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2006 Hall of Fame
Judy Levy and Ellen Pazanti, Owners & Partners, Levy, Pazanti
& Associates
The sisters, who own Los Angeles’ foremost fundraising and
event planning company, bring over 30 years of solid experience—and a
passion for making a difference—to the business. Levy established the
firm more than 20 years ago after running national and statewide political campaigns
for the Democratic Party. The former political science major (California State
University at Northridge) joined Hubert Humphrey’s campaign in 1972 as
deputy director of scheduling and advance for the United States in 1980. After
a successful stint working on political campaigns that also included Jesse Unruh
and Jimmy Carter, she opened J. Levy & Associates in 1980. Pazanti joined
her three months later to run the operations side of the company. A highly skilled
and experienced administrator, she had served as controller for International
Industries for five years and subsequently had run a group of dental offices
in the Orange County area of California. In 1985, they changed the name of the
business to Levy, Pazanti & Associates in order to reflect equal partnership.
Their philosophy is simple. “Be honest with your clients—tell them
the truth, not necessarily what they want to hear,” Levy explains. “Be
honorable—your word needs to be your bond, so don’t make promises
you can’t keep.”
Gwen Vuchsas, Owner & COO, SECO Investigative & Security
Services
Gwen and her husband Jim own and operate SECO Investigative & Security Services
located in Marina del Rey, CA. SECO is a full service private investigation
and security company that began in 1989 when Jim retired from the Los Angeles
Police Department. Gwen heads up the security division of SECO as well as managing
the day to day operations. Prior to taking over the operations of SECO, Gwen
spent many years as a Paralegal in several law firms as well as a successful
sales career in real estate and life, health and disability insurance. Gwen
has an extensive background in community relations and politics, which has proven
to be a good source for SECO’s extremely close ties with the community
and its activities and affairs. These areas of expertise have provided invaluable
insight and resources to the SECO team. However, her real strength is her involvement
in numerous organizations that effect and impact the local neighborhoods and
community. For many years Gwen has been involved with her community beginning
as a volunteer “team mom” in the mid 70’s with AYSO and Del
Rey American Little League. There are far too many organizations to name for
which Gwen has either been integrally involved. However, to name a few, she
was President of the local Little League, started the fundraising scrip program
at Visitation School, and eventually became the Rotary President, Chamber President,
LAPD Police Booster President, Honorary Mayor of the Westchester/Playa del Rey
community and is currently serving as President of the Neighborhood Council
of Westchester/Playa del Rey.
Nien-Ling Wacker, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Laserfiche Document
Managing
A native of Shanghai, China, Nien-Ling Wacker earned a Bachelor of Science degree
in physics from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a Master of Science
degree in chemical physics from the University of Southern California. Ms. Wacker
began her career in the computer industry as a systems analyst and programmer
and subsequently joined USC’s computer science department as an instructor.
Ms. Wacker founded Compulink Management Center, Inc., in 1974 to develop custom
software solutions. By the early 1980s, she had identified an emerging need
among her clients – for an electronic document repository that would provide
both secure storage and instant retrieval by any word or phrase in the document.
Ms. Wacker envisioned this repository as a kind of “auxiliary brain”
even before the term “document management” had been coined. Ms.
Wacker released Laserfiche for DOS in 1987, the same year that marked the founding
of Laserfiche the company, a division of Compulink Management Center, Inc. As
Laserfiche grew throughout the 1990s, Ms. Wacker became increasingly active
in document management professional groups and trade associations representing
core Laserfiche markets. She served on the board of the Association for Information
and Image Management (AIIM) and continues to serve on the board of the International
Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC) Education Foundation. Trade associations
and other business groups began to recognize Ms. Wacker’s contributions
to the document management industry with awards in the late 1990s, continuing
into the present. AIIM presented the Pioneer of the Year Award to her in 2002.
She has also received the IIMC Visionary Award, earned a finalist position in
the 2004 and 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year competitions and achieved
a place on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s list of 100 Women Who Make
a Difference. In June 2005, Ms. Wacker was named Luminary of the Year by the
Moms in Business Network.
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