🍎TCU is 3rd college to change leader since August; Military has huge plans for Lockheed; Carrier to make D-FW much cooler.

Dallas-based luxury retailer Neiman Marcus unveiled its 2026 Fantasy Gifts lineup featuring a Star Wars experience and a $180,000 Dolce & Gabbana foosball table. See the gift list.

Texas Christian University Chancellor Daniel Pullin resigned Thursday and former Chancellor Victor J. Boschini Jr. has returned to oversee the university. Administrators cited enrollment and financial concerns behind the sudden transition. Boschini served a 22-year tenure before transitioning to chancellor emeritus in June 2025. Since Aug. 31, UT-Arlington, A&M-Fort Worth and TCU have lost their top executive. 

The Department of War and Lockheed Martin unveiled a transformative framework agreement for multi-year F-35 Lightning II production and sustainment. The package includes 850 U.S. aircraft during a 10-year period with associated initial spares, 10 years of modification kits and sustainment, and international customer orders across Lots 21-30, at a continued production rate of 156 aircraft per year.

Florida-based Carrier Global selected Fort Worth for a $600-million, 1,500 job investment over three years in a one million square foot advanced manufacturing and engineering center. Carrier is a leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions, has record backlog levels and a growing pipeline across key verticals. 

Southlake-based American Fusion, a recent newcomer from Midland, announced it has received a move-in permit to support its Texatron fusion energy development, made four new data center proposals, plans for a north Texas research facility and campus, and an update on its investment banking negotiations. 

The Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, a non-profit formed to spur research and industry collaboration with the Texas A&M University Fort Worth campus, has agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding with TechFW, a startup incubator formed in 1998. The partnership will give TechFW $50,000, split between its ThinkLab and SmartStart programs, to help jump-start programming.  The partnership and TechFW will have space inside Water Gardens Place at 100 E. 15th St., near the A&M campus.

American Airlines and D-FW International Airport opened the Terminal A extension, part of the airport's ongoing $12-billion expansion. The addition includes five new gates and five re-built gates, with two more due next week. Amenities include charging capabilities at their seats, large windows overlooking aircraft and runways, and electronic boarding gates.

Texas' Attorney General office secured $45 million in a settlement with Gilead Sciences to resolve claims that the company engaged in an illegal kickback scheme that improperly influenced prescriptions paid for by Texas Medicaid. The AG office also secured an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with Lululemon that requires the company to maintain rigorous chemical safety standards and oversight of materials used in its products. 

A New Mexico state judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion (reduced from a potential maximum of $219 billion) after a jury found the company committed millions of violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act regarding the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal. A similar multi-state settlement against Meta that New Mexico opted out of was an $18 billion settlement. The largest corporate settlements in history are the U.S. tobacco companies' $206 billion agreement over 25 years to U.S. states to settle smoking-related health claims, and the 2016 BP Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill ($65 billion).

Meta has agreed to set up non-voting Class C shares to enable Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg greater flexibility to sell shares while retaining control. The move could help him pay a proposed California billionaire tax without reducing his majority voting power.

Alvarado residents who fought a years-long battle against a concrete batch plant located near their homes and schools were winners after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality ruled to dismiss an air quality permit that would have allowed the plant. J7 Ready Mix of Alvarado had applied to build a concrete batch plant at 5428 East FM 1187, between Burleson and Mansfield, in unincorporated Tarrant County.

Fort Worth-based Aeromax Group, a diversified commercial and military aerospace after-market support company, has acquired Loutech, a California manufacturer of precision aerospace machined components. This is Aeromax’ second acquisition since being acquired by Chimney Rock Equity Partners in 2025.

Westlake-based Solera Holdings was sued in Maryland by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which says the company set up a long-time employee with a degenerative eye disease to fail. Allegedly, Solera moved the Maryland-based worker from consulting into sales, let him sell only one product, gave him no leads and left him out of meetings and training. It fired him in August 2025, citing performance.

UNT Health Fort Worth’s College of Nursing received $753,262 in federal funding to launch RISE-RN, a program designed to expand pathways into nursing careers and help address workforce needs across north Texas. The program is expected to receive approximately $3 million through annual incremental funding for four years. The funding is from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Taste Project's Taste Community Restaurant in Fort Worth has been selected to receive a $50,000 grant from the Lowe's Community Impact Program, helping the non-profit restaurant check off a bucket list of renovation projects. Lowe's is investing $10 million in Community Impact Grants and an additional $10 million to support more than 2,000 associate-led community impact projects.

Earnings reports:

• Fort Worth-based FirstCash posted record third-quarter results as revenue rose 18% to $1.10 billion, net income rose 22% to $101.2 million, and diluted EPS rose 25% to $2.33. The pawn store operator raised its quarterly dividend 10% to 46 cents a share and says its acquisition of U.K. pawn chain Ramsdens is targeted to close by year-end.

• American Airlines reported record third-quarter revenue of $16.3 billion, up 19.3%, but a $1.9 billion jump in fuel costs left it with a net loss of $269 million. It expects a full-year 2026 adjusted loss of $1 to $1.60 a share and says growth in 2027 will slow.

