DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The NACD North Texas Chapter, the advocate for the profession of directorship, today announced the election of new officers and board members for 2024–2025, effective July 1, 2024.
New Officers
Renee Arrington, NACD.DC, has been elected as Board Chair of the NACD North Texas Chapter. Arrington is President and COO of Pearson Partners International, a retained search firm nationally ranked by Forbes magazine. Arrington serves on the Pearson Partners board of directors and as Vice Chair of the Americas on the board of IIC Partners, a top 10 global executive search network of which Pearson Partners is a member firm. In 2018, Arrington was recognized by the Association of Executive Search & Leadership Consultants, receiving the Commitment to the Community Award. She was also recognized in 2018 as a C-Suite Award Winner by the Fort Worth Business Press. In 2021, she was named one of the most powerful business leaders in North Texas by D CEO and honored with the HMG Strategy Global Leadership Institute Award.
“Our NACD North Texas community of board directors, members and sponsors is an outstanding group of business leaders and I’m absolutely honored to have been named Chair of the NACD North Texas Board of Directors,” said Arrington.” Many thanks to our outgoing Chair Ray Hemmig for his leadership as our chapter grew and offered compelling events for our 1000+ members. Ray, along with our dedicated committee co-chairs and hard-working board, furthered our mission of outstanding director professional education that elevates the standards of corporate governance. It is my hope to continue this work and keep raising the bar for our board’s and chapter’s performance.”
Tom Leppert will serve as Board Vice Chair. Leppert has a distinguished record of accomplishment that includes high-profile, leadership positions in both the private and public sector, including Chairman/CEO of The Turner Corporation, CEO of Kaplan, Inc., and CEO of Castle & Cooke Properties. Leppert has served on a wide range of corporate boards on three continents, and currently serves on the boards of Austin Industries, Fluor Corporation, Dallas Theological Seminary, and NACD North Texas Chapter. He is a noted speaker and has appeared regularly in the media. Leppert served as a White House Fellow in 1984, in both the White House Office of Policy Development and the Department of the Treasury. From 2007–2011, he served as the elected Mayor of Dallas.
Todd Murray will continue to serve as secretary. A partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, he serves as a vice president of the firm’s securities enforcement and litigation practice. Murray focuses his practice on securities litigation, director and officer fiduciary duty and corporate governance disputes, litigation involving complex accounting, accounting fraud, financial issues and energy-related matters.
Bill Buechele will continue to serve as treasurer. Buechele retired from Deloitte & Touche where he led the North Texas Deloitte growth enterprise services group overseeing assurance, tax and advisory services. Buechele had prior leadership roles in the NACD North Texas Chapter before his selection as treasurer.
New Board Members
New board members include Matthew Bob, NACD.DC, Ron Chu, NADC.DC, Bets Lillo, NACD.DC, and Julie Silcock.
Matthew Bob is President and Owner of MB Exploration LLC. Bob is an independent Director of APA Corp.(Apache) and the past Non-Executive Chair of Callon Petroleum. He previously served as president of Eagle Oil and Gas Co., independent director of Southcross Energy LLC, and co-general partner of One Map Mineral Partners LLC. Bob has received the NACD.DC certification, is a Professional Geoscientist registered in three states and his professional affiliations include National Association of Corporate Directors, the American Association of Geologists, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and Dallas Petroleum Club Wildcatter.
Ron Chu is former Group VP & Head of Global Internal Controls for Toyota Motor Corporation. Mr. Chu also served as Group VP & Head of Accounting & Finance for Toyota Financial Services. Recently he has been appointed Audit Committee Chair to the Board of Toyota Motor Credit Corporation, the largest automotive finance company in the US. Chu previously served on the Nominating & Governance Committee of the APAICS board, which advances young Asian American professionals running for public office. Chu raised $1 million in funding and guided the CEO to generate record revenue during the COVID pandemic. Mr. Chu is an active CPA licensed in the State of California and is a National Association of Corporate Directors member.
Bets Lillo serves on the board of River Logic, two advisory boards, three nonprofit boards, and is an Executive in Residence at Texas Christian University’s in Information Systems and Supply Chain. She currently serves on Technology Oversight, Compensation, and Nominating/Governance Committees. Her executive roles have included domestic and international postings with AbbVie, Abbott Labs, AT&T, and IBM. Bets’ civic contributions focus on international business and governance excellence. She actively mentors early-stage companies. Bets holds a network-related US patent and authored five publications in IBM’s Technical Disclosure Bulletin.
Julie Silcock, Partner with CDX Advisors, a tech-enabled investment bank, is a Certified Financial Expert with experience as a director on six corporate boards (five public company and one private company) including Moneygram, Overseas Shipholding Group, Q4, MESA Airlines, GreenHunter Resources and JC Skincare. She has over 35 years of M&A and capital markets experience with numerous private and public companies, and private equity sponsors. Prior to CDX Advisors, Silcock co-headed Houlihan Lokey’s Southwest Investment Banking Practice, and founded and led Citigroup’s Southwest Investment Banking practice, served a Managing Director of Investment banking at DLJ, and served as a Managing Director of Bear Stearns. She is also on the Board of the US Ski and Snowboard Assn, which supports our winter Olympic athletes, and on the Board of Goodwill Industries—North Texas Chapter.
Current NACD North Texas Board members also include Gregg Ballew, Nominating and Governance Committee Co-Chair; Tracey Doi, NACD.DC, Membership Engagement Committee Co-Chair; Donna Epps, Sponsorship Committee Co-Chair; Shane Goodwin, NACD.DC, Programs Committee Co-Chair; Lou Grabowsky; Ray Hemmig, immediate past chair; Yon Jorden; Selena La Croix; Jill Lampert; John Mahalik, Membership Engagement Committee Co-Chair; Bobby Majumder, NACD.DC; Derek McClain; Anne Motsenbocker, NACD.DC, Sponsorship Co-Chair; Cynthia Pharr-Lee; Pat Priest; Don Robillard, NACD.DC; Mark Sinclair; Jim Skinner; and Debra von Storch, NACD.DC, Programs Committee Co-Chair.
About NACD North Texas
NACD North Texas provides a forum for NACD members to exchange knowledge and discuss leading boardroom practices in the Dallas and Fort Worth area. NACD’s 20+ chapters enhance the value of NACD membership by providing directors with a forum to address governance challenges to elevate their board’s performance. Members enjoy peer-to-peer dialogue about critical boardroom issues such as cyber risk, CEO succession planning, activism, and leadership. To learn more about NACD North Texas, please visit northtexas.nacdonline.org.
About NACD
The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) is the leading member organization for corporate directors who want to expand their knowledge, grow their network and maximize their potential. For more than 47 years, NACD has helped boards and the business community elevate their performance and create long-term value. Our leadership continues to raise standards of excellence and advance board effectiveness at thousands of member companies.
NACD’s value insights, professional development events and resources, such as the NACD Directors SummitTM and the NACD Directorship Certification® program, support boards in navigating complex challenges. With a growing network of more than 24,000 members across over 20 Chapters, boards are better equipped to make well-informed decisions on the critical, strategic issues facing their businesses today. Learn more at www.nacdonline.org.
