Hispanic Heritage Awards 2024

Maria Estela de rios

Lifetime Achievement Award

For over 45 years, Maria Estela de Ríos has been a pivotal and influential figure in the Albuquerque community through her contributions to high-technology business, social advocacy, and the arts. Together with her husband, she helped found the successful scientific research, development, and engineering firm, ORION International Technologies, Inc. in June 1986, where she served as Executive Vice President for Contract Administration. During the zenith of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), de Ríos developed a formidable reputation for her procurement and contracting skills during a time when few women were seated across the conference table negotiating the delivery of multimillion US Department of Defense (DoD) high-technology weapons and defense systems. De Ríos was also responsible for establishing the subsidiaries ORION Information Technologies and ORION Technical Services, the latter of which she eventually led as President and CEO. During her tenure, the companies grew to revenues of $40M per annum and over 400 employees located in the United States, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The success of ORION International Technologies, Inc. culminated with the National Prime Contractor of the Year Award by the Small Business Administration in 1999, and in 2007, de Ríos was awarded the Woman-owned Business of the Year by Los Alamos National Laboratories. She shared her talent and acumen by becoming an active member of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) as a Board Member and aiding in the establishment in the Kirtland AFB local chapter. A frequent speaker in business forums, she advocated passionately for women seeking careers in science and technology.

Her professional accomplishments belie the fact that she was born in East Los Angeles to immigrant parents and the first university graduate of her family generation earning a double bachelor’s degree in Organic Chemistry and Mathematics and a Master’s degree in Contracts Administration. Her studies laid the foundation for her professional career but it was her love of the arts and, more importantly, community service that contributed to the formation of the person she is today. Never far from her roots, she was one of the of founders of SACNAS, a science education advocacy group for Hispanics and Native Americans seeking degrees in higher education, and a founder of the Mexican Education Foundation of New Mexico dedicated to the support of the Mexican immigrant community. Her passion for the arts across the spectrum led to her becoming one of the forces behind the founding of the National Hispanic Cultural Center, and during her tenure as Regent of the Museums of New Mexico the El Camino Real International Heritage Center was established.

Today, de Ríos dedicates her life to improving the lives of immigrants, women, and children by advocating for their health, education, and welfare. The recent passage of Constitutional Amendment 1, which permits distribution of land grant permanent funds for early childhood education, was a nine-year labor of love for de Ríos who, with many supporters, has provided a sustainable source of education funding for the youngest in our State. Maria Estela de Ríos’ record of business achievement and of tireless commitment to social advocacy, represent the highest ideals of dedication and of service to our community.