• Lockheed Martin reported earnings of $7.97 a share, beating analysts' consensus estimate of $7.52. Revenue rose 11.3% from a year earlier to $20.7 billion, exceeding the consensus estimate of $20.46 billion. Net income rose to $1.85 billion from $1.62 billion a year earlier. 

Permits and filings:

• Keller Hicks JV35 LLC of Dallas filed plans for FW-35 Logistics Crossing, a $55-million, 993,776-square-foot concrete tilt-wall building at 1680 Harmon Road in Haslet. Robert Rice is the registered agent and Alliance Architects is the designer. Work is scheduled to be completed Oct.  2027.

• A $57.7 million state filing by Hamtex Walsh 2 LLC called Project Oak CBP is a 1,035,171-square-foot shell building on the west side of Bentley Bridge Road, north of Aledo Road, in west Fort Worth. The plant is being established by Big Town Concrete and the contact is Whitfield Hamilton, a 30-year veteran in the commercial industrial space. Alliance Architects is the designer. Work is scheduled from Oct. 2026 to July 30.

• Three manufacturing lines are planned in a 600,000-square-foot facility at 1501 Distribution Dr. to support logistics hubs, such as BNSF Railway's Alliance intermodal facility, a FedEx ground hub and an Amazon Air regional hub. The estimated finish date is Sept. 1 at a cost of $500 million.

• Kubota Tractor has filed for a new building for administration, catering and training rooms at 1000 Kubota Dr. in Grapevine. Completion is targeted for the end of July 2028 at a cost of $10 million. 

• Frost Bank is building a 7,000-square-foot financial center at 1231 Keller Parkway in The Shops at Keller Marketplace, which is across the street from its branch at 1240 Keller Parkway. A state filing puts the cost at $10 million. It's set to open in late January 2027.

• Fifth Third Bank's North Richland Hills branch will be the former Wendy's at 9140 N. Tarrant Pkwy. The $2-million conversion will be a 2,400-square-foot bank with a vault, a drive-thru ATM and a night drop. BDG Architects is the designer, and work is scheduled for August.

Snippets:

• Taylor and Nicole Sheridan's 6666 Ranch is being outfitted with a new retail presence in partnership with TCU faculty and students.

• Will the “most haunted” sports venue in the U.S. be giving out Halloween candy? 

• Texas A&M University School of Law achieved the highest overall bar exam pass rate among first-time examinees across all jurisdictions, along with the highest first-time pass rate in Texas on the July bar exam.

• Will Coyote Drive-In Theater premiere at a new location? 

• A 24-team College Football Playoff next year would put a squeeze on Big 12 teams TCU, Arizona, Kansas, Texas Tech and West Virginia. All are missing enough non-conference Power 4 opponents to qualify. 

Today in history: 2001 = Apple unveiled the first iPod, promising "1,000 songs in your pocket."

Significant stat: 14 years = How much longer, on average, that the richest 10% live compared with the poorest 10%, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association study.

Daily digit: 23.6 = Projected number of centenarians per 10,000 adults age 65 and older worldwide in 2050, up from 7.4 in 2015 and 2.9 in 1990, according to United Nations projections reported by Pew Research Center in 2016.

Announcements:

• ECI Software Solutions: Ron Books, CEO from 2009 to 2021, will return as CEO as current leader Trevor Gruenewald retires and moves to the Board of Directors.

• D.R. Horton: Hires Shabina Aslam as Senior Manager of Product & Marketing Research.

• BNSF Railway: Promotes Erin Spalla to Assistant Vice President Human Resources. 

• Agency Habitat: Hires (returning) Ashley German as Brand Manager.

• Texas Workforce and Business Capacity Initiative: Hires Tony Aros as Director.

• Kwedar & Co.: Hires Evan S.K. Sullivan as Senior Communications Strategist. 

• STRONG SIDE Sports & Entertainment: Hires Steve Pitarra as Director of Partnerships & Strategic Growth.

• Cristo Rey Fort Worth: Hires Isabel Payan as Marketing and Events Assistant.

• United Vein & Vascular Centers: Hires Susan Merritt as its Physician Liaison.

• Fifth Third Bank: Hires Jamar Clemons as Commercial Credit Analyst.

• Northern Trust: Hires Weston Santleben for its wealth management team. 

• Southwest Airlines: Promotes Esterlyn Coleman to Managing Director, Cargo Commercial & Strategy.

• Wick Phillips: Hires Melissa Preiser as Legal Assistant.

• Bourland, Wall & Wenzel: Hires associate attorney Regan Lyden. 

• Burnett Oil: Promotes Charles Parker to Chief Pilot. 

• Broadwing Capital: Hires John Kaserman to lead business development.

• Salvation Army: Names Emily Gerstner Senior Director of Community Relations and Fundraising. 

• Augustine Institute: Hires Kimberly Baietto as Mission Advancement Officer.

• Charles Schwab: Selects Marcus Coleman for Specialist, Partner Support. 

• TEXPress: Combines all its LinkedIn sites at TEXpress Lanes. 

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