2007-2008

During the fourteenth chapter year, the officers were President—Becky Allbritton, Vice President—Nancy Holverson, Treasurer—Katherine Ebel, Recording Secretary—Barbara Fields, and Corresponding Secretary—Regina Landreneau. 

At the beginning of the year, the Tomball Charter Chapter implemented milestone awards to be presented at the chapter meetings as each member hits a 5, 10, or 15-year milestone, as well as a perfect attendance award at the end of the year.

The Tomball Charter Chapter had twenty people registered for the HACA Education Event in August and paid for sixteen members to attend.  Four non-members attended through the promotion of a Tomball Charter Chapter member and paid for themselves.  The Tomball Charter Chapter also handled a lot of the food logistics for the day.  Some members donated money to purchase soft drinks, bottled water, chips, and snacks for the event and other members donated food items.  Our members contacted Tomball area businesses, such as the Spring Cypress and Tomball Wal-Mart stores and were able to obtain through donations orange juice, Danishes, and all paper products for the event. 

In August, we spread the word to the community during Tomball Night about ABWA National and the local organization and sold light-up necklaces that were donated by a member. 

In September, we had five (5) members attend the 2007 National Leadership Conference in Greensboro, NC.  Three of the members’ registrations were paid for in full by the chapter.  All five would have been paid for in full, but the other two members were paid for by their company or as President of the HACA.  We also received our 10^th Star Award (for the 2006-2007 year) at the 2007 National Leadership Conference in Greensboro, NC.

In December, Vergie Kitchens hosted our 13th annual Christmas Celebration at her home where we collected donations for three different charities in the Tomball/Magnolia Community.  We donated to Shop With A Cop sponsored by Tomball Police Officers Association.  Twenty officers each take one needy child on a shopping trip to Wal-Mart and each child receives $200.00 to spend.  The Sacred Heart Day Care Center is a non-profit day care center located in Tomball that provides childcare for 36 children on a sliding scale to low income families.  A portion of the money was used to buy a gift for each of the children at the center.  The balance of the money was used to provide Christmas for two needy families.  One of our members provided gifts for a third needy family.  Sadly, at the end of November, one of our chapter members, Lori Floyd passed away from cancer.  At the last minute and through a joint effort between ABWA and TBPW (Tomball Business & Professional) where we collected donations for Lori's daughters Darienne and Madeline.  There were also five offers from the ladies to take the girls on an outing.

The board suggested to membership that an Education Replenishment Fund be established on a chapter level, designed to grow year over year to reimburse members for business relevant courses, workshops, and/or certifications as it pertains to their existing business, or fulfill a need to embark upon a new career. 

In March, our Business Associate Event continued to serve two purposes year over year as we honored our Woman of Distinction (Kathy Clark), Woman of the Year (Judy  Testori), Top Ten Candidate (Diane Holland), Woman of Excellence (Katherine Ebel), and Business Associate (Lone Star College’s Marlene Ruffino). It afforded our members and guests networking opportunities, as well as raised funds.  

In April the chapter reimbursed seven (7) members for their Registration Fees to the District II Spring Conference in San Antonio, Texas.  We also received a District II Newsletter Award in San Antonio and are eligible to compete at the National Conference in Covington, Kentucky October 2008 for a National Newsletter award.

In May, the Tomball Charter Chapter’s only male member, Frank Ortiz was presented with the ABWA “Good Guy” pin for his continued support and dedication to the Tomball Charter Chapter.  The chapter members donated items and their time to conduct a Garage Sale and we awarded two $1,000 Special Scholarships to Lone Star College students.

In June the chapter sponsored our 4^th annual Business Expo to showcase The Tomball Charter Chapter, our chapter member businesses, and community businesses. 

From April through June our chapter sold raffle tickets for our Cruise Raffle.  Through raffle ticket sales, the chapter netted $1,740.

In July we awarded a $1,500 SBMEF Grant to a Lone Star College student.  Members Katherine Ebel, Tracy Porter, and Kathy Lund applied for and received the Business Skills Grant through SBMEF and the chapter.

In July the Tomball Charter Chapter celebrated its 15^th anniversary.  The three remaining charter members; Vickie Butler-Rindos, Nancy Holverson, and Vergie Kitchens were presented with a plaque of appreciation for their 15 years of continued service to the Tomball Charter Chapter and we enjoyed an anniversary cake.  We awarded Perfect Attendance certificates to Becky Allbritton, Kathy Clark, Barbara Thompson, Katherine Ebel, Regina Landreneau, and Judy Testori for attending all meetings and functions throughout the chapter year. 

2006-2007

During the fourteenth chapter year, the officers were President—Kathi Starcher, Vice President—Becky Arnold, Treasurer—TCC Board, Recording Secretary—Kim Johannesen, and Corresponding Secretary—Katherine Ebel.

