Lani Lutar
President and Chief Executive Officer

 

Before joining SDCTA, Lutar was executive director of the Asian Business Association of San Diego (ABA).  During her tenure, the ABA increased its membership by nearly 40% and experienced its largest membership levels in its history.

In 2005, San Diego Metropolitan magazine honored Lutar with the "Forty Under 40" award.  That same year, she was also nominated for the San Diego Business Journal's "Women Who Mean Business" award.

From 1999 to 2004, Lutar served in leadership roles on several non-partisan San Diego city council candidate campaigns.  In 2005, she served as advisor to then mayoral candidate, Jerry Sanders, as a member of his City Hall Reorganization Group.

Her editorials and commentary have appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Times, North County Times, San Diego Daily Transcript and VoiceofSanDiego.org.

Prior to relocating to San Diego in 1998, Lutar co-founded and operated an international business in Las Vegas coordinating destination weddings for Japanese brides and grooms.  The company has served over 1,000 couples since its inception.

Lutar is a Next Generation Project Fellow of the American Assembly at Columbia University. She graduated magna cum laude from San Diego State University with a BA in Psychology and earned a Master's degree from the School of International Relations & Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego.  She is fluent in Japanese.

Lutar serves on the board of directors of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation and the Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana. 

Tom Aaron
Policy Analyst/Project Manager
tom@sdcta.org

Tom Aaron serves as Policy Analyst/Project Manager for SDCTA. He conducts economic and policy research, manages the Association's grant projects and provides support for the Issues and Healthcare Committees.

Tom earned a M.A. in Economics at San Diego State University where he was also an instructor of undergraduate micro and macroeconomics. His graduate studies focused on Applied Microeconomics and Econometrics, along with extensive research of insurance markets and public finance.

Tom's recent work for the Association includes multiple economic impact analyses of health care reform proposals and an empirical study of local bond-financed programs and their oversight processes.

Prior to relocating to San Diego in 2006, Tom graduated from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, with a B.A. in Economics.

Christopher Cate
Policy Analyst
chris@sdcta.org

Chris Cate serves as Policy Analyst and Executive Assistant to the President/CEO for SDCTA.  He is responsible for researching and analyzing public policy issues and providing support for the Transportation and Events Committees.

Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego with a bachelor's degree in Political Science and minor in Business Administration.

Prior to joining SDCTA, Chris interned at Jefferson Government Relations in Washington, D.C. where he researched healthcare legislation and the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. 

Christopher Sholley
Public Policy Intern
University of California, San Diego
Expected Graduation Date: June 2008
Major: Management Science and Bioengineering
staff@sdcta.org