Lynda de la Viña

Dr. de la Viña received her master's and doctorate in economics from Rice University and her bachelor's in government and economics from University of Texas, Pan American campus. She was the first Mexican-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in economics in the United States. She was named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S. by Hispanic Business magazine. She was an inaugural member of the advisory committee for the $200 million State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund. She also completed a prestigious Kellogg Leadership Fellows Program and was named one of the most influential women in Texas by the Texas Diversity Council. The first Mexican-American woman at the secretarial level of the U.S. Treasury in the Clinton administration, De La Viña served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy from 1998-2001. Following her role at the Treasury, she led the Graduate Division of Business and Management and was Chair of the Department of Finance and International Business at Johns Hopkins University. She then served as Dean of the College of Business at University of Texas, San Antonio, was named the Peter Flawn Professor of Entrepreneurship and Economics and Director for the Center for Global Entrepreneurship. She has co-founded several companies including Operational Technologies Corporation (OpTech) and Pronucleotein Biotechnologies in San Antonio, TX. Under her tenure, OpTech rose from a small incubator operation in downtown San Antonio to one of the largest minority-owned businesses in the nation. She continues to serve on the Board of Directors of OpTech. Her latest ventures are VINJER: delavina/jerge productions LLC where she is the majority owner with co-founders Nicholas Jerge (NY) and John de la Viña(LA) and Honey West Entertainment LLC with VINJER as majority owner and also co-founded by Gloria Fickling, author of the Honey West novels. Both entities have offices in San Antonio and Los Angeles. VINJER is dedicated to the development of film/TV/alternative media productions. Lynda is a prolific academic writer and has also co-written one script; a television pilot: and various treatments. Her personal focus is the development and production of film/TV/media for the English speaking and bilingual U.S. Hispanic mark