Today is “Administrative Professionals Day”! Please remember to be thoughtful toward your support team.

When I established my goal for 2022 as growing influence, I had no idea that we would have such a dynamic 31^st Annual Award Luncheon that would ignite a spark and spread so much influence throughout the Marriott in Westlake

Everybody is still talking about our April Fool’s Day event. From Dr. Ray Perryman’s dizzying statistics and insights into our scholarships with the Nancy & Alan Hamm Foundation, the day was simply amazing.

We were honored that Jean Ann Hamm joined us for the ceremonial check presentation. With this year’s gift, the Hamm Foundation has provided $88,000 in matching funds for our scholarship program!

Our scholarship recipients will benefit from financial assistance in attaining their education at traditional four-year universities, two-year community colleges, and vocational education through our Vocational Skills Scholarships.

And can you believe this?… We auctioned off $3,500 in economist books as five of our members each paid $700 for one of Ray Perryman’s first books!

Then our friend Ish Arebalos from Coca-Cola Southwest announced he would give a new Dell laptop computer to every single one of our 30 scholarship recipients!

The spirit of generosity and collaboration was obvious in the room. The only thing missing was the fact that our past chairman, Howard Shotwell, was unable to join us; however, his video presentation was warm and appreciative.

Plus, let’s not forget that this was the AWARD luncheon, where we honored our friend Tito Rodriguez for his long-term service to our community in so many ways. And let’s face it – we are all still in a daze that Tito’s mentor who introduced him, Oscar Trevino, really DID stay below his designated time limit. A career first!

I’m grateful that Jerry Cantu from EECU Credit Union underwrote the tickets for 28 educators (four from our each of seven school districts) to attend.

And thanks to each of you in joining me to sing ♫ Happy Birthday ♫ to one of our favorite members, Faye Beaulieu, just as she prepared to introduce our distinguished educators.

If you want to share or re-watch Dr. Perryman’s presentation, please click on this link.

We already have had four new membership applicants from the guests who attended the award luncheon, so it’s clear that our momentum continues, as does our influence and the influence of our members.

Let’s look forward to our next breakfast on Tuesday, June 14, when Wes Lyons, a core member from Eagle Venture Fund, will share how multiple faith-based equity funds are providing financing for various types of community economic development. I will always be receptive to your ideas, so please contact me at 817-564-2300 or at [email protected].

-Shelby Bruhn

We want to express our sincere appreciation to Howard Shotwell for his 2021 year of service as our chairman. He was not able to attend the luncheon due to a medical treatment and he is now doing very well.

Under Howard’s leadership, NLF had our most financially successful Heart of North Texas last November as well as a very profitable 2021 Annual Award Banquet at the Gaylord Texan.

Howard created the Workforce Scholarship Program – also called Skills Training -and personally raised close to $20,000 in funds beyond the traditional scholarship program. He also negotiated a partnership with Tarrant County College (TCC) that provides matching funds for students who choose to attend TCC on NLF scholarships.

Always volunteering for NLF, Howard was also among the NLF Foundation scholarship evaluators on April 14.

Thank you, Howard, for your continued service, leadership, and enthusiasm for Northeast Leadership Forum.

Anybody wanting insights on every current topic of the day received a virtual master’s degree in economics because Dr. Ray Perryman addressed every major issue facing Americans during his keynote speech on April 1 at the Marriott Westlake Hotel - all 315 of us!

Sprinkled throughout his presentation were humorous comments that reinforced how April Fool’s Day was the ideal date for his appearance. He lived up to his description as “a world-class scholar” and “the state’s pre-eminent economist” with his quick wit and astute observations.

He kept his promise of talking at 400 words per minute, with gusts up to 700 words per minute! If you missed the event, or you could not take notes fast enough, please click here to watch the entire video of the banquet.

Among Dr. Perryman’s insights:

We are grateful to the Marriott Westlake and Town of Westlake for being our luncheon sponsors, to EECU Credit Union for sponsoring our education guests, and to each of our VIP Table Sponsors, whose logos are listed below.

We also thank our banquet event committee members: Chairman Randy Clinton and members RaDonna Hessel, Mary Frazior, Randy McCauley, and John Fletcher.

Following Dr. Perryman’s presentation, Shelby Bruhn conducted an impromptu auction with an autographed NLF football from last year’s keynote speaker, Drew Pearson. Former NLF chairman Nick Sanders generously paid $1,000 for the ball and then Westlake Mayor Laura Wheat added an additional $1,000 contribution and said that she didn’t need a ball but wanted to contribute to the scholarship fund!

