From immigrant family to tech CEO, Nina Vaca uses her success to spread global entrepreneurship | Technology

 Her father, who owned a travel agency, was murdered in 1989, when Nina was 17.

“My dad died at 46. My age exactly. And he left behind five children,” Vaca says. “It was a tragic time for my family. That’s what makes our success story so beautiful.

“Yes, like a good entrepreneur, I found a need in the marketplace and a way to fill it. Yes, the barriers to entry were minimal at the time because there was so much demand for IT. Yes, all those things are true.

“But the real purpose behind me starting Pinnacle was to create a better life and a better circumstance for my family.”

Her older sister, Jessica Narvaez, joined Pinnacle’s management team early on, followed by her younger brother, Freddy Vaca, then her husband, Jim Humrichouse, and cousin, Ximena Alvarez.

Today, Vaca numbers her “family” in the thousands, including 5,000 employees and consultants and people in the communities here and abroad that she helps.

“The larger and more successful we are at Pinnacle, the more we’re able to give back in a material way,” Vaca says. “It’s part of our DNA.”

 A Texan by choice, sorta

So how did Nina come to be a transplanted Texan?

After Alfredo’s murder, Nina’s maternal grandmother became ill with a heart condition. Amanda took her to Houston for treatment.

“That’s how my mother discovered this place called Texas,” says Nina, who stayed in California to sell her father’s travel agency. “This was 1989. The price of oil was very low. People were walking away from their homes. She had this vision that our family could create a better life here in Texas.”

Nina begged her mother to go to college. “She said, ‘You can go to college as long as you stay close to home.’ ”

Nina enrolled in Southwest Texas State (now Texas State) University in San Marcos.

“L.A. girl dropped in a tiny little college town,” she says. “I didn’t know a soul there, and very few people looked like me. But I’ve been a risk-taker all my life.

“Fast-forward, today, I’m proud to have an endowment in my name there at that small but mighty university.”

Vaca was named a distinguished alumna in 2012 — the youngest in university history — a distinction she shares with former President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

The 25-year-old launched Pinnacle in October 1996, bringing in $30,000 by year’s end.

“Everything was going great from ’96 to 2001,” she recalls. “I got married in 1999. Had my first millennial baby in 2000. I had my second baby girl two days after 9/11.”

The terrorist attacks sent her industry and her company into a deep chasm.

Vaca dug in, used her life savings, mortgaged her home and hired IT talent that others had let go.

“We came out of that recession kicking,” she says.

Key moments

Verizon and AT&T gave Vaca her first big boosts in late 2001.

In 2007, EDS signed a $160 million contract with Pinnacle, which was generating only about $40 million in annual revenue at the time. “It was the proverbial whale that took us into 45 states,” she says.

Comcast came on board nearly four years ago. Pinnacle manages the telecom giant’s contingent IT labor force and hundreds of tech suppliers throughout its organization.

“Comcast gave us an opportunity to do something extremely strategic and big,” she says. “But what they really did was give women-owned businesses hope.”

And MetLife just entered the big picture.

“Pinnacle keeps kicking butt,” says Vaca, who stands all of 5 feet.

Kneeland Youngblood, one of the nation’s most successful private equity managers, has mentored Vaca for more than a decade, having spotted a bit of his younger self in her.

“What I saw in Nina was a woman who was bright, driven, with a track record of success who wanted to achieve even more,” says the black 61-year-old founding partner of Dallas-based Pharos Capital Group LLC. “She listens and she acts.”

For example, Youngblood encouraged Vaca to seek corporate board positions and gave her names of headhunters who could help.

“Soon enough, she was on the boards of Comerica, Kohl’s and Cinemark,” he says. “It’s enhanced not only her visibility but also has given her insight into how Fortune 500 companies operate, and how she can inculcate that type of knowledge and experience within her own organization.”

Like mother, like daughter

Vaca, who became naturalized when she was in her 20s, views U.S. citizenship as a blessing and not a given, believes that failure is never an option and that give-back is an abject responsibility.

Amanda, who at 71 is retired in Houston, says her daughter was a good pupil.

“Despite all the success she has had — within her career and her life overall — she has continued to be the daughter I raised,” Amanda says.  “She is proud of her roots. She does not forget where she comes from and is very cognizant of what family means and what it means to help.”

This year, Pinnacle adopted Thomas Jefferson High School as part of the Collegiate Academies program offered by DISD and the Dallas County Community College District. High school students have the opportunity to graduate with a diploma and an associate college degree in applied science. Tuition, fees, books and transportation to the colleges are free.

“These are students who are first-generation college attendees,” Vaca says. “By pumping out hundreds of minority students in STEM, we’re changing the face of the workforce of Dallas forever.”

Last month, Vaca competed in the Ironman 70.3 in Manta, Ecuador. She raised $117,000 through GoFundMe and a $60,000 match from Cinemark to complete the “Villa de la Alegría” (Village of Happiness). It’s a 40-unit housing development that she's building in partnership with the local Rotary Club in Quito for families left homeless by last year’s massive earthquake.