J.R. Labbe, CEC

After traveling the country for almost two years as a public relations coordinator for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, a coin flip determined where J.R. Labbe would put down permanent roots: Fort Worth, Texas.

Her second gamble came almost a decade later when she traded a sales and marketing career in the hospitality industry for a newsroom. Years spent digging into the community through Leadership Arlington and volunteerism paid off with the editor’s position at the Grand Prairie Daily News.

Knowing issues and people coupled with an instinct for what’s important led to Labbe’s recruitment four years later by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where she was an award-winning editorial and column writer as well as the first fulltime female editorial writer in the major metropolitan newspaper’s history. Ultimately, she served as the media company’s first female Editorial Director and received the National Conference of Editorial Writers/Association of Opinion Journalists Lifetime Achievement award.

In 2012, hard work, a wicked sense of humor and a wealth of knowledge opened the door to senior executive positions in communications, community affairs and development with Tarrant County’s taxpayer-supported healthcare system. J.R. led the network’s educational campaign that resulted in the passage of an $800 million bond election in 2018. Her partnership with her executive colleagues spearheaded an institutional culture change that led to dramatically improved employee engagement and patient experience scores and received Best Hospital for America honors in 2021.

In 2023, Labbe joined Lara Burnside, MHA, CEC in co-founding CSE Leadership, LLC, a boutique executive coaching and consulting firm primarily focus on healthcare organizations, including hospitals, clinics and academic medical centers.

J.R. serves in numerous volunteer leadership roles, including Taste Project, Center for Transforming Lives, USS Fort Worth Support Committee and the Rotary Club of Fort Worth. She believes in using her talents, time and treasure to give back to the community that gave her so many personal and professional opportunities.