Margarita Quihuis

A social entrepreneur and mentor capitalist, Margarita Quihuis's career has focused on technology innovation, access to capital and entrepreneurship. Her accomplishments include directorship of Astia (formerly known as the Women's Technology Cluster) where her portfolio companies raised $67 million in venture funding, venture capitalist and Reuters Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford.

She is currently Director of RI Labs for Ricoh Innovations, Inc. where she oversees research efforts centered around discovering market opportunities, emerging customer needs and trends in consumer behavior for Ricoh's patented technologies.

Her past efforts include access to development capital through the productive use of remittances for the unbanked both in the U.S. and in Mexico through Indigo Financiera and developing and advising companies that tap into the market needs of transnational workers and their families. In 2004, Women's eNews named her as one of their '21 Leaders for the 21st Century' and was one of WITI's Women to Watch in 2003. In 2007 she was named 'One of The 100 Most Influential Latinos in Silicon Valley.'

Ms Quihuis has served as a consultant to the US State Department on entrepreneurship. She has been widely quoted in the Asian Venture Capital Report, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, US News & World Report, Forbes ASAP, Red Herring, CNN and CBS MarketWatch.

Ms. Quihuis is the founder of 1st Wednesdays, the network for women in venture capital. She sits on the boards of UnaMesa, Women’s eNews, Instituto Pro Musica de California and the James Burke Institute and is on the advisory board for Tierra Natal. She is a past board member of NanoSig, a nonprofit dedicated to the commercialization of nanotechnology, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, and was a member of the screening and coaching committees for Springboard 2000, the venture capital conference for women and was also part of the founding working group for the Business Women’s Initiative on AIDS.