HispanicBusiness

Imelda Navarro
Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, International Bank of Commerce-Laredo, TX
She has worked her entire 29-year career within the IBC family. When IBC began to grow dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, Ms. Navarro saw her responsibilities evolve to include financial accounting, human resources, and bank operations. As senior executive vice president, she serves as second-in-command to the president/CEO and as CFO and COO for IBC. Her duties include management of the operations and accounting functions for International Bancshares Corp. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in accounting, at Laredo State University.

Ellen Ochoa
Deputy Director, Johnson Space Center
She became a NASA astronaut in 1991. Assignments in the Astronaut Office included serving as the crew representative for flight software, computer hardware and robotics, lead spacecraft communicator in Mission Control, and director of Flight Crew Operations, where she managed and directed the Astronaut Office and Aircraft Operations. Ms. Ochoa is a veteran of four space flights, logging nearly 1,000 hours in space. She holds a bachelor's degree in physics from San Diego State University and master's and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Marla E. Pérez-Davis
Chief of the Project Liaison and Integration Office,
NASA Glenn Research Center
Ms. Perez-Davis, who has worked at the center since 1983, has made major contributions to NASA through leading and managing both space and aeronautics research projects. She is responsible for planning, coordinating, directing, and supervising all phases of the office work. Primary responsibilities are to implement, integrate and manage all phases of technical management and resources analysis and controls. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico and University of Toledo, respectively. She also holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Grace Puma
Senior Vice President, Strategic Sourcing and Chief Procurement Officer, United Airlines
She is responsible for building innovative sourcing strategies and technologies that will improve total cost of ownership, while ensuring suppliers meet quality standards for products and services. She oversees $15 billion in spending for maintenance components, corporate real estate and jet fuel. She was previously
Vice President, Global Indirect Materials and Services Procurement, for Kraft Foods. She also led an international team responsible for the strategic sourcing of Motorola's cell phone accessories and electronic components. She has held leadership roles in procurement at Gillette and BASF Corp.

Monica C. Regalbuto
Head of Process Chemistry and Engineering Department, Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory
She manages the programmatic activities and facilities of three groups that conduct research on spent fuel separations, repository waste form corrosion and engineering process development. She has also worked for Amoco Oil Co. (now BP Co.), where she applied her research and development expertise in an industrial setting. She is currently on assignment with the Engineering and Technology Office of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management. Ms. Rebalbuto holds a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Lillian Rodríguez López
President, Hispanic Federation
She leads the nonprofit membership organization serving about 100 Latino health and human service agencies in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. She joined the federation in 1996 as vice president. Under her leadership, the federation has dramatically increased its organizational capacity to serve an ever-increasing network of member agencies and respond to the Latino community's local and national needs. She received her bachelor's degree in communications from Fordham University and completed the Executive Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University under the 2003 National Hispana Leadership Institute.

Gisel Ruiz
Senior Vice President, Wal-Mart Stores People Division, Wal-Mart Inc.
She oversees the Human Resource Organization that supports more than 3,800 stores across the U.S. She has also served as Store Manager in field operations; Labor Relations Manager; Director of Personnel; and Vice President, Regional General Manager, in which she was responsible for 150 Wal-Mart stores in the Western Texas and New Mexico territory. She holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing from Santa Clara University, where she also completed the Retail Management Institute program.

Myrna Soto
Vice President of IT Governance and Chief Information Security Officer, MGM Mirage
Her areas of focus include Information, IT Audit and Compliance, and Business Analysis. She is responsible for the design and development of a comprehensive Information Security program within MGM Mirage. Ms. Soto joined the company in 2004 as Corporate Director of Solutions for Mandalay Resort Group. She has also served as Vice President of Business Solutions. She holds a bachelor's degree from Florida International University, in addition to a Master of Science degree in Industrial Psychology and an MBA, both from Nova Southeastern University.

Sandra G. Thompson
Law Foundation Professor of Law and Criminal Justice Institute Director, University of Houston
She teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, federal criminal law, sentencing, and evidence. She previously served as an Assistant District Attorney with the New York County District Attorney's Office in Manhattan. She received her bachelor's degree in economics from Yale College in 1985 and her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1988. She has served for more than 15 years on the board of directors of the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston. She is licensed to practice in New York and has been admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court.