50 Most Powerful Minority CEO's & Corporate Executives

Karla Gonzalez-UnderwoodPresident & CEODBTS, Inc.Karla Gonzalez-Underwood, Owner, President and Chief Executive Officer of DBTS Inc., was born in El Salvadorin 1974. At age eighteen, she moved to the United States and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen. She holds a B.ADegree in International Studies from George Mason University and a MBA from Marymount University, with aconcentration in Finance.In a race to success Mrs. Gonzalez-Underwood, gained an enviable expertise in the world of informationtechnology and honed estimable entrepreneurial instincts, which were soon to find notable application in hercareer with the Washington, DC IT firm DBTS (DBTS: the initials of the phrase Delivering Business TechnologySolutions), which designs information systems tailored to the business model if each of broad variety of clientfirms and getting these systems, along with the personnel who will operate them, up and running..Since its founding in April 2000, DBTS has experienced rapid growth. “We started out with one employeeperforming network management services for the District of Columbia Government”. The company quicklygained a reputation for excellence serving the District and other federal, state, and local government clients. AsVice President from 2003 through January 2006, Mrs. Gonzalez-Underwood effectively operated the companyand spearheaded business development efforts. Since 2006 Mrs. Gonzalez-Underwood has led DBTS’ growthto its current size by being a company of firsts, taking risks in technology, innovative products and services,and a reputation for exceptional customer service. Word quickly spreads when a good thing is discovered, andDBTS benefits from loyal clients and enthusiastic employees.DBTS is certified as an 8(a), minority-owned, and woman-owned company by the SBA, State of Maryland,Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, Washington DC City Government, Commonwealth of Virginia,and several independent agencies. The success of DBTS is evidenced by many awards and achievements with themost significant being on INC magazine’s list of America’s 500 Fastest-Growing, Private Companies (2006)As the United States economy struggles thousands of companies across the Nation are contemplating andimplementing job cuts. Many are struggling to retain their current operations. But not DBTS, Inc. DBTSwas structured and positioned to be able to seek new opportunities. Over the past year DBTS has managedto enter into a new relationship with Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (October 2008), anagency of the District of Columbia to provide business process, functional analysis and project managementfor WMATA Web Applications Development efforts to improve and modernize business performance in theRail and Corporate Strategic Departments. At the same time DBTS worked diligently to increase it’s presencein the Federal sector. DBTS, Inc. was part of a team that was recently awarded (September 2008) a $250 Billionover 10 years Blanket Purchase Agreement contract with the U.S. Federal Drug Administration to acquireinformation technology support, goods, and services for the ICT21 Program. This award provides DBTS withthe opportunity for years of providing excellent service.20