Mujeres del Año 2012
The Regional Hispanic Institute Proudly Presents:
Mujeres Del Año 2012
"Mujeres Del Año" - a grand evening that celebrates the outstanding demonstration of character, commitment, civility, community, and citizenship of Mujeres in our communities; from a broad representation of disciplines and areas are awarded for several categories:
Mujer Comunicación - Diana A. Rodriguez
Mujer Empresaria - Flor De Maria Chavarria
Mujer Marítima - Geraldine Knatz
Mujer Comunitaria - Jessica Maes
Mujer Diversidad - Linda B. Wright
Mujer Educación - Sandra Sanchez
Mujer Comercio Internacional - Susan E. Anderson Wise
Mujer Comunicacion
Diana A. Rodriguez
Senior Vice President, Communications Western Region,
Regional Banking Wells Fargo & Company
Diana Rodriguez is senior vice president of communications for the Western Region of the retail banking business at Wells Fargo, which includes the states of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Appointed to her position in November 2010, she has communications responsibility for more than 2,750 banking stores and more than 45,000 team members who serve consumers and small businesses in the region. Her areas of focus include media relations, internal communications, and executive advocacy.
Rodriguez is active in the non-profit community and serves on the boards of several organizations, including the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Advisory Board for Southern California, and Project Angel Food.
A Los Angeles resident, Rodriguez began her career with Wells Fargo in April 2010 after a 17-year career in Communications that included roles at Capital One, AES Corp. and MeadWestvaco.
Prior to assuming her current position, she was the communications leader for Wells Fargo Financial, based in Des Moines, IA.
Rodriguez earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Western Connecticut State University and a master's degree in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.
She currently resides in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif., with her husband and two children.
Mujer Empresaria
Flor De Maria Chavarria
Flor De Maria Chavarria was Born on the 14th of November in Matagalpa, Nicaragua and attended el Instituto Nacional Eliseo Picado after her mother passed away when she was 12 years old she knew she needed to move to the United States and fulfill her dream of becoming a famous stylist.
Flor De Maria moved to Long Beach California in the year 1985 she attended Millikan High School from there she took courses in ROP and graduated in cosmetology she is now a successful beautician and owner of Broadway Hair Studio.
She gives back to her community by volunteering her time at the Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and by supporting abused women by doing their hair at no cost this gives them the confidence to move on.
She has two Children Stephanie Madera 22, Andrew Madera 11
Mujer Maritima
Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D.
Executive Director
In 2006, Geraldine Knatz became the first female executive director of the Port of Los Angeles where she oversees the daily operations and internal management of the nation's number one container port.
That same year, Knatz was instrumental in the creation and implementation of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan which has reduced port-related Sulfur Oxide, Diesel Particulate Matter and Nitrogen Oxide emission levels by 76%, 71% and 51% (respectively) between 2005 and 2011.
Under Knatz' leadership, the Port of L.A. plans to invest $1.2 billion in capital improvements through 2015.
As the global trade landscape continues to evolve, Knatz and her team are also focusing on solutions-oriented approaches to meeting customer needs and expanding business opportunities through competitive operations, world-class port facilities and a renewed focus on customer service. Included in Los Angeles magazine's "Power List" of L.A. influentials, Knatz was the 2008-2009 Chair of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) and is now mid-way through her two-year term as President of the International Association of Ports and Harbors. A resident of Long Beach where she lives with her husband and two teenage sons.Dr. Knatz graduated....
Most recently 2012 recipient of the Blue Frontier Campaign's prestigious Peter Benchley Ocean Award for "Excellence in Solutions.
Mujer Comunitaria
Jessica Maes
Jessica Maes Was Born on the 4th of July in Los Angeles California and attended St. Lawrence of Brindisi Catholic School, St. Aloysius Catholic School and Huntington Park High School and Rio Hondo Community College, Lumbleau and Anthony Real Estate School. From Grocery Checker to Successful Real Estate Agent was only one step along Jessica's path of success.
Jessica Maes was elected by her colleagues as the "First Woman Mayor" of Huntington Park, California, then later on, voted again as Mayor, in 1999 and 2000 by her City Council Colleagues. She served on The Huntington Park City Council from 1994-2003 Jessica Maes-Zepeda is the Owner and Public Relations and Community Affairs Director for The Family Owned Business "El Aviso Magazine Inc."
