Brian Luallen

CEO

As Chief Executive Officer of Fair Park First, Brian Luallen presides over the 277-acre National Historic Landmark that welcomes nearly six million annual visitors. Fair Park First, a 501(c)3 non-profit conservancy organization, was created to oversee the management and stewardship of the park on behalf of the City of Dallas. Under his leadership, Fair Park First has completed an updated Master Plan for the park and secured the first new tenants to the campus in over 20 years. Since its founding in 2019, the organization has made public engagement and service to the community key to its mission. Fair Park not only hosted one of the nation’s largest vaccine sites during the pandemic but has worked to foster numerous small-scale events that support neighborhood businesses and local arts.

In 2021 the State of Texas approved the Fair Park Cultural District to focus on marketing the Fair Park/South Dallas area’s artistic and cultural richness. In his role, Brian leads the delivery of a new 18-acre Signature Community Park inside the Fair Park campus and has secured the funding to create a Fair Park Loop extension to the Santa Fe Trail as part of the city’s network trail plan. Luallen also oversees the $500M campus-wide capital investment and revitalization plan and develops strategies focused on increasing daily use to enhance Fair Park as a year-round destination for parkgoers near and far. Fair Park First was named D CEO’s 2021 Non-Profit of the Year.

In 2021 Luallen worked with legislators, city officials, and businesses to change legislation in Austin that resulted in Proposition A. When Dallas voters overwhelmingly supported the measure on November 8, 2022 it secured the largest capital investment in the 277-acre site since the 1936 Centennial Exposition.

Past projects include the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta, Georgia, and the historic Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.

Over the years, he has received numerous honors and awards. Brian’s work transforming concepts into reality has been featured in Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and many other national media outlets.