Reid Ryan is the 40-year-old President and CEO of Ryan Sanders Baseball, LP and the founder and CEO of both the Round Rock Express baseball club (AAA affiliate of the Texas Rangers) and the Corpus Christi Hooks baseball club (AA affiliate of the Houston Astros).

A respected member of the minor league baseball leadership group, Reid serves on the Board of Trustees for minor league baseball, the Executive Committee of the Pacific Coast League, and is the Board of Trustees Representative for the Baseball Internet Rights Company (BIRCO).

Reid is also involved in many other business ventures including real estate, banking and the restaurant industry. He serves as a board member for Fired Up, Inc. the parent company of Carino’s Italian Grill, is a director and organizer of R Bank, in Round Rock, Texas, and a partner behind the Texas expansion of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Reid enjoys giving back to both Central and South Texas. He has served on numerous non-profit boards and helped to raise more than $900,000 for charity in the greater Austin and Corpus Christi markets. He currently serves on the advisory boards for Ride on Center for Kids, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas, and the Cancer for College Golf Tournament in Austin, Texas.

He recently worked closely with the Miracle League on the initial design phase for a special playing field in Corpus Christi like the Express Miracle League Field that was completed in Austin in 2007. The Miracle League is a non-profit baseball league that features specially-designed facilities for kids with mental and physical disabilities. The Miracle League allows all kids to enjoy the fun of playing baseball and being on a team of their own.

Another rewarding outlet Reid enjoys is coaching youth sports in the Round Rock area. No matter if it is football, baseball, softball or soccer, his mission is to help kids achieve their goals all while having fun in the process.

Reid and his wife, Nicole, are the proud parents of one son, 12-year-old Jackson, and two daughters, 10-year-old Victoria and 7-year-old Ella. The family lives in Georgetown and enjoys spending free time with family and friends at the family ranch, watching sporting events and traveling.

Rebecca Powers

Rebecca Powers, born in Louisville, KY, earned a B.S. in Business Administration at the University of Richmond in Virginia. Before settling in Austin 17 years ago with her husband and two children, she was a sales representative with IBM for 14 years.

In 2003, Rebecca, along with a small group of women committed to making a positive change in the community, founded Impact Austin. The concept—bringing women and their financial resources together to make a profound impact in Austin—was simple and inspirational. Members contribute annual donations of $1,000, which are pooled to give multiple grants to local nonprofits meeting community needs in five focus areas: culture, education, environment, family, and health and wellness. Each Impact Austin grant exceeds $100,000, to be spent over one or two years. Each year, Impact Austin members select grant recipients, with each member having an equal vote. Since its inception, Impact Austin has grown to over 500 members and has given over $3.1 million to the community.

Rebecca serves on the National Board of the Jeremiah Program, which is "changing women's lives for their children's future."  She also actively serves on the Alumni Board of Directors at the University of Richmond.  Her past community service includes volunteering with and sitting on the boards of Trinity Center and the Rotary Club of Austin.  She also led the Grants Outreach Committee of St. David's Episcopal Church.  Powers is a 2006 graduate of Leadership Austin. In that same year, she was a recipient of KVUE’s “Five Who Care Community Service Award.” In 2010, Rebecca received the prestigious ‘Women of Distinction’ award by the Girl Scouts of Central Texas. 

Impact Austin was recognized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals as the “Outstanding Philanthropic Organization in Austin” in 2007. That year, Impact Austin also received the Community Advocate Award for Community Relations from the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

 

John P. Garrett grew up in north Austin and graduated from Pflugerville High School in 1993. John graduated Cum Laude from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Radio and Television. While at Sam Houston, he was awarded the Creager Award – given to the male student who contributes the most to overall student life. After graduation, he moved to Houston and began his career at the Houston Chronicle. He married his wife Jennifer, also a PHS and SHSU graduate, in 1999, and they moved to Round Rock to be closer to family in 2001. John became the advertising director at the Austin Business Journal in 2002 where he helped turn the struggling publication into one of the top performing business journals.

While at the Austin Business Journal, John noticed a lot of development activity in Round Rock and Pflugerville was largely unnoticed by the media. He felt the average citizen and business owner would appreciate a newspaper that focused on business and development activity at the hyper-local level. After finding research that showed that 70 – 80% of the residents in Central Texas did not subscribe to a newspaper, he determined that he would create a monthly publication with free distribution to all and would be delivered through the mail. In September 2005, Community Impact Newspaper launched in Round Rock and Pflugerville.

After an overwhelming positive reception of the newspaper and its concept, a second edition was launched in April, 2006 in Cedar Park and Leander and new editions have been added about every six months. Nearly 450,000 households and businesses in the seven Central Texas markets now receive Community Impact each month – making it the largest distributed newspaper in Central Texas.

In September of 2009, Community Impact Newspaper launched its first edition outside of Central Texas with the Northwest Houston edition that covers the CyFair area and is delivered to 105,000 homes and businesses.

John and Jennifer have three daughters and live in Round Rock. They are active members of Hill Country Bible Church Pflugerville where John serves on the elder board. He also serves as a board member for the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce and is President of the Round Rock Area Serving Center Board of Directors.

 

 

Senator Kirk Watson

2009 Excellence in Leadership Honoree

Kirk Watson is a former mayor of Austin and has been described by Texas Monthly Biz magazine as "a man with a vision of what the community wants and the moxie to carry it out."

Watson was elected in 2006 to represent most of Travis County in the Texas Senate. In 2007, Texas Monthly named him Legislative Rookie of the Year.

From 1991 to 1993, Watson served as Chair of the Texas Air Control Board, the state agency that was charged with addressing air quality in Texas. He also has served as Chair of both the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Advisory Board of Environmental Defense, and he has been a member of the Executive Committee of the State Bar of Texas.

