on February 24, 2023 / by Dylan Thomas / in Blog Posts, DDI News

Downtown Dallas, Inc. Announces 2023 Board Leadership

Full DDI Board of Governors slate includes nearly 100 prominent business and civic leaders across a range of industries

DOWNTOWN DALLAS — Downtown Dallas, Inc. (DDI), today announced Katy Murray as the 65-year-old nonprofit’s 2023 Chair of the Board of Directors.

Murray, the President & Chief Financial Officer of Downtown-based DallasNews Corporation, will serve a two-year term. She previously served as the DDI Board treasurer since 2020 and has been on the Board of Directors since 2016. Her fellow DDI Board Officers are: Vice Chair Ted Hamilton, of Hamilton Properties Corporation, Secretary Larry Daniels, of HRI Hospitality, and Treasurer Amy Lewis-Hofland, of the Crow Museum of Asian Art.

“It is an honor to assume this position at a time of historic growth for Downtown,” Murray said. “For 65 years, DDI has served as the lead advocate for a vibrant, safe, and clean Downtown, a Downtown that is both a place to work and a place to live. DallasNews Corporation is proud of our nearly 140-year commitment to Downtown and there is no stronger advocacy group for our urban core than DDI.”

Murray succeeds Mattia Flabiano III, of Page, who served as chair for three years and remains on the DDI Board of Directors.

In one of her first acts as board chair, Murray will oversee the election of the 2023 DDI Board of Governors at DDI’s Annual Meeting & Luncheon, presented by Newpark Dallas by Hoque Global, today, February 24, at the Thompson Dallas hotel. The complete list of 2023 Governors to be approved today can be found here. 

This year’s annual meeting kicks off a year-long celebration of DDI’s 65th anniversary as the lead advocate for Downtown. The celebration will include a social media campaign encouraging Dallas-area residents to share their favorite memories of Downtown using the #DDI65 hashtag. DDI will also host a series of events to recognize significant moments from the past 65 years and how they they continue to shape Downtown’s trajectory.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Dallas native Lawrence Wright will keynote the nonprofit’s 65^th Annual Meeting & Luncheon.

Wright, a staff writer for The New Yorker, is the author of 11 nonfiction books, most recently God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State (2018), and The Plague Year: America In The Time Of Covid (2021). 

Award-winning Dallas journalist and radio host Robert Wilonsky will interview Wright.

The keynote conversation between the two men, Downtown Dallas: In the New World, will focus on the history and future of Dallas, with an emphasis on Downtown. It will include lessons from Wright’s 1987 autobiography, In the New World: Growing Up in America, 1964-1984, as well as his perspective on how Downtown Dallas fits into the future of Texas and the nation. 

Also at Friday’s event, DDI will honor Ambassador Ron Kirk as the first recipient of the nonprofit organization’s new Groundbreaker Award, recognizing a lifetime of achievement advancing Downtown Dallas. Kirk was the first Black mayor of Dallas, and also served as Texas Secretary of State and U.S. Trade Representative under President Obama.

DDI’s signature annual event is presented by Newpark Dallas by Hoque Global. The event’s Media Sponsor is DallasNews Corporation. 

Pinnacle level sponsors are AT&T, Balfour Beatty, Corgan, Gibson Dunn, Headington Companies and The Joule, Hunt Consolidated, Inc., LDWW, Matthews Southwest, McKinsey & Company, and Westdale. 

Urban Legend sponsors are 400 Record, AECOM, Atmos Energy Corporation, CIC Partners, D CEO, HKS, JBJ Management, Merriman Anderson Architects, Oncor, OUTFRONT Media, Page, and Perkins&Will. 

tags: See More Posts