Board of Directors
Officers
Board Chair
Darby Burkey is a native of Rockwall, TX, and began her career in the Chamber industry in 2014. Before joining the Chamber industry, she had 18 years of small business ownership experience. She served on the Board of Directors at the Rockwall Chamber in 2012. Darby transitioned to the team in June 2014 as the Director of Marketing and Communications.
Darby has served as the President/CEO of the Rockwall Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center since November 2018. The Chamber represents 775 organizations and over 13k local employees. Darby completed the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management certification in November 2021. Additionally, she led the organization to a 5-Star Accreditation designation with the United States Chamber of Commerce in November 2022.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business with a concentration in Marketing from the University of North Texas. She is a graduate of Leadership Rockwall Class of 2010. Darby serves on the Board of the Texas Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. She is the incoming Chairman of the North Texas Chamber Executives Association and the Incoming Chairman of the Rockwall Noon Rotary Club. She is a past Board member of the North Texas Commission, the Rockwall ISD Education Foundation, and the Children’s Advocacy Center of Rockwall County Awareness Committee.
Darby enjoys traveling and calls Rockwall home with her fiancé, Kurt Nielsen.
Chair Elect
Michael Gallops served the Rowlett Area Chamber & Visitors Center as an Ambassador, Board Member, and Chair until he was hired as President/CEO in 2017. Michael also served in the Air Force for 10 years and was a Rowlett City Council member for 6 years.
Regionally, Michael was on the Emergency Preparedness Planning Council, the Legislative Coalition of the North Texas Crime Commission, the Leadership North Texas Steering Committee, and the Freedom Church Board. He’s a graduate of Leadership Rowlett, Leadership North Texas, and Rowlett Citizen’s Fire and Police Academies. He’s on the boards of Life Message, Rowlett CERT, Amateur Community Theater of Rowlett, FBI Dallas Citizens Academy Alumni Association, and the Garland ISD Education Foundation.
Michael has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Angelo State University and a Master of Science in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship from the University of Houston–Victoria.
Michael and his wife Jill live in Rowlett and have ten children and 12 grandchildren. They have fostered several children, and three of their ten are adopted.
Secretary
Jennifer Shumate has served as the Executive Director for the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce since January 2022. Jennifer, a lifelong resident of North Texas, has always had a community-minded spirit and has served on many boards and commissions over the last 25 years. Before coming to the Chamber, she worked for a municipality for ten years, where she served on the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce in that area and, before that, was in corporate event planning for a multi-billion-dollar company. Jennifer graduated from North Central Texas College in Gainesville, Texas, and she and her husband and three dogs reside in Cooke County.
Treasurer
Brian Bondy has been with the Granbury Chamber of Commerce since April 2021.
Bondy has been a part of chamber of commerce work in Texas and Missouri for over 30 years serving as a volunteer, committee member, committee chair, board member, and board officer before transitioning to the 'other side of the desk' with the Northwest Communities Chamber of Commerce in suburban St. Louis.
He has been a Rotarian for more than 20 years, having served as club president in both Kerrville and San Marcos, and is also a Paul Harris Fellow. Bondy graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University and has also earned the Institute of Organization Management (IOM) designation through his participation in and graduation from the US Chamber of Commerce Institute.
Brian and his wife Jean have two adult daughters, Lauren, who teaches in the Mansfield ISD, and Erin, who earned her Masters and PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, and one awesome granddaughter, Emery, who turned two in July.
Immediate Past Chiar
Sharon Mayer was named President/CEO of the Allen Chamber in August of 1997 after serving as President of the DeSoto Chamber and VP of Member Services for the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. She completed Institute for Organization Management in 1995 and received her CCE designation in July 2023.
Sharon currently serves as Chair of NTCE, a member of the board and executive committee for the North Texas Commission, and a member of the Advisory Board for Texas Health Resources Allen.
2023 marks Sharon’s 34th year in the Chamber business and 26th as the CEO of the Allen Fairview Chamber. She is married to Paul Mayer, CEO of the Garland Chamber. Together they have five children and eight grandchildren.
Division Chairs
Tammy Gazzola wears many hats in Weatherford, TX. Tammy has served as the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce President since 2006. The Weatherford Chamber has over 1,000+ members, serves as the Visitor Center for Weatherford, and organizes the award-winning Parker County Peach Festival!
Ellie Braxton-Leveen
President & CEO
Coppell Chamber of Commerce
Braxton-Leveen began her chamber of commerce career in 1995, as a Retention Specialist with the Modesto, California Chamber of Commerce. From there, she became the director of membership and marketing for the Richardson Chamber of Commerce in Richardson. She then spent 10 years as the vice president of one of the largest, most successful chamber of commerce membership development companies in the world.
Braxton-Leveen founded the company EB Best Practices in January of 2017, which served as an information and training resource for chambers of commerce as well as other non-profit organizational staff, board of directors and volunteers. EB Best Practices is based on Braxton-Leveen’s accumulation of knowledge over the past 28 years from more than 300 chambers of commerce, plus 23 pharmacy associations, technology councils, economic development associations, the YMCA, university development and alumni associations, and other non-profit organizations.
She is also an instructor for the 2018 Western Association of Chamber Executives Academy, the Florida Association of Chamber Executives Conference and the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce Executive Conference.
Lori Fickling is the President/CEO of the Lewisville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Prior to joining the Chamber in the spring of 2018, she served as Director of Economic Development for Denton County.
Additional past positions include President of the Flower Mound Chamber of Commerce for 10 years, Chief Development Officer for Communities In Schools of North Texas, commercial and residential real estate agent, and small business owner.
Lori is a 30-year Rotarian and a founding member of the Cross Timbers Rotary Club, where she served as its second president. She also served as president at her former Rotary Club and held many district-level positions with Rotary, including Assistant Governor for three years and Lt. Governor for one year.
Lori serves on the Board of Directors of the North Texas Commission and also on the Board of the North Texas Chamber Executives. She also serves on the Board of Medical City Lewisville.
Lori is a graduate of the University of North Texas and a graduate of the Institute for Organization Management, a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She is a published author and loves travel, reading, interior design, public speaking, writing, and spending time with her family, especially her four grandkids. She and her husband, Mike live in Double Oak.
Chris Wallace is President and CEO of the North Texas Commission. Under Wallace’s leadership, the NTC convenes the region’s most prominent public and private sector leaders to address the greatest challenges for our 13-county area, including leading the region’s unified legislative advocacy at the state and federal levels. The NTC ensures that state and federal policies promote strong local governments, support excellence in public schools, increase the skilled workforce pipeline, and safeguard a thriving business environment.
Prior to joining the NTC, Wallace was President/COO of the Texas Association of Business, the state chamber of commerce. Wallace also served 10 years as President/CEO of the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber, the first national Five-Star Accredited Chamber in Texas. Wallace is a past chairman of the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management. He is a 1992 graduate of Texas Tech University-College of Media and Communication, where he was named an outstanding alumnus. He was recently featured among the Dallas 500 most powerful business leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth by D CEO Magazine.
At Large
Lisa Flowers
East Parker County Chamber of Commerce
Tracy Heckel
Prosper Chamber of Commerce
Tina Henderson
Lake Cities Chamber of Commerce
Mary Ann Kellam
Irving Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Diana Theal
Denison Chamber of Commerce
Lori Walker
Flower Mound Chamber of Commerce