Moctesuma Esparza, an award-winning producer, entertainment executive, entrepreneur and community activist, will close our Educational Achievement Luncheon on Friday, February18.  He has worked with stars such as Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Smits, Robert Duvall and Halle Berry.  His films include "Price of Glory", "Selena", "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez", and "The Milagro Beanfield War."  He has dedicated his career to empowering the Latino community, creating more opportunities for emerging Latinos, and transforming the images of Latinos in Hollywood.  His awards and honors include an Academy Award nomination, a Golden Globe nomination, an Emmy Award, a Clio Award, a Cine Golden Eagle Award, and being named one of the 50 "Most Powerful and Influential Latinos" in 2008 by The Imagen Foundation.  

Nina Vaca, founder and CEO of the 5^th fastest growing firm in the information technology and IT-enabled solutions industry, will keynote our Corporate and Community Awards Dinner on Friday, February 18.  She founded Pinnacle in 1996 to provide services to Fortune 500 companies including staff augmentation, professional staffing, payroll, and all aspects of the client-vendor relationship.  Pinnacle now has annual revenues of $200 million and 3,000 consultants throughout the United States and Canada, and has received 38 national and local awards over the last seven years. Her story opens the Entrepreneur chapter of "Understanding Business", a McGraw-Hill textbook used for teaching entrepreneurship in universities today. A graduate of Texas State University, Nina was honored as the youngest Distinguished Alumna in the school's history. She is a graduate of the Harvard Business School - Corporate Governance Executive Program and received an honorary doctorate from Northwood University.