"Courage."
"Webster´s defines it as a ‘firmness of mind and will while facing danger.’ It has also been called ‘grace under pressure.’
We all know it when we see it, and we see it in the actions and the lifetime achievements of Dr. Hernandez."
That is how this year´s WOY Winner was introduced and it defines her actions and her character.
As a tireless supporter and advocate of health care for the poor and disenfranchised, Dr. Hernandez has made a difference in the lives and health of tens of thousands of families.
As the CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, which has provided more than $60 million annually in donations and help to those in need, she continues her quest to improve the lives of those who do not have a voice in our society.
A graduate of Yale University and Tuft´s School of Medicine, Dr. Hernandez remains deeply involved with health care issues by creating models that can be used nationwide. She lives by the creed of a Hopi Elder´s poem that reads, in part: You must go back and tell the people that this is the hour…All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
"Don´t wait for somebody else to be the leader," she says.

As Kaiser Permanente´s vice-president of public affairs in Southern California, Diana Bonta is a strong advocate for health reform and improving access to health care. She manages government and community relations, media, and community benefits in a region that has more than three million members. Prior to joining Kaiser in 2004, she spent nearly 35 years in the health care field, often leading the battle for better health care for Hispanics and other undeserved populations. She is no stranger to leadership challenges.
In her former job as director of the California Department of Health Services, she oversaw 6,000 employees. There, she worked with health officials from the Mexican government to reduce disease on both sides of the border.
She also helped develop the first hospital nurse-to-patient staffing ratio regulations, and the state´s preparedness for potential bioterrorism. Today, she directs Kaiser´s approach to public health through a community benefit division that just last year devoted $369 million to improve the health of underserved populations in Southern California.
"Latinos are experiencing a disproportionately high rate of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and asthma," she says. "At Kaiser Permanente we have an integrated health delivery system. We are able to have culturally relevant and appropriate care that can focus on reducing the incidence of disease and optimizing wellness. Kaiser´s community benefit programs partner with community organizations that enhance services to Latinos in need."
Ms. Bonta considers her greatest accomplishment to be something she achieved outside the boardroom. "I am most proud of being a mother of three and a spouse for over 30 years," she says.

Where some see run-down and polluted factories, Jennifer Hernandez sees brand new homes, sweeping golf courses, and neighborhood parks. Ms. Hernandez is an attorney who specializes in the restoration of brownfields – polluted land where former industrial and commercial buildings once stood. Once shunned as being undesirable, these brownfields are suddenly in demand, in California cities and elsewhere, as the search for urban land for development has intensified. As a result, developers are increasingly looking to scoop up old factories, shuttered gas stations, and warehouses and transform them into upscale housing developments, golf courses, or shopping malls.
As a partner and head of Holland & Knight´s environmental law practice in San Francisco, Ms. Hernandez is assigned some of the most complex and intellectually challenging environmental cases that the law has to offer.
Ms. Hernandez says her interest in brownfields dates back to her childhood. Her grandfather and father were steelworkers in her hometown of Pittsburg, California.
"I have a really strong affinity for the trades," says Ms. Hernandez, whose brother is a master welder. "To me, the right thing to do was improve the environment and protect jobs."
Ms. Hernandez, who graduated from Harvard University before earning her law degree at Stanford Law School, credits her "combination of stubbornness and confidence" for her success in a male-dominated field.

Gloria Romero, the Majority Leader in the California State Senate and one of Hispanic Business magazine's Top 5 Women of the Year, sits back in a high-necked leather chair in the middle of her expansive red-carpeted office in the Capitol Building in Sacramento.
Behind her hang the flags of the United States and California. The office décor reflects the trappings of power and authority. Sen. Romero helps preside over a state that could easily rank as a major world economic power in its own right.
Through her door stroll lobbyists, politicians, industry experts, and business people to plead their causes. They cajole, bargain, and pressure. California politics is not a game for the meek or timid.
"At the end of the day, the only ways to hold onto your integrity in this rough and tumble game of politics is to remember your roots, what your family taught you, and never forget where you came from," she says.
Representing a sprawling section of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley that encompasses approximately 850,000 residents, Sen. Romero won her Senate seat in 2001, after a hard-fought campaign. She quickly developed a reputation as one of the hardest-working, most knowledgeable, and politically skilled legislators in Sacramento. In recognition of her political savvy, drive, and commitment to an agenda of reform, her peers elevated her to the role of Majority Leader in 2005.
Sen. Romero´s ardent support for education reflects her own lifelong love of learning. She grew up "on the other side of the tracks" in Barstow, California. Her mother had a sixth-grade education, and her father was a laborer who worked two shifts to support his family. But he always had time, she recalls, to read to his daughter.

Coming from the barrios of East Los Angeles, this Top 5 finalist for the 2008 Women of the Year began her career in human resources at Sears, Roebuck and Co.
This early beginning helped launch her remarkable career in business, human resources, and administration.
It ultimately led to leadership positions at companies across the nation and in Mexico. Her first job was with the Southern California Edison Company, where she learned the challenges of managing people and benefits. Her career path then went into ascendancy as she worked as president of the Human Resources Group, vice-president of human resources of Transamerica Real Estate Information Companies, and vice-president of administration for First Data Resources at a start-up operation in Mexico City.
"I always say I know enough to be dangerous," Ms. Villarreal says with a smile. Today at ACS, Ms. Villarreal has a staff of 240 people worldwide, but considers ACS´s 60,000 employees to be her bosses. For Ms. Villarreal, her roots and values are the backbone of her work.
"In our culture, our values are our greatest asset. Some people don´t realize that our values are worth their weight in gold. I would never jeopardize my values," she says. "Don´t ever forget where you came from. Ever! Just because you´ve reached a point in your life, put down your hands and reach down and help the other person. Don´t do the queen bee syndrome and say you´ve done it all by yourself because you haven´t. Women helping women, in the end, help themselves."