Senator Watson’s priorities center on education and higher education, health care, economic development, 21st Century energy generation, environmental protection, transportation, budget transparency, and state employees.

As a cancer survivor, Senator Watson is also passionate about making sure that all Texans—particularly children—have access to health care. He has been active in numerous health organizations, including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and he served on the original board of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Senator Watson graduated from Baylor University and was first in his law school class at Baylor Law School. He has been named an outstanding young alumnus of Baylor, Young Baylor Lawyer of the Year, and the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas.

Senator Watson has been married to his wife, Liz, for more than 27 years. They have two sons, Preston and Cooper. Preston attends the University of Texas at Austin, and Cooper goes to Kealing Middle School, a magnet school in Austin.

Click here to view the official press release.

 

 

Tom Stacy

2008 Excellence in Leadership Honoree

Tom Stacy 2008 Excellence in Leadership Honoree Austin business executive and community leader Tom Stacy is a true Christian leader.

Mr. Stacy has been instrumental in transforming downtown Austin into the district that residents and businesses enjoy today. He serves as an advocate for the city’s homeless and for underprivileged children. He has triumphed over personal tragedy. And perhaps most importantly, he serves as an example to others as a husband, father, friend and man of faith.

President of T. Stacy and Associates, Mr. Stacy earned a business degree from Texas Tech University in 1975. After owning such successful business ventures as a furniture store in Levelland, Texas and a lodge and resort at Lake LBJ, Mr. Stacy and his family moved to Austin where he has been connected with area real estate development since 1977.

Mr. Stacy is widely heralded as a champion of economic development in the city’s Central Business District. In fact, he has been instrumental in acquiring, managing and enhancing the value of most of Austin's landmark downtown properties over the past decade.

Mr. Stacy has been recognized with the prestigious “Individual IMPACT” Award from the Downtown Austin Alliance for his contributions to downtown Austin, highlighted by his inspirational renovation of the historic Scarbrough Building and Littlefield Complex. T. Stacy & Associates has received the “Project IMPACT” award for the restoration of the historic Stephen F. Austin Hotel.

Mr. Stacy is a past chairman of the Downtown Austin Alliance, an important group of local landowners, tenants and developers that have sought to beautify the downtown area, reduce traffic congestion, find solutions to vagrancy issues and forge key alliances with legislators. A leader in his field, Mr. Stacy is also a past chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors Political Action Committee.

In addition to his contributions to the economy of downtown Austin, Mr. Stacy’s unwavering faith has inspired him to contribute to some of the neediest people of Austin. Since 2003, Mr. Stacy has served as director and later chairman of the Community Partnership for the Homeless, a non-profit organization that provides housing for homeless veterans and low-income families with children. The Stacys provided “camperships” so that underprivileged children could attend Camp Buckner, where thousands of children and teenagers experienced God’s love for the first time through the organization’s summer camping ministry. Mr. Stacy and his wife Melinda started this scholarship in memory of their son Christopher, who attended Camp Buckner for most of his childhood and went on to serve as a camp counselor.

Most recently, Mr. Stacy worked hand in hand with members of his congregation to found the now-flourishing Austin Baptist Church, going as far as to bring crew members from one of his properties to help tear down and build walls, install carpet and do other renovations at the church’s new facility.

The Stacys are the proud parents of Niccole Stacy Crank and the late Christopher Tom Stacy and the grandparents of Niccole and her husband John’s children, Logan, 7; Dylan, 3; and Ethan 2.

 

 

Roger T. Staubach

2007 Excellence in Leadership Honoree

 Roger T. Staubach is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The Staubach Company, the leading global real estate advisory firm that delivers cost-effective solutions for the users of office, industrial and retail space. Staubach professionals have extensive experience in strategic consulting, site selection, acquisition and disposition, construction consulting/project management, real estate administration, portfolio management, financing and capital solutions.

The Staubach Company's 300 people are located in 60 offices throughout the Americas and serve more than 2,400 clients. The company completed 5,600 transactions totaling $21 billion and 290 million square feet during the fiscal year ending June 2005. Worldwide, the DTZ Staubach Tie Leung partnership has more than 10,000 professionals delivering services and solutions to multinational clients.

A 1965 graduate of the United States Naval Academy with a bachelor of science in engineering, Roger served four years as a Navy officer. After the Navy he joined the Dallas Cowboys professional football team and launched his real estate career while playing football.

Known for its unparalleled standard of business and personal ethics, the company lists among its clients: Atmos Energy, Blockbuster Video, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Cisco Systems, CVS Corporation, Hunton & Williams, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, Morgan Stanley, PepsiCo, RadioShack, Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold, T-Mobile USA, Target, Wachovia, and Yahoo! Inc.

Roger currently serves on the board of directors of AMR Corporation. He continues to be involved with The Children’s Cancer Fund, the United States Naval Academy Foundation and numerous other civic, charitable, and professional organizations.

Among the many honors bestowed upon Roger are Commercial Property News’ "Corporate Services Executive of the Year" (for three of the last six years), the NCAA's "Teddy Roosevelt Award”, the American Jewish Congress "Torch of Conscience Award", and the United States Naval Academy’s "Distinguished Graduate.” Additionally, he was honored as the Texas Legend by the Galleria Chamber of Commerce, presented the annual "Spirit of Generations Award" by The Senior Source of Dallas, the North Texas Entrepreneurs Foundation’s "2005 Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award," and he received the "Inaugural Award for Excellence in American Entrepreneurship" from the Bard Business School at the University of Colorado, Denver. In 2007, Roger received the Horatio Alger Award.