The Determination of Lani Hay

Courtesy photo Lani Hay has been called one of the nation's most powerful entrepreneurs by CNN/Money.

By John Arundel
 
PARK CITY, UTAH - She was born in Northern Virginia to parents who fled Vietnam just days before the fall of Saigon. With a strong dose of perserverence, Lani Hay grew up determined to make a better life for herself.

Photo by Tiffany Rose Lani Hay with actress Vera Farmiga at Sundance 2012.

With very little money to go to college, she won an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot for the Navy's premiere aerial flight team, the Blue Angels.
 
"When I arrived, I was told that I couldn't fulfill my dream simply because I was a woman,"remarked Hay to her guests in the pre-viewing. "Little did I know that there was congressional policy called combat exclusion that precluded women from serving in a combat capacity. Needless to say, I was heartbroken."
 
But, due to the 1994 Combat Exclusion policy, as written, it precludes women from "assigned" to combat, especially within the special forces.
 
Flash forward about 15 years to the snowy, picturesque resort of Park City, Utah, where two weeks ago many of Hollywood's top actors. producers and directors convened on a high-profile event hosted by Hay during the Sundance Film Festival, the world's top showcase for independent film.  
 
There,  one of Northern Virginia's most prominent woman entrepreneurs threw one of the most buzzed-about gender-specific events at Sundance 2012, Women in Film.
 
Lani Hay, the president & CEO of Vienna-based Lanmark Technology, Inc. hosted a private dinner on Jan. 24 with ELLE magazine in honor of leading women of the entertainment industry.
 
The exclusive, invite-only event, presented by Morrocan Oil, included the presentation of a Spotlight Initiative award from The Creative Coalition to actress Vera Farmiga, the Oscar-nominated actress who played opposite George Clooney in last year's hit movie Up in the Air.
 
The evening's program included opening remarks from actress Alfre Woodard followed by a sizzle reel presentation of Hay's highly anticipated non-fiction television show,  "Frogwomen", which is being platformed as a big observational documentary series testing the mental and physical fortitude of 24 women against a Navy SEAL training program.
 
Frogwomen spotlights this current policy prohibiting women from becoming Navy SEALs and seeks to discover women capable of completing the training.
 
Hay,  buzzed about as a future candidate for Virginia Governor, is the founder of Lanmark Technology, a woman-owned defense company based in Vienna specializing in the homeland security arenas of cyber defense, biometrics, weapons technical intelligence, and asymmetric and electronic warfare.
 
With annual revenues of more than $15 million, her company's clients include federal agencies, state and local governments and commercial enterprises. A former Navy Lieutenant, Hay was previously a Naval Intelligence Officer who served around the world . She holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the Naval Academy, an MBA from the College of William and Mary, and a Master’s Certificate in Government Contracting from George Washington University.
 
"I am honored to be in the company of everyone at this dinner who has achieved extraordinary success in film, especially the women," she said. "I have always been in awe of the complexity of the characters that female actors take on and am in total support of thought-provoking roles that go against the grain."
 
Also shown at the dinner was a preview of Anne O'Shea's (Producer of the acclaimed The Kids Are Alright) highly anticipated The Goat starring Vera Farmiga, Jason Kirk, Ty Burrell, Kerri Russell and David Duchovny.
 
The night concluded with a public thank you from Hay to DC celebrity chef Todd English of Olives restaurant, for preparing the gourmet four-course dinner on site for the high-profile industry guests.
 
Other famous attendees included actors Tim Daly, Kaycee Stroh, Nia Vardalos, Carol Kane and Sharon Lawrence.