Leadership Summit August 15, 2026

Three days after the HOA Connect Houston Leadership Summit, we are still trying to put into words what it felt like to look around that room.

On Saturday, August 15, HOA board members from across the Greater Houston area gathered at Trini Mendenhall Community Center for a day built around a simple idea: Connect. Collaborate. Lead. The Summit was designed to bring HOA leaders together with trusted industry professionals and local government and community partners for meaningful conversations, practical information and connections they could take back to their neighborhoods.

We prayed for a good turnout.

What we weren’t prepared for was just how completely they would show up.

They asked questions. They introduced themselves to people from other communities. They shared what was working — and what wasn’t. They participated in roundtable conversations, stayed engaged during the panel and Q&A sessions, visited with vendors and government partners, and continued talking and sharing contact information long after individual sessions ended.

For those of us who have worked so hard to build HOA Connect Houston, watching it unfold was a major milestone, and it even came with a few tears of joy when we left the venue.

Because it felt like something bigger than attendance.

It felt like genuine belief in what we are building.

A Mission Built Around Supporting Greater Houston HOA Leaders

HOA Connect Houston was created because HOA board members carry an enormous responsibility, often as volunteers, for communities they also call home.

They are asked to make decisions about budgets, amenities, infrastructure, safety, vendors, long-term planning and countless other issues affecting their neighbors and neighborhoods. Our mission is to make sure those leaders have somewhere to turn for credible resources, trusted connections and opportunities to learn from people outside their neighborhood who understand that responsibility.

Saturday gave us an opportunity to see that mission happening in real time.

The Summit moved from networking and community resources into a Harris County Sheriff’s Office presentation and Q&A, a live leadership panel, peer-led roundtable discussions over lunch, an open forum and additional networking.

Afterward, several board members came up to us personally to tell us how much value they received from the experience and how helpful HOA Connect has been to them. Others took the time to email us after the Summit.

Those conversations meant more than they probably realized.

There are countless hours behind building an organization like this. To see people not only attend, but actively participate, support it and tell us they want more of it was a moment our team will not soon forget.

Experts Who Were Willing to Share What They Know

The Summit could not have succeeded without people willing to give their time and expertise.

We are deeply grateful to our live panelists, Amy Hoechstetter of SBB Community Management, Allison Sandlin of Capital Bank, and Chase Hague of Barsalou & Associates, who joined a conversation centered on real questions and practical insights for HOA leaders. The panel was moderated by Tiffany Krenek of HOA Connect Houston and My Neighborhood News.

Just as important was the experience already sitting in the room.

Sharon Malkovicz of Copperfield CA, Jason Iken of Jamestown Colony, Hugh Durham of Canyon Gate, Stephanie Slattery of Harvest Bend, and Dave Gilkeson of Governors Place stepped forward as Roundtable Discussion Leaders, helping fellow board members compare experiences, work through challenges and learn from one another.

That peer-to-peer exchange is exactly what HOA Connect hopes to encourage. Sometimes one of the most useful resources for an HOA board member is another board member who has already faced the same question.

Vendor Partners Who Did More Than Sponsor an Event

Our gratitude to our vendor partners is difficult to overstate.

From the beginning, these businesses have supported what HOA Connect is trying to build. At the Summit, they weren’t simply names on signs. They showed up as resources — talking with board members, answering questions, sharing expertise and investing their time in the communities we collectively serve.

Thank you to Blue Stream Fiber, SBB Management Company (AAMC), Katy Brothers Pressure Washing and Russell Harms, The Perfect Light, E.N.G. Roofing, LLC, Converged Services, Go Painting of North Houston, Rothberg Specialty and Adam Rothberg, Reserve Advisors, AT&T, Capital Bank, N.A., Hardeman Landscaping, The Amenity Collective, Axis HOA Maintenance & Development LLC, Yellowstone Landscape, and All Aquatics and Kids Playgrounds.

We are especially grateful to Blue Stream Fiber for generously sponsoring lunch, as well as The Perfect Light for providing a holiday light tour for drawing winners and Converged Services for providing an Apple Watch giveaway. We are also grateful for other giveaways and resources provided to HOA board members by our participating vendor partners.

To every vendor partner who has supported HOA Connect, attended our events, shared our mission with others or simply told us that you believe in what we are doing: you are helping us build this, and we are incredibly grateful.

Harris County Partners Brought Resources Directly to HOA Communities

The Leadership Summit was also designed to make it easier for HOA leaders to connect directly with the public agencies and community programs available to them.

We were honored to welcome resources and representatives from Harris County Precinct 3, Harris County Precinct 4, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar, Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD), and Harris County Public Health.

A special thank-you goes to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Lt. James Wheeler for the Summit’s e-bike safety presentation and Q&A. The session addressed an issue increasingly familiar to neighborhood leaders and families: e-bike and scooter safety, including Texas e-bike classifications, riding rules, helmet requirements, neighborhood enforcement and ways communities can promote safer riding.

Giving HOA leaders an opportunity to ask questions directly of the people serving their communities is precisely the kind of connection HOA Connect wants to continue creating.

Most Importantly, Thank You to Every HOA Board Member Who Attended

You volunteer your time to make decisions that affect your neighbors, your property values, your amenities and the future of your communities. We recognize the responsibility that comes with that service, and HOA Connect exists to support you in it.

We are incredibly grateful for how far this organization has come, but we are even more grateful for the people who have helped us get here.

To those who believed in the vision before everyone could see what it might become; to the vendor partners who invested in our mission; to the community and government partners who opened their doors to collaboration; to the experts who generously shared their knowledge; and to the HOA leaders who continue to show up, participate and tell us what they need:

Thank you for believing in HOA Connect. Thank you for supporting this mission. And thank you for helping us build something that can make a meaningful difference for communities across Greater Houston.

The final message shared with attendees Saturday was that Houston’s communities are stronger together.

After seeing that room full of people connecting, collaborating and genuinely wanting to help one another, we believe that more than ever.

The success of this Leadership Summit belongs to all of you.

And we are just getting started.