The board implemented two $1,000 special scholarships to be given in addition to the SBMEF $1,500 grant and a $1,000 special scholarship designated for 2005-2006 that was not awarded.

Six members attended the National Conference in Anaheim, California in September 2006 and witnessed our very own District II Vice President, Lina Lawson, awarded the most prestigious honor ABWA bestows upon a member, The 2007 ABWA Woman of the Year as well as being voted in as National Vice President.  TCC members were reimbursed for their registration.

In December, Vergie Kitchens hosted our twelfth annual Christmas Celebration at her home where we collected donations for five different charities in the Tomball/Magnolia Community. 

Janet Petry led the chapter in the Super Star Talent Night/Karaoke contest fundraiser.  Auditions were held through January and February and the top 20 finalist performed in March.  Three monetary prizes were awarded by judges and our very own member, Tracy Hood, placed second.

The chapter held its Annual Business Associate’s Event to honor the Woman of Distinction – Regina Landreneau, Woman of the Year – Katherine Ebel, Top Ten Candidate – Becky Allbritton, Woman of Excellence – Kim Johannesen, and Business Associate Crystal Christmas.  This event netted the chapter approximately $1,200 toward professional development and scholarships.

Eight members attended the District II Spring Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana in March and were reimbursed for their registration.

Katherine Ebel hosted a “Meet and Greet” at her home in April where the officers and members attended to inform guests about the Tomball Charter Chapter and ABWA.

Judy Testori applied for and received the Business Skills Grant through SBMEF and the chapter.

A nominating committee was put into place to ready the chapter for the May elections for 2007-2008 officers.

The Networking Expo was held in June and the turnout was excellent.  The chapter made money off the booths and the vendors and public enjoyed the event.

July brought the installation of the 2007-2008 board.

2005-2006

During the 13th chapter year, the officers were:
President—Barbara Fields,
Vice President—Becky Arnold
Treasurer—Dottie Dodson
Recording Secretary—Tracy Hood
Corresponding Secretary—Kathi Starcher

The Executive Board and chairs set goals for the upcoming year to include fundraising to be able to fund Chapter member’s participation at a District Spring Conference, National Leadership Conference, Business Skills Grants Program, funding for the SBMEF Grant, and for the additional scholarship implemented in 2004-2005.

The year started off with a bang! The Chapter participated in Tomball Night by selling bottled water and cruise raffle tickets. Tomball Night not only gave the members an opportunity to raise money but also to heighten community awareness of the Tomball Chapter.

In October, we participated in The Regional Arts Council Art Walk Festival. Again, we sold bottled water and soft drinks to increase community awareness of the Tomball Chapter. The cruise raffle netted $2,650 toward Business Skills Grants, the 2005 National Leadership Conference member registrations, the 2006 Spring Conference registrations, and the SBMEF Grant and Special Scholarship. Vice President Becky Arnold and Recruitment Director Kim Johannesen inducted new members into the Chapter.

In November, ten members attended the National Women’s Leadership Conference in Grapevine, Texas, where the chapter received its 9th Star Award. We sold whole cooked briskets for our Thanksgiving Fundraiser through which we netted $1,670.

In December, at the home of Vergie Kitchens, we held our 11 th Annual Christmas Celebration during which we collected donations for five different charities in the Tomball/Magnolia Community.

In March, three members attended the District II Spring Conference in Philadelphia, Mississippi where National unveiled their ABWA Extreme Makeover Program. We also held our Business Associates Event to honor Becky Arnold, FHPW Woman of Excellence; Kim Johannesen, Woman of the Year; Kathi Starcher, Woman of Distinction and Top Ten Candidate; and Vickie Butler-Rindos, Business Associate. This event netted the chapter $1,800.

April and May found the Chapter in full swing with the Spring Membership Drive. We participated in the Tomball Area Chamber if Commerce Business Expo where we introduced many women to ABWA. In June, we held our 2nd Annual Business-to-Member Expo, which was a smashing hit, attracting non-ABWA members to our Expo and giving us the opportunity to share the Tomball Charter Chapter with them. We closed out the year with a bang by receiving the Banner Award from National.

2004-2005

During our twelth Chapter year, Barbara Fields served as our President. The remainder of the Executive Board included Carla Bailey as Vice President, Tracy Hood as Treasurer, Karen Kukoda as Recording Secretary, and Dottie Dodson as Corresponding Secretary.

The executive board and chairs set goals for the upcoming year to include fundraising to be able to fund Chapter member’s participation at the District II Spring Conference, National Leadership Conference, professional growth and development opportunities, and add an additional scholarship for 2005-2006.

