Venessa "Ness" Perez

PRESIDENT, MAKEUTAH

Vanessa Machin Perez is a community builder—well-connected in the business, non-profit, entrepreneur, academic, government, municipality, military, and STEM space in Utah. She recently transitioned from her high-tech career with Texas Instruments and is diving head-first into Utah's exciting start-up ecosystem.

Vanessa launched her Utah career in the semiconductor industry in 2018 when she joined the IM Flash team as a Senior Recruiter in Lehi, Utah. Soon after the fab transitioned to Micron in 2019, she was promoted to Program Manager with the Talent Branding team. In 2020, Vanessa was appointed to Micron's senior leadership team in Lehi as the External Relations Manager—serving as the liaison for community, academic, and government relations.

The Lehi Fab was acquired by Texas Instruments in October 2021, and Vanessa was appointed as the Community Relations Manager. She set about building the TI brand and reputation in Utah, and within months, TI was nominated for the Silicon Slopes Hall of Fame and was awarded Business of the Year by the Point of the Mountain Chamber of Commerce.

Vanessa built an active community involvement team with more than 100 active employees, and within 9 months, the impact was felt in the community with more than 80 volunteer events and employee engagement in Utah reaching 140%. She was instrumental in managing and supporting over $10,000,000 in philanthropic giving—including $300,000 to United Way to kick off a community center in American Fork. Vanessa is also proud of the strong bond she built with the Navajo Nation and facilitated the donation of 3,000 TI computers—enough for every student in the San Juan School District to have one.

Prior to moving to Utah, Vanessa lived in Hawaii for almost 10 years, where she was an innovator and created two small businesses: Henry Hats of Hawaii—inventing, designing, and manufacturing a unique, expanding one-size flat cap, bowties, and lapels—and her own Posh Pets brand for dogs. She later created S3 Career Consulting to bridge the gap between military-to-civilian career transition and has coached, trained, and consulted more than 3,000 personnel and clients.

Vanessa has a genuine passion for meeting people and connecting them to accomplish remarkable things. She's a natural at engaging with and influencing audiences and brings four decades of unique expertise in recruiting, career consulting, entrepreneurial ventures, innovative product design, film production, and executive leadership in the long-distance passenger rail industry. She is also a published author and has produced four military history books (authoring one while deployed!).

Vanessa served 23 years with the Australian Defence Force—more than 19 years within Special Operations Command—with primary expertise in Civil Affairs, Instructional Design, History & Museum Practices, and Logistics & Recruiting. She is married to retired US Marine William Perez, and they live in Lehi with their son Henry, now 14. She is always ready to share her career readiness and professional branding expertise as a give-back to her community—especially for transitioning military members and military spouses.

Vanessa serves on multiple boards and committees within Utah communities, including the Board of Trustees, Mountainland Technical College (Governor-appointed); Ivory Ridge HOA Master Board (Elected); Board of Trustees, Intermountain Health UV Philanthropic; Board of Directors, United Way of Utah County; Board of Directors, Point of the Mountain Chamber; Board of Directors, STEM Action Center Foundation; and the Courage Reins Fundraising Committee.

She has previously served on the Board of Directors, Utah Valley Chamber; Board of Directors, Women Tech Council; Board of Directors, Women of the World; University of Utah Industry Advisory Board; Utah Valley University Engineering Building Board; Lehi City Sustainability Committee; Lehi Serves Committee; Lehi Cares Coalition; and the EDCU Executive DEI Drop-In.

Away from work, Vanessa loves quality time with her family and being outdoors: hiking, trail running, snowshoeing, swimming, kayaking, and going to the gym. She loves gourmet cooking, painting, gardening, writing, networking, and interior design. She's a daydreamer, innovator, and inventor, and when left to her own devices, she daydreams of solutions to major problems on the daily! She is currently bringing an invention to life called "Flash Drive" (watch this space!).

The cheeky Aussie loves to share her culture with her friends and enjoys Aussie slang challenges and vegemite tastings. She is fascinated by graphology. She spent her 20s parachuting and jumping off cliffs, bridges, and buildings. She got her driver's license in the Army when she was 25. She completed her first marathon (Honolulu) at 49 with zero training. There is a 3-mile crater on Mars named after her, and the first time she flew, the 707 aircraft was hijacked!