Diversity Careers in Engineering & Information Technology
Angela M. Hutchinson
2/2/2006 - Hispanic-Owned MBEs Take Their Place In The Growth Of Corporate America
"I started my company from my apartment living room when I was twenty-five," says Nina Vaca, chair and CEO of Pinnacle Technical Resources (Dallas, TX), an MBE/WBE IT services provider to Fortune 500 companies.
http://www.diversitycareers.com/articles/pro/06-augsep/sd_hispanic.htm
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Hispanic-owned businesses grew 31 percent between 1997 and 2002, triple the national average for all U.S. businesses. A 2002 survey found that nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses generated a total revenue of better than $244 billion.
In many cases, these MBEs get a helping hand from larger companies dedicated to supplier diversity. This "helps level the playing field in corporate America for small and minority-owned businesses," say Miguel and Monica Mancebo, principals of McClure Management Group, New York, NY, a career transition and management services company and itself an Hispanic MBE. "It lets small companies play in the game and bring value to larger corporations."
McClure helps corporations with their outplacement needs, executive coaching and retained staff training and development.
Pinnacle Technical Resources: IT provider to the Fortune 500s
"I started my company from my apartment living room when I was twenty-five," says Nina Vaca, chair and CEO of Pinnacle Technical Resources (Dallas, TX), an MBE/WBE IT services provider to Fortune 500 companies. Pinnacle will celebrate its tenth anniversary this fall, and now has more than 700 consultants operating in thirty-two states and two countries.
The firm's clientele includes industry leaders in telecom, financial services, healthcare, consumer products sectors and more. Among its core competencies are enterprise data warehousing, custom apps development and architecture, system/network integration and call center technologies.
"From a business standpoint, we leverage technology to make running our own business more efficient and help our clients to do the same. We are paperless; everything we do is Web-based," Vaca explains.
"We deliver large-scale, complex IT development and integration solutions on time, within budget and with complete dedication to the needs of our clients."
With $40 million in annual sales revenue in 2005 and $60 million expected this year, Pinnacle ranks among the fastest growing private firms in America. "Although we're a small business, we've won twenty-five local and national awards in the last three years," Vaca notes with pride.
She herself is the first two-time winner of the U.S. Hispanic Business Woman of the Year Award from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and was featured by Fast Company magazine as one of the top twenty-five women business builders in the U.S.
Vaca's family came to the U.S. from Ecuador in the 1960s. She graduated from Southwest Texas State University with a BA in speech communications and business admin, and last year she was selected as a distinguished alumna of the university. Before starting her company she worked as an IT recruiter, where, she says, "I learned that consultants are the heartbeat of the IT business."
Vaca has four children. Her husband Jim Humrichouse, brother Freddy Vaca and sister Jessica Narvez are all members of Pinnacle's executive management team. The company is a member of NMSDC and WBENC.