Gabriel Monares

During his 24 year career in public policy, Gabriel Monares has worked on issues that have tremendous impact on the residents of California. With his efforts on environmental issues, educational facilities and tax policy, Gabriel has gained a reputation as a straight shooter who can get things done. He has a knack for bringing bipartisan consensus to complex issues.

Gabriel started his career as an aide to the late U.S. Senator Alan Cranston. He went on to work for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, State Controller John Chiang and former Los Angeles Unified School Board President Victoria Castro.

Gabriel was a driving force in the campaign to designate the San Gabriel Mountains as a National Monument. He helped negotiate the historic agreement with local stakeholders and utilities. His direct negotiations with the Obama Administration, state and federal legislators led to unprecedented protections for water rights holders and public utilities in the President Obama’s Presidential Proclamation.

From 2001 to 2010, Gabriel’s focus was within the Groundwater Cleanup arena as the Director of Resource Development at the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority (WQA). His primary responsibilities at the WQA were to secure funding for the $1.2 billion cleanup of the San Gabriel Basin Superfund sites. Gabriel has been instrumental in securing over $500 million in legal settlements and an additional $170 million from the Federal Government and the State of California to fund cleanup activities in the San Gabriel Basin. The cleanup has removed over 50 tons of contaminants including perchlorate and other harmful chemicals.

Gabriel formed The Monares Group in 2009. The Monares Group provides strategic counsel on public policy issues and government relations strategies. The firm also provides public relations, media relations, marketing and community outreach services.

Gabriel served as Chairman of State Controller John Chiang’s Inaugural Committee and is a Past President of the San Gabriel Valley Public Affairs Network.

He currently serves on the Board of various civic organizations, including the San Gabriel Valley Public Affairs Network, San Gabriel Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Rivers and Mountains Discovery Center Foundation Board.

The local community is also an area where Gabriel is an active member. He currently serves as a Chief of the YMCA’s Indian Princess’s Kutenai Tribe in Hacienda Heights and has coached youth football, basketball and soccer for over 25 years.

Gabriel, a graduate of University of San Francisco, lives in Hacienda Heