Team
Linda Mitrovich
President
 Ms. Mitrovich is President and co-founder of Solution Strategies. A former City Councilwoman and Deputy Mayor, Ms. Mitrovich has an in-depth understanding of public policy at the community, regional, and state levels, as well as the impact national policies have on these entities, including Sovereign Tribal Nations. Ms. Mitrovich has extensive business experience and a unique capability to balance the interests of diverse and often conflicting stakeholders. She is widely recognized as a specialist in policy negotiations, strategy development, and dispute resolution. Her demonstrated leadership and ability to create focus and momentum enables the Solution Strategies Team to accomplish what is often considered seemingly impossible. She is a co-founder with Daniel Mitrovich of the Native American/Corporate America Business Conference (NACAB). Ms. Mitrovich was voted Woman of the Year by both the California State Senate and State Assembly.
Daniel Mitrovich
Chief Operating Officer
 Mr. Mitrovich, co-founder of Solution Strategies, is a business entrepreneur, strategist, and advocate. He is widely recognized for his love of people. This interest in people has enabled Mr. Mitrovich to build lasting relationships with people from all walks of life, throughout the world. Mr. Mitrovich specializes in creating Solution Strategies’ Dream Teams which bring the right people together to implement strategies for many large, corporate, and governmental entities. Depending on the issue, Dream Teams may include world-renowned experts, scientists, diplomats, top-level policy makers, authors, athletes, entertainers, local leaders, and former elected officials.
Mr. Mitrovich has a thorough understanding of corporate and political cultures and has extensive experience working with international, federal, state, and local governments in the areas of policy development and legislative strategy.
He is the founder of the New York City Marathon Tribute Committee and co-founder of the Native American/Business Conference (NACAB). He has also served as a Board Member of the California Governor’s Quality Awards (CAlQED) and as a Board Member of the Center for Water Education.
Sharon Lockhart
Principal
 Ms. Lockhart has worked in both the public and private sectors on some of the largest environmental issues in California, including Bolsa Chica, the Tijuana Estuary, and Playa Vista. Ms. Lockhart has served as a consultant on biological and policy issues related to proposed developments that would either impact wetlands, sensitive habitat areas, and/or endangered species. She has developed strategies for processing such entitlements as the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and Coastal Commission permits. She has taken an active role in processing these permits/entitlements. Permitting strategies have included the development and processing of several mitigation banking agreements, including establishing California’s first mitigation bank in 1988. Several of her projects have won local, state, and/or national recognition. Ms. Lockhart is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Institute for Real Estate and the Environment.
Heidi Brannon
Chief of Staff
 Ms. Brannon directs and oversees the implementation of all of the major projects at Solution Strategies, including the 285-square-mile multispecies habitat plan for the Town of Apple Valley, California. Ms. Brannon has considerable experience working with communities and various stakeholders to develop and write community plans. Prior to joining Solution Strategies, she was an Associate/Environmental Planner for the City of Farmington, New Mexico, where she served as key planning staff to the Oil and Gas Commission and assisted the public in navigating the City’s permitting and planning process. She also worked as a Source Water Protection Specialist for Granite State Rural Water Association (GSRWA) to develop a Source Water Protection Plan and Groundwater Protection Ordinance and a Watershed Protection Plan. Ms. Brannon has a Master of Science in Environmental Resource Management from Antioch University, New England. She is a certified flood plain manager and a member of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. She is a Fellow, Leadership LA.
Armando A. Arias, Jr., Ph.D.
Director, Street Smart Think Tank™
 Dr. Arias is the Founding Director of Solution Strategies’ Street Smart Think Tank™ (SSTT™). The SSTT™ specializes in searching for solutions to issues (both micro and macro) within the realm of practical knowledge (street smarts) for institutions, agencies, corporations, and communities. Dr. Arias has broad experience working with public and private institutions, non-profits, and foundations to renew and enhance their missions and organizational structure.
In recent years, Dr. Arias provided project leadership for the creation of the three-year-old Big Sur Environmental Institute in Big Sur, California. He served as President and Founding Board Member of the Inter-American College and co-coordinated the accreditation of the institution. He also served as a key strategist and member of the transformation and start-up team that created the California State University, Monterey Bay campus on the site of the former Fort Ord military institution.
Dr. Arias attended Harvard University’s Institute for Education Management and the Service Learning Institute at Stanford University. He was a Chancellor’s Fellow, Texas A & M University. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Arias was the morning keynote at the 2011 Silicon Valley Latino Leadership Summit that took place at the Stanford University Faculty Club (http://siliconvalleylatinoleadership.com/2011-summit/).
Michael Lombardi
Director, Sovereign Tribal Nations
 Mr. Lombardi is a nationally renowned advocate and author on Indian issues and one of the country’s leading experts on tribal gaming operations management. Over his 21-year career, Mr. Lombardi has worked with 20 tribes in 6 states. He has extensive experience working with California tribes and is an active member in California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) and Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations (TASIN). In addition to providing strategic counsel to tribal gaming operations and tribal gaming commissions, Mr. Lombardi is a nationally recognized columnist and has had approximately sixty articles published in Indian Country and top national newspapers.
