Pamela Bain – 9/26/09
President & CEO, Bain Medina Bain, Inc.
Pamela Bain is President and CEO of Bain Medina Bain, a family-owned engineering partnership founded by Henry Bain in 1959. She holds a Master of Arts in Psychology from UTSA and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Sophie Newcomb College, Tulane University. Ms. Bain got her start as a teacher at Whittier Middle School in 1969. She taught for nine years and was part of a pilot program working with “at-risk” boys. In 1979, she was named Lead Guidance Counselor at Whittier. In 1980, she became the youngest female to be named school principal at Maverick Elementary School.
In 1982, Pamela was drafted into her husband’s company, Henry Bain Engineers. In 1990, Mr. Bain was diagnosed with spinal cancer. Pamela became interim manager of the business, and was later named President. Her duties included financial management, marketing, accounting, human resources and personnel management. In the early 90’s, Henry Bain was eventually diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and the company endured economic uncertainty. To strengthen the firm’s footing, Pamela joined forces with the firm’s principal managers’, step-son Carl Bain and partner Raymond Medina to form Bain Medina Bain in 1992. From 1992 to 2001, the company rebounded with 35 staff and revenues averaging 1 million.
In 2002, the office building doubled in size and Pamela crafted a five-year plan to grow the business by adding more services and staff. In 2003, she added Transportation Engineering and twenty employees. In 2006, Structural Engineering was added, staff grew to nearly seventy, and revenues grossed between 1 and 5 million. Today, the firm maintains close to 60 staff and revenues between 5 and 10 million. In 2007, Pamela was named Small Business Leader of the Year by the North Chamber of Commerce and “One of the Best Places to Work in San Antonio” by the San Antonio Business Journal in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Using her education background as a model, Ms. Bain has worked to cultivate a supportive work environment that reflects the old-fashioned values of family, community and service. She has instituted management initiatives to entice young engineers and professional surveyors and strongly supports mentoring and modeling as tools for leadership. She encourages employees to become involved in their community by serving on boards, and community organizations.
Her professional memberships include the Greater San Antonio, Hispanic, and North Chamber of Commerce. She is an active member of the Council of Engineering Companies, and was part of the Foundation for the Future formed by Mayor Phil Hardberger. A member of the Downtown Alliance, she serves as this year’s Chairman of the “Best of Downtown”. She is on the Advisory Board of the San Antonio Conservation Society, Board of Los Compadres and is Carver Development Board Chairman. She served on the Boards of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Southwest School of Arts and Crafts, Centro Alameda, Texas Public Radio, San Antonio-Mexico Friendship Council and S.A. 100. Memberships include the San Antonio Museum of Art, the San Antonio Art League, French Heritage Society and S.A. 100. In March of 2009, she inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame, and was the cover story for SA Women in the March/April edition.
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