Robert S. Folsom Leadership Award
2021 Robert S. Folsom Leadership Award Recipients
Linda & Mitch Hart
LINDA W. HART
Ms. Hart, Vice Chairman, President, and CEO of Hart Group, Inc., grew up
in Pittsburgh, PA and graduated
cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh. After receiving her law degree from
SMU Law School, she clerked for Judge Irving Goldberg on the United States
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the first woman to do so. Subsequently,
for the next 24 years prior to joining her husband at Hart Group in 1990,
Ms. Hart was a nationally recognized corporate and securities law attorney
in private practice, writing and lecturing frequently around the country.
She is former Chairman of the NYSE Legal Advisory Board and co-authored
the first treatise on securities and partnership law, master limited partnerships
and other investment limited partnerships. While continuing her legal
practice in Dallas, Ms. Hart served as outside consultant to the SEC in
Washington, D.C. and as a visiting professor at Stanford Law School. Ms.
Hart is a Trustee and former Vice Chairman of the Center for Strategic
& International Studies (CSIS) and has, and continues to, serve in
leadership positions with many arts organizations, including as former
Chairman and member of the Board of the Dallas Symphony, a member of the
Executive Committee and Board of the New York Philharmonic and the Board
of The Dallas Opera, as well as leadership positions on the boards of
other corporate and charitable organizations. Past Chairman of the University
of Dallas at Dallas School of Management Advisory Board and Foundation,
she is a member ofThe University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
President’s Advisory Board and its Executive Committee, Southern
Methodist University Dedman School of Law and Cox School of Business Executive
Boards, Hart Center for Engineering Leadership Board and SMU Hart Global
Leaders Forum. Ms. Hart is a member of the Committee of 200 and the Harvard
University Kennedy School of Government’s Women’s Leadership
Board. She is former President and a founding member of the International
Women’s Forum, Dallas.
MILLEDGE A. “MITCH” HART, III
A proud graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Mr. Hart – after service
in the Marine Corps – began work at IBM. In 1962 he joined Ross
Perot as one of the founders of Electronic Data Systems and became the
firm’s President, a position he held until his retirement from EDS
in 1977. The next year, Mr. Hart founded Rmax, Inc., an insulation company
which had 38 years of continuous operation, before being sold in 2016.
Mr. Hart was founding Director and former Chairman of the Episcopal School
of Dallas and founded both Leadership America and the International Business
Fellows. He was also one of the founders of Home Depot, where he served
on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for more than 30 years.
In 1983, he established Hart Group, Inc., of which he serves as Chairman.
In 2017, Mr. Hart was awarded the USNA Distinguished Graduate Award, the
highest honor the Naval Academy awards to its graduates. Mr. Hart is Trustee
Emeritus of both Southern Methodist University (one of only 12 Trustee
Emeriti in SMU’s more than 100 year history) and of Duke University,
where he started the Hart Leadership Program at the School of Public Policy,
through which over 13,000 students have passed in its 34 year history.
Mr. Hart is a member of World Presidents’ Organization, Chief Executives
Organization and has been a member of the Executive Board of the Boy Scouts
of America. He serves on various boards, including the Hart Center for
Engineering Leadership at SMU, the SMU Hart Global Leaders Forum and the
SMU Lyle School of Engineering Executive Board. Mr. Hart, together with
Ms. Hart, founded the USNA Leadership Conference, an annual conference
encompassing both military and civilian institutions.
LINDA AND MITCH HART, together, have used their time, energy and resources to focus on causes that inspire them – civic and business leadership, science and medicine, education and the arts. Among those are:
- Duke University Hart Leadership Program, focused on ethical leadership development for undergraduates (the first of its kind in the country);
- SMU Hart Global Leaders Forum, which brings national and international leaders in government, business, science and the media to Dallas, to share their knowledge and experience and to interact with high school student leaders (by design, over half of the students must be from within DISD);
- U.S. Naval Academy Leadership Conference, an annual leadership conference, which brings together over 45 military academies and civilian colleges and universities;
- SMU Hart Center for Engineering Leadership, which touches every student at the Lyle School and coaches them throughout their academic experiences, to help build skills that support teamwork, both in engineering design courses and in industry;
- Building Business Opportunities, founded in 2007, has a goal of helping to level the playing field among small minority firms, largely located in South Dallas, and established North Dallas businesses;
- Hart Institute for Women Conductors, the first program of its kind in the world, to help talented women gain a foothold in the world of opera and bring worldwide attention to The Dallas Opera;
- Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at SMU, which provides students and faculty with inspiration, resources and guidance necessary to create technological discoveries, develop prototypes and create viable business plans to commercialize them successfully;
- The Hart Amphitheater at UNT’s South Dallas campus, which, when opened, will serve as a gathering place for all students.
- Klyde Warren Park has transformed the urban core of Dallas. The Harts were early supporters of the first phase, and have again committed to supporting the second phase of the destination park.
For more information, please contact Methodist Health System Foundation at (214) 947-4555 or FolsomAward@mhd.com.