Thirty years ago, the Associate Leadership Council (ALC) was created as a way to provide TREC’s growing membership with continuing education, civic engagement, and exclusive networking opportunities.
Today, it is our organization’s flagship leadership development program, having prepared over 800 emerging Dallas commercial real estate executives to take the reins of their companies, the industry, and the North Texas region.
The inaugural Class of 1996 was chaired by founding TREC member Jeff Swope of Champion Partners and included 12 members. Over the years, classes grew to 30 participants and a 12-member Steering Committee comprised of ALC alumni in prominent leadership positions.
Even in that first class, one could see the makings of the modern ALC experience. The Class of 1996 completed one of TREC’s first-ever community investment projects in helping St. Philip’s School & Community Center acquire land for affordable housing development. The classes of 1997 and 1998 then took on projects in the La Calle Diez and Short North Dallas neighborhoods, respectively.
Every ALC class in program history has gone on to complete a community investment project, and annual participation has become a critical component of both Dallas Catalyst Project initiatives. ALC projects have received more than $1.72 million in TREC Community Investors grant funding, and class members have raised even more in pro-bono services and in-kind donations.
Other ALC standards and traditions progressed over time. Each class is chaired by an ALC program alum. Each program consists of nine themed class days and two lunchtime lectures with major business leaders. Recent programs have begun with a private networking event at the home of the TREC chairman, then a two-day teambuilding retreat. Happy hour concludes each program day. A graduation ceremony concludes each program.
During the summer, class members compete to fundraise for their community investment project in the run up to FightNight. The two class members who raise the most in raffle tickets and general donations are recognized in the ring between fights.
The FightNight traditions don’t end there. Each ALC class arrives by limousine, takes a group photo, and sits together at dinner.
While these traditions are significant program anchors, they also foster an environment that helps class members grow both as individual leaders and collective contributors. ALC participants receive personalized leadership training from an executive coaching firm, and the friendships and business connections class members form amongst themselves during the program can last a lifetime.
Alumni members have a few traditions of their own as well, most notably their return as ALC program stewards or leaders of TREC’s other boards and committees. It is not unusual for former classmates to reunite for dinner, and recent alums have also started a trivia challenge, the “Clash of the Classes,” to determine the Best Class Ever (BCE).
Fortunately, we already know who the Best Class Ever is: It’s every class, from our first in 1996 to our latest in 2026. It’s every class member, Steering Committee member, and chairman who has started an ALC tradition, continued another, and built the program – and, more importantly, North Texas’ commercial real estate industry – to what it has become over these last three decades.
Thank you for the steps you’ve taken, the history you’ve made, and the path you’ve laid for future generations to follow.
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