Past Breakfast Speakers and Topics

Breakfast Meetings were at Park City Club unless otherwise noted.

2012

November
Reform, Restructure and Reorganize: The New Three Rs of Dallas' Education System
Speakers: Linus Wright, former Dallas ISD Superintendent; and Patti Clapp, former Vice-President of Talent, Workforce and Education for the Dallas Regional Chamber

October
Healthcare and the Southwestern Medical District: Addressing the need for change
Speakers: Peter Roberts, Executive Vice President - Population Health and Network Development with Children's Medical Center, and Walter Jones, AIA, Senior Vice President of Facilities Planning and Development with Parkland Hospital

September
Dallas' Economic Development Strategies – from Grow South to Overall Growth
Speakers: Ryan S. Evans, Assistant City Manager for the City of Dallas

August
Taking stock before the 83rd Texas Legislature meets
Speakers: Vic Suhm, Executive Director of the Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition

June
What Complete Streets will mean for Dallas
Speakers: Theresa O'Donnell, Director of Sustainable Development and Construction for the City of Dallas, and Janet Tharp, Urban and Regional Planner for Kimley-Horn and Associates

April
Designing Dallas' Skyline
Speakers: Brent Brown, Director of the CityDesign Studio at Dallas City Hall
Ignacio Bunster-Ossa, Principal with Wallace Roberts & Todd
Richard Keating, Principal with Jacobs

March
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE But ... ? Regional growth and a sustainable water supply
Speakers: Jim Oliver, Tarrant Regional Water District
Jim Parks, North Texas Municipal Water District
Jody Puckett, Dallas Water Utilities
Tom Taylor, Upper Trinity Regional Water District

February
What the Future Holds: The Next Destination for Transit in North Texas
Speaker: Gary Thomas

January
The State of the City
Speaker: Mary Suhm

2011

November 17th
Vitruvian Park in Addison: A phoenix rising in a first-tier suburban community
Speakers: Tom Lamberth, Vice President of Development with UDR, Inc., and Carmen Moran, Director of Development Services with the Town of Addison

September 15th
Drought or Drowning: How Our Region's Water Defines Character
Speakers: Jerry Dittman, City Manager for the City of Mesquite; Richard Gertson, Director of Planning for the City of Mesquite; and Jack Tidwell, Manager of Environment and Development Programs for the North Central Texas Council of Governments

August 18th
AMAZE Your Friends with Food Factoids
Speakers: Lou K. Brewer, R.N., MPH, Director, Tarrant County Health Department, Bruce Bagelman, organizer, White Rock Local Market, and Allan Jones, Associate Director and Professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Center

June 16th
TX Legislature Front Lines Reporting: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Speakers: Rider Scott, Executive Director of the Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition and Vic Suhm, Executive Director of the Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition

May 19th
Building a Better Neighborhood ... Imagine it Block by Block!
Speakers: Andrew Howard, Transportation Planner and Jason Roberts, Community Organizer

April 21st
Come + Listen + Decide = Vote in May: Dallas Mayor Forum
Speakers: David Kunkle, Ron Natinsky, Mike Rawlings, Edward Okpa

March 17th
The Changing State of the North Texas Region
Speakers: Mike Eastland, Executive Director of North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG); and Karen Walz, FAICP, Project Manager for Vision North Texas

February 17th
An Introduction to West Dallas – Urban Structure & Guidelines
Speaker: Brent Brown, AIA, Director of the City of Dallas' CityDesign Studio

January 20th
Cotton Belt Transit Corridor: Identifying Revenue Sources Using Planning and Urbanism
Speaker: Scott Polikov, AICP, CNU

2010

November 18th
The Texas Legislature Session: What to Expect and What to Hope for
Speaker: Bennet Sandlin, Executive Director of the Texas Municipal League

September 16th
Texas Water: Where we are and Where we are going
Speaker: State Senator Robert "Bob" Deull

August 19th
Passenger Rail in North Texas: Tracking our Mobility Progress
Speaker: Kevin Fedlt

June 17th
Why will the Dallas Area's Economic Recovery Likely Begin in Southern Dallas County? Speakers: Hammond Perot, Assistant Director City of Dallas,
Norma Nichols, Executive Director Economic Development, City of DeSoto,
Earl Jones, Economic Development Director City of Duncanville,
John Hubbard, Hutchins Economic Development Corp.,
Ed Brady, Lancaster Economic Development Corp.,
Allison Thompson, Director Cedar Hill Economic Development Corp.