In this capacity Jessica develops and implements marketing, public relations and promotional programs. Her responsibilities include involvement in multiple cities, Chamber of Commerce Relations, Media Relations, Event Sponsorships, Consumer Education in Customer Service and other educational programs. El Aviso Magazine is rated in the Top 20 Hispanic Publications in Los Angeles County and Los Angeles City, The San Fernando Valley, Orange County Inland Empire/San Gabriel Valley. They publish 300,000 copies a week! She Married Jose R. Zepeda in 1997. She has three Children Jessica 42, Erik 39, and Bradley 28.She has two step children, Maria and Jose Jr. She has four grandchildren Michael 26, Alex 19, Sarah 17 and Emily 7 years old, two step children, Vanessa 3.5 and Adrian 2."
Mujer Diversidad
Linda B. Wright
Linda B. Wright has over 40 years experience in the areas of labor wage compliance, equal opportunity/affirmative action, contract compliance and minority, women and disadvantaged business enterprise program management.
Ms. Wright began her professional career in 1967 as an Assistant Business Representative for Laborers Local 300. Ms. Wright was responsible for enforcing the payment of union wages, investigating complaints of discrimination and settling jurisdictional disputes. She conducted extensive liaison with the District Council of Laborers and other associated trades.
Ms. Wright is greatly respected by her peers and is considered an expert in her industry. She is often summoned to participate on various appeals boards and requested to serve as advisor to local governments. She is active in numerous professional organizations and has received many accolades for the services she has provided. Ms. Wright currently serves as Metro's Executive Officer over the Diversity & Economic Opportunity Department, responsible for DBE and Small Business Programs, Certification, Small Business Outreach, Metro's Project Labor Agreement and Construction Careers Policy and Labor Compliance.
Mujer Educacion
Sandra Sanchez,
Economic & Workforce Development
Los Angeles Harbor College
Sandra Sanchez- Ms. Sanchez is currently the Dean of Economic and Workforce Development at Los Angeles Harbor College she recently completed her first year as Dean and has brought over 10.6M in new grant funding to the College. Along with this most recent accomplishment, Ms. Sanchez brings over 12 years experience in Economic and Workforce Development and Career Technical Education.
She is currently responsible for the oversight of all Economic, Workforce and Career Technical Education grants for LAHC including two large scale multimillion dollar institutional grants that serve STEM related activities. These grant funded programs are designed as pilot programs that allow for best practices to be adopted by the college, while providing financial resources to the institution. Her present and past experience includes oversight and program administration of large and small scale grant programs, performing needs assessments to determine employee training needs to meet business and financial objectives.
In addition she has extensive experience in customer service, contract education and for launching one of the largest networks of small business development programs in the state including operations of remote and satellite locations. Prior to her experience in higher education she worked in the private sector, in total she has over 16 year experience in project management both in the public and private sector. Her experience in the private sector includes assisting small and large businesses determining their staffing needs as well as managing large scale program implementations of multi- million dollar accounts. Ms Sanchez holds a B.A in Political Science from CSU Long Beach and an M.B.A from the University of Redlands and she is one of the founding board members of the Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Mujer Comercio Internacional
Susan E. Anderson Wise
President Port of Long Beach
Susan E. Anderson Wise, an attorney and Long Beach resident since 1974, was re-elected to a one-year term as President of the Board of Harbor Commissioners on June 4, 2012, by her colleagues on the five-member governing board for the Port of Long Beach, California.
She was appointed to a six-year term on the Commission in December 2008 by Mayor Bob Foster and confirmed unanimously by the Long Beach City Council.
The Commission President serves as chair of the Commission, running Board meetings and often representing the Port to the public and the shipping industry. Ms. Wise has been in private practice of law in Long Beach since her admission to the bar in 1974.
The Port is served by 140 shipping lines with connections to 27 seaports around the world. With customer and community service at the core of operations, environmental agencies have acknowledged the Port for its landmark green initiatives, and industry leaders have named the Port of Long Beach the World's Greenest Port in 2011 and Best Seaport in North America 14 of the past 16 years. A major economic engine for the region, trade valued at more than $140 billion moves through the Port of Long Beach each year, supporting hundreds of thousands of Southern California jobs.
