of commerce about their individual 50% off leadership tuition scholarship, and contact Mary Frazior (mary@heb.org) regarding the Leadership North Texas scholarship.

All chambers of commerce listed below participate with leadership programs. Please contact them directly for more information. 

Leadership North Texas is in the final stages of accepting applications for its graduate level class. Please click below for information and how to apply.

All our area chambers continue to be valuable resources for our businesses. These chambers can grow your business and expand your influence.

Our chambers of commerce are the voice of business for our communities, and we are indeed fortunate to have such committed and caring leaders as their presidents/executive directors and officers. 

817-481-8200