“If you work really hard every day, and you’re kind every day—and I mean every day—then you’re going to have a great career, because not everybody can.”

Dale Petroskey
President and CEO 
Dallas Regional Chamber

… on his advice to young leaders, via the Dallas Business Journal.

CEO Dale Petroskey is stepping down at the end of the year after 12 years leading the Dallas Regional Chamber—a tenure that saw the Dallas-Fort Worth region add a 33% increase in Fortune 500 companies and position itself to become the nation’s third-largest metro by the 2030s. The Dallas Business Journal honored him with the Lifetime Achievement Award at its 2025 C-Suite Leaders Awards on November 13.

Under Petroskey’s leadership, the DRC was named National Chamber of the Year in 2022. He’ll hand off to his successor, Brad Cheves, a longtime SMU executive, while heading into retirement closer to family.

From his 26th-floor corner office in Ross Tower, the 70-year-old has watched Dallas’ skyline transform—the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge rising over the Trinity, the Goldman Sachs campus now blocking his view of American Airlines Center, and towers sprouting across Uptown, according to the DBJ. One “career-defining” moment? Getting called out by Press Secretary Larry Speakes in a Reagan White House meeting for not taking notes, a lesson that led to 40 years of keeping a notepad in his pocket.

For more on Petroskey’s legacy and Dallas’ economic transformation, read the Dallas Business Journal story here. As he puts it: “People have gotten the message and now understand that this is a pretty great place to be in and to do business.”

For more of who said what about all things North Texas, check out Every Last Word.

Don’t miss what’s next. Subscribe to Dallas Innovates.

Track Dallas-Fort Worth’s business and innovation landscape with our curated news in your inbox Tuesday-Thursday.