I had a marvelous experience yesterday attending the 14th Annual Profiles in Power Awards and Leadership Conference held here in Austin. The focus of the conference was the power and strength of women and their leadership roles in business, family and community. The keynote speaker at the awards luncheon was Nina Vaca, CEO of Pinnacle Technical Resources, who told her inspirational story entitled "Failure Is Not An Option". Nina founded her information technology services firm in 1996 and has grown it from scratch to one of the most successful firms in the country providing IT services to many Fortune 500 companies. She recently won the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Technology and Communications. Nina was a very dynamic speaker who stressed the power of persistence in her success and encouraged women to mentor to and help other women achieve their goals. Nina said that her mother, an immigrant with her father from Quito, Ecuador, was never impressed by her business success, but constantly encouraged her to participate in the community giving back to others. Nina has done just that. She described fundraising and mentoring programs for young women where the intended benefit was to grow these special youth. Instead, she said, the real growth was hers. Women are powerful change agents. We make a difference one life at a time.
Honored at the luncheon for her Lifetime Achievement was Laura Kilcrease, the founding director of the Austin Technology Inucbator and now a venture partner that funds high-tech spin-off companies and promising start-ups. Laura has been key in changing the economic landscape of Austin by nurturing the high tech environment from its infancy. It has been an honor to know Laura throughout my career in real estate and to have participated in the real estate activities that helped grow so many of these companies. Other award winners were Becky Beaver, the tenacious family law attorney that you want on your side in any dispute; Nikelle Meade, another legal powerhouse and the youngest partner at Brown McCarroll; Susan Narvaiz, San Marcos' mayor who despite having only a GED is a successful entrepreneur and leader; Jane Smith, another expert real estate attorney with Fulbright and Jaworski; and Irene Williams, lawyer turned CEO of 21st Century Technologies, a defense software company. All of these women are not only tops in their professions, but they are leaders in our community donating their time and skills to make Central Texas a better place to live.
