[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 22, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H8472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              NATIONAL MINORITY ENTREPRENEURS OF THE YEAR

  (Mrs. WILSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. WILSON. Mr. Speaker, tonight in Washington, D.C., the country 
will recognize nine national minority entrepreneurs of the year. Of 
those nine, two come from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
  Miguel Rios started Orion International Technologies in 1985 and has 
grown that company to 140 employees and $9 million in revenue providing 
engineering and systems integration services for lasers at White Sands 
Missile Range and Air Force Research Laboratory. He is one of the 
Nation's top Hispanic high-tech firms.
  Tito Bonano started Beta Corporation in 1993 to provide radioactive 
waste management services and has branched into computer services, as 
well. Both of these national minority entrepreneurs of the year 
formerly worked at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, and 
Tito has also had his business named as one of the top 10 of New 
Mexico's Flying 40, the fastest growing high-tech firms.
  We are all proud of them as Americans and as New Mexicans and we 
honor them today.

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