Calabasas business owner lauded

Martinez-Keller Audrey Martinez-Keller, president and CEO of Calabasasbased Dolphin Data Corp., was selected as the Women in Business Champion of the Year for 2006 by the Small Business Administration (SBA) Los Angeles District.

The award will be presented to Martinez-Keller at the SBA's 25th Annual Small Business Week Awards Luncheon on Wed., May 31 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Audrey Martinez-Keller is no newcomer to small business management. During 16 years of operations, she has grown her small, locally-focused data processing and direct marketing firm into a nationally recognized enterprise. She employs 200 workers.

Throughout her entrepreneurial career, Martinez-Keller has continuously encouraged women to become involved in small business development.

"Audrey is a paragon of the successful woman-owned enterprise," said Alberto G. Alvarado, director of the SBA's Los Angeles district office. "She has survived the daily grind of running a small firm and has helped other woman entrepreneurs to not only face adversity, but to redirect it as energy to empower the business and improve chances to succeed.

Martinez-Keller also is president of the National Association of Women Business Owners-Los Angeles Chapter (NAWBO-LA).