Every Last Word

Dallas Innovates’ signature series capturing what leaders across North Texas are saying — in their own words — about innovation, impact, and what’s next.

The Last Word: RREAF Holdings’ Kip Sowden on Keeping His CRE Platform All in the Family

by | May 1, 2024
Founded in 2001, Sowden's privately held, vertically integrated CRE firm has an even longer history in the industry, with roots going back some 37 years. RREAF operates across multiple platforms, targeting different segments of the real estate market, including multifamily and hospitality. With nearly 500 employees and assets of $4.5 billion, it's not surprising that an IPO would seem to be in the picture. 
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The Last Word: Dallas Billionaire Tom Dundon on Why He Bought and ‘Fixed’ an NHL Team
by | Apr 29, 2024
Dundon, the chairman and managing partner of Dallas-based Dundon Capital, became the majority owner of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes in 2017, three years after he took Dallas-based auto loan giant Santander Consumer USA public with an IPO that raised $1.8 billion. He's also a co-owner of the PPA Pickleball Tour—which merged in March with Austin-based MLP by Margaritaville—and an investor in Pickleball.com. 
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The Last Word: Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub Leaders On Climbing the ‘Ladder of Success’
by | Apr 26, 2024
With all of the recent news about chips in Texas—including the Samsung $6B+ billion funding announcement by the Biden administration and North Texas’ anticipation of a new TI award—the Austin American-Statesman examined a claim the President made earlier this month.
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The Last Word: Mayor Johnson on Dallas Wings’ 2026 Move To Dallas Memorial Auditorium
by | Apr 25, 2024
The WNBA's Dallas Wings have played at College Park Center in Arlington for the last eight seasons and will be hooping their there through 2025. But thanks to a Wednesday vote by the Dallas City Council, the team will finally be playing in the city emblazoned on their jerseys starting in 2026.
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The Last Word: WalletHub Analyst On Best Places to Start a Business in 2024

Fort Worth is the top city in Texas, and three other North Texas cities made the top tier.
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The Last Word: PX Technology CEO on Operating with ‘LOA’
by | Apr 22, 2024
Sullivan helms Plano-based PX Technology, which has just been acquired by Maryland-based patient advocacy healthtech company CareMetx. Writing on LinkedIn, he describes himself as a "servant leader with a reputation for integrity, transparency, persistence, and employee loyalty." 
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The Last Word: Amtrak’s ‘Train Daddy’ on Leading the Charge for the Dallas-Houston Bullet Train
by | Apr 19, 2024
If you've followed the up-and-down journey of Texas Central's $30 billion Dallas-Houston bullet train project, you know it's offered high-speed dreams and at times challenging headlines. You also may remember that last August we told you the project might be back on track, after Amtrak and Texas Central announced they were partnering to explore advance planning and analysis on the proposed 205 MPH high-speed rail project.
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The Last Word: Red Productions’ Red Sanders on Producing ‘Fruitcake,’ Based on a Nearly $17M Embezzlement from Corsicana Bakery
by | Apr 18, 2024
From the early 2000s to 2013, something illegal got baked up at Corsicana-based Collin Street Bakery & Cafe—a relentless embezzlement of nearly $17 million by the bakery's comptroller, Sandy Jenkins. 
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The Last Word: Dallas Council Member Jaynie Schultz on Proposed Improvements for Dallas’ Central Library

by | Apr 16, 2024
The Dallas Public Library's J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in downtown Dallas—one of America's largest—was built in 1982 across from Dallas City Hall, and many agree it could use an overhaul. That especially includes library officials and consultants they brought in for a report on the building's future, among other needed investments in the city's library system.
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The Last Word: Charlotte Jones on Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones’ Doodling Masterpieces
by | Apr 11, 2024
In March, Dallas Cowboys Owner and GM Jerry Jones did an interview with Dallas Morning News sportswriter David Moore about Dak Prescott's Super Bowl-winning potential. When a photo from the interview was posted on X, it went viral fast—even faster than the 'Pokes end their playoff runs.
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The Last Word: Talmage Boston on How Being a Litigator and Historian Go Hand in Hand
by | Apr 10, 2024
Dallas-based commercial litigator Talmage Boston has another avocation as an historian, and writes that his dual discipline "has made me a better lawyer and vice versa, since both callings require the same skills"—meaning researching, writing and rewriting, interviewing and interrogating, and public speaking.
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The Last Word: Sportec Solutions’ Christian Holzer on Planting a U.S. HQ in Arlington
by | Apr 4, 2024
"All of that will happen at our Arlington operations center," Holzer adds in our story about Munich-based Sportec Solutions establishing its U.S. headquarters in Arlington.
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The Last Word: NPower CEO on Offering Path2TECH Software Developer Training for Dallas Women from Under-Resourced Communities

by | Apr 3, 2024
The New York-based nonprofit NPower has launched Path2TECH, which it calls "the first data-driven tech training course designed to help 2.7M women from under-resourced communities across the U.S. transfer existing skills from current tech-enabled jobs into pure tech positions." Classes for the program began in March in Dallas and other cities.
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The Last Word: Re:wild’s Barney Long on Partnering with Dallas-Based Colossal To Save Species Facing Extinction
by | Mar 29, 2024
Long's Austin-based Re:wild and Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences have announced a new partnership to accelerate global efforts "to save species on the brink of extinction, search for lost species, and restore key habitats for species recovery and rewilding."
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The Last Word: Dallas Sports Commission’s Monica Paul On World Cup Strategy — ‘Like an Onion We’re Still Peeling’
by | Mar 28, 2024
NTXIA's new Urban Resilience Fellowship Program, launched in partnership with UT Arlington and UT Dallas, connects students from universities and higher education institutions across Dallas-Fort Worth with community and industry partners. The pioneering initiative "aims to nurture emerging leaders and equip them with the knowledge and skills needed to address critical challenges facing the North Texas community."
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The Last Word: Jacobs’ Sindhu Avalokita on Women Taking the ‘Driver’s Seat’
by | Mar 27, 2024
NTXIA's new Urban Resilience Fellowship Program, launched in partnership with UT Arlington and UT Dallas, connects students from universities and higher education institutions across Dallas-Fort Worth with community and industry partners. The pioneering initiative "aims to nurture emerging leaders and equip them with the knowledge and skills needed to address critical challenges facing the North Texas community."
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