May 20th
Park Lane: A Study in Sustainable Design
Speakers: Barry Knight, Partner Winstead,
Tary Arterburn, Principal Mesa Design Group,
Jeff Smith, Principal Gromatsky, Dupree & Associates and
Moderator Larry Good, President of Good Fulton & Farrell Architects

April 22nd
Are Government Regulations Advancing or Retarding Sustainable Development? What is it and Can it be Responsible While Being Profitable?
Speakers: Bill Gietema and Theresa O'Donnell, Director Sustainable Development and Construction, City of Dallas and Moderator: Betsey del Monte, Principal and Director Sustainable Development for the Beck Group

March 18th
The Trinity River: A Progress Report
Speaker: Jill Jordan, PE, Assistant City Manager, City of Dallas

February 18th
Regional Mobility: A Report on Roads and Transportation in North Texas
Speaker: Mike Eastland, Executive Director, North Central Texas Council of Governments

January 21st
Texas Transportation: Can we Improve Mobility and Will we Pay for it?
Speaker: Senator John Carona, Chair Texas Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security

2009

September 17th
Where is this Crazy Economy Going?
Speaker: Dr. Bernard Bud Weinstein, Associate Director fo the Maguire Energy Institute at SMU's Cox School of Business

August 20th
A City Without a Newspaper
Speaker: Wick Allison, Publisher D Magazine

June 18th
The Sustainable City: Making Dallas Even More Sustainable
Speakers: Zaida Basora, Director of Building Inspection, City of Dallas and Kevin Lefebvre, Sustainability Coordinator, City of Dallas

May 14th
Getting to YES! In Economic Development: A Focus on Southern Dallas Innovations
Speaker: Karl Zavikovsky, Director, Office of Economic Development, City of Dallas

April 29th
Review and Report on the Region
Speaker: Jim Oberwetter, President of the Dallas Regional Chamber and former ambassador to Saudi Arabia

March 26th (Addison Conference Center)
Budgeting for our Communities: A Review of a Process in Tough Times
Speakers: Mary Suhm, City Manager, City of Dallas
Bill Keffler, City Manager, City of Richardson
Kent Cagle, City Manager, City of Duncanville

February 19th
Keeping North Texas Moving: A Look at the Region's Mobility Issues
Speakers: Linda Koop, Dallas City Council member and Jungus Jordan, Fort Worth City Council member, & Chair of Rail North Texas

January 22nd
The Texas Legislative Agenda: A Look at What's to Come this Session
Texas Legislative Preview
Speakers: Representatives from the North Texas Commission and Texas Municipal League

2008

November 21st (Fairmont Hotel)
A Tale of Two Cities in Changing Times
Speakers: Mayor Tom Leppert, City of Dallas and Mayor Bill White, City of Houston

October 23rd
A New Parkland Hospital - The Future of Health Care in Dallas County
Parkland Bond Program: "If we don't build it now, it'll just cost more later."
Speaker: Dr. Ron Anderson, CEO Parkland Healthcare and Hospitals

August 21st
City Sustainability: A look at the Greening of Dallas
Speakers: Zaida Basora, AIA, and staff members of the City's administration and architectural services in the Public Works and Transportation Departments

June 19th
Regional Transportation Discussion
Speakers: Walt Humann, Michael Morris, Phil Ritter, Mike Simpson, and Robert Pope as moderator

May 15th
YOUr Space: A Proclamation of Reclamation
Speaker: Brent Brown, AIA, Instructor, UT-Arlington School of Architecture and his students

April 17th
The DISD Bond Election: How will the DISD grow and maintain its facilities?
Speaker: Craig Reynolds, AIA, Chair of the DISD Facilities Task Force

March 27th (Top O' The Cliff Club at the Oak Cliff Bank Tower)
Who Can Afford to be Green?
Speakers: Lorenzo Littles with the Enterprise Foundation, Jim Sargent with Anderson Sargent Custom Builders, and Catherine Horsey as moderator with Sustainable Places, Sustainable Organizations