The 2022 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon raises the visibility of AMIGOS and celebrates our history and future. Our goal was to raise $100,000 for our youth leadership programs and Financial Assistance Fund, and we raised nearly $110,000 at this year’s event!

Hotel ZaZa Museum District, Houston

Friday, November 4, 2022

Featuring

2022 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon Keynote Speaker: Tony Chase

Tony Chase is a nationally recognized multi-ventured business owner. Most notably, the Chairman & CEO of ChaseSource, LP. An honors graduate of Harvard College, with a law degree from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Tony is Professor Emeritus at the University of Houston Law Center where he taught for 30 years. Tony recently chaired the City of Houston/Harris County COVID-19 Relief Fund and currently serves on the board of several non-profits in the city of Houston. Tony is the recipient of many awards including the American Jewish Committee’s Human Relations Award and Houston Technology Center’s Entrepreneur of the Year. Tony & his wife Dina have three children.

Having served as Deputy Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas as well as Chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership, Mr. Chase currently serves on the Boards of LyondellBassel (NYSE), Nabors Industries (NYSE), CullenFrost Bank (NYSE), and Parr Pacific Holdings (NYSE). He also is a Director of the Texas Medical Center. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is an Eagle Scout.

Tony owns ChaseSource, which is ranked by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the nation’s largest minority-owned companies. He is also an owner of the Marriot Hotel at George Bush InterContinental Airport in Houston.

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2022 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon Emcee: Art Rascon

Current: Houston/Worldwide: President, Rascon Media Group, an Expert Communication Company focusing on media training, powerful presentations, documentaries, spokesperson roles, image control, and building and enhancing communication skills and techniques in your company or to you personally.

1998-JAN 2022: ABC-TV Houston: Anchor of 11am, 5pm, and 6pm newscast. Traveled extensively as Executive Producer and reporter of numerous Emmy Award-winning TV Specials and documentaries out of Central America, Drug cartel violence, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, a large variety of Social Issues, and a host of International Special Projects. Executive Producer, Correspondent in the coverage of wars and conflicts in Iraq, Israel, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, and throughout the World. Directed the coverage of U.S. Presidential elections and 3 Papal elections from Rome. Lead producer/correspondent on the terror attacks in New York City to cities around the globe and reported on disasters, from hurricanes along the Gulf States to tsunamis in Asia, and earthquakes worldwide, being one of the first to report from Haiti.

Honors: The recipient of 21 Television Emmys and more than three dozen other National and local reporting awards from press clubs in Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami, including two Edward R. Murrow awards during Special Projects Reporting with Dan Rather, three National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ awards, the International Rotary award for meritorious reporting, two National ‘Headliner’ Awards, the RTNDA Award for Continuing Coverage, a dozen Lone Star awards, and 18 Associated Press Reporting awards. Art reported from more than 77 countries, five continents, and nearly every state in the Union.

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2022 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon Alumni Speaker: Meah Matherne

Meah Matherne is a 2021 AMIGOS alum and a current sophomore at Tulane University in New Orleans. She is majoring in Business and English and minoring in Spanish. She is highly involved on campus, acting as both an orientation leader and peer mentor this semester. Meah is an enthusiastic member of her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, and loves working at her front desk job for the Student Organization Center on campus. She hopes to work abroad and wants to write a fiction book someday. Meah loves AMIGOS because it stripped her down to an individual level and showed her the impact even a single person can have on the world.

Lifelong Leaders Luncheon Co-Chairs

Kellie and Chad Motsinger

Laura and Steve Otillar

Samantha Schnee and Michael Hafner

Kendall and Carlos Solé

THE MISSION AND VISION OF AMIGOS

Since our founding in Houston in 1965, AMIGOS has served more than 30,000 young people in thousands of communities throughout the Americas. As our programs inspire more leaders through authentic service and immersion experiences, we continue to fulfill our organization’s mission in powerful ways. We envision a world where these young leaders and all of us become lifelong leaders sharing responsibility for our global community.

As the place where AMIGOS began 58 years ago, Houston has always played a special role in our impact. Over the decades, AMIGOS has influenced the lives of more than 2,300 students from the Houston area. We are enthusiastic about this new format for our annual benefit in Houston that will expand opportunities for Houston’s youth.

