50 years of Leadership Dallas: LD ‘reinforced the criticality of caring for our community’

By Amber Dyer, Coordinator, Communications & Marketing 

To celebrate 50 years of Leadership Dallas (LD), presented by Grant Thornton, the Dallas Regional Chamber’s premier leadership development program, we are highlighting a series of alumni to learn more about the LD experience.  

As a proud 50-year resident of the Dallas area, Todd Burns, President at UMB Bank Dallas, was looking for a local platform to help him make a greater impact. In his search, he found LD.

“LD helped to further ignite my passion to make things better for all and showed me how to use ideas, resources, and talent to achieve great deeds,” said Burns, a member of the LD Class of 2006. “Throughout my LD experience, which includes alumni efforts, it [was] amazing to see how LD serves as a dedicated launching point to foster a genuine care for Dallas while supporting leaders as they develop in their careers.” 

LD not only supported leaders throughout their development but also demonstrated the power of change through intentional leadership.  

“My class—and all classes—were able to learn about the greatness of Dallas and the challenges the city faces while collaborating as a class to find solutions,” he said. “The vision of Dallas and the power of its leaders come alive through intentional impact in the service of others.”  

Inspired by the selflessness of leaders who prioritize serving others, Burns adopted the same standard. 

“These leaders have no agenda other than bettering the organizations and communities they serve,” he said. “There are few leaders in this city that can tout that type of consistent selflessness in their daily work. That type of leadership is a bar that I hold for myself and my teams, and LD emphasized its importance.” 

Combining this new standard with his father’s advice to “use [his] energy for good” transformed his perception of leadership. 

“[LD reinforced] the criticality of caring for our community in our chosen roles,” said Burns. “As I carried that idea and applied it through my decades in Dallas, I am proud of the various ways that I helped teams organize around efforts focused on serving others.” 

For instance, Burns helped a leader participating in the LD program use their organization’s foundation funds to boost the budget for LD’s annual project, bringing various benefits to the community and the funding corporation. 

“The money helped build a food bank and provide consistent food access to a local community in a food desert, [and] the initial ask helped refine the corporation’s focus and strategic resource allocation in Dallas,” he said. “To see a corporation execute on that many tangible results in a short period of time via one LD-related ‘ask’ for their annual project was an awesome win for many and one that was certainly impactful. A great example of what you learn in LD.” 

Having experienced the benefits of LD firsthand, Burns recommends the program to aspiring leaders in the Dallas Region who are committed to being active change agents and believe in the power of collaboration.  

“There is no better organization in Dallas that helps leaders understand the needs and opportunities of the city while providing an instant network that can be leveraged in the business world.”