In October, we sold soft drinks at The Regional Arts Council Art Festival to raise money. In November, we sold whole cooked briskets. We held our 11th annual Christmas party at no cost to the membership as well as once again adopting a single mom and her 3 children for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In February, we changed the format of the meeting to include announcements while members were having dinner. This helped to streamline our meeting leaving more time for networking and programs.

National challenged all Chapters with their “High Five Challenge” in March. The Chapters were to have five guests at the March, April, and May Chapter meetings; enroll five members in the three months; send five members to a Spring Conference, and sign up five prospective members for the National Leadership Conference in November 2005. We met this challenge head on by having 41 guests throughout the 3 months, enrolled 9 new members, sent twenty-four members to the District II Spring Conference, and have fifteen members to date commit to the National Leadership Conference in Grapevine.

In April, the Chapter served as one of 4 sponsoring Chapters for the 2005 District II Spring Conference. Twenty-four Tomball Chapter members attended the District II Spring Conference. 18 members attended at no personal cost due to qualifying for Chapter funds.

Barbara Fields, Newsletter Editor once again brought home District newsletter competition honors and will be eligible to compete at the National Leadership Conference in November in Grapevine.

Because of outstanding work by our members, the Spring Conference experienced several firsts including the choice of one of 6 different conference bags, 50+ items in each bag, a free rose and a cookie at check in, a free concert by Don Irwin Friday evening, and free lapel pins at the Sunday breakfast. A special congratulations and thanks to Vickie Butler-Rindos – General Chair, Barbara Fields – Vice General Chair, Becky Arnold – Registration Chair, Nancy Holverson Ways & Means Chair, Carla Bailey – Newsletter Competition Chair, Diane Holland – Newsletter Competition Co-Chair, Judy DiBetta – Appreciation Chair, Regina Landreneau – Hostess Chair, and Joan Luedke – Religious Co-Chair.

In May we hosted a fantastic Business Associates Event featuring our guest speaker, Joel Hoffman, tennis pro and international trainer. A new level of recognition, Woman of Distinction, was established by the executive board to recognize a Chapter member that contributes behind the scenes. The BA event also earned more money than any other BA event in history. $3,600 of the funds will offset members’ registration for the National Leadership Conference in November, an additional $1,000 scholarship will be established and awarded in the spring, member attendance to the Houston Area Council’s Education event will be funded, and the SBMEF fund for 2005-2006 has been sent to National.

The executive board established three new positions in an effort to increase membership, raise Chapter funds, and interact in community activities. Each director will appoint a director elect for their position to oversee the chairmanships set up. The board’s desire is to have each director appoint a chair of the various committees that fall under their umbrella. Kim Johannesen agreed to serve as the Recruitment Director with Vickie Butler-Rindos advising. This position was established to oversee all membership activities and to focus on different areas of the community to get the word out about ABWA. Chairmanships will include the school districts (Tomball/Magnolia), the hospital district, the college district, and the banks.

Regina Landreneau accepted the position of Fundraising Director. Regina will oversee all fundraising activities to include a possible craft show, a possible car show, a possible carnival, brisket sale, cruise raffle, and the business associate event. Barbara Fields volunteered for Fundraising Director Elect for the 2005-2006 chapter year.

The Community Liaison Director will appoint chairs to continually keep in touch with the community events and create ways to function in conjunction with the community.

Our July meeting was an incredible success. Caroline Smith, Houston Area Council President, inducted our 2005-2006 officers. And, we held our 2nd annual Business to Member Expo where we had over 90 booths and 100 plus members and guests in attendance. All-in-all, we had an incredibly successful year increasing our fundraising dollars and increasing our membership from 42 to 72.

 

2003-2004

During our 11th Chapter year, Robbie Fravel served as our President. The remainder of the Executive Board included Cyndy Justice as Vice President, Judy Testori as Treasurer, Barbara Fields as Recording Secretary, and Carla Bailey as Corresponding Secretary. We started the year with a Picnic and Fashion Show that was held jointly by our Tomball ABWA Chapter and the Tomball Professional Business Women’s Association. This event was held in an effort to form an alliance between the two groups and to provide networking opportunities. In November, eight chapter members attended a fantastic National Convention in Las Vegas. A wonderful time was had by all. Our chapter voted to join three other ABWA Chapters in North Houston to sponsor the 2005 District II Spring Conference. We won the bid and the Spring Conference will be held at The Woodlands Marriott Conference Center from April 1-3, 2005. Vickie Butler-Rindos and Barbara Fields from our chapter were elected to be General Chair and Vice General Chair of the Conference. In April we had a fantastic Business Associates Event featuring our ABWA National President, Karen Couillard, as our speaker. We recognized the following honorees at this event: Barbara Fields, Top Ten Candidate; Cyndy Justice, Woman of the Year and Woman of Excellence; and Diane Holland was our Business Associate. Also in April, four of our members attended the District II Spring Conference in Oklahoma City. Our Chapter won the newsletter competition at the District level and Barbara Fields, newsletter chair, was very deserving of the honor. The Houston Area Council of ABWA also gives awards each year to member Chapters and Networks. Our Chapter Brochure received 2nd Place and our Chapter Website received Honorable Mention. As a result of everyone’s hard work throughout the year, our Chapter obtained our 8th STAR AWARD.

