Leadership Richardson Alumni Association

Stay informed and stay connected!

June 2021

LR Alum in the News

Two LR graduates were elected to the Richardson City Council, Jennifer Justice – Class 32 and Arefin Shamshul - Class 25.

Steve Mitchell, class 9, is terming out after an amazing 9 terms on the city council.

After years and years of dedicated service to the Richardson ISD community, Jean Bono (class 32) and Kim Caston (class 15) both retired from RISD Board of Trustees.

Congratulations and thank you to these leaders for their service to the Richardson Community!

Annual Meeting

Seriously...Save the Date!

Mark your calendars because you don’t want to miss this year’s Annual Meeting! It will be in-person! We will be saying thank you to those who are rolling off our board, introducing our new board members, welcoming Class 36 to the alumni ranks, and announcing our Alumnus of the Year! You don’t want to miss it. REGISTER HERE

Friday, June 25

6:00-8:00 p.m.

500 Lockwood Drive, Richardson (Not Lockwood Distillery)

Presenting your new LRAA Board slate for 2021-2022!

LRAA Board Position	2021-2022 Board Member
President	Maureen Doherty
President-Elect	Amy Taylor
Vice President - Membership	Lindsay Turman
Vice President - Richardson Youth Leadership (RYL)	David Robinson
Secretary	Sheri Harden
Treasurer	David Ebenezer
Vice President - Website Services	Coby Pewitt
Director - Leadership Development	G. Scott Waddell
Director - Fundraising	Lisa Kupfer
Director At-Large - Community Outreach/Fundraising/Social Events	Veena Puppala
Director - Social Events	Rachel Boelter
Director - Marketing and Public Relations	Chris Goodson
Director - Richardson Youth Leadership (RYL)	Blake Lewis
Director At-Large - Richardson Youth Leadership (RYL)	Audrey Pruski
Director - Class Representative	Virginia Hummel
Past President	Marta Frey
Past President Club	Michelle Miller
Executive Director - Leadership Richardson	Kim Quirk
Chairman of the LR Advisory Board (LRAB)	Jan Arrant

Community Engagement

The Senior Center

The Senior Center is excited to be back together again in the newly renovated facility!

The Center offers a host of activities including art classes, mental aerobics, needle work, crochet, and line and square dance classes. They provide exercise classes for all levels of fitness in the new fitness room that includes new full body strength machines, treadmills, ellipticals and bikes.

Patrons can participate in educational programs as well as games like bridge, Bunco, scrabble, and Mah Jongg. There's a book club, 3 pool tables, blood pressure checks and benefits counseling. The center even provides van transportation for Richardson residents and will travel anywhere in the Richardson city limits! The new building houses a craft store called the Robins Nest that sells handmade craft items made by our older adult patrons.

They have volunteer opportunities to offer help in their kitchen. The center is open with modified hours of operation Monday thru Friday 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. Please feel free to stop in and support this amazing Community resource. The Senior Center would be happy to give you a tour!

Richardson Youth Leadership Moving Ahead

LR Alumni - YOU are more important than ever to RYL

In a year in which most school activities beyond core academics were put on pause due to the pandemic, the Richardson Youth Leadership (RYL) team has been working extensively behind the scenes.

After discussions with our colleagues at RISD, the decision was made to open the 2021-2022 application process to students at the late August start of the 2021-2022 school year.

Leadership Richardson alumni will play an important role in helping restart RYL. We need alumni assistance in helping spread the word of the 2021-2022 restart to parents of high school students who have just completed their sophomore year at any of the four RISD high schools and to any students residing in the City of Richardson who attend a Plano ISD or private high school. We also will invite interested students who had been accepted into the 2020-2021 cohort to indicate interest in participating in the 2021-2022 program as high school seniors.

While the application deadline is still being set, it will occur in early September, followed by selection of the 2021-2022 cohort and several other activities that will lead up to our first activity in late September or early October. More information on RYL is available at https://lralumni.com/Richardson-Youth-Leadership or from 2021-2022 RYL vice president David Robinson.

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DANIEL BURDETTE

Where has your leadership journey taken you, since your service year as the President of LRAA?

Since serving as President of LRAA, I have continued to serve on the Parks and Recreation Commission for the City of Richardson, as well as the Executive Steering Committee for the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival. I was asked to step into the Chair-elect position on the Executive Steering Committee, but unfortunately, that has been put on hold as the 2020 and 2021 festivals have been cancelled due to the pandemic.

I joined the Board of Directors for Richardson Adult Literacy Center (RALC) in 2020, which I was first introduced to during LR, when my XXVIII classmate Kind Katie Patterson was the Executive Director. Katie has since stepped down from that position to pursue other career opportunities, but the work of RALC continues to serve our neighbors who want to learn English to better their lives and opportunities. As with many organizations, a lot of pivoting has happened to be able to serve those students virtually for the time being, and I’m proud to be part of that effort.

I also decided to make a run this year, albeit unsuccessful, for Richardson City Council. After being enlightened and inspired by my experience in LR, and continued inspiration and encouragement during my time on the LRAA Board, I decided it was time to kick my civic involvement into a new gear, and threw my hat into the ring to serve on city council. It was a competitive race, with two other well-qualified candidates (also LR grads), and unfortunately I came up short in the votes

What are you doing today and how do you think LRAA has influenced you?

My desire to run for city council was 100% influenced by my days in LR and LRAA. LRAA specifically provided an avenue to meet and develop relationships with other driven and passionate leaders in our city, through boards and commissions, non-profit organizations, neighborhood associations, an amazing city staff, and of course many of our elected officials. Since the run for council didn’t work out, I accepted the position of Vice President of the RALC Board, so I look forward to playing an increased role on that Board, which is also full of LR Alumni!

Thinking back to your year in the LR class and your service on the LRAA Board of Directors, what do you recall as your favorite memory?

Some of my favorite memories were from days at Stoney Ranch. Getting to know my classmates, and learning to work together was a blast, and I of course wanted to live up to my “leadership name” of Daring Daniel, so I was the first to scale the pole for the leap of faith! We also learned to support and encourage each other as we journeyed through the challenges presented to us that day. While on the LRAA Board, I took the opportunity to visit Stoney Ranch again with one of the RYL classes. Watching the kids share similar experiences was also fun, and of course, I took the opportunity to make another leap of faith!

As LRAA President (or since, as a Past President), what are some lessons you’ve learned and how could they help a future President for the Leadership Richardson Alumni Association?

In all that you do, have fun! Some situations that you’ll be tasked to lead through will be tough, but look for the good and encourage others to do the same. If you’re having fun, it hardly seems like work. I continue to try to live out our family motto: Work hard. Play hard. Give back.

What are your favorite leadership books, podcasts, TedTalks, etc that you recommend to other (aspiring) leaders?

A couple of my favorite leadership books are Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf, and Good to Great by Jim Collins. I also enjoy continuing to study and learn from other leaders by staying engaged in LRAA, as well as another group that I’ve joined called Gen Next, which has given me the opportunity to be on Zoom calls with a variety of leaders ranging from Mark Cuban to Gen. David Petraeus, as well as multiple U.S. Senators and a few Governors. Never stop learning!

What is your “call to action” to the current LRAA membership?
Stay engaged with LRAA. It is a bit more challenging as we haven’t been able to gather in person as a large group, but find ways to connect, or re-connect with your classmates, and those from other classes. One great opportunity to do so will be at the LRAA Annual Meeting & Party, which will be happening on June 25^th. It will be an in person event, so I hope to see you there!