Steve Cruz

Steve Cruz is a partner at Cruz Strategies and brings with him over 20 years of legislative and political experience having worked on behalf of a multitude of interests, both public and private, before the California State Legislature and various state agencies.  His clients have included Fortune 500 companies, national retailers, home builders, local governments, renewable energy firms, professional trade associations, and non-profits.

Mr. Cruz possesses a broad range of policy experience and is well respected in the Capitol for his advocacy work on behalf of real estate development interests, in the areas of infrastructure, housing, construction, finance, water, environmental resources, and land use.  He currently represents one of the largest public water agencies in California and possesses deep understanding of California water law and politics.  For nearly a decade, Mr. Cruz has advocated for the homebuilding industry and previously served as an in-house lobbyist for the California Building Industry Association.  In this capacity, he successfully represents California homebuilders on array of land use and housing policy.  Mr. Cruz also owned and operated a real estate development company where he acquired and sold a significant number of properties, and he successfully managed development projects through the entitlements and construction process.  Through these endeavors, Mr. Cruz has developed a keen understanding for how business interacts with government and public policy.  Additionally, he continues to represent homebuilders and other industries at the local level across Northern California.

Before his lobbying career, Mr. Cruz worked in the administration of Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr., where he served as the Chief State Legislative Advocate for the City and County of San Francisco. He advanced an ambitious legislative and regulatory agenda and utilized his vast knowledge of policymaking and state budget process to secure state funding for vital programs and services.

Mr. Cruz began his career in the California State Legislature with the Honorable Hilda L. Solis, a former State Senator and U.S. Labor Secretary. In this role, he advised the Senator on critical public policy matters in the areas of labor and employment, education and public safety.

Veronica Villalobos Cruz

Veronica Villalobos Cruz is the Managing Partner at Cruz Strategies, a government relations and public affairs firm based in Sacramento. She also serves as a senior policy advisor for California Forward, a non-profit organization that advocates for shared prosperity across all of the state’s regions and for improved government performance and accountability. Prior to joining the lobbying firm, she served as the Vice President of External Relations for the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU). At AICCU, she represented the interests of seventy-five plus private, nonprofit colleges and universities that served over 320,000 students in California. She advocated before the state legislature and state agencies on issues such as higher education access, state financial aid, K-12 teacher preparation and a variety of academic and university operational issues.

Previously, Villalobos Cruz served as the Executive Director of Office of State Government Relations for the University of Southern California (USC) since May 2007. Based in Sacramento, she represented USC, including its medical and research facilities, before the state legislature and state government agencies on matters related to state policy, budget and regulations, and advised the university administration on issues involving state officials. She worked to advance the university’s academic, research and public affairs agendas at the state level through profile-raising efforts. Before joining USC, Villalobos Cruz spent more than six years as Vice President of Public Affairs for AICCU.

Villalobos Cruz serves on the board of directors for the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Advocates and has been a longstanding volunteer with the Chicano/Latino Youth Leadership Project and the Sacramento City College PUENTE program. Villalobos Cruz graduated from Santa Clara University, with a Bachelor of Science in political science, and obtained a master’s degree in public policy from USC.

Audrey Ratajczak

Audrey Ratajczak serves as a Lobbyist and the Policy Director at Cruz Strategies.  She brings with her over five years of legislative experience, including three years as a lobbyist at Gonzalez, Quintana, Hunter and Cruz, LLC.  In this role, Audrey lobbies and tracks hundreds of bills each legislative session for a number of the firm’s public agency clients.  She was influential in advancing sponsored legislation that provided additional funding and greater flexibility to local governments and transportation agencies.  Audrey also tracks regulatory issues at numerous state agencies, specifically related to transportation, water, and public safety policy.

Before joining Cruz Strategies, Audrey worked as a legislative analyst for the Department of Justice, Bureau of Firearms, where she drafted agency-driven regulations, analyzed legislation, and handled responses to hundreds of Public Record Act requests on a number of public safety issues.

Audrey completed the Sacramento Semester Program, where she worked in the office of Assemblyman Jeff Gorrell.  She received her Master’s Degree in California Politics from Sacramento State University, where she graduated with distinction.  Audrey also graduated Summa Cum Laude from Sacramento State with a Bachelor’s Degree in Government.  While at the University, she was President of the Student Mentoring Program and served as an Orientation Leader and member of the Delta Epsilon Iota Honor Society.

Vanessa Gonzalez

Vanessa Gonzalez is the Director of Government Relations and a registered lobbyist for Cruz Strategies. She brings with her 5 years of combined legislative and advocacy experience, having previously worked in both the Senate and Assembly, and most recently she was an Associate Lobbyist at Political Solutions. Vanessa brings her energy to merge the interests of industry and community to her work at Cruz Strategies.

Vanessa has lobbied on behalf of various industries and issue areas, including housing, natural resources and energy, tourism, transportation, labor and employment, among others. As a lobbyist representing various industries, Vanessa is vigilant over issues important to clients and proactive in promoting their interests, while keeping them well-informed about California’s ever-changing political landscape. Prior to lobbying, Vanessa worked for Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia and Senator Ben Hueso. Her legislative responsibilities primarily focused on budget, labor, housing and telecommunications issues. Among her many accomplishments, Vanessa spearheaded AB 1665 (E. Garcia), “Internet For All,” which authorized $330 million dollars to the Public Utilities Commission to extend the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to ensure that no less than 98% of Californian households, especially rural communities, have internet connectivity.

Outside of the office, Vanessa serves on the board of the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation and her parents have been small business owners for over 30 years, so she personally values and understands the issues that businesses in California are facing. Vanessa is also a proud alumna of the HOPE Leadership Institute, which is the first and only statewide leadership program specifically designed for professional Latinas in California.

Born and raised in Yuba City, California, Vanessa obtained a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Political Science with a minor in Spanish from San Diego State University.