The American Leadership Forum Houston/ Gulf Coast Chapter will present the 2012 Joseph Jaworski Leadership Award to Donna Fujimoto Cole, president and chief executive officer of Cole Chemical & Distributing Inc., on Tuesday, April 24 at the InterContinental Hotel Houston. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception, followed by a big board auction, awards program and dinner.

Cole (ALF Class XXV) founded Cole Chemical over 30 years ago at the age of 27, divorced with a four-year old daughter and with $5,000 from savings. In 2010, the company's sales were in excess of $70 million providing chemicals and chemical supply chain management to a wide range of customers and industries, including ConocoPhillips, Bayer, Chrysler, Lockheed Martin, Procter & Gamble, and Toyota.

Cole has served on several national and regional boards, including the Center for Asian Pacific American Women, Women’s Home Advisory Board, St. Thomas University, Children’s Defense Fund and the Houston Minority Supplier Development Council.

Her community involvement includes Building a Pipeline for the Sciences, The All Earth Ecobot Challenge, Dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline, and Building a Leadership Pipeline for Asian Women.

“Donna models the boundary-crossing, collaborative leadership style that ALF promotes and demonstrates ALF’s core values,” said Harriet Wasserstrum, president of ALF. “She embodies our goal of servant leadership – a way of leading in order to better serve others – and we are thrilled to honor her this year with the Joseph Jaworski Leadership Award.”

In addition to the Joseph Jaworski Leadership Award, the American Leadership Forum Public Service Award will be presented this year to Steven B. Schnee, Ph.D. (ALF Medical Class 1), executive director of the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County.
Schnee oversees operations for the largest community mental health and intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) center in Texas. He has been with the agency for 18 years. 

The proceeds from the evening will go towards supporting operations of the American Leadership Forum, including granting scholarships for fellows from organizations not in a position to pay full tuition. 

Please contact Celene Keserich at 713-807-1253 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information on purchasing tables and tickets.