FORT WORTH, TX – Sundance Square’s Johnny Campbell Takes the Reins
Newly elected officers at Fort Worth Sister Cities International’s 31st Annual Meeting, are Board Chair, Johnny Campbell, Sundance Square; Chair-elect, Veronica Chavez Law, Brackett & Ellis, LLP; Secretary, Lu Pham, Dowell Pham Harrison LLP; and Treasurer, Walter Stucker, UBS Financial Services. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price serves as Honorary Chair.
New board members include: Mitzi Chollampel; Robert Chu, Jr., MD; Jeff Davis; Casey Dyer Oliver; Kelley Eubanks; Stacey Guillén; Jay Horn; Tom Law, Jr.; Richard Lowe; Mike Micallef; Patrick Miller; Tricia Nguyen, MD; Judy Schmeltekopf; Fredrick G. Slabach; and Melissa Thompson.
Kids Who Care was awarded the Eisenhower Award for Organizational Involvement presented by Mark Nurdin, Bank of Texas and last year’s recipient, and Julie Johncox was awarded the prestigious Bob Bolen Award for Outstanding Board Leadership presented by last year’s recipient Ann Rice.
“The annual meeting is a time to review accomplishments and recognize those responsible for our successes,” said Michael Bennett, Bennett Benner Partners, outgoing Chairman of the Board. A few of the year’s accomplishments were highlighted by President and CEO Mae Ferguson who said, “This year we sent delegations to Japan, China, Cuba, and Mexico. We coordinated youth exchanges to seven cities for over 100 students and welcomed 165 students and educators to Fort Worth creating a $14 million economic impact on the city of Fort Worth.”
Other elected officers include: Richard Casarez; Travis DeVault; Staussa Ervin, EdD; Ashley Freer; Greg Irwin; James Meintjes; Pat Miller; and Mary Jo Polidore. City chairs include: Hannah Behrens; Michael Crain; Paul Geisel, PhD; Sheryl Harris, EdD; Greg Jackson; Michael Roemer, PhD; and Anette Soto.
“We have many things to look forward to next year. We’re going to Cuba in February, Jordan in April and Swaziland in September; we’re welcoming new mayors from Germany and Japan; and we are recruiting students currently to go to each of our sister cities on educational exchanges,” said Campbell. “We do this because we’re citizen diplomats. We care what the world thinks about the U.S.A. and we want to know more about the rest of the world all in an effort to create friendly relations which is needed more than ever.”
Mayor Betsy Price and Dinner Chairs Phil and Anne Moroneso lead the crowd of nearly 500 through an evening of international cuisine and entertainment as Sister Cities recognized and honored individuals, businesses, and organizations that have made significant contributions to citizen diplomacy, global understanding, world political stability, and international commerce.
The event was made possible by the Members Circle, a network of individuals, organizations, corporations and community leaders committed to expanding global relationships for peace and prosperity at home and abroad. Funding and in-kind support from the City of Fort Worth (4% of FWSCI’s total budget) plays a key role in its mission, but most work is made possible through public support like that received through the Members Circle.
The dinner was held May 5 to celebrate over 30 years of service to the City of Fort Worth. Entertainment was provided by the Mondo Drummers, Ballet Folklorico de Fort Worth, Steven Li from the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Youlan Ji from The Cliburn, Panther City Five band, and many community leaders and members of sister Cities performing various international songs and dances.
Ms. Forrest is a teacher at Fort Worth Country Day and has been involved with Sister Cities for many years. She has led the Jr. International Leadership Academy for the past ten years and hosted students from Nagaoka, Japan. She also served as the delegation leader to Japan for the prestigious Harashin scholars program in 2015.
Ms. Oliynyk has served in several leadership positions on the youth board and traveled to several sister cities including Guiyang, China and Bandung, Indonesia. She was also chosen as the recipient of the Sister Cities International Youth Volunteer of the Year award which was presented in Minneapolis, MN at the national conference in July 2015.
Three prestigious youth scholarships were also presented including:
Henry Chao and Zoe Nichols-Payne were recognized as this year’s Rotary International Scholars. These two ninth grade students will develop and organize a service project to be conducted at a school in Guiyang, China in June 2016.
