The Early Years: 1981-1991

In 1981, the leadership of the Houston Chamber of Commerce (now the Greater Houston Partnership) and its Civic Affairs Committee (no longer exists) began to express concerns about the lack of cooperative and coordinated leadership in Houston. While there was emerging leadership from various constituencies and ethnic communities, there was very little if any dialogue between the groups and their respective leadership. Thus began the concept of Leadership Houston - to bring together the leaders of different communities to improve dialogue, understanding and cooperation in order - to improve the quality of life for all. An additional key objective was to expose these leaders to community issues they may be unaware of and inspire them to expand their involvement in the community.

A steering committee of Chamber volunteers and one long-time chamber executive was established in 1981. Over the next twelve months they conceived and designed the first Leadership Houston training and education program.

These were our Founders

Jack S. Blanton, Sr., Spurlock Oil Company, served as the Executive Liaison between the Steering Committee and the Houston Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Dr. June Holly was selected to chair the Program Committee (now the Undergraduate Committee) composed of five members of the Steering Committee and two outside members. They identified some sixty community issues the program should address and these were condensed into major categories. The topics studied by the first undergraduate class were Community Growth & Development, Crime, Education, Energy, Government, Health, Media and Transportation. Interestingly, most of these same topics still remain the focus of Leadership Houston's undergraduate program. Dr. Holly continued to serve as the Program Committee Chair in the second year as well.

Forty Houstonians representing different constituencies and ethnicities were selected for that first class, emerging leaders like Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Television News Anchor Bob Boudreaux and Partnership Executive Vice President Charlie Savino, then at the Rice Center. There was a real commitment by the Founders to select a class of Houstonians who reflected the demographics of the greater Houston-area and this tradition continues today. The first class participated in the ten-month program beginning with an opening retreat, eight monthly programs and culminating in a closing retreat and graduation dinner. This basic format was adopted from the National Association of Community Leadership (At that time it was known as the National Association of Community Leadership Organizations and used the acronym NACLO - they are now called the Community Leadership Association and use the acronym CLA), an umbrella organization for leadership programs across the country, and this reduced the trials and errors for Leadership Houston's first program.

The third year, Bob Core, a member of that first class (82-83), was selected to be Chairman of the Program Committee and recruited twenty members of the first graduating class to join the Program Committee. Thus began the tradition of recent graduates helping to fine-tune the undergraduate experience for subsequent classes. The fifth and sixth years, Mary Martha Stinnet (Class II) was selected to be Chairperson of the Program Committee. Graduates have continued to run the undergraduate program. An alumni organization was formed and Gregg Waddill (Class I) served as Chairman for the first two years.

The selection process for undergraduates was also modeled after the national organization. It consisted of an evaluation of an application with points assigned for such things as a candidate's leadership role in one's company/organization, community involvement, chamber membership, re-applicant and essays. The majority of the points however came from an interview conducted by members of Leadership Houston. Generally with few exceptions, those who interviewed well were selected. The Chairperson then made additional appointments from the applicant pool with the intent of balancing the class's diversity. A chronic problem quickly immerged, losing leader applicants when they are not selected. This continues to be a challenge for the organization every year.

The graduates began to organize themselves after the second class and formed an Alumni Association. Its focus was on "what to do after graduation" and supporting the undergraduate experience while the Steering Committee continued its administration of the overall program. An issue began almost immediately between the Alumni Board's leadership and the Chamber's Board of Directors over the issue of advocacy. Concerns later grew to include the Chamber's approval of the issues to be studied during the undergraduate year and even over the speakers who were chosen to present information to the class. Regardless, the Alumni Board stayed a part of the Leadership Houston concept but the "control" issues remained.

Gregg Waddill (Class I) and Jeff Beauchamp (Class II) served as the first two Chairmen of the Alumni Board in 1983-1985 and 1985-1986 respectively.

Wayne Bryant, a Founder, continued as Chairman of the Steering Committee for four years (1981-1985) until Steve Knowlton, a Chamber Board member and managing partner of Price Waterhouse, was made Chairman for 1985-1986. There was another tradition established in the early years to include non-graduates as Outside Directors (now called Advisory Directors) on the Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee and the Alumni Board merged into the Leadership Houston Association in 1986-1987. At this time Rich Parris, Class III, was the leader of the Alumni organization, succeeding Jeff Beauchamp, and Steve Knowlton was the leader of the Steering Committee. An alumni and organizational newsletter was begun around this time and it was called "The Leader." It began as a quarterly publication, was later made bi-monthly and evolved into a monthly newsletter during the 1997-1998 program year.

Beginning with Class VI in 1986, Norma Barr was engaged to conduct the Myers Briggs assessment and to analyze the personality traits and profiles of our undergraduate class members. Since then, Ms. Barr has participated in the opening retreats sharing her analyses with members of each class to help them better understand themselves and their classmates. A summary of her findings about Leadership Houston's identification, selection, education and training of Houston's leaders can be found at the end of the history.

