Advocacy

Adriana Sanchez-Ochoa
Deputy Director
She, Her, Hers

Adriana Sanchez-Ochoa is the Deputy Director of NextGen Policy and directly assists in team management and daily operations. Her policy areas of emphasis include: immigration, women’s issues, and environmental justice (e.g. drinking water in low-income communities). She also serves as the NGP liaison to the ethnic, women’s, and LGBT caucuses of the CA State Legislature.

Before joining the NextGen Policy team, Adriana spent 18 years working in the California Legislature in various key positions. She worked for four Assembly Speakers and, in her last job with the Assembly, was the Director of International Relations and Protocol. In addition, Adriana has worked extensively with the California Latino Caucus.

Adriana has a Bachelor’s degree from UC Davis in International Relations and Political Science with a minor in Spanish. She is the proud mother of three daughters and has two beautiful grandchildren. In her spare time, she loves gardening, restoring old furniture and traveling with her husband. She is a proud immigrant and is fully bilingual in Spanish.

Frank G. Salazar currently serves as the Co-Chair of the California Latino PAC.

Salazar started his public service as a Presidential Appointee at the United States Department of Agriculture during the Clinton Administration. Later in the administration, Salazar transitioned to Vice President’s Al Gore Presidential bid team as an Media Advisor in 2000 where he worked aggressively to get top Democratic surrogates such as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, and Vice President Gore into targeted Hispanic media markets throughout the United States.

In the summer of 2001, Salazar took his expertise to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and teamed up with Democratic Strategists James Carville to handle the day-to-day communication and messaging efforts for Argentina’s Economic Minister Domingo Cavallo. From there Salazar joined the presidential team of Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada in La Paz and worked closely with the President’s communications and public affairs outfit.

Salazar continued his success back in his home state and managed the victorious campaigns for California’s Border Congressman Bob Filner by delivering victories in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008, which were high-targeted. During the 2006 Election season, Campaigns & Elections magazine, a National Publication named Salazar “one of the nations ‘Rising Stars’” and La Prensa San Diego newspaper considered him as one of the best Hispanic “behind the scenes” operatives.

In 2008—Salazar was selected to be a member of the Electoral College for President Barack Obama at California’s Electoral College. Then in 2012, Salazar continued by assisting California State Senator Juan Vargas in garnering his first win to the U.S. House of Representatives. The following year he assisted San Diego State Assemblymember Ben Hueso to become the next State Senator for District 40 and two years later took Coachella’s Mayor Eduardo Garcia to his first term to the State Assembly for the 56th Assembly District.

Salazar’s involvement and counsel have also extended into organizations such as the Service Employees International Union, Republic Services, Allied Waste, Pattern Energy, and the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council (AFL-CIO).

Salazar has served as the past President for the Board of Directors for the Center for Family Solutions—a non-profit organization in the Imperial County that assists and educates victims of Domestic Violence by providing shelter, food, clothing, and also served two terms as the President of the Brawley Rotary Club and its Board of Directors and currently serves on the Community Advisory Board for AURA, a Community Development Financial Institution that provides affordable, credit-building loans to working families in America.