Tony Vedda, left, Sam McClure, right
DAVID TAFFET | Staff Writer
The North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce announced four special honorees and the recipient of a lifetime achievement award to be given at its April 24 dinner.
Mark Shekter will receive the chamber’s second lifetime achievement award. Shekter is an award-winning architect who also has a real estate company called Surrealty. He was one of the founders of Stonewall Business Association and helped with its merger into the GLBT Chamber.
At the height of the AIDS crisis, Shekter created MOM — Meals on the Move — to deliver meals to people living with AIDS who couldn’t prepare their own food.
The four special honorees are American Airlines pilot Capt. Kathi Durst, Andy Smith, Roger Thompson and Zack Hicks.
Durst last August became the first woman named chief pilot for American Airlines. She’s been with the airline since 1988.
Smith was named executive director of Texas Instruments Foundation last year, and is responsible for $12 million in grants to arts organizations and math and science education.
Thompson is executive vice president, chief development officer, general counsel and secretary for Brinker International. He’s involved with National LGBTQ Task Force and Lambda Legal as well as the Chamber.
Hicks is Toyota’s chief information officer. The company is moving its U.S. headquarters to Plano. Hicks has already relocated to the area.
On hand to announce the award winners was Sam McClure, vice president of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. She said her organization includes 39 chambers around the country. While Dallas isn’t the largest or the oldest, she said it’s one of the strongest and has won a record four excellence awards.
McClure called North Texas Chamber CEO Tony Vedda a nationally recognized leader.
The dinner will be held in the new City View ballroom at the Renaissance Hotel on Stemmons Freeway.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition January 16, 2015.