The Latest News for You from the Northeast Leadership Forum

February 2022 Newsletter

Greetings from your NLF Chair, Shelby Bruhn

Good Tuesday afternoon!

Today – March 1 – is voting day! If you did not participate in early voting, today is the day that we ask you as a community leader to vote for your government officials. Please remember the challenge from one of our February 8 breakfast speakers: Bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote!

Additionally, today is National "That’s a Dadgum Good Day" – a time when we celebrate good food, good company, good times and everything that’s right all around us.

We have survived TWO frigid blasts already in this month of February, and we are eagerly looking forward to the arrival of spring weather on March 20 – just three weeks away.

Thank you to so many of you who have written or called about my change of employers. I am looking forward to my office moving from downtown Fort Worth to Southlake, where I will oversee several locations in Northeast Tarrant County – the crown jewel of Tarrant County.

As you recall, my focus for this year is “Influence,” and there was no better way to launch this than with our guests from the North Texas Commission – Patrick Brophey and Christopher Lee, who shared insights on the impact of North Texas on a regional, national and international scale. We thank Valliance Bank for sponsoring the breakfast.

I announced at the breakfast that our board member Karen Parsinen’s husband, Peter, had passed away the previous day. Karen and her family remain in our thoughts and prayers.

Our chair-elect, Eli Mercer, is working to finalize our next breakfast speaker for Tuesday, June 14, which will be sponsored by O. Trevino Construction.

We are a month away from our Annual Award Luncheon on Friday, April 1 that will feature internationally acclaimed economist, Dr. Ray Perryman. Now is the time for each of us to step up and buy tables to bring our colleagues and clients to hear from one of the most brilliant minds on the entire planet – mixed in with a generous dose of self-deprecating humor.

This is one of the many ways that we grow and show our influence!

I appreciate our event committee, in particular the chairman, Randy Clinton, who researched venues and negotiated a very favorable arrangement with the Marriott Dallas/Fort Worth in Westlake (formerly known as Marriott Solana). Please remember that some of these proceeds will directly benefit college, university, and trade school students through our Northeast Leadership Forum Foundation scholarship program.

Let's commit to being valuable resources for local businesses and organizations during the balance of this pandemic. You can count on me to support anything that grows the influence of NLF and our members. I will always be receptive to your ideas, so please contact me at 817-235-1702 or at [email protected].

-Shelby Bruhn

North Texas Commission Speakers Provide Powerful Insights

We were honored to host two senior executives from the North Texas Commission for our quarterly breakfast on Tuesday, February 8, at the Hurst Conference Center.

Patrick Brophey – a TCU graduate – is the Manager of Stakeholder Relations and Legislative Planning. Christopher Lee – a graduate of nearby University of North Texas in Denton – is the Director of State Relations.

Among the impressive insights:

The North Texas Commission was formed 50 years ago to bring together the Fort Worth and Dallas area communities during the development of DFW International Airport
Upon the completion of DFW International Airport, the focus shifted to create a collaborative voice for the region, capitalizing on the economic engine that the airport would become
North Texas population grows by one person every 3.3 minutes
If North Texas was a state, it would be ranked 13^th in GDP
If North Texas was a nation, it would be 23rd in GDP
Priorities of the Commission in the upcoming legislative session will include:
Economic recovery
HB3 Sustainability (Texas Education Agency: more money for Texas classrooms, teacher compensation while reducing recapture and cutting local property taxes)
Redistricting
Local Control
Higher Education Funding
Infrastructure
Chapter 313 reauthorization
Business climate issues
Broadband connectivity

CLICK HERE to view the full video of the 2022 NTC Presentation.

World Renowned Economist, Dr. Ray Perryman, to Keynote Award Luncheon

Dr. Ray Perryman, who Texas Monthly calls “the most quoted man in Texas,” will keynote the NLF Annual Award Banquet on Friday, April 1, at the Marriott in Westlake.

Among the services he provides to clients are:

Impact assessment – developing economic impact evaluation models
Expert testimony – helping analyze and communicate complex information in common-sense terms
Forecasting – Serving on the cutting edge of econometrics and other advanced statistical methods
Public speaking – before major corporate leadership groups, economic development organizations, governmental entities, chambers of commerce and trade shows nationwide and beyond

We’re very excited that Dr. Perryman has chosen our Northeast Leadership Forum Award Luncheon as one of his limited speaking engagements.

He will provide three deliverables:

Perspectives that will astound us about the complexities of our world and how North Texas fits into it
Common-sense understanding of these complicated issues, such as what the Russian-Ukraine war means to us locally
Humor that will give us the laughter that we need in a world filled with conflict and mystery

You will want to buy tables for this event because you will walk out a smarter person than when you walked into the room… plus you’ll enjoy a wonderful meal and make new friends!

We will have two special elements for our luncheon. We will recognize:

Each of our seven area school districts because EECU Credit Union is buying four (4) seats (Superintendent, Board president, Primary Teacher of the Year, and Secondary Teacher of the Year) for each district
Our Distinguished Leadership Award recipient – the applications have closed, and we have some wonderful candidates for this year’s honor

Sponsorship opportunities include:

VIP Tables - $1,100

Two tables of five (10 total guests) with premier seating

*all seats face the stage

Reserved tables - $600

One table of eight (8 total guests)

Individual ticket with general seating - $60

Current sponsors include:

EECU Credit Union

Ciera Bank

Fletcher Consulting Public Relations

Hillwood

Linebarger Attorneys at Law

Republic Services

Texas Health HEB

Make plans now to attend and confirm your table reservations today by reaching out to John Fletcher at 817-205-2334 or [email protected].

Grow Your INFLUENCE: Keep NLF Dynamic and Growing

As you interact with business and community leaders who impress you, please invite them to our next event – the Annual Award Luncheon on Friday,

April 1. 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 award luncheon and 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.

NLF Foundation Scholarship Applications Due April 8

Scholarship applications from graduating seniors in Northeast Tarrant County public high schools are due by the end of school on Friday, April 8.

Once again this year, the Northeast Leadership Forum Foundation is working in partnership with the Nancy and Alan Hamm Foundation to award scholarships to deserving students from our 22 high schools.

Students are eligible if they will attend a two-year college, four-year university or a trade school.

The NLF Foundation members are in the process of meeting with area superintendents and reaching out to high school counselors so we can award our annual scholarships.

Nominations must be turned in to high school counselors by the end of the school day on Friday, April 8. We will announce and introduce our recipients in May. Please click below to download the application and apply today!

2022 NLF Scholarship Application

New NLF Tech Scholarships

One of the new initiatives of our 2021 Chairman Howard Shotwell was the creation of vocational education scholarships. We are continuing his focus on vocational scholarships for graduating high school students to study career training at Tarrant County College and other institutions.

Tarrant County College has once again agreed to match the scholarship amount of each of the students as long as they conduct their studies at a TCC campus or online with TCC.

This workforce development program will encourage studies and help introduce students to promising careers.

The NLF Foundation Scholarship Committee has agreed to solicit and review the applicants for this workforce development initiative, just as it does our high school graduating senior scholarship program..