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Martha Daniel - Information Management Resources, Inc.
Founder, President and CEO of Information Management Resources, Inc. (IMRI). Prior to IMRI, Martha’s 17 year corporate career spanned from mainframe programming to Chief Information Officer (CIO) working for such companies as Aerojet General, Bekins Transportation, ARCO, IBM, Cable Value Network, and FDIC. She co-authored a book entitled, “On the Otherside of Midnight 2000, An Executive Guide to the Year 2000 Problem.” Martha, a Service Disabled Veteran honorably discharged from the United States Navy, graduated with honors earning her BS in Information Systems from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and her Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of La Verne.

Martha C. de la Torre - El Clasificado
Martha C. de la Torre is the founder and president of El Clasificado, a leading interactive media company with premium content that has connected buyers and sellers in the Hispanic marketplace since 1988. El Clasificado 9print)is a verified publication with a weekly circulation of 400,000. The award winning weekly classified shopper is read by over 1.5 million Latinos throughout Southern California, and is distributed in more than 200 cities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, San Diego and Kern Counties. El Clasificado (web) is a Spanish-language classified portal that averages more than 3 million monthly pageviews, and is ranked among the top 29,000 websites in the U.S.

Renee White Fraser, Ph.D. - Fraser Communications
Under founder Renee White Fraser’s leadership, Fraser Communications has developed into one of the top 10 private companies in Los Angeles. With more than $42 million in sales, Fraser Communications is also ranked #36 nationwide by Entrepreneur Magazine as one the fastest growing woman-owned businesses in the United States. The full-service advertising and marketing agency has attracted a broad spectrum of local and nationally recognized clients, including: Toyota; Wendy’s; Whole Foods Market; East West Bank; Nevada State Bank; Saint John’s Health Center; AIDS Healthcare Foundation; Flex Your Power (the California State Energy Conservation Campaign); First Five California; The Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP); and the Los Angeles Department of Health. Honored by Advertising Age as one of the “Ten Brightest Women in Advertising,” Renée was the recipient of the 2007 “Enterprising Women of the Year Award,” the 2007 “Legacy Award” by the National Association of Woman Business Owners, the 2004 Los Angeles Business Journal “Woman CEO of the Year” Award and the 2003 Los Angeles SBA “Women in Business Advocate of the Year” Award.

Rosario (Rose) Ramirez-Girard - Phoenix Construction Services
Rose Ramirez-Girard is the President and CEO of Phoenix Construction Services, a general engineering company specializing in Railroad Bridge Construction and Railroad Construction Maintenance. Girard started Phoenix in 1993 with $5,000. In less than a decade, sales for Phoenix have risen to nearly 4 million in 2000. Rose began to build the company's reputation and created its exposure by building experienced crews that are multi-trade and directing the attention to railroad bridge construction and railroad right-of-way maintenance, which has proven to be successful. Today the company has expanded its expertise and now has divisions in Railroad Structures, Railroad Right-of-Way Maintenance, Personnel Support, Facilities Maintenance and Communications.

Sheila Hartman - Financial Independence Company Insurance Services
Sheila Hartman, president and founder of Financial Independence Company Insurance Services (FICIS) of Woodland Hills, California is known as a “goodwill ambassador” for the insurance industry. Her national, full - service insurance brokerage specializes in providing affordable insurance services and bilingual education and training to her clients’ diverse workforce of multicultural, hourly employees. Considered a leader in her industry for setting a new standard for education and customer service in multiple industries, her main focus has been hospitality. FICIS has represented some of the top, national hotel chains in the country such as Sheraton Hotels and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. Sheila Hartman is a member for the American Resort and Development Association and a member of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. She serves on the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Multicultural Diversity Advisory Council and Advisory Council of Small and Independent Properties as well as their Government Affairs Committee. Sheila was recently appointed to the Hospitality Industry Diversity Institute Advisory Board at the University of Houston.

Clarisa Howard - bd Systems, Inc.
Clarisa Howard is the former President and CEO of bd Systems, Inc. (www.bdsys.com). As President and Chief Executive Officer, Clarisa transformed bd Systems, Inc. from a systems engineering firm to a broad-based, high-tech company, providing technical services, management information systems and application software for government and private industry. bd Systems grew from three employees in 1981 to more than 330 in 2006 with nation-wide operations in twenty-three locations. bd Systems’ customers included the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the General Services Administration. Under Clarisa’s watchful eye, bd completed three successful corporate acquisitions, adding NASA scientific support services, Air Force intelligence software, and Geographic Information Systems to bd’s core competencies. She is currently President & CEO of Howard and Howard Consulting.

Lin W. Lan - Pacific Pioneer Insurance Group
Lin W. Lan is the founder and sole shareholder of PPIG and has served as president, chief executive officer and chairman since its formation in 1987. Lin has spent 30 years in the insurance industry and has earned the C.P.C.U. designation. She started the company in 1980 with one employee. Pacific Pioneer Insurance Group was founded by Lin as a retail insurance agency: Unico Insurance Agency, to provide insurance coverage for the increasing population of the fast-growing Chinese immigrant community in the States. Lin then formed UCA General Insurance Services in 1984 to assist Asian independent insurance agents in placing their business in what was at that time a difficult insurance market. In January 2009, UCA spun-off its Specialty Division. The newly-formed company, Pacific Excess Insurance Marketing, is a Wholesaler/General Agent with its primary focus on Standard, Excess and Surplus Lines and Workers' Compensation business.

