Background

The third of five children, Nina was born to Amanda and Hernan Vaca. Her family moved to Los Angeles early in Nina's life where her parents owned and operated a variety of businesses. Nina, her mother, and her siblings moved to Texas in 1990 following the sudden, unexpected death of her father.

Having been involved in the family travel agency business since the age of 10, Vaca was thoroughly prepared for a career in business administration before she even attended college. Nina believes that her parents’ entrepreneurial influence shaped her interest in business from a young age.

Education

Vaca enrolled at Texas State University soon after moving to Texas, where she graduated with a B.A. in Speech Communications and a minor in Business Administration in 1994. In addition to receiving an undergraduate degree from Texas State University and completing several executive education programs, Nina has been awarded honorary degrees from Berkeley College, Mount Mary University, and Northwood University.

Career

After completing her education, Vaca moved to New York City to launch her career in technology. However, she missed her family and wanted to return to Texas. She founded Pinnacle Group at the age of 25 in Dallas with $300. Her company rapidly grew from a one-woman IT staffing service into one of the most promising female-led organizations in the country.

Today, Pinnacle Group has been named the fastest-growing woman-owned business in the United States in both 2015 and 2018.

Achievements

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  In 2014, Vaca was appointed as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) due to her company's notable success. As part of her involvement in this program, Nina traveled to Ghana with Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker in 2014 to advocate for global entrepreneurship.
  
  Vaca was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year award by Ernst & Young in 2005 and has been named as one of the 101 Most Influential Latinos by Latino Leaders Magazine every year since 2009. Goldman Sachs recognized Nina as one of America's Most Intriguing CEOs in 2011 and 2013, and she received the Dallas Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
  
  Nina was inducted into the Minority Business Hall of Fame in 2016, and she was given the Annual Enterprising Women of the Year Award in the same year. In 2018, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner proclaimed March 8th as Nina Vaca Day as part of the city’s 11th Tribute to the Hispanic Woman.
  
  

Works

• Other Work

  • https://www.behance.net/ninavaca

Personality

To help other Latinas emulate her success, Nina founded the At the Table: Women in Business and Leadership program. In every aspect of her career, Vaca has worked to encourage Hispanic women to seek career paths in the STEM fields, and she is an ardent supporter of the Dallas Independent School District’s Pathways to Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program.

Pinnacle Group is an industry partner to Thomas Jefferson P-TECH Early College High School in Dallas, which serves a large population of Hispanic students. At this school, students pursue an associate’s degree at Brookhaven Community College in one of three career pathways while at the same time earning their high school diploma. The vast majority of the participants in the P-TECH program are the first members of their families to attend college and many are learning English as a second language.

Interests

• Philanthropy

Connections

Vaca is married with two daughters and two sons. She resides in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

References

• Nina Vaca Nina Vaca's website is a central location for everything concerning Nina, including news, awards, achievements, and general information.
• Nina Vaca's Lean In Story Nina Vaca tells her story and how "leaning in" brought her to incredible success.
• Nina Vaca: Leading the way and doing her part | AL DÍA News Nina Vaca shared the power of her personal triumphs and struggles as they have formed her professional journey in her speech at the AL DÍA Women's Summit.
• Nina Vaca Shows Small Businesses Are Big Players The story of how Nina Vaca launched Pinnacle Group, an IT services firm, and built it into a workforce solutions powerhouse and one of the fastest-growing women-owned businesses in the U.S.
• Nina Vaca, CEO of Pinnacle Group: You Can't Be What You Can't See An interview with Nina Vaca outlining how her support group and role models shaped her life and gave her the strength to succeed.
• Nina Vaca Receives Impacto Latino Award at United Nations The award was presented to Nina at the Latino Impact Summit in recognition of her many contributions to, and impact on, the Latino business community.
• The Women of Innovation Summit Brings Together Female Change Makers, Visionaries, and Leaders » Dallas Innovates The Summit kicked off with a keynote by Nina Vaca. Her Crazy Good message focused on overcoming challenges, and often, unconscious bias. But she encouraged the women in the audience not to let it take them over. Because one of her absolute favorite things is to be underestimated and prove people wrong.
• Pinnacle Group CEO Nina Vaca Addresses Top Chilean Entrepreneurs at U.S. Embassy Events Inspiring U.S. CEO, philanthropist and civic leader Nina Vaca provided business insights to top Chilean entrepreneurs this week at events near Santiago hosted by the U.S. Embassy.
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• Nina Vaca: Behance
• Nina G Vaca Bloomberg Professional Profile
• Dallas CEOs to Take the Stage for Christmas Concert - D Magazine Nina Vaca and other top executives with AT&T Latin America, the Dallas Morning News, NorthPark Center, Dallas Stars Foundation, to kick off inaugural C-Suite Christmas with DSO.
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• Why This Billionaire Latina Entrepreneur Equates Entrepreneurship With Hope Despite the obstacles that still exist, women have more access to business and entrepreneurial resources today than they ever have before in history.
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• Christmas concert puts Dallas CEOs in the spotlight for a good cause - CultureMap Dallas The CEOs of major businesses might be used to being in the spotlight, but on December 11, seven of Dallas' leaders will find themselves onstage.
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• The National Hispanic Leadership Summit comes to New York City | AL DÍA News The final of four National Hispanic Leadership Summits organized by the We Are All Human Foundation during 2019 will be held Dec. 9-10.
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