A Tech Entrepreneur Goes Global

THEN: Nina Vaca had already built a successful business when she appeared on the cover of Kiplinger’s in May 2006.

- Kimberly Lankford

Vaca, who immigrated to Los Angeles from Quito, Ecuador, at age 2, inherited a talent for entrepreneurship from her father. After college she and a partner started Pinnacle Technical Resources in Dallas to recruit tech personnel to run companies’ computer systems. She bought out her partner after the tech downturn in 2001, and expanded to provide IT consultants to businesses that had been laying off staff. Revenues were on track to reach $60 million in 2006. Her husband, Jim, and several siblings worked for the company, and her children (then ages 6, 4 and 1, with one on the way) spent plenty of time at the office.