Ticket reservations for the 2022 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon are currently closed. If you have questions, please reach out to Sam Waters at [email protected].

Co-Chairs

Kellie and Chad Motsinger
Laura and Steve Otillar
Samantha Schnee and Michael Hafner
Kendall and Carlos Solé

Host Committee

Cathy Arnold
Jill and Jason Assir
Amy Becker Barelas and Joseph Barelas
Suky and Ed Cazier
Allyson and Steve Cook
Viviana and David Denechaud
Eric Donnelly
Kate and Andy Green
Rachel and Travis King
Robin and Kevin Lanier
Rob Lee
Cat McKay and Mark Bethell
Mariela Poleo and Alfredo Sabal
Cathi and Scott Roberts
Barrett Sides
Matt Werner
Katherine and Mark Yzaguirre

The 2022 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon builds on the legacy and impact of the annual benefits hosted from 2017-2021 in Houston. Together, these events have raised $250,000 for our programs and financial assistance fund. Thank you to our past sponsors, co-chairs, host committees, program speakers, and donors of these events. The legacy of support will continue with this year’s event.

2021 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon

On November 19, 2021, 200 guests attended the event with 175 guests in-person at the Hotel ZaZa and with 25 friends joining us virtually on Zoom. It was a true celebration full of laughter, connection, and inspiration. The event raised critical funds for the AMIGOS 2021 $1MM Annual Fund and was the first hybrid event AMIGOS has ever hosted.

WSJ best-selling author and keynote speaker Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson delivered an upbeat speech on the importance of including diverse perspectives and communities in leadership groups of organizations. She shared three ways that each of us can make our workplaces and communities more inclusive through mentorship, sponsorship, and recognition.  

Meah Matherne, featured student speaker, shared her journey with AMIGOS, which began in 2020 when her original trip was canceled due to the pandemic. Her journey resumed this past summer when she participated in our three-week summer program in Nicaragua.  

“…Those three weeks in Nicaragua gave me the opportunity to step back from my own life and examine my exact place in the world. Yes, I am still small in the face of time and the universe, but I still have my place in it, and it is my job to make that space as beautiful of a garden as I can…”  

-Meah Matherne, Student Speaker, 2021 Alumna 

2021 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon Co-Chairs

Alma Del Toro and Clint Ford
Laura and Steve Otillar
Samantha Schnee and Michael Hafner

2020 Day of Action

On November 19, 2020, we called on our Houston community to make an impact for AMIGOS and the city. This “Day of Action” was organized in place of the annual Breakfast to Benefit AMIGOS fundraising event which we were not able to host due to the pandemic. Two AMIGOS groups volunteered at the Houston Food Bank via our partnership with Feeding America.

2019 Breakfast Benefit

The 3rd Annual Breakfast to Benefit AMIGOS on November 14, 2019, at the River Oaks Country Club raised $94,280 to expand financial assistance awards for 2020 Houston area youth volunteers and support our programs.

From L to R: Keynote Speaker Scott Horsley, Co-Chairs Tim Ruch & Michelle Ruch, AMIGOS CEO & President Sara Nathan, Co-Chair Catherine Masterson, Master of Ceremonies Art Rascon, Co-Chairs Joanne Houck & Tim Singletary

Our Keynote Speaker was Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent at NPR and AMIGOS Alumnus ’83, ’84.

In his work for NPR, Scott Horsley reports on ups and downs in the national economy as well as fault lines between booming and busting communities. Scott spent a decade on the White House beat, covering both the Trump and Obama administrations. He spoke on the continued relevance of AMIGOS programs in today’s interconnected world.

Student Speaker Alexa Lara shared her incredible story of volunteering with AMIGOS with the help of financial assistance from the Houston Chapter and how it has helped her feel ready for college and beyond.

“I’m so grateful to AMIGOS for their investment in me as a person and as a leader. Being here today is one way for me to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will be the first person in my family to go to college and thanks to this program I learned I can be away from my family and can still be close to them.” – Alexa Lara

Hotel ZaZa Museum District, Houston

Friday, November 4, 2022

Featuring

2022 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon Keynote Speaker: Tony Chase

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2022 Lifelong Leaders Luncheon Emcee: Art Rascon

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