Tiny Batts Award for Service 2023
June 15, 2023 | By LFWTiny Batts Award for Service
This award is presented to recipients who have committed significant service to Leadership Fort Worth and its mission. It is named in honor of Leadership Fort Worth’s founding Executive Director, Mrs. Tiny Batts.
She helped establish Leadership Fort Worth in collaboration with the Fort Worth Chamber, Junior League of Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, and The University of Texas at Arlington to support the succession planning of leaders across Fort Worth. Tiny led LFW from 1972 to 1994 and was directly involved in the first 22 cohorts of LeadershipClass totaling 881 graduates.
Award recipients should demonstrate LFW’s values, commitment to the community, trusteeship in their leadership within or outside of LFW, and have served LFW for 15+ years.
Ann Barr
Former LeaderKids Program Director
Ann began working for Leadership Fort Worth in 1999 doing the jobs of both Administration and Manager of the LeaderKids Program. As both areas grew, she decided to focus on her first love, the LeaderKids program. She retired in June of 2022 after working for LFW for 23 years. Ann is a graduate of Baylor University with a degree in Elementary Education. She is married to Allan Bar, a 1976 LFW graduate of LFW, with whom she shares two daughters and five grandchildren. Before joining LFW she taught school in both Dallas and Fort Worth. She also worked in her husband’s family business, The Barr Company, Printers. Her family has been very active in civic activities in Fort Worth. Her father-in-law, Willard Barr, was Mayor of Fort Worth in the mid-sixties, her brother-in-law, Kenneth Barr, was Mayor from 1996-2003, and her husband serves on several boards in the community. Ann is an active member of University Christian Church where she has served as a deacon and is an elder. She has served in several positions on the UCC Weekday school board as well as heading several other church committees. She has been a part of the UCC Chancel Choir for over 40 years and has served on the Choir Council in several positions including President. She has been active with the Junior League, chairing several Mayfest committees. Ann has been active with Jewel Charity, The Woman’s Club, and several other organizations.
Dr. Harriet Harral LC1988
Former LFW Executive Director
Dr. Harral is principal consultant with The Harral Group: Specializing in Organizational Effectiveness, and owner and creator for HarralCrafts, Wreaths and Arrangements.
In June 2020, Harriet retired after 25 years as Executive Director of Leadership Fort Worth, educating, empowering and connecting diverse leaders to serve as community trustees. During her tenure, she grew LFW from one to five leadership development programs in order to serve a broader spectrum of the community, now encompassing more than 4000 community leaders. In addition, she led as LFW created and launched Steer Fort Worth for the Mayor’s Office and BoardBuild in partnership with the United Way of Tarrant County. She chaired the national Association of Leadership Programs which recognized her as a Preceptor, and awarded LFW the Excellence in Innovation and Pacesetter awards. Dr. Harral formerly was Director of the Center for Productive Communication in the M. J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. During her tenure, the Princeton Review rated the Neeley School #1 in the nation for three consecutive years in the development of communication skills. Harral is the author of Instructor’s Manual: Speaking @ Work, Allyn and Bacon, 2006; Strategies for Interpersonal Communication: Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank (6 editions), Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 6th ed., 2005; and Communication: Leadership Skills for Women, Birmingham: New Hope, 1994, as well as numerous articles. She was selected as a Great Woman of Texas in 2015, the Outstanding Woman of Fort Worth in 2000, and has received the ASTD Distinguished Individual Achievement Award and the Keithley Award for Outstanding Woman in Public Management in North Texas. She was the first honoree of the Will Courtney Award for Outstanding Service to Goodwill Industries in 2013, received the Legacy of Women award in 2018 from Safe Haven, was named one of 400 People of Influence by Inc. Magazine in 2019, was recognized with the WAVE Award from Tarrant County College District in 2020, and is a Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary International. Dr. Harral serves on the national boards of Baptist News Global and Northern Baptist Seminary as well as the local Renaissance Heights Foundation board, and is an active advocate with the Justice Committee of Broadway Baptist Church. She is Past President of the international board of The Community Leadership Association, past Moderator of the national board of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, past president of the Board of Directors of Goodwill Industries
of Fort Worth, Inc., and Past-Chair of the Board of Deacons at Broadway.
Mariem Harris LC1995
Volunteer LeaderKids Executive Director
Timing is everything! Mariem is a native of Kentucky, and got to Fort Worth as soon as she could, by way of 7 years in Nashville, TN and 7 years in Little Rock, AR. For 28 years she was happily married to the late Anthony Gardner Harris, a fifth generation Texan and native of Fort Worth. For 4 decades, she pursued a career as corporate counsel. During her longest stint at RadioShack Corporation, she enjoyed mentoring young lawyers, paralegals, and legal secretaries. As a member of the LFW Class of 1995, she was challenged by Carol Miner, a LFW guest speaker, to find her niche, stay true to her passion, and devote herslef as a trustee of my community. Her advice was prescient. That year her class projects emanated from Mayor Kay Granger’s challenge: Our City Our Children. They envisioned ways Fort Worth could become a more child friendly city. In Spring 1995 our project group embarked upon a plan to empower youth volunteers. Brian Bowden, Early Davis, Sonja Gaines, Gary Gillette, Gwen Morgan, Martin Noto, Debby Watson, Martha White, Susan Wilcox, Nancy Willson, Judi Wood, and she launched LeaderKids Fort Worth as a test program in 5 FWISD middle schools in Fall 1995. She volunteered to serve as LKFW executive director for the first year, and stayed for 2 decades! It has been her privilege and pleasure to observe the growth and development of the next generation of Fort Worth’s leaders. In 27 years, LKFW has mentored 1,250 students from all 21 FWISD middle schools and helped develop their leadership skills. This was possible through the inspiration and dedication of LFW staff, especially Harriet Harral and Ann Barr, LFW volunteer mentors, and TCU student mentors, and the support of community partners, including the FWISD, TCC, TCU, and YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth. When you see a brightly painted mural or a flower-herb-vegetable garden at a FWISD school, or colorful wildflowers along the banks of the Trinity River, you may be enjoying the handiwork and the legacy of LeaderKids Fort Worth, who leaned into their futures and paid it forward.
Quentin McGown LC1992
LFW History Tour Guide
Quentin McGown is a sixth generation Texan and fourth generation Fort Worth attorney with a lifelong interest in history. He now serves as Associate Judge in Tarrant County Probate Court Number One, having served as General Counsel, Director of Gift Planning, and Alumni Director at Texas Wesleyan University, from which he graduated with degrees in theatre and law. He served on the City of Fort Worth Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission for six years, serving as Chair for three, and he is a past chair of the Tarrant County Historical Commission. He served on the city’s sesquicentennial history committee and co-chaired the Tarrant County Bar Association’s centennial celebration. He is an alumnus of the Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court and serves on the planning committee for the annual Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering. He also serves on the Endowment and Development Boards of Meals on Wheels, Inc. of Tarrant County, and is a board member of the Cowboy Heritage Association. He is past president of the Tarrant County Historical Society and current president of Hip Pocket Theatre. He teaches courses on Fort Worth history for the TCU Center for Texas Studies, and is an adjunct instructor in Political Science and Paralegal Studies at Texas Wesleyan. He has written three books, Fort Worth in Vintage Postcards, Historic Photos of Fort Worth, and Remembering Fort Worth ,and is working on a new book exploring Fort Worth’s mid-century modern architecture. He and his wife, Laurie, are slowly restoring their 116 year-old downtown Fort Worth home and a mid-century National Register property nestled in the remnant Cross Timbers post oaks on Lake Worth.
