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: 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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The Last Word: enCore Energy’s William Sheriff on Producing Uranium in Texas and Beyond To Support Nuclear Energy

by | Mar 25, 2024
Today, "the newest uranium producer in the United States" ventured to the heart of New York City to ring the opening bell at Nasdaq and hold its first-ever Investor Day.
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The Last Word: Hudson Nguyen on His High School Team Beating the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at the 2024 RoboBoat Competition
by | Mar 22, 2024
Last month in Sarasota, Florida, the 17th Annual International RoboBoat competition featured 15 university teams from the U.S. Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland, Turkey—and a single high school team from right here in North Texas: the Arlington Martin High School Seals (short for science, engineering, autonomous, learning). 
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The Last Word: The DRC’s Jarrad Toussant on the New DFW Health Care and IT Talent Pipeline Portal
To help fill those jobs, the DRC—with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies—recently launched a new workforce development tool called the DFW Health Care and IT Talent Pipeline Portal. The online tool provides "expansive, up-to-date data on the supply of and demand for talent for middle-skill jobs."
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The Last Word: Shug’s Bagels Founder Justin Shugrue on His Boffo Bagel Success
by | Mar 20, 2024
They say you gotta be a New Yorker to really know bagels—which may be just one reason for Shugrue's successful 2020 launch of Shug's Bagels at 3020 Mockingbird Lane in Park Cities Plaza near SMU. 
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