Dr. Lynda Y. de la Viña was named dean and Peter Flawn Professor of Economics at The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Business on July 1, 2005.  She also leads the Center for Global Entrepreneurship as its executive director.  Most recently she was name one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine.

Dr. de la Viña is the first woman to serve as UTSA College of Business dean and the only female Hispanic business dean in the University of Texas System.  She was also the first Mexican-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in economics in the United States.

Recent honors include the Ford Salute to Education Award as well as the Jessie and Sue Oppenheimer Award of Excellence.  Dr. de la Viña was an inaugural member of the advisory committee for the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund, a $200 million fund created to foster innovation, research and job creation in emerging high-tech industries.  She also recently completed a prestigious Kellogg Leadership Fellows Program.

Dr. de la Viña has led a distinguished career in academia and government service.  The first Mexican-American woman at the secretarial level of the U.S. Treasury, de la Viña served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy from 1998-2001. While her work portfolio was expansive dealing with domestic and international economic policy issues, she led Treasury teams on issues of personal commitment such as financial literacy, entrepreneurship development and U.S.-Mexico border development. Following her role at the Treasury, she was named associate dean of the Graduate Division of Business and Management and chair of the Department of Finance and International Business at Johns Hopkins University.

Prior to her career in Washington, D.C., Dr. de la Viña served 19 years at UTSA in ascending positions of administrative responsibility.  She joined the Department of Economics faculty in 1982 and was named executive director of the Institute for Studies in Business in 1985.  She served as associate dean of graduate studies and research in the college from 1993-1998.

She has co-founded three companies --Nightwave Records in Los Angeles, 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 San Antonio. She continues to serve on the Board of Directors of OpTech.  She also serves on the board of the Center for International Private Enterprise, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; the Texas Business Hall of Fame; the Alamo Public Telecommunications Council; and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. de la Viña received her master's and doctorate in economics from Rice University and her bachelor's in government and economics from UT-Pan American.