UCI School of Education alumna Vicki Vasques '81 named "Forbes 50 Over 50"

The Tribal Tech LLC owner and chairwoman was ranked in the entrepreneurial category.

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 20, 2022 — Vicki Vasques ’81, UCI School of Education alumna and UCI ex-officio trustee, has been recognized as a 2022 “Forbes 50 Over 50” in the entrepreneurial category. The recognition spotlights “women over the age of 50 who are shattering age and gender norms across every sector of business, politics, the sciences and society.”

Vasques is the owner and chairwoman of the management and technical services company Tribal Tech LLC and its subsidiary, Cowan & Associates Inc. Since 2000, Tribal Tech has collaborated with federal, state, corporate and tribal clients to provide a range of services to improve critical sectors such as education, energy, healthcare and more. The company was named on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company list for seven consecutive years.

The daughter of a tribal chairman of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians and whose ancestors include the Diegueno Mission Indians in Calif., Vasques founded Tribal Tech with an understanding of the needs of Native American communities and a recognition that there is a lack of informed private sector services dedicated to meet those needs. 

Vicki Vasques

Vasques previously worked with the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Energy, serving under four presidents. Prior to founding Tribal Tech, she was most recently the assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Indian Education, Department of Education, and served as the principal contact within the federal government for Indian education across the U.S. during the George W. Bush administration. She also served as executive director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities as well as on the President’s Commission on Indian Reservation Economies and President’s Commission on the HIV Epidemic, among others.