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: American Airlines’ Robert Isom on Winning the Eco-Airline of the Year Award

Air Transport World announced today that American Airlines has been named the 2023 Eco-Airline of the Year. ATW lauded American’s work to run a more fuel-efficient operation with more fuel-efficient aircraft powered increasingly by low-carbon fuel and new technology.
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The Last Word: Dr. Adrian Denvir on Selecting Nine Startups for the HSC Next SBIR Phase 0 Program
by | Feb 13, 2023
The program is designed to help the owners of forward-thinking small businesses in Tarrant County. Through the program, they can apply for federal funds via mechanisms known as the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, collectively known as America’s Seed Fund. Meet the startups selected for the first monthly cohort—and learn how other companies can apply for the program each month through November 2024.
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The Last Word: Eden Green’s Eddy Badrina on the Need for Vertical Farming
by | Feb 10, 2023
Leafy greens is a multibillion-dollar industry. But before lettuce can get into salads across the U.S., it has to navigate coast-to-coast supply chain and distribution issues, says Eden Green Technology CEO Eddy Badrina, whose Cleburne-based ag-tech startup opened a new, two-acre vertical greenhouse in September as part of a planned $47 million vertical farm. Those issues have led to what Badrina calls "the 3,000-mile salad."
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The Last Word: Steven Song on Why L.A.’s SCAAA Is Opening an Architecture Studio in Dallas
by | Feb 9, 2023
SCAAA, an architecture firm based in L.A., announced Wednesday that it's expanding with new studios in Dallas and Osaka, Japan. "SCAAA works in dynamic regions," Song said in a statement. "Osaka is a cosmopolitan city in the heart of one of the world's 10 largest urban areas, while the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is in the midst of a renaissance as a cultural and commercial hub.
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The Last Word: SMU’s Thomas DiPiero on Partnership with edX for Data Science Online Learning

Data scientist has been called the sexiest job of the 21st century, according to the Harvard Business Review, which noted last summer that the job is "more in demand than ever with employers and recruiters." SMU's partnership with edX aims to give students more ways to pursue data science education in a way that makes the most sense for them.
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The Last Word: Breaking Bad’s Walter White Breaks Good in Super Bowl Spot from Plano-Based Frito-Lay
by | Feb 6, 2023
On the multi-Emmy-winning "Breaking Bad," Walter White and Jesse Pinkman become kingpins in the drug trade after White, a cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher, cooks up something bad in a trailer in the desert. But what if he'd cooked up something good instead? That's the idea behind a new Super Bowl commercial from Plano-based Frito-Lay.
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The Last Word: Phil Schanbaum on an Austin Powers-Themed Pop-up Bar Coming to Dallas
by | Feb 3, 2023
We all know what Dallas needs most: A bar that features sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads. The closest we'll likely ever get to that is coming to The Whippersnapper, a nightspot near Henderson Avenue at 1806 McMillan Avenue in Dallas. Beginning February 9, it'll transform into a limited-time pop-up called the Electric Shagadelic Pussycat Swingers Club. 
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The Last Word: RevTech Ventures’ David Matthews on Conundrum Facing Venture-Backed Tech Companies
by | Feb 1, 2023
In a recent YouTube video, Matthews offers a quick RevTech Roundup on "The Conundrum of Venture-Backed Tech Companies." He notes that there have been over 100,000 recent layoffs by big tech companies, "All of a sudden there's a bumper crop of available talent," Matthews says. "But on the other hand, venture funding tightened by almost 60% last year, as VCs tightened their grip on their dry powder."
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The Last Word: Ebby Halliday’s Chris Kelly on How Housing Tracks the Economy, and Why DFW Looks Good in 2023

Ebby Halliday Cos. President and CEO Chris Kelly was one of the speakers at a recent Real Estate & Economic Outlook event presented by the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce Wednesday at SMU. While many experts believe the U.S. may go into recession later this year, Kelly believes the housing market may already be regaining its feet by then.
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The Last Word: Spin the Spectrum’s Courtney Willis on How DJ Training Can Help Autistic People
by | Jan 27, 2023
Willis is a speech and language pathologist who earned a Masters in communication disorders from UT Dallas. As the founder, CEO, and clinic director of Dallas-based Speech Wings Therapy, she co-founded something new in 2022: Spin the Spectrum, a nonprofit that offers inclusive DJ classes, camps, and workshops for autistic and neurodivergent people of all ages.
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The Last Word: Brian Gorenc on Trend Micro’s Connected Vehicle Event Coming to Tokyo in 2024
Japan-based cybersecurity provider Trend Micro has its U.S. headquarters is in Irving. One way the company fights overall cyber threats: the Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative's Pwn2Own bug bounty competition, which for 17 years has rewarded security researchers for privately disclosing vulnerabilities. Today, recognizing the growing threat to the world's connected vehicle ecosystem, Trend Micro announced a standalone competition—Pwn2Own Automotive—to take place in January 2024 at Automotive World Tokyo.
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The Last Word: Vistra’s Sam Sen on the TXU Energy Connected Conservation Program
by | Jan 25, 2023
The new TXU Energy Connected Conservation program enables anyone with an eligible thermostat to take a more significant role in energy conservation. By agreeing to small, gradual, automatic temperature adjustments during peak consumption periods, customers will help conserve energy across Texas—using less and saving more.
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The Last Word: The USPTO on How Three Dallas Sisters Gave Maternity Wear a Stylish Innovation

by | Jan 23, 2023
Long ago, maternity wear was one of the unmentionables of fashion. That changed forever in 1937, when sisters Elsie and Edna Frankfurt founded Page Boy, America's first high-end maternity wear firm, in Dallas. In 1939, the sisters patented their game-changing solution: an adjustable skirt design for pregnant women that "accommodated" a baby bump instead of clumsily trying to hide it. They engineered a "window" in front of the skirt that expanded using drawstrings—while keeping the hemline stylishly parallel to the ground. 
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The Last Word: State Senator Kelly Hancock on the $350M Texas A&M-Fort Worth Research Campus
by | Jan 20, 2023
The Texas A&M University System announced the name Thursday at an event in Fort Worth. The downtown research campus is "moving ahead rapidly toward construction," TAMU says, as the anchor project for a technology and innovation district planned around the redevelopment of the city’s convention center.
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The Last Word: Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz on Relaunching Girls Scouts USA Financial Literacy Badges
by | Jan 19, 2023
Westlake-based Charles Schwab has partnered with Girls Scouts USA to modernize and relaunch the organization's financial literacy badges. The new financial literacy curriculum includes topics such as investing basics, building wealth, entrepreneurship, fraud awareness, and budgeting for different goals throughout life. The goal is to help bridge the gap between what girls learn in school and what they need to feel confident managing finances in life and business,.
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The Last Word: BAL’s Chloe Mervine on Staying Focused on Her Startup’s Growth
Mervine capped off 2022 by celebrating a milestone for her Dallas-based startup Big Ass Luxuries, which she and her husband Trent co-founded in 2021. BAL makes and sells Big Ass Candles—long-lasting and aromatic candles made from natural eco-friendly scents and coconut soy wax. BAL surpassed $1.3M in 2022 sales, 10 times what it made in 2021.
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