Mayor Paul Harpole's Introductory Remarks

ANETTE J. CARLISLE INTRODUCTION

November 9, 2011 Campaign kickoff

Good afternoon. It’s great to see everyone today.  

I want everyone to take a few minutes and look around the room.   No, really, look around and see all the leaders here in the room.  Anette Carlisle is a leader among leaders.

One of the best parts of being mayor is that I get to work with people who have an amazing love for our community. And I can easily say the person at the top of that list is my dear friend Anette Carlisle.

For those of you who already know her, you’ll have to agree with me that Anette has a singular vision of growth and prosperity for the Texas Panhandle. She’s a tireless worker with a heartfelt desire to make our community, our region, and our state an even better place to live. And as one of your elected officials on the AISD school board she’s built consensus, solved problems, and has always kept her eye on what’s right for all of us she represents.

But let me tell you a little about Anette you might not know. She has both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Zoology from Texas Tech University. She’s served as President of the Amarillo Women’s Forum, Wildcat Bluff Nature Center, Bivins Elementary PTA, Austin Middle School Excellence Council, the Tascosa High School Excellence Council and the Baptist-St. Anthony's Foundation, to name a few.

Her service as an elected leader began in 1996 when she was first elected to the Amarillo Independent School District Board of Trustees.  She is now in the midst of her fourth four-year term and her third stint as board president.

That enough to keep more than a few people busy, but not Anette. She’s also been an active member of Leadership Texas, the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce Governmental Affairs and State Affairs Council, the Potter-Randall County Child Welfare Board, Center City of Amarillo Board, the Junior League of Amarillo, the Amarillo Education Foundation Board, and was a founding director of the Baptist-St. Anthony’s Foundation and the Senior Ambassador Coalition.  She is a Texas Fellow with the Center for Reform of School Systems, whose focus is on reform governance for excellence in education.

Recently, Anette served our city as chair of Amarillo’s Comprehensive Plan Development Committee as well as being the driving force behind Panhandle Twenty/20, a cause she’s been passionately working on since 2002.

For her community dedication, Anette’s received the 2007 Amarillo Globe News Headliner of the Year Award and the 2008 Amarillo Women’s Forum Distinguished Service Award.

If you boil down all this hard work, all this passion, all this tremendous capacity to give back, what you get is this: Anette Carlisle truly cares.

She cares about our community.  She cares about our state.  She cares about our future and she passionately cares about our kids

I’m proud to know her, and I’m extremely happy that she’s in our community every day working for all of us.

Let me stop while I’m ahead and give you the real reason you’ve come here today. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my distinct honor to introduce Anette Carlisle.