D CEO

Meet the Dallas 500: Tori Mannes, ChildCareGroup Dallas-based ChildCareGroup traces its roots back to 1901 and is believed to be the first Settlement House in Texas. It began as the Clara Chaison Free Kindergarten Training School near what’s now Cedar Springs and McKinney Avenue in Uptown. Today, the organization provides comprehensive early childhood programs, taking a two-generation approach that teaches children and parents, trains early childhood professionals, and assists families. Tori Mannes has served as the nonprofit’s president and CEO since 2011. Last year, ChildCareGroup moved its corporate office to Pegasus Park. “We are honored to have been invited to join the Water Cooler project venture created by Lyda Hill Philanthropies and J. Small Investments, LC,” Mannes says. “We’re already experiencing the benefits of being a part of this collaborative community, including participating in professional development and training programs and meeting new partners that serve children and families.”

D CEO will present its inaugural Small Business Summit on Thursday, Nov. 21, bringing together the entrepreneurial minds driving North Texas’s vibrant small business economy. This dynamic, half-day event is crafted specifically for business owners and key decision-makers who want to navigate today’s challenges and unlock new opportunities for growth. In an era where running a successful business requires more than grit, attendees will benefit from powerful keynotes, interactive workshops, and meaningful connections that will help them steer their companies toward sustained success. Whether you’re running a fledgling enterprise or preparing for business succession, this summit offers actionable strategies to elevate your operations, build resilience, and thrive in the new economy. Seats are limited, so apply now to join us for this premier event and invest in the future success of your business!

Meet Bell Flight CEO Lisa Atherton, who’s at the helm of a potential $100 billion US Army contract. Just 18 years ago, Atherton was managing the books of an ice cream shop she and her husband owned. Now, she’s in charge of replacing the Army's fleet of Black Hawk helicopters. Read the full story from Ben Swanger at the link below.

When it comes to business leadership, there is no such thing as a one-size fits all strategy. Some leaders take a more laidback approach, while others gravitate toward a more hands-on method. Leaders lead at different paces, delegate at different volumes, and cultivate different cultures. So, for D CEO‘s October issue, we asked three Dallas-area leaders for the leadership strategies they rely on. This is what Meyling "Mey" Ly Ortiz of Toyota North America, David Stark of OpTic Gaming, and Irma Santamaría-González of LERMA/ had to share:

This week in personnel moves: Dallas Mavericks’ Cynt Marshall set to retire at the end of 2024; Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)’s Sean Donohue will step down as CEO after 11 years; Hyosung - North America promotes Nancy Gail Daniels to chief operating officer; Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden appoints Amber Slayton as chief operating officer; HALL Group taps Mark Klipsch as next CFO; Jones Day names Rodney Moore, Samuel Peca, and Scott Delaney as new partners; and more at the link below.

Conversation With: Jamee Jolly, CAE, IOM, The Real Estate Council (TREC) The Real Estate Council (TREC) is a force for public policy investment, community investment, and career development. Among key projects, TREC is in the midst of carrying out its $3 million Dallas Catalyst Project, an initiative launched in 2018 focused on neighborhood revitalization. The project most recently focused its efforts on the Mill City neighborhood. Jolly’s appointment follows the departure of Linda McMahon, NACD.DC, who was selected to be the Dallas Economic Development Corporation’s first CEO. The appointment is a full-circle one for Jolly, who first joined TREC as director of public affairs and programs in 2007 after a short stint with the Collin County Association of Realtors. During her first position with TREC, Jolly managed the administration of the Klyde Warren Park project. A career stop at the Greater Dallas Chapter-Texas Restaurant Association followed before Jolly became president and CEO of the Plano Chamber of Commerce, a post she held for almost nine years. She then moved on to a senior executive director position with the Plano ISD Education Foundation. After departing the post and running for a Texas House position in the 2022 election, Jolly took on the role of president and Executive Director of Uptown Dallas Inc.. Her appointment to the TREC post was announced this week. Jolly spoke with D CEO about her journey, her goals for TREC, and what opportunities are ahead for Dallas’ commercial real estate scene at the link below.

Join us for the inaugural Small Business Summit, a dynamic half-day event designed specifically for the business owners driving the North Texas economy. In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing environment, running a successful small business requires more than just hard work—it demands support, insights, and meaningful connections. That’s why this summit is tailored to help you navigate the challenges and opportunities unique to small businesses. Featuring powerful keynotes and hands-on workshops, this event is the perfect platform for learning best practices from industry experts and peers, while building a network that will support your growth for years to come. Whether you’re in the early stages of your business or preparing for succession, you’ll find actionable strategies to boost performance, overcome obstacles, and thrive. Don’t miss this chance to gain valuable insights, build your community, and walk away with tools to help your business grow in a post-Covid world.

