Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > August > 28
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Concordia University Texas Gala at the Four Seasons Hotel
A pattern develops, almost inexorably, while socializing in Austin. It begins with cursory introductions, perhaps as part of a group at a party or a club. Eventually, an individual conversation catches fire. Later, a whole afternoon or evening is devoted to familiarizing oneself with another Austinite, or handful of them.
Claudia Teinert and Jim McConnell
This pattern was borne out through Concordia University Texas. On a busy social night a couple of years ago, I attended the cocktail portion of school’s first Excellence in Leadership dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel. I did so out of respect for Elizabeth Christian and Associates, the veteran Austin public relations firm which informed me of the budding event.
At the next year’s gala, I paused in the lobby for chats with some of Concordia’s backers and leaders. I was impressed. Still, I barely knew their names. Then, a few weeks ago, Concordia president Tom Cedel and his wife, Penny, took me on a tour of the still-new West Austin campus. The proverbial scales fell from my eyes as this cheerful power pair revealed, not only the university’s physical promise, but its rare sense of clear purpose.
Matt and Heather Powell
So Friday night, I brushed away other invitations to spend the entire evening with the Concordia crew at the Four Seasons gala, which has grown every year. In the packed lobby, I chatted with former Austin mayor Bruce Todd and his wife Elizabeth Christian, also with her business teammate, the heavily pregnant but radiant Kristin Marcum.
I was pleased to join the Cedels at their table, discreetly to the side of the main dining room, near the dais. Joining the discussion around the meal were board members and their spouses, such as Ed and Carolyn Moerbe, and Alan and Alice Werchan, as well as Penny’s mother, Helen Garrard, a newly minted Texan with a fresh driver’s license. To my left was Lance Thompson, a senior and baseball player at Concordia who would later speak eloquently from the stage about his educational journey and the business he founded (already!).
Abigail Pfiester Rue and Blake Rue
Communications professor Abigail Pfiester Rue kept the ceremonies paced and punctuated; newspaperman and the dinner’s honoree, John Garrett, spoke of the religious inspiration that helped him expand a Community Impact business. (He leaned rather heavily on the David vs. Goliath analogy, which drew eyes in my direction, presumably as representative of the giant.)
By the time it was all over, it felt like I had joined a club. That’s what a gala should do. And, for those who dismiss them, that’s why I attend, if gingerly at first.
UPDATE
An earlier version of this post did not mention Garrett’s newspaper chain: Community Impact. Also, his last name was misspelled.
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iCare Gala for Care Communities at Airport Hilton
Last season, your social columnist fairly gushed about the iCare Gala for the Care Communities. The speeches, videos and testimonials moved just about everyone in the room at the TDS Exotic Game Ranch. The interfaith group organizes teams to support the seriously ill, sort of like Meal on Wheels and More, but targeted to particularly severe cases.
Hal Katz and Ana Pechenik
This year, iCare moved to the Airport Hilton. First a word about the doughnut-shaped building, formerly a U.S. Air Force headquarters, on the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport grounds. The open atrium rises to a striking climax, at once modern and casual, and the event rooms on the ground floor and in the basement offer a flexible social experience, once one gets past the odd-shaped spaces and obstructing support beams.
Ramkrishna Prakash and Carol Thompson
Right away, super-connector Carol Thompson introduced me one of her new causes, Ramkrishna Prakash, the software wiz who is exploring ways to care for the elderly in their homes. Outreach coodinator Roger Temme proved ever the gracious host, and he filled me in on this year’s honorees — Roseanne Becker, Charlotte Hale and MariBen Ramsey.
Rebecca Crossley, Evelyn Williams, Wendy Chapman, Marlene Gescke and Nicole Anderson
I approached one table for a party picture only to have the entire, rambunctious bunch jump up for the shot. They remained good sports about squeezing together for the traditional vertical visual treatment.
They begged — no, insisted — that I join their table for the remainder of the ceremony. But after four social events, spread all across the city, it was time to call it a night, and to bid this outstanding charity all the best.
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Austin Fearless Woman Award at Maggiano’s
What a thrill to enter a room full of dauntless women. At a banquet hall inside the vast, dark Maggiano’s in the Domain, several dozen crisply dressed leaders from the Austin Chapter of EWomen Network had gathered Thursday to give out the Austin Fearless Woman Award.
Patti DeNucci and Jean Carpenter Backus
The nationwide Fearless Women Days — and their attendant awards — were timed to the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. The victor was entrepreneur, environmentalist, filmmaker and screenwriter Brandy Amstel, who posed with a rather serious looking sword which was used by photographer Mary Ann Halpin in her book of portraits, titled, of course, “Fearless Women.”
Brandy Amstel and Steve Barcik
Two Austin entrepreneurs, Jean Carpenter-Backus of Carpenter and Langford, and Patti DeNucci of DeNucci & Co. were featured prominently in the book.
Lisa Copeland, Melinda Garvey and Ricci Neer
Other finalists for the local award included Melinda Garvey, Austin Woman Magazine, Sari Waxler, Seedling Foundation, Melanie Moore. Badgerdog Literary Publishing, Cherie Matthews, Heal in Comfort.
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