July 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Making an impact on the region

To market we go

Belinda Padilla of the Technology Transfer Division. Photo by Dixon Wolf

Managing the Laboratory's entrepreneurial programs requires Belinda Padilla to put herself in an entrepreneur's shoes—constantly thinking about the next innovation in technology transfer the Laboratory might initiate. Her role in accelerating economic development in Northern New Mexico earned her recognition this year as a LANL Star.

"Who knew a marketing degree would take me into a career in technology transfer? I thought I was going to be a buyer for Neiman Marcus," said the Technology Transfer Division program manager, who has a bachelor's degree in marketing and an MBA from the University of New Mexico.

Hired in 1993 as a graduate student, Padilla landed in Technology Transfer in 1995. Two years later, she established the Laboratory's MBA Internship Program, which gives participants an opportunity to work with high-tech startups and access Lab technologies for assessment.

"A robust entrepreneurial community outside and inside the Laboratory enhances our ability to attract the best, brightest, and most talented workforce," she said.

Padilla also was instrumental in creating Laboratory, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, and state-sponsored programs designed to stimulate regional economic development, such as the LANL Visiting Entrepreneur Program, the LANS Venture Acceleration Fund, and most recently the Los Alamos Venture Acceleration Initiative.

"I think it still is true that technology innovation is responsible for the vast majority of economic growth in regions," said Padilla. "We need to be capturing more of LANL's technology innovation in our own backyard to the extent that it makes sense for Laboratory spinoffs to start and grow here."

Padilla is former president and current board member of the Coronado Ventures Forum and the State and Local Government Committee Chair for the Federal Laboratory Consortium. She has been recognized by the Santa Fe New Mexican, Albuquerque Journal North, and New Mexico Business Weekly as one of New Mexico's top technology leaders. She garnered the Distinguished Student Mentor Award in 2003 and received Distinguished Performance Awards in 1996 and 1998. Padilla also is a two-time recipient of the LANL Achievement Award.

—Mig Owens