| LATINA EMPOWERMENT LUNCHEON
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| This luncheon is focused on the great accomplishments that our Latina entrepreneurs are doing in business. These speakers are very accomplished and inspiring to our business owners, future entrepreneurs, and a reminder of how empowering women truly are in Texas. We will also honor two women who have excelled over the last year and will receive the TAMACC Businesswoman of the Year Award.
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| Dr. Diana Natalicio
Keynote Speaker
Diana Natalicio became UTEP's president in 1988. During her long and distinguished career with the University, Dr. Natalicio has also served as vice president for academic affairs, dean of liberal arts, chair of the modern languages department and professor of linguistics. Her sustained commitment to provide all residents of the Paso del Norte region access to outstanding higher education opportunities has helped make UTEP a national success story. During her tenure, UTEP's enrollment has grown from 15,000 to more than 23,000 students, its annual budget from $65 to nearly $450 million, annual research expenditures from $6 to nearly $90 million, and doctoral programs from one to twenty-one. Dr. Natalicio has served on numerous boards including Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), ACT, the Rockefeller Foundation, Trinity Industries, Sandia Corporation, U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC), American Council on Education (chair), National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and Internet 2. Dr. Natalicio was recently named to the 2016 TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2015, The Carnegie Corporation of New York honored her with its prestigious Academic Leadership Award, and in 2011, she was presented with the Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca, the highest honor bestowed on foreign nationals by the President of Mexico. She has also received the TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence and the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education, and honorary doctoral degrees from Georgetown University, Smith College and the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon. Convention Itinerary |
| Erika Castillo
Mistress of Ceremonies
The first few years of my life were spent living in a pink house on South Walker Street off Alameda. I spoke mostly Spanish, played in the ditch, got gum in my hair, and was a tomboy in fake patent leather mary-janes my grandmother bought downtown. I have great memories from downtown El Paso which I still visit regularly because I love the nostalgia. I don't have to take the bus there anymore. But I loved munching on burritos and waiting for the bus downtown with my mother and grandmother. In fact, the time I spent at El Paso bus stops and laundromats with my mother seriously were the best times of my childhood. We walked, talked and read forever waiting for buses and laundry. Those were simple, beautiful times. Now life is beautiful on much different levels.
I managed to get my degree in broadcast journalism at the University of Texas at El Paso in four years after graduating from Ysleta High School while working an internship at the El Paso Times and at a gas station. That led to a paid scholarship internship at The Dallas Morning News. I was able to come home to break into TV news where I appropriately started at the bottom and worked my way up. On the way, I have reached various meaningful benchmarks earning a regional Emmy for the Juarez Serial Murders, appearing on the Bill O'Reilly show and America's Most Wanted as the point-person for FOX on the break-out of "The Texas Seven," being nominated for an Emmy for the American Airlines strike in Dallas, as well as for the problems plaguing the Children's' Protective Services agency in East Texas and coverage of immigration issues in Texas.
I have an extraordinary family consisting of five amazing, beautiful, considerate children. My two step daughters Deven and Laneah. And three of my own, Maya, Polo and Elias. I have a wonderful and supportive husband who served his country for more than a decade in the USMC and who is a Purple Heart recipient and truly my hero. I feel blessed in every way, and extremely happy to be home. Convention Itinerary |
| Daniel Morales
Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations for Walmart
Daniel Morales is director of public affairs and government relations for Walmart in South Texas. Prior to that Daniel was director of communications and community relations for Walmart Public Affairs for an 11-state region where he was responsible for leading state and local communications that help improve Walmart's reputation. Before joining Walmart, Daniel was a political appointee under President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C., where he served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as Secretary Tommy Thompson's outreach coordinator and acting communications director for the Office of Public Health and Science. Daniel also served at the U.S. Department of Labor where he was Spanish spokesperson and Hispanic liaison to Secretary Elaine Chow. Daniel has also worked with the City of San Antonio's Community Action Division as a social worker helping those in need through the use of Community Development Block Grants. Daniel, originally from Brownsville, Texas, has a Master's Degree in Public Service Administration from the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. He serves on several non-profit organizations including the Board of Directors of AAMA, a nonprofit in Houston's east end, La Camara de Empresarios Latinos de Houston as Chair of the Executive Advisory Board, Board of Directors of Parents Step Ahead and as the Chair of the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Advisory Committee. Convention Itinerary |
| Thank you to our great Partner!
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