Two years ago, I was at the Davey O"Brien awards presentation and ran into Felix Lozano, an old high school friend who is a senior executive with Whitley Penn. We made pleasantries, and he complimented Fort Worth, Texas magazine having just celebrated its 15th anniversary. He then asked me if I had ever thought of publishing a business magazine for the Fort Worth area similar to D CEO, published by D Magazine. I told him that in fact I had been thinking of just that. His response was, "When you pull the trigger, call me first and I'll be your first advertiser." A year and half later, I made that call and Whitley Penn became our second advertiser.
The first company to come on board was Gus Bates Insurance, which was actually my second call. Within three minutes of sitting down with Gus Jr. (son of the legendary man who founded the company almost 40 years ago) and sharing my mission statement for FW Inc., Gus said, "I love it! Sign me up for all four issues." He was sold on the mission and sold on the concept.
Hal Brown
Hal Brown
The heart of our editorial focus (and frankly where my biggest passion for this product comes from) is the stimulating commentaries about some of the area's best and brightest executives – entrepre-neurs who unpack their professional journeys, sharing their stories and experiences (the good, the bad and the ugly). It is my desire that as a senior business executive, you will relate to these stories and that they unite you to an emotion, an inspiration or a mistake you made, and that you make a personal connection to the subject of the commentary.
These stories, along with our lifestyle articles covering everything from Texas whiskey to gadgets and travel, provide the framework for our mission to deliver inspirational, educational and entertaining articles through shared experiences, lessons learned and best practices to help you run your own companies better and have fun doing it.
One of the benefits of launching FW Inc. is the addition of Scott Nishimura to our staff. Scott is a truly gifted writer and reporter and now FW Inc.'s new executive editor. As a former Star-Telegram reporter for 28 years, and most recently a reporter for the Business Press, he knows Fort Worth business as well as any writer in the market.
Outside of Scott's significant contribution to this first issue, I want to specifically recognize my creative director, Craig Sylva, who is a true superstar. I have worked with a lot of creative people over the years, and typically the more talented they are, the harder they are to manage. Not only is Craig a creative genius, he is also a team player, positive, passionate and dedicated to excellence – all core values of our company.
A special thanks to Felix, Gus and all of the other advertisers who connected with my idea for this magazine and who steppedup, sight unseen, in its support. I hope all of you enjoy our inaugural issue. Please send me a note with your thoughts on what you think. This magazine is specifically designed for you, and I want to make sure we are providing you the type of reading experience you want.
