Dorene C. Dominguez received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at CSUSB’s spring Commencement for the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration.

Dominguez is the chairwoman and CEO of Vanir Construction Management and the Vanir Group of Companies, Inc. since 2004. The companies were founded by her father, H. Frank Dominguez, in 1964 in San Bernardino. She has successfully positioned Vanir as a national leader in Program, Project, and Construction Management, and Real Estate Development, delivering $25.8 billion in value to clients across the United States. Headquartered in Sacramento with 22 offices nationwide, Engineering News Record has ranked Vanir number 32 in the nation for Construction Management firms.

Dominguez founded The Dominguez Dream 501(c)3 in memory of her late father in February 2004. The Dominguez Dream is committed to empowering children in underserved communities to achieve their full potential through literacy, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math), social-emotional learning and parent engagement programs. Among the 12 schools receiving steadfast support from The Dominguez Dream is the H. Frank Dominguez Elementary School in San Bernardino, which opened its doors in 2014.

Dominguez is the first and only Latina to be a governor of an NBA team and is a shareholder of the Sacramento Kings.

Heckmann is a philanthropist and occasional writing instructor at CSUSB’s Palm Desert Campus. A Coachella Valley resident for 40 years, she is one of the area’s most prolific leaders in education. She is a member of CSUSB’s Palm Desert Campus’ Advancement Board and has served on its executive committee since 2016.

After she served on its board of directors for a decade, The Mary Heckmann School was established on the Shelter from the Storm campus. Shelter from the Storm provides services to victims of domestic violence through professional, ethical and compassionate programs, and is the only comprehensive domestic violence shelter in the Coachella Valley.

In 2000, Heckmann and her ex-husband (divorced 2004), the late Dick Heckmann, generously gave a $6 million gift that helped establish The Richard J. Heckmann International Center for Entrepreneurial Management at UC Riverside’s Palm Desert campus.

Heckmann received her bachelor’s degree in English literature from CSUSB in 1995, and her graduate and doctorate degrees from UC Riverside.