Following in the footsteps of a father and grandfather can be daunting. But Ray Huffines, the third-generation owner and CEO of Huffines Auto Dealerships, never gave it much thought. He was confident that he wanted to continue down the path his grandfather J.L. Huffines Sr. set in 1924 with the company’s first location in Denton. A young Huffines spent summers working at the dealership his father, J.L. Jr., operated in Commerce, selling his first vehicle for $600. He became a dealership owner at an early age, like his father, who did so in 1950 at age 27 after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. Ray briefly pivoted from the family business in the early 1980s to work on Ronald Reagan’s first presidential campaign before becoming the personal assistant to former Texas Gov. Bill Clements at the governor’s request. In 1984, at the age of 31, Huffines took over his second dealership. Running the Chevrolet store in Plano was an experience that he admits was a lot to absorb at the time. “It was pretty overwhelming,” Huffines says. “I didn’t know a lot. There are so many things you learn by doing. It was the time when computers started to run things, and so business became more automated. We’ve been blessed because we could have been a Saturn or Oldsmobile dealer, and we’d be gone.”   Today, there are 10 Huffines dealerships throughout DFW that generate a combined $1.1 billion between the service, parts, body shop divisions, as well as fleet, preowned, and new car sales. The entire operation and its 900 employees are under the direction of its third-generation owner. Huffines is also overseeing significant renovations and expansions at multiple dealership locations over the next two years to the tune of $37 million.  The CEO says several factors are necessary to be successful in car sales. “The one thing that comes to mind is the integrity I saw, which was an important part of how my grandfather and father operated,” Huffines says. “That was the foundation. And then the relationships with people. It’s a people business. When the company was much smaller, there were relationships between my grandfather and his employees, customers, and manufacturers because we’re, in a way, partners with them.” Huffines is not quite ready to pass along the empire he has helped build but says a capable heir is in the line of succession. His son Sam, general manager at the Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealership in Plano, is set to step in as the fourth-generation owner. “When he was at Texas A&M, he was hired to sell Infinitis in Houston,” Huffines says of his son. “When he came back to our operation, he had credibility not just because of his name. The elder Huffines says there’s no set time for the transition. “I’m not going to walk away until he’s ready and willing to take it on,” he says. 

The running joke in the Hunstable family was that Fred E. Hunstable never knew that garages were where you parked your cars. Instead, they served as places for the nuclear and electrical engineer to tinker and invent. Growing up in Granbury under the tutelage of his father, oldest son Brad Hunstable was fascinated by technology. As a young boy, he wanted to be an astronaut. Then, he began learning how to program on a RadioShack TRS-80. When he was 12, he developed a computer bulletin board system called Dark Realms where users could log onto a host computer through a modem to participate in chat rooms, message boards, and games. It was a Frankenstein arrangement of hard drives, modems, and PC parts, says Fred, who handled the hardware while his son worked on the software and ran the business. “I had to be creative, figure out how to market it and what products were on there,” Brad says. “People had questions, so I was on call and had to go into the chat rooms. I was the customer service representative.” Along with sparking an entrepreneurial drive that persists to this day, the experience and a shared love of inventing ultimately led to another father-son collaboration—one that is set to transform electrification. The two were on a trip to South Africa in 2017 when they were struck by the lack of infrastructure. It prompted them to wonder if they could create a motor with enough torque to provide electricity and access to clean water for those who lived in the villages. “My belief was we could be a part of that equation to help people,” Brad says. They put their collective brainpower to work and began experimenting with an old windmill that used a shaft that moved up and down to pump out fresh water for cows. What if something like that could be used to generate electricity? Through trial and error, they eventually discovered a way to leverage the up-and-down motion of the shaft to do just that. “That’s why we’re called Linear Labs Inc.,” Brad says. “Our vision was to bring clean water and electricity to rural Africa and South America with one device. It led to an important discovery in motor topology, resulting in the world’s most efficient, highest-torque motors and generators.” The implications are staggering. About 50 percent of the world’s electricity passes through electric motors. Global robotics and computer science guru Henrik Christensen called the Hunstables’ invention “the holy grail in electric motors.” Since Linear Labs was founded in 2018, the company has raised $20 million to fund operations. Read about Brad's vision of how Linear Labs can be a game-changer in the clean energy space, his first multimillion-dollar venture in uStream, his time at the United States Military Academy at West Point, his philanthropic pursuits with Hayden's Corner, and more from Layten Praytor at the link below.

Longtime beauty entrepreneur Mahisha Dellinger sold off her CURLS Beauty Brands this year to transition into the mocktail business. Her company launched in June and in less than three months has already been accepted in some of the nation’s largest retailers. For D CEO‘s September 2024 issue, we stepped inside the founder’s wardrobe. Read what she has to say about her unique style here: https://lnkd.in/gS5iXAnj