Finally, Coca-Cola Director of Public Affairs and Communications, Ish Arebalos, announced a gift of a new Dell laptop to each of our 30 scholarship recipients…a value of more than $20,000!

From Perryman to the Hamm Foundation ($22,000) to Drew Pearson football ($2,000) to economist books ($3,500) to Coca-Cola and Dell computers ($20,000), April 1 was a day to remember. No foolin’!

Thank you to our sponsors!

The NLF Foundation’s scholarship selection committee met on Thursday, April 14, to review and select the recipients of $2,000 scholarships. In addition, the committee was screening applications for the Workforce (Skills) Scholarships.

We thank Eli Mercer, Craig Hulse, and RaDonna Hessel for tri-chairing our extremely financially successful Heart of North Texas last November, which once again funded our scholarship program.

And we are indeed grateful to Jean Ann Hamm and the Nancy & Alan Hamm Foundation for their generous $22,000 matching funds for our scholarship program.

We appreciate Olman Arevalo, a young man attending the Culinary Institute of America partially on our NLF Workforce Scholarship, for producing a short video about his educational experience that we played at the banquet. His message helped us put a face on the program and remind us that we are making a powerful difference in the lives of young people.

We continue to grow the influence of our organization and of our existing members by adding new members who make a difference in our community. We have received eight new applications, including four from guests who attended the award banquet.

As you interact with business and community leaders who impress you, please invite them to sit at your table for our next NLF breakfast on Tuesday morning, June 14 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.

For any prospective NLF members you may 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. 

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

Please reach out to Craig Hulse, our membership chairman, if you have a prospect: [email protected] or 972-849-3858.

Please welcome two of our newest members of NLF.

Michael D. Moore (he uses the “D” to keep people from thinking he’s the movie producer) recently gave a $2,500 Workforce scholarship to the NLF Foundation because of his positive experience earning his education through Tarrant County College, and he knows that the TCC Foundation will match our scholarship funds for TCC students to total $5,000.

After working in IT for several years as a top-level network manager, he formed his own company – M3 Networks – in 2008 in Southlake and has expanded every year. For the past year, he’s made numerous appearances with chambers of commerce, civic clubs, and business organizations with FBI Cybersecurity Team leader Brett Leatherman. You’ve seen Michael quoted in the Fort Worth Business Press and The Fort Worth Report, and interviewed on KXAS/NBC 5, KTVT/CBS 11, WBAP radio, and KRLD radio as a Subject Matter Expert on cybersecurity.

He recently released his first book, “Cyber Storm” – now available on Amazon. He collaborated with other leading cyber experts nationwide on how to help you protect your business from a number of cyber threats, scams, and business-crippling disasters.

Michael and his wife, Stephanie, live in Trophy Club with their two children. Michael is on the board of Mission Central and the Fort Worth Christian Prayer Breakfast. It’s easy to recruit team members because Michael gives 10% of the company's net profit to his team members and another 10% to local nonprofits.

Garin Giacomarro felt the call to leave NE Tarrant County and then returned as quickly as he could. After graduating from Carroll High School, he received his Master of Public Administration at the University of North Texas, where he also interned for the Town of Trophy Club and then served as Economic Development Coordinator for the City of Murphy.

Garin then moved to the Nashville, Tennessee area and worked in Economic Development for the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce and then the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. He returned back home to Northeast Tarrant County to join the City of Grapevine, where he has focused on business retention and economic development.

Garin and his wife Jessica bought their first home in north Grapevine this past year. He’s a big Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks fan, and he enjoys biking the trails around Lake Grapevine. He serves on the Board of the Grapevine Young Professionals Organization.

One of the emerging trends in community development is the role played by companies such as the Eagle Venture Fund, which focuses on early-stage companies that are transforming their communities through “impact investing.”

This concept of impact investing emphasizes the need that companies have to articulate a social conscience and play a strong role in the fabric and culture of their community as part of its mission.

Our speaker will be Wes Lyons, a decorated combat veteran with the U.S. Navy and a general partner of multiple faith-based private equity funds.

Location: Hurst Conference Center

Date: Friday, November 4

Time: 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Location: TBD

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact John Fletcher at (817) 205-2334.