The Leadership Houston Association evolved into the Policy Council in 1987. Ron Ferrell (Class II) of Enron was selected as Chairman for 1987-1988 and the first By-Laws for the organization were developed. During that year, the sixth undergraduate class of Leadership Houston began a new tradition of conducting a class project by helping the children's shelter program at Casa de Esperanza. Also, the National Association of Community Leadership Distinguished Alumni Award was created and Robert Core (Class I) was selected as Leadership Houston's first recipient.

Several members of Leadership Houston became involved in the National Association of Community Leadership (NACL). June Holly (Founder) and Mary Gibbs (Class III) were elected to that organization's Board of Directors and served with distinction for a number of years. Dr. Holly was elected and served as NACL's Board Vice President in 1983-1984 and later Mary Gibbs, Class III, was also to serve as Vice President of this organization.

Leadership Houston remained a program of (sponsored by) the Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber continued to provide administrative support. There were three committees formed under the Policy Council to run the organization and its programs: Administration, Graduate and Undergraduate. The Policy Council and Committee structure continued over the next few years and graduates were selected to chair the organization. Leadership Houston hosted the Texas Leadership Conference in 1988 and bid on the 1990 National Leadership Conference.

Mary Gibbs (Class III), then of First City National Bank, was Chairperson in 1988-1989. During her year of leadership, there was significant work done planning and organizing for the 1990 National Leadership Conference. Also, Undergraduate Class VII continued the new tradition of planning and completing a community service project. The entire class participated in a new mentoring program for "at-risk" students at Jeff Davis High School. This was the beginning of the Leadership 2000 mentoring program in Houston and Spring Branch ISD's and owes its origin to Roland Rodriquez (ClassVII). Another significant step during Mary's term of office was the hiring of Alice Paul (now King) who served as the organization's first staff member, although at this time was officially a staff member of the Partnership.

Bob Boudreaux (Class I) of KTRK-TV, Channel 13 was Chairman in 1989-1990. Leadership Houston hosted the 1990 National Leadership Conference that was headquartered at the Galleria. Leadership Houston organized the first Post Election Analysis. It held at Brennan's Restaurant and received significant media coverage. Leadership Houston also began a concentrated recruitment effort into the minority communities and Hector Garcia (Class V) chaired the first "outreach" committee. Class VIII chose to help Frederick Douglas Elementary in Houston ISD as its community service project. The library there was woefully inadequate so the class raised money, bought books or had them donated at collection sites around Houston and brought the library up to TEA standards.

One other significant event occurred during Boudreaux's year of leadership: Patrice Johnson (Class IV), Chief of Staff for Congressman Mickey Leland, died tragically with the Congressman in a plane crash while on a famine relief mission in Africa. In her honor, the Patrice Johnson Distinguished Alumnus Award was created. Waynel Sexton (Class VIII) was selected by her classmates as the first recipient thus beginning another Leadership Houston tradition.

In 1990-1991, Chris Beach of Peterson Consulting, previously the Treasurer but a non-graduate, became the Chairman. There was some concern by the graduate membership of a non-graduate being appointed, especially after four consecutive years of leadership by graduates. This added to the growing tension between many graduates, the Policy Council and the Greater Houston Partnership which was also a factor of several other issues including fund raising and governance issues. Class IX's community service project was to plan and build a community garden at M. C. Williams Middle School in the Acres Homes area. Obie O'Brien was selected by his peers as the recipient of the Patrice Johnson Award.

The graduates were determined to exercise more "control" over the organization and an effort was begun to overhaul the By-Laws. Judge Mary Bacon, an Outside Director, helped with the revisions and the draft of the new By-Laws which were later presented to the membership. After several meetings and "spirited" debates, Richard Jennings assumed a facilitator's role and led the graduates to the ultimate adoption of the new Leadership Houston By-Laws. Several of the major changes were that the President (Chairperson) could no longer appoint the majority of members on the Policy Council, eight new At-Large positions were created on the Policy Council and elected by the general membership and the President had to be a graduate of Leadership Houston. The "graduate" requirement remained as the rule until it was revised during Richard Jennings' tenure as President. The membership voted to also allow a transfer member to run for and be elected by the Board of Directors as President. The introduction of the membership voting for At-Large Directors and the reduction of Board appointments by the incoming President led to much greater participation by members of the organization. There was an immediate and marked increase in the number of members running for Board and Operating Committee positions and this trend continues today.

The Leadership In Action Awards began in 1991 as a way to honor the "unsung heroes" (individuals or organizations) who made Houston a better place to live. Its purpose was fourfold: membership recruitment, re-involvement of inactive LH members, fundraising and a cross-sell for other LH programs. Hank Moore (Class VII) conceived the LIA Awards and chaired it for the first two years.