Date: May 22, 2014

Contact: Meredith Brown 281-440-4160

Events & Marketing Manager

Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce

Chamber to Host Luncheon Discussing “Building Community Unity”

Houston, Spring, Klein, Cypress – The Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce is hosting a monthly membership luncheon on Thursday, June 12th from 11:30am – 1:00pm at Fallbrook Church (12512 Walters Road, Houston,77070) with guest speaker Randy Butler, CEO & President of The Institute for Sustainable Peace discussing better ways for northwest Houston to build “community unity”.

As the leader of The Institute for Sustainable Peace, Butler has dedicated his life's work to the belief that persons of different races, ethnicities, religions, and ideologies can build bridges of understanding. They can then learn to work together to address challenges facing their communities and build sustainable peace. In projects from Houston, Texas to the Balkans and South Sudan, Randy facilitates reconciliation of leaders of groups locked in intractable conflict, trains them in conflict transformation skills, and leads them to use their new skills in collaborative initiatives to build stronger communities in their home regions.

Randy first achieved professional success as a partner and trial lawyer at Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP and later Cook, Butler & Doyle LLP. On January 1, 1999, Mr. Butler left his litigation practice to focus full time on mediation of legal disputes, conflict transformation, and peacemaking.

Randy’s passion for conflict transformation took him to the Balkans twelve times over a period of ten years where he helped design and lead a transformational leadership development and peacebuilding program for young adults with leadership potential from all of the region's ethnic and national groups. His experience there led him to found The Institute for Sustainable Peace in 2007, which now conducts transformational leadership and peace building projects such as:

·  The Connecting Communities Initiative in Houston in partnership with Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research;

·  The Jewish/Muslim/Christian Dialogue Group with Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston;

·  The Transformational Leadership Development Program for activists in the Sudanese/South Sudanese Diaspora and Sudan/South Sudan; and,

·  Healing & Reconciliation Workshops in partnership with South Sudan Women United.

There will be special tours of the Fallbrook Church campus at 11:00am before the luncheon and at 1:15pm afterward. Registration and Sponsorship information for the luncheon can be found online at www.HoustonNWChamber.org or by calling the Chamber offices at (281) 440-4160.

For more information about the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce, contact the Houston Northwest Chamber at 281-440-4160 or visit the web at www.HoustonNWChamber.org. For more information about “Grow Northwest”, go to www.GrowHoustonNW.com . The Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce has enjoyed 40 years of service in north Houston, Spring, Klein, Champions, FM 1960, FM 2920, SH 249 and Sam Houston Tollway Corridors. The Chamber has over 700 members and is committed to its mission of developing successful businesses and a thriving community.

Randy Butler