Ruth Lopez-Williams - Beverly Oncology & Imaging Centers
Americade Home Health Agency (AHHA), a partnership with BOIC was organized in 1985 as a means to better serve the centers’ patients and others in their homes. AHHA provides skilled nurses, home health aides, physical therapists, social workers, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and respiratory care to patients in their homes. Lopez Williams is active in the administration of this JCAHO accredited agency. Ruth currently serves as CEO for Beverly Oncology & Imaging Centers (BOIC). Since 1980, Lopez Williams has been responsible for the business planning, development, and expansion for the company and its related ventures. BOIC has three Los Angeles-area radiation therapy centers, an MRI center, and PET Scan Center. Its multi-lingual/multi-cultural staff provides medical services to a large Hispanic and multi-cultural population living in the surrounding communities.

Pat Means - Turning Point Magazine
Pat Means is founder and president of Turning Point Communications, a company that includes Turning Point Magazine, www.Turningpointmagazine.com and the California African American Business Summit. She is a seasoned business professional with a "can-do" entrepreneurial spirit that has propelled the company from its beginnings in 1992, to one that is recognized across the United States. Pat’s experience is grounded in a solid education, holding a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Southern California. Means sits on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Jenesse Center, a shelter for battered women and children in South Los Angeles. She also founded the TPC Foundation, Inc., an organization that provides internships and on-the-job training for minority college students majoring in communications, journalism and business.

Sandy Minc - The Barrett Group, Inc.
The Barrett Group, Inc. is a Los Angeles, California based marketing and sales promotion agency specializing in the custom design of consumer and employee incentive programs. The agency was founded in 1981 by Sandy Minc, who remains actively involved as The Barrett Group's owner and President. Sandy began her career in advertising working on the McDonald's account - back when an entire prize pool was just $5,000! She then parlayed her marketing and promotion experience from McDonald's into other fast food chains, oil companies, and supermarkets. The Barrett Group provides consulting, development, administration and fulfillment services for major corporations in both traditional and new media (online/Internet) promotions. We offer promotion/marketing consulting services on an hourly, daily or project basis.

Barbara Sullivan - Sullivan International
Barbara Sullivan is a true advocate of small business and a champion community consensus builder, and chose these roles very early in life. Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama during the era of segregation, she participated in the struggle from the front line for equality of opportunity. Becoming an entrepreneur was a childhood dream. Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, she witnessed A. G. Gaston, a man with less than an eight grade education, build several successful businesses. In pursuing her own business goals, she often thought about the obstacles he must have faced during that era and she knew that she must also rise to meet similar challenges. She received her graduate degree from Tuskegee University. Sullivan International’s primary focus is to assist growing businesses to achieve their goals relative to performance management, and sound Human Resources practices. She has developed a training and consulting program called Next Generation Business Involvement on Growth for small corporations. Barbara feels that skill building for entrepreneurs and their company’s infrastructure development are the backbone of business success.

Nina Tate - Nationwide Construction Company, Inc.
Nina Tate is owner and president of NCCI/Nationwide Construction Company, Inc., a multi- million dollar General Building/Engineering award winning firm, which ranked in the Top 100 Women Owned Businesses in Los Angeles and top 500 nationally. In 1992, Nina was the first woman contractor appointed to the California State License Board by Governor Pete Wilson, serving through 1999. She has received numerous awards, including: 2000 Women Referral Service Pioneer Award, NAWIC 1997 Crystal Vision Achievement Award, WCOE-California Chapter 1995 Glass Ceiling Award, WCOE-USA 1988 Phoenix Award, 1988 California Governor’s Outstanding Business Woman of the Year, 1988 Arthur Young/Venture Magazine’s Construction Entrepreneur of the Year.

Diana Troik - Management Systems Consulting Corp.
Dr. Diana Troik is Executive Vice President of Management Systems Consulting Corporation, which she co-founded in 1978. The firm focuses on the growing pains of entrepreneurial businesses, and the individual and organizational change needed to move to the next stage of development. Diana Troik's areas of expertise include organization and facilitation of strategic planning meetings, organizational structural analysis, executive feedback, and financial analysis. Her clients have included Starbucks Coffee Company, Chart House Enterprises, PowerBar, Tommy Bahama, and Countrywide Home Loans. Diana also was a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business and has served on the Executive Boards of NAWBO-LA and the National Women's Political Caucus, LA Westside.

Maureen Tyson - Crown City Medical Group, Inc.
Maureen Tyson is owner of Crown City Management Company, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of Crown City Medical Group, Inc. Maureen and her husband Dr. Bertrand O. Tyson began Crown City Medical Group, Inc. in 1973. The original clinic still remains in Pasadena, California. Dr. and Mrs. Tyson began this medical practice with a commitment to providing quality healthcare to people of every economic level. After the death of her husband in 1988, Maureen worked diligently to keep the clinic open. Confronted with the changing face of health care at that time, she was able to compete in a very difficult market. Crown City Medical Group currently has offices serving the areas of Huntington Park, El Monte and Pasadena. In 1988 she began the Crown City Management Company, Inc., of which she is the sole owner. In 1995 Maureen became co-founder and one of the owners of Care 1st Health Plan, an HMO serving the greater Los Angeles area. Maureen's commitment to the community also includes the owning and management of 2 foster homes from 1985-1994. Maureen was born in Jamaica, and moved to the United States when she was 20 years old. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in business management and has four children.