William Oldaker
Strategic Partner
 Mr. Oldaker, a founding partner of the Oldaker Law Group and The National Group, has had an extensive career in Washington holding high-level positions in the federal government, practicing law and government relations and serving on the board of directors of banking institutions. Over the years, Mr. Oldaker has represented numerous presidential and congressional campaigns, as well as labor unions, trade associations, corporations, and other political organizations on the establishment and operation of Political Action Committees and related political activities. Mr. Oldaker has a broad range of close working relationships with Members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle.
In addition to his extensive career in law and government, Mr. Oldaker was an original investor in Century National Bank. Mr. Oldaker was a member of Century National Bank's Board of Directors and a member of Century National Bank Holding Company's Board of Directors for eighteen years until the bank's sale in 2001. In 2004, Mr. Oldaker helped found WashingtonFirstBank and currently serves as an original board member. WashingtonFirstBank has grown to include eight branch offices and has assets valued at over $200 million.
David McNitt
Strategic Partner
David McNitt is a legislative assistant with the Oldaker Law Group. He assists the senior partners with educational and healthcare legislative issues and provides strategic support to universities, hospitals and non-profit organizations for their federal appropriations priorities. Mr. McNitt graduated cum laude from Tulane University with a B.A. in Political Science and German. He also studied at St. Andrew's University in Scotland focusing on issues surrounding international terrorism and political violence.
Cruz Bustamante
Strategic Partner
 Mr. Bustamante was elected Lt. Governor of the State of California in 1998. During his eight years in that office, Mr. Bustamante chaired the Economic Development Commission, a bipartisan board tasked with advising the state’s executive and legislative leadership regarding economic development issues. He also acted as Commissioner and Chair of the California State Lands Commission and had the authority and responsibility to manage and protect important natural and cultural resources on public lands within the state, as well as the public’s right to access these lands. The Commission is also responsible for overseeing more than 200 specialists, ensuring CEQA compliance on its lands, and managing the use of energy and mineral resources of more than 160 oil, gas, geothermal, and mineral leases covering more than 153,000 acres of state-owned lands. Mr. Bustamante was elected to the California State Assembly in 1993 and became its Speaker in 1996.
John Corrigan
Strategic Partner
 Mr. Corrigan brings his thirty years of expertise as a produce professional to Solutions. With humble beginnings loading rail cars to Senior Management, Mr. Corrigan has touched all levels of produce marketing both domestically and internationally. Through his 30 years in the industry, he is an expert in sales, marketing, product development, post-harvest handling issues and fresh produce packaging. Mr. Corrigan has worked with some of the industry's top firms, such as Sunkist, Naturipe and Cal Giant.
Todd White
Strategic Partner
 Mr. White brings 20 years of experience to Solutions in the fields of wildlife and fisheries biology, environmental analysis and compliance, regulatory oversight, and land remediation and rehabilitation. He is currently involved in his family businesses of over 40 years in Ventura County, CA which include land use and development (commercial and residential), brokering, sales, leasing and consulting of agricultural and ranch lands, and agricultural management specializing in row crops and permanent crops in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Ignacio Ornelas
Strategic Partner
 Mr. Ornelas is a social media strategist who has directed successful outreach programs for private and public clients. He has extensive experience as a researcher and in bridging gaps between communities to find solutions to complex projects. Mr. Ornelas provides expertise in strategic televised media and social media communications.
Mr. Ornelas previously served as Vice Chairman of a think tank which brought together stakeholders to address land use policy ventures. Furthermore, Mr. Ornelas teaches strategy, political science, and history at California State University, Monterey Bay and is the host of a radio and television roundtable program that invites leading experts to discuss local, state, federal, and global topics. Mr. Ornelas holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from San Francisco State University and is fluent in Spanish.
Cecilia Schuch-Page
Deputy Chief of Staff
 Ms. Schuch-Page serves as Deputy Chief of Staff for Solution Strategies International, Inc. She joined the firm in 2011 after completing her B.S. Degree in Public Policy, Management, and Planning from the University of Southern California.
Prior to joining the firm she worked for the Department of Transportation in Los Angeles, California as an intern.
Ms. Schuch-Page plays an integral role in the facilitation of Clients projects working closely with Clients and Project Teams. In addition, her responsibilities include conducting project research, analysis of project issues, and assisting with day-to-day operations.
Christine Robbins
Senior Writer
 Ms. Robbins is a business writer and editor with more than 20 years of professional experience. After honing her writing and editing abilities in the fields of gaming and community association management, Ms. Robbins joined Solution Strategies as the firm’s Senior Writer in 1998.
As Solution Strategies’ Senior Writer, Ms. Robbins has helped to create and refine documents for a diverse list of private- and public-sector clients (including local, state, federal, and tribal governments). She is particularly adept at translating complicated technical information into lay language for a general audience.
| 
