Texas Woman's University will present Dallas commercial real estate developer Lucy Billingsley with the 2023 Virginia Chandler Dykes Leadership Award on March 22.
Billingsley is also a business owner with a history of deep civic engagement. She devoted her career to developing and managing commercial real estate. She launched the Billingsley Co. with her husband, Henry, in 1978. The couple left their mark across North Texas, contributing to the design, construction, leasing and management of a range of properties, from undeveloped land to master-planned corporate parks and multifamily neighborhoods.
Their notable projects include the International Business Park, Austin Ranch, Cypress Waters and the Arts Plaza campus in the Dallas Arts District.
Lucy Billingsley brought formidable business experience to the scene before she and Henry forged the Billingsley Co. She was the CEO of the Dallas Market Center and the Crow Design Centers in Dallas, Houston and Boston. It was during that time that she founded a privately owned travel agency called Wyndham Jade, which grew to become the largest privately owned travel agency in the Southwest.Â
She also donated time and talent to nonprofit and business boards: the Council of Foreign Relations, Southwestern Medical Foundation, Southern Methodist University's Tower Center for Political Studies, the Folsom Institute for Real Estate, KERA and the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation. She founded Chiapas International, which gives funding for loans to impoverished Latin American communities. She served as the board chair of Woman to Woman International and the Tate Board at SMU, among others.
TWU has recognized Dallas leaders who have a lifelong commitment to advancing education for the last 21 years. It is named for Dykes, a health care provider whose professional and civic achievements demonstrated a passion for helping others. Billingsley will accept the award at the leadership luncheon on March 22.
— Staff report
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