 

2002–2003

Nancy Holverson led the Chapter as President during our 10th year with some non-traditional activities in order to increase the fun! One of these activities was the “First Annual Halloween Costume Contest” held at our October meeting. Members voted the previous month to conduct the contest and over 20 members and guests arrived in full costume! Other Board members contributing to this very successful year were Janet Petry as Vice President, Judy Testori as Treasurer, Robbie Fravel as Recording Secretary, and Rachel Petry as Corresponding Secretary. We had a very exciting Chapter year planned and with the help of the entire organization, increased our chapter membership to 60 members – a first in our 10-year history. In August, the chapter voted to join the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce to increase our awareness in the local community. In September, we celebrated American Business Women’s Day with Mayor Pro-Tem Diane Holland presenting a Proclamation to the chapter in front of the new Heritage Park at City Hall. In November we had a float in the Tomball Holiday Parade, and once again, we sponsored a family at Christmas through the TEAM program. Ten of our members attended the National Convention in Nashville, TN in December where we were honored to support our own 2003 National Top 10 Vickie Butler-Rindos. Six members attended the District II Spring Conference in Waco, Texas in March with one member’s conference registration being paid by the chapter. A contest was held to help our Hospitality Committee increase the number of responses and reservations. Members Judy Testori and Cyndy Justice won awards for attending every membership meeting for the entire chapter year!  Eligible members had the opportunity to be selected to attend spring conference with the registration paid for by the chapter. Through generous donations and sponsorships at our May awards event and tea, we were able to once again contribute to the SBMEF scholarship fund and were able to give a student from the Tomball area, who attends University of North Texas, an outright grant in the amount of $1200 through the National SBMEF Scholarship Program. We continued to promote our Chapter at the Tomball Chamber Business Expo again this year. Through the chapter’s continued support throughout the year, we met or exceeded all of the requirement to obtain our 8th STAR AWARD. The following ladies were honored with awards during the year. Our Woman of the Year was Barbara Fields, our Top Ten Nominee was Vergie Kitchens, our Woman of Excellence was Regina Landreneau, and our Business Associate was Bruce Hillegeist, President of the Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce. We ended our year with a special 10-year anniversary celebration in July. In addition to the six charter members in attendance, we were also honored to have July 17th proclaimed ABWA 10th Anniversary Day by Mayor Hap Harrington, with the Proclamation presented by Mayor Pro-Tem Diane Holland. District II Vice President Dyane Magliolo conducted our installation ceremony and we enjoyed birthday cake at the end of the celebration. Our chapter, along with three other northwest Houston area chapters, submitted a bid to host the 2005 Spring Conference.

 

2001-2002

Regina Landreneau guided the Chapter as President during our ninth year. Other Board members included Cyndy Justice, Vice President, Rebecca Wunderlich, Recording Secretary, Kathi Blackmon, Treasurer, and Janet Petry as our Corresponding Secretary. We had a very active Chapter year and did so many exciting things. In September we celebrated American Business Women's Day and had our picture taken with the Mayor of Tomball. Six of our members attended the National Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico in October, in November we had a float in the Tomball Holiday Parade, and we sponsored a family at Christmas through the TEAM program. The activities continued as we raised $1250 with our FFA fundraisers at Tomball and Magnolia

High Schools, we had a spectacular Business Associate's Event in March for which we won the Lizzie Award from the Houston Council, we had five members attend the Spring Conference in Baton Rouge, LA in April, in May we promoted our Chapter at the Tomball Expo, and in June, we partnered with Ty Felan and her DIVAS program to provide support and mentoring for young ladies in the community. We were able to give a student from the Tomball area, who attends Texas A&M University, an out-right grant in the amount of $1200 through the National SBMEF Scholarship Program. Another project for our Chapter was to develop a Chapter Brochure. We received an honorable mention by the Houston Council for our Brochure. As a result of everyone's hard work, our Chapter obtained our 7th STAR AWARD. The following ladies were honored with awards during the year. Our Woman of the Year was Regina Landreneau, our Top Ten Nominee was Vickie Butler-Rindos (Vickie was also selected as a National Top Ten), our Woman of Excellence was Nancy Holverson, and our Business Associate was Debi Aarthun, owner of Aarthun Performance Group.