Luisa del Rosal joins the Economic Club of Dallas from SMU’s Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs. [Composite image: Photo, SMU; Svetlana Kychanova/istockphoto; DI Studio]
The Economic Club of Dallas (ECD) has appointed Luisa del Rosal as its new executive director. A dynamic leader with 20 years of experience that includes public policy, international affairs, nonprofit leadership, higher education, and government, del Rosal brings both strategic vision and operational excellence to a prestigious regional forum for global business leadership, ECD said.
Michael Levy, president of the ECD and CEO of Crow Holdings, called del Rosal “a proven leader with the vision, relationships, and execution capabilities to elevate the Economic Club of Dallas to its next chapter.”
“Her extraordinary record of institution-building, fundraising, and forging high-level partnerships—both locally and internationally—makes her ideally suited to advance our mission of connecting and empowering the global business leaders shaping the future of the Texas Triangle,” Levy added in a statement.
Wide-ranging expertise across higher ed, government, business, and nonprofits
Del Rosal joins ECD from Southern Methodist University’s Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs, where she served as the Colin Powell Teaching Fellow, chief of staff, and special advisor. While on the SMU faculty, she served as founding executive director of both the Tower Center and the Mission Foods Texas–Mexico Center, raising over $4 million in philanthropic support and building nationally recognized research and programming institutions.
She also served as a chief of staff in the U.S. House of Representatives and founded a successful franchise business serving major Texas clients.
With extensive involvement in the Dallas–Fort Worth civic, philanthropic, and business communities, del Rosal is a Texas Governor’s appointee to the Texas Medical Board, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Fellow of the British American Project, and the current board chair for Communities in Schools, Dallas Region. She has been recognized as a Dallas Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree, among other leadership distinctions.
“Dallas is increasingly at the center of global economic discourse, and Luisa’s relationships, her track record with major institutions, and her genuine passion for this region make her the perfect person to help ECD lead that conversation,” said Lucy Billingsley, vice president of the Economic Club of Dallas and co-founder of Billingsley Company.
‘A city on the rise’
In her new role, del Rosal will guide ECD’s strategic direction, membership growth, programming, and external relations, and concentrate on boosting the organization as a “premier convening platform for CEOs, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and global leaders,” ECD said.
“I’m honored to join an organization that can serve as a convening space where CEOs, business leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and others can engage meaningfully across industries and perspectives,” said del Rosal. “Dallas is a city on the rise—a magnet for capital, talent, and ideas. I look forward to working with the oabrd, our members, and partners to amplify ECD’s role as a premier forum for the conversations that will define our economic future.”
Del Rosal has begun a transition period before assuming the full-time position in September.
Don’t miss what’s next. Subscribe to Dallas Innovates.
Track Dallas-Fort Worth’s business and innovation landscape with our curated news in your inbox Tuesday-Thursday.
R E A D N E X T
North Texas has plenty to see, hear, and watch. Here are our editors’ picks. Plus, you’ll find more selections to “save the date.”
The new office is designed to simplify how organizations work with SMU—whether through research partnerships, workforce development, or student engagement.
Nine student and alumni teams made the finals in three tracks: undergraduate, graduate student, and alumni. Winning ideas ranged from AI sales coaching to radiation mapping and noninvasive brain drug delivery as the university’s entrepreneurship push continues to scale.
The DECA Dental founder returned to his alma mater to keynote UT Dallas’ record-breaking Draper Pitch Competition. He told student founders what it really takes.
Launched in a partnership with Dallas-based Krida, the SMU Mustang Coin is a utility access credential—a digital tool designed solely to unlock fan engagement experiences, content, and rewards within the Krida platform. The startup’s founder, SMU finance grad Bhavesh Kalia, said the new coin offers “a real way for fans to participate beyond showing up or wearing a jersey.”
The Dallas-based reproductive health platform offers a cycle-tracking app for logging cycles and managing conditions like endometriosis and PCOS. It was one of five finalists taking part in North Texas’ premier social innovation competition.
Colossal Biosciences took home a gold Edison Award for developing a first-of-its-kind mammalian cloning method from blood samples—which led to what the company called “the world’s first true de-extinction” of the dire wolf. Also, Breakout Learning won a silver for its NextBook learning platform, while OhmBody took home a bronze for its period-easing wearable nerve stimulation device.
PCCI has spent more than a decade designing, developing, implementing, and “rigorously monitoring” AI in the complex clinical environment of Dallas’ Parkland Health. Now it’s partnering with North Carolina-based Vega Health to make five of PCCI’s clinically validated AI models available to health systems nationwide.
Using a digital twin of Parkland Memorial Hospital for its blocky hospital, UTD’s MCAT prep course playbook was designed by IvyBee, a Plano-based startup founded and led by Dr. Walter Voit, founder of UTD’s Center for Engineering Innovation.
The nearly $5 billion startup ranked No. 28 on CNBC’s 2026 list alongside AI giants Anthropic, OpenAI and Databricks—making it the highest-ranked Texas company and the only Dallas-Fort Worth company in this year’s lineup.