Northeast Leadership Forum Newsletter
JANUARY 2020
Greetings from your NLF Chair, Nick Sanders

A few words of encouragement for 2020

     It's my privilege to serve as the Chair of the Northeast Leadership Forum for this first year of the new decade. Having served as Treasurer of NLF for several years, I've seen close-up the amount of time that our leaders have dedicated to our organization's success.
     Please allow me to express my appreciation to last year's chair, Vanessa Copeland, for the energy and determination to grow our membership. She did an outstanding job in leading a year that featured a highly successful pair of major events - our awards banquet and Heart of North Texas. Very well done, Vanessa!
     My points of focus this year will be on growing our membership and enhancing our communications to expand the presence of NLF within our community. To achieve this, we will:
  • Increase our presence on social media, particularly Facebook
  • Encourage our members to post on social media from each of our meetings
  • Highlight a long-standing member briefly at each breakfast meeting and in our monthly newsletter
  • Increase our presence online with more information for our members and prospects
     Just as it was with Vanessa,   membership growth   remains a major focus for NLF. As you serve on organization boards and committees, consider which of your fellow board members and volunteers would benefit from membership in Northeast Leadership Forum, and who will, in turn, bring value through their participation. To continue our dynamic influence, we must be relentless in recruiting new members and keeping our present members fully engaged.
     I'm excited that our February 11 breakfast speaker will be Matthew J. DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas FBI office speaking about "Understanding Today's Threats and Building Partnerships for Security." I heard him speak recently and you will be amazed at all that the FBI is dealing with in the area of cybersecurity. Please invite your company's IT director and any friends or associates who need to hear the latest updates on this subject.
     NLF is a powerful organization because of how we impact our community. Our leadership roles in various city, county, education and nonprofit organizations, combined with our scholarship program, roundtables, our award luncheon and the Heart of North Texas Conference, confirm that we make a positive difference. 
     Let's look forward to the year ahead with 20/20 vision. I appreciate what each 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 nick@winocular.com or (214-213-7739).
- Nick

When someone asks you, "What does NLF do?", this response  invites the person to want to learn more:

"We help develop new leaders and provide valuable connections  to help them succeed. 
We also strive to publicly recognize  the truly outstanding leaders in our community."

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New Officers to Lead NLF into 2020

Following Vanessa Copeland's successful year that included impressive new membership growth, your NLF board of directors has elected the following officers for 2020:
Chairman:
Nick Sanders
Mayor of Trophy Club
Chair-Elect:
Howard Shotwell
R&D Associates, Inc.
Secretary:
Shelby Bruhn
Villiance Bank
Treasurer:
Shannon Watt
Frost Bank
Past Chair: 
Vanessa Copeland
O. Trevino Construction, LLC

 
Committee Chairs for 2020 include:
Annual Meeting:  Randy Clinton 
Heart of North Texas Business Conference:  Eli Mercer 
Membership:  Shannon Watt 
Programs:  Howard Shotwell 
Sponsorships:  John Fletcher 
 
Roundtables: 
Chambers of Commerce:  RaDonna Hessel 
Economic Development Directors:  Craig Hulse 
Mayors:  Linda Martin 
Nonprofits:  Randy Clinton 
Superintendents:  Dr. Robin Ryan 
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February 11 Breakfast to Feature FBI Special
Agent in Charge

      You've no doubt read about the tens of millions of attempts that foreign hackers are making in an effort to infiltrate our IT infrastructure here in the United States. As our February breakfast speaker,
Matthew J. DeSarno , will share, these perpetrators are not necessarily targeting your company specifically - they just want to steal data that includes ID and banking information from anybody and everybody.
    Agent DeSarno is the Special Agent in Charge for the Dallas FBI office. He deals daily with how critical cybersecurity has become in this world and how easy it is for hackers to break into your confidential information.
    He has dealt with gangs, counterterrorism, white collar, public corruption and civil rights activity during his earlier positions in San Diego and Chicago.
    You will definitely want to invite friends and colleagues to attend. Please remember to RSVP for yourself and guests so we can plan for the right amount of food. The RSVP email address is chamber@heb.org .
    Let's look forward to welcoming Agent Matthew DeSarno to the Northeast Tarrant County area for our February 11 breakfast. We'll see you at 7:30 a.m. at the Hurst Conference Center.
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Former NFL pro, Olympian to Keynote March 27  Award Luncheon

     We are two months away from our annual award luncheon on Friday, March 27. Our keynote speaker is Johnny Quinn, who is widely regarded in two categories:
  • He played in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers following a three-time all-conference career as a wide receiver at the University of North Texas.
  • After a torn ACL injury ended his pro football career, Johnny trained and became a member of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. His speed and rapid acceleration captured the attention of U.S. Olympic coaches.

Johnny is a high-profile, in-demand speaker who travels throughout the United States:

  • TIME Magazine and all major news networks have featured him
  • His TEDx Talk - "Understanding the Olympic Mindset" - is a very popular view on YouTube.
     We have already experienced very positive sponsor response to this high-profile speaker. The meal service will begin at 11:30 a.m. sharp, and the program will end at 1:15. Our annual award luncheon will take place at the Hurst Conference Center.
  Seating options are:
  • Sponsorship table of 10 with premier seating: $1,000
  • Reserved table for 8: $500
  • Individual ticket with general seating: $55
     Please contact the HEB Chamber today at (817) 283-1521 or chamber@heb.org to order your tables or individual tickets. If you are interested in a sponsorship, please contact John Fletcher at 817-205-2334.
 
     We are grateful for the diligence of our Annual Awards Luncheon committee: Randy Clinton, RaDonna Hessel, Randy McCauley and Shelby Bruhn.
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Nominations Due for NLF Distinguished
Leadership Award

      Please devote some time to think about nominating the most deserving recipient for the Distinguished Leadership Award, our 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 . We were pleased to recognize Tom Lombard, former North Richland Hill City Councilman, with the 2018 Distinguished Leadership Award. 
      All nominations are due by  5:00 p.m. on  Wednesday, February 12, 2020. 
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Keep NLF Dynamic and Growing

     As you interact with business and community leaders who impress you, please invite them to our next meeting, which will be our next breakfast on Tuesday, February 11 . 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 joining our organization to further the dynamic growth of Northeast Tarrant County. 
   We 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 Shannon Watt, our membership chairman, if you have a prospect: Shannon.watt@frostbank.com or 817-733-8485.
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New Member Profiles

Holly Raeder
      Holly Raeder serves as Area Manager for Oncor Electric Delivery. A second-generation employee of Oncor, she embraced the culture of a 24/7 utility company at an early age and continues to embrace it after 12 years. As an Area Manager, she is the strategic point of contact to external audiences including municipalities and associated groups and individuals, legislators, and the media within Tarrant and Denton County.
    Holly is a current board member of the Senior Citizen Services of Greater Tarrant County and an advisory board member of FitWorth. Her main focus continues to be to establish and maintain effective external and internal relationships with key stakeholders in order to achieve Company objectives while maintaining a high level of customer service.
     Holly is a graduate from Texas Tech University with a master's and bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing Major. Holly and her husband, Mike, reside in Fort Worth, and enjoy their seven-month-old and three-year-old children, Owen and Helen.
Taylor Anderson
      Taylor has practiced law in the litigation section with a focus on real estate and title insurance at Cantey & Hanger law firm's Dallas office for the past year. He is deeply involved in the Birdville Independent School District, where he served a term as Place 7 School Board Trustee.
    He graduated from Texas Tech University in 2008 and received his law degree from Texas Wesleyan University in 2011.
    Taylor enjoys coaching his son's baseball team at Colleyville Baseball Association and volunteering in Birdville ISD and various other organizations. Taylor enjoys spending his time with his wife, Nicole, a fifth-grade teacher in Birdville ISD, and his two children, Luke and Emma.
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Heart of North Texas Confirms Date: Friday, Nov. 6

      After creating a must-attend event with a sold-out crowd and enticing agenda this past November, we have already confirmed that our 2020 Heart of North Texas will return to the Grand Hall at the NRH Centre in North Richland Hills. Please save the date on your calendar for 8:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
    Committee chairman Eli Mercer from Tarrant County College is assembling his team to create another major success. Speaking of success, last year's event generated enough revenue for us to contribute over $7,000 to the Northeast Leadership Forum Foundation to fund further scholarships this spring.
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Hamm Foundation to Match 2020
Scholarships Again

       Last year, the Nancy and Alan Hamm Foundation contributed $22,000 to the NLF scholarship program through the NLF Education Foundation. At $1,000 each, this gift led to us matching our projected $22,000 for a total of $44,000 in scholarships.

As a result, 44 students each received a $1,000 scholarship. With 22 public high schools in Northeast Tarrant County, this produces an average of two students per high school campus.

Because the Hamm Foundation has agreed to repeat their grant, we will once again award $44,000 in scholarships to graduating high school seniors from Northeast Tarrant County. 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. Click here for the application form, which is near the bottom of the page. Nominations must be turned in to high school counselors by the end of the school day on Friday, April 3. We will announce and introduce our recipients at our May 12 breakfast meeting.
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Mark Your Calendar

The NLF Annual Award Luncheon featuring former Olympian Johnny Quinn will be Friday, March 27, at the Hurst Conference Center. To register, email   chamber@heb.org .
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact John Fletcher at 817-205-2334.

For 2020, all breakfast meetings will be at the Hurst Conference Center:
(Please arrive by 7:15 to mix and mingle!)
  • Tuesday, February 11, at 7:30 a.m. 
  • Tuesday, May 12, at 7:30 a.m.
  • Tuesday, August 11, at 7:30 a.m.
  • Tuesday, October 13, at 7:30 a.m.
Annual events:
  • Annual Award Luncheon: Friday, March 27, 2020, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at Hurst Conference Center
  • Heart of North Texas: Friday, November 6, 2020, 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at NRH Centre
 Fletcher Consulting  | 500 Grapevine Highway, #362, Hurst, TX 76054   john@thefletch.org