Leadership North Texas Announces Lineup for Class 5

The North Texas Commission announced the members of its fifth program year of Leadership North Texas. Oncor is presenting sponsor for the program.

Since the program launched in 2008, Leadership North Texas has graduated 114 leaders including a State Representative, numerous mayors and city council members, a county commissioner, business and non-profit executives and higher education leaders. This year’s class will be the largest to date with 33 participants.

“We add a new person every four minutes to the North Texas region,” said Mabrie Jackson, president and CEO of the North Texas Commission. “With these new North Texans come opportunity, but challenges will follow when it comes to infrastructure and resources. A bonded, educated group working together as a region will be critical to planning for our future.”

Leadership North Texas meets one day a month, September through May and covers topics such as regionalism, the North Texas economy, education and workforce, the cost of incarceration on a community and transportation and sustainability.

The 2013-2014 Leadership North Texas Class will include the following:

• Bruce Arfsten, Realtor, RE/MAX and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, Town of Addison

• Michele Bobadilla, Senior Associate VP for Outreach Services and Community Engagement/Assistant Provost for Hispanic Student Success, The University of Texas at Arlington

• Beth Bowman, Chief Development Officer, Greater-Irving Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce

• Dana Burghdoff, Deputy Planning & Development Director, City of Fort Worth

• Richard Casarez, Vice President Customer Operations, Oncor

• Vanessa Copeland, CFO, O. Trevino Construction, LLC

• Armin Cruz, Vice President, Parking Business Unit, DFW International Airport

• Corey Davison, Vice President, Government Relations, Tenet Healthcare Corporation

• Dr. Laura DeFina, Chief Scientific Officer, The Cooper Institute

• Scott Donaldson, Assistant Coordinator, Tarrant County College District

• Lynda Gearheart, Manager, Public Affairs, Chesapeake Energy

• Eric Hogue, Mayor, City of Wylie

• Mark Israelson, Director of Policy and Government Relations, City of Plano

• Gianni LaBarba, Managing Partner, Venator Group

• Kim Ludwig, Founder, The Giving Tree

• Opal Mauldin-Robertson, City Manager, City of Lancaster

• Wes Mays, Councilmember, City of Coppell and Division Engineering Manager, Peterbilt Motors Company

• Tracy Merzi, Publisher, Dallas Business Journal

• Winjie Miao, President, Texas Health Alliance, Texas Health Resources

• Cindy Milrany, CFO/CAO, Freese and Nichols

• Carl Pankratz, Councilmember, City of Rowlett

• David Parker, Vice President, External Affairs, AT&T

• Mary Jo Polidore, Vice President, Public Affairs, DFW International Airport

• Asusena Resendiz, President and CEO, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

• Kristin Reznicek, Public & Community Relations, Crandall ISD

• Larry Robertson, President, Texas Health Center for Diagnostics & Surgery

• Dr. Liz Seymour, Physician, Medical Associates of Denton

• Owais Siddiqui, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Murphy, and Vice President, Project Execution Services, Markit

• TD Smyers, President and CEO, American Red Cross – North Texas

• Charlene Stark, Executive Director, Hope for the Brave

• Porter Taylor, VP of Operations, North Texas, Acadian Ambulance Service

• Michael Thomas, Executive Director, My Possibilities

• Jake Yarbrough, Account Director, Global Prairie

Leadership North Texas awards up to three Dan S. Petty Memorial Scholarships each year to non-profit leaders. The scholarship fund, sponsored by Verizon, awarded tuition assistance to Kristin Reznicek of Crandall ISD, Charlene Stark of Hope for the Brave and Michael Thomas of My Possibilities. TD Smyers of American Red Cross has been awarded the North Texas LEAD scholarship.

Established in 1971, the North Texas Commission is a regional non-profit consortium of businesses, cities, counties, chambers of commerce, economic development entities and higher education institutions in the North Texas Region. The North Texas Commission improves the economic vitality, infrastructure and lifestyle of North Texas by marketing the region, promoting collaboration and advocating on critical issues.