Tom Leppert

Infobox_Mayor


imagesize = 150px
name = Tom Leppert
date of birth= birth date and age|1955|03|22
place of birth= Phoenix, Arizona
residence = Dallas, Texas
occupation= Businessman, Mayor
alma_mater = Claremont McKenna College
Harvard
term = June 25 2007 - present
predecessor = Laura Miller
party = Republican
spouse = Laura Leppert
religion = Christian - Southern Baptist [http://www.dallascityhall.com/government/mayor/mayor.html]

Tom Leppert (born March 22, 1955) is the mayor of Dallas, Texas and former CEO of Turner Construction Company.

Business career

Tom Leppert, a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Harvard University (from which he received an M.B.A.), was CEO of Turner Construction Company prior to his job as Dallas mayor. Turner is currently the largest commercial builder in the United States. Leppert is credited with earning more profits for the company during his seven year tenure than in the company's previous 97 years combined. [ [http://www.klru.org/texasmonthlytalks/archives/leppert/movies/leppert_hi.html interview] "Texas Monthly Talks" broadcast on 27 March2008.]

Leppert served on the Board of Directors of Washington Mutual, the United States' largest savings and loan association, [ [http://investors.wamu.com/irweblinkx/bio.aspx?IID=102028&PID=120023&AIP=312&PersonSection=12551 Thomas C. Leppert, Washington Mutual Board of Directors Biography] , accessed on August 18, 2008] [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/business/07cnd-wamu.html $5 Billion Said to Be Near for WaMu] , New York Times article of April 7, 2008] at the time of its seizure by the FDIC on September 25, 2008 (with most of its functional assets sold in a government-negotiated arrangement to JP Morgan Chase). It was the largest bank failure in U.S. history. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/business/26wamu.html Government Seizes WaMu and Sells Some Assets] , New York Times article of September 25, 2008, accessed on September 25, 2008]

Leppert has also held positions at McKinsey & Co., Trammell Crow Company, Pacific Financial Corporation, and Castle & Cooke Properties, Inc.

Leppert received the 2006 Global Cross Millennium Award for Corporate Environmental Leadership and a Torch of Conscience award from the American Jewish Congress.

Election

Tom Leppert defeated city councilman Ed Oakley in a runoff election June 16, 2007, winning with 58 percent of the vote. Some attribute his win to unexpected support from leaders within the African American community of the traditionally Democratic southern sector and his appeal to Republicans. However, the Dallas mayoral election is officially non-partisan, like other municipal elections in Texas. [ [http://www.indytexans.org/texas-political-reform.php Non-Partisan Municipal Elections] "Independent Texans" retrieved 16 July2008.]

The Leppert campaign condemned anti-gay robocalls targeting Ed Oakley and urged the Heritage Alliance PAC to cease making such calls. [ [http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_5766.php Conservative group sponsors anti-gay robo calls attacking mayoral candidate Ed Oakley] by David Webb, Dallas Voice, June 7, 2007] [cite news|title=Mayoral hopefuls unleash last-minute barrages |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/061307dnmetmayorsrace.3ac9527.html|date=2007-06-13] |source=Dallas Morning News|accessdate=2008-08-18] Had he been elected, Oakley would have been the first openly-gay mayor of a top ten U.S. city. [cite web |title=National media tunes in to Dallas election |url=http://www.victoryfund.org/news/view/url:national_media_tunes_in_to_dallas_election |date=2007-06-05 |work=Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund |accessdate=2008-08-18]

Political Life

Leppert is a conservative, favoring low taxes and free enterprise. He also holds some views more traditionally associated with Democrats such as environmentalism. [ [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062607dnmetinauguration.12abcd86.html Leppert sets bar high on first day] "Dallas Morning News" Article from 26 June2007.]

Leppert was appointed as a White House Fellow by President Ronald Reagan; in this role he served in the Department of the Treasury and White House Staff.

In January 2008, Mayor Leppert embarked on a trade mission to Monterrey, Mexico, to promote Dallas's medical, educational, and corporate institutions. Another part of the trip's agenda was to lobby for an inland seaport for the Dallas area. Leppert was joined by more than a dozen officials from city government, the Dallas Independent School District and various health care and commercial institutions in the largest mission of its kind in years. One of the agreements reached on the trip include a plan for an MD/PhD program in Mexico provided by UT Southwestern Medical School. [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/012808dnmetleppertmexico.20655dd.html Dallas Morning News] - [http://www.dallascityhall.com/government/mayor/mayor.html Mayor] . Retrieved 02 February 2008.] Leppert also stated that Mexican President Felipe Calderon would be visiting Dallas on his next visit to the United States.

Following his trip to Mexico, Leppert led a trade mission to China and signed "friendship city" agreements with major industrial cities such as Dalian and Qingdao. [ [http://www.tomleppert.com/index.php?id=95 Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert leads business delegation on China trip] "Tom Leppert" Press Release from 2008]

On February 21, 2008, Leppert unveiled The Every Child Ready to Read @ Dallas program. The latest program was part of Leppert's larger plan to improve Dallas's education system which was unveiled in 2007. Leppert also donates his mayoral salary to a scholarship fund for students from low-income families. [ [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022208dnmetlepperted.3ba44d6.html Dallas mayor Tom Leppert to unveil program preparing youngsters to read] "Dallas Morning News" article from 21 February 2008]

Personal

Leppert is a member of Park Cities Baptist Church in University Park, Texas (the larger of two towns within Park Cities, a region surrounded entirely by the city of Dallas). He and his wife Laura have a son and twins. Leppert grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He then moved to Dallas, Texas and later, Hawaii, after becoming CEO of Turner Construction Company. He later moved back to Dallas and relocated the company's headquarters there.

On May 17, 2008, Leppert received an honorary doctorate from his undergraduate "alma mater", Claremont McKenna College, for which he serves as a trustee. [ [http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/about/trustees/ Claremont McKenna College Board of Trustees] ] Leppert told graduates to "know your principles" and encouraged them to write them down. "This may sound simple and obvious, but over the course of a lifetime, it may be one of the most difficult promises you ever keep. I know I am confronted by this each and every day. Simply stated, using generic terms like honesty and integrity are not near enough [...] People rarely get in trouble or lose their compass in one fell swoop... it is a series of small compromises, missteps that lead to a landslide... and a lost sense of self." [ [http://online.cmc.edu/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?&pid=694&srcid=634 Tom Leppert Commencement: Claremont McKenna College, May 17, 2008] ] In the same speech, Leppert called his visit to Auschwitz a "single day [that] changed the way I looked at the world."

References

External links

* [http://www.tomleppert.com Tom Leppert's official website"]
* [http://www.dallascityhall.com/government/mayor/mayor.html Tom Leppert's mayoral website"]

Succession box
before=Laura Miller
title=Mayors of Dallas| after= -
years=2007-present