Captain LaTéssa Dotson Hall
Bio
LaTéssa Dotson Hall is a servant leader by DNA and a proven corporate Certified Meeting Professional and Project Manager by profession. Major Dotson Hall is an United States Air Force veteran who continues to positively influence the lives of future Air Force officers, as modeled while serving on Congressman John Lewis’ Service Academy Selection Review Board in Atlanta, Georgia. Major Dotson Hall received her commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force through the Florida State University Reserve Officers’ Training Corp Program, while earning her Bachelors of Arts degree in Marketing Sales Management. She was assigned to the Headquarters Air Force Command, Control, Communications, and Computer Agency (HQ AFC4A) at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, IL where she served as a Cost Analyst, responsible for performing resource utilization studies in congressionally mandated Central Design Activities and of the billion dollar InterService Agency Automated Message Processing Exchange Program. After being promoted to First Lieutenant, Dotson became the only Lieutenant in the Command hand picked as an Executive Officer to a Senior Officer.
Captain Dotson served meritoriously on active duty for five years and eight years in the active reserves where she returned as the by-name requested Financial Management Officer Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) to the HQ AFC4A’s Comptroller. She earned an accelerated promotion to the rank of Major and received numerous military awards and decorations to include being named as the AFC4A’s Reserve Officer Association IMA of the Year and twice the recipient of the fiscal year AFC4A’s Outstanding Officer Contribution to Comptrollership Award. Major Dotson Hall earned her professional designation as a Certified Cost and Price Analyst from the Air Force Institute of Technology and is decorated with the Meritorious Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Commendation Medal and the Air Force Achievement Medal, with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
“To whom much is given, much is required” is the scripture that has guided her parents, Drs Albert and Earlene Dotson, Sr., and has been the model for how she and her four siblings were raised. Hailed as the greatest gift is the ‘legacy of giving’ that lives within the fiber of all thirteen grandchildren as they serve and advance from formative school to working professionals and givers in their communities. As an iconic tribute to her parents for the solid foundation on which they stand and for their Dad’s visionary leadership at the university, the Dotson Family gifted an endowment to the Florida International University Foundation to support athletics and scholarships for minority students. The Earlene and Albert Dotson Pavilion naming was unveiled in 2018. Similarly in 2019, the Earlene and Albert Dotson Patient Registration Station was unveiled by the Baptist Health Foundation for the Dotson Family’s gifting to support of the cutting edge care at the Miami Cancer Institute.
As Executive Director of the Richard P. Hall Eagles Foundation, Inc. since 2016, LaTéssa purposes to make an indelible mark by carrying on the legacy of her late husband of inspiring youth in underrepresented communities to SOAR in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Grounded in awareness and exposure to careers in the field of aviation, the broader emphasis is to ignite the love of math and science. The Richard P. Hall Eagles Foundation Bastrop High School STEM Scholarship is in its fourth year of gifting to deserving students pursuing STEM careers. Annual sponsorship in partnership with the City of Miramar Mayor’s two-day Aviation Expo where over 2,000 students are creatively exposed to the vast career opportunities in aviation; adoption of the Frank C. Martin K-8 Center STEM initiatives through the Girls Who Code, the Robotics and LEGO Clubs, and the funding of a Miami Gardens SAT Prep Course. Partnership with the Hispanic Unity 4Teens After-school Program has birthed new STEM enthusiast at Attucks Middle School. LaTéssa serves as the Co-Sponsor of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) JR STEM GEMS Program at Attucks for The North Broward County (FL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.
LaTéssa is a 21 year resident of Miramar (FL) and has been a servant leader at The Fountain Church since 2000 in the capacities of Armorbearer for Senior Pastor Wayne Lomax; host of a Women’s Small Group Bible Study; and Founding Chair of both the Haiti Missions Ministry and the Homeless Outreach Ministry. Most recently, LaTéssa serves as the church’s COVID-19 ReEntry Task Force Chair. Her heart for service extends as she serves the community through the South Broward Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. LaTéssa is a Member on the 2020 ad 2019 March of Dimes Executive Leadership Team for the “March for Babies” and serves as the Board Chair of the City of Miramar Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. She is an active member of the Orange Bowl Committee and is a newly elected member of the Florida International University Foundation Board of Directors.
As an entrepreneur and professional business woman, LaTéssa is a highly competent Certified Meeting Professional with over 25+ years proven national event planning and project management proficiency. A few benefactors of her multi-day strategic planning and seamless execution services include the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association where LaTéssa served as their National Meeting Planner for 10 years and the Campaigns for Wayne Messam for Mayor of Miramar (FL) where he defeated a 16 year incumbent in 2010 and won re-election in 2019. Serving as an elite member for nearly four years on the organizing committee for the world’s largest peace-time event – The 1996 Summer Olympic Games, was the catalyst that propelled her strategic planning career path forward.
A few noted recognitions include selection as a March of Dimes South Florida Women of Distinction 2020 Honoree; The Morehouse Parish School Board Champion Award for the Children of H.V. Adams Elementary School; Legacy South Florida Magazine “50 Most Powerful and Influential Black Professionals in Business and Industry for 2015; and, the 2012 recipient of the Marie Patrice Denegall Lupus Foundation Award. Notable vocational achievements include, but not limited to, serving as a Panelist at the 27th Annual Planned Giving Council of Broward Symposium on “The Dynamics of Difference: Understanding the Many Faces of Philanthropy”, Ft Lauderdale (FL), 2019; Christopher Columbus High School Black History Leadership Lecture Series Speaker, Miami (FL) 2019; “EmpowHERed To Survive: The Fight of your Life” Women’s Conference Lupus Survivor Speaker, Miami Gardens (FL), 2018; Broward County Main Library “SOARING: The Tuskegee Airman Legacy in South Florida” Exhibit Panelist, Ft Lauderdale (FL), 2018; and, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Miami Field Division 2018 Black History Program Opening Ceremony Keynote Speaker, Weston (FL), 2018.
LaTéssa is a widow and the mother of two young adults, Bryant, a 2020 Graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Briana, a sophomore at the University of Miami.
LaTéssa Dotson Hall, CMP