Nina Vaca Leads Hispanic Chamber of Dallas

On March 1, Nina Vaca was sworn in as the chair of the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GDHCC) for 2005, with Dallas Mayor Laura Miller presiding over the ceremony. Vaca, the chairwoman and CEO of Pinnacle Technical Resources, is a two-time recipient of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Hispanic Business Woman of the Year award.

“I am very excited to work with Nina to take our chamber to an even higher level of performance,” said GDHCC President Arturo Violante. “Nina is an energetic and inspirational leader, and an excellent role model for other Hispanic business owners to follow.”
 

Vaca joined the GDHCC’s board of directors in 2001 and is pleased to continue her work with the chamber in a new position. “Our chamber is one of the most recognized chambers in the country, having won National Chamber of the Year in five of the past 11 years,” said Vaca. “I look forward to working ... to further advance the interests of Hispanic business owners.”

Businesswoman of the Year Earline Lagueruela

Earline Lagueruela is one of nine recipients of an Office Depot Businesswoman of the Year award for 2005. Lagueruela is the president and founder of S&C Advertising & Public Relations, a San Antonio–based bilingual communications firm.

S&C boasts clients such as the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and in 1999, it spearheaded the launch of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy’s National Hispanic Outreach Campaign.

Lagueruela received the award during Office Depot’s Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference in February. The conference also honored Nely Galan, executive producer of Fox’s The Swan, with its Business Entrepreneur Visionary award.

M. Helen Cavazos

Clear Channel Communications announced in February that M. Helen Cavazos had joined its team as diversity manager. Cavazos comes to Clear Channel with over 20 years of human-resources and diversity-consulting experience, including 13 years with McDonald’s.

“As our diversity efforts have become increasingly sophisticated, Helen has the ideal skill set required to assist each of Clear Channel’s divisions with their diversity goals,” said Kimberly Wray, director of human resources services for Clear Channel.

Cavazos is a long-time advocate of community and diversity initiatives and looks forward to using her experience at Clear Channel. “I am thrilled to be a part of such a dynamic group of professionals working in a culturally diverse environment,” said Cavazos.

NAHP’s New Chair: Lupita Colmenero

At the National Association of Hispanic Publications’ (NAHP) national convention in Philadelphia in March, Lupita Colmenero was elected the organization’s new chair.
Colmenero, born in Mexico, came to Dallas in 1985, in search of a missing brother. Her search led her to what at the time was the city’s only Hispanic newspaper, where she met her future husband, Marcos Nelson Suárez.

In 1986, she and Suárez founded El Hispano News, only the second Spanish-language weekly paper in northern Texas. El Hispano News began with a circulation of 5,000 and a staff of two; nearly 20 years later, the paper has grown to a circulation of 35,000 and a staff of 25.

Colmenero has been a member of NAHP for 17 years and its secretary for two. She has also participated in conventions of the Asociación Mexicana de Editores de Periódicos (AME) and has received national awards for her editorial columns.

Colmenero’s other life work is her family: daughter Eileen Marion, 17, and son Marcos Nelson, 13.