Susan K. Vanderwater was never supposed to have been involved in Meridian Data Systems.

A member of the couple's church had offered her husband, Kurt, the opportunity to go into business with him as the working partner of a new venture selling software and hardware to churches. It soon became evident to Vanderwater that without someone to do marketing and keep the financial end of the business running, no successful venture was going to happen.

"So with a baby in the floor of my office, I organized the financials of the company and began the summer months making contact with churches in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas," she said.

By the end of the summer, the company that had developed the church software product decided it wanted to sell it out, leaving the Vanderwaters with no product to sell and many prospects on the board.

"I set out to find a new software product to rep at that point and Meridian became the first dealer for the Automated Church System."

Twenty years later, she remains CEO and co-founder of the company.

"We ventured into many other marketplaces over the years such as large-scale programming projects, networking, the Internet, etc. and my job became being the financial watchdog of the operation," she said.

Vanderwater's business affiliations include the National Association of Women Business Owners, National Association of Female Executives, Executive Women's Forum, Sales and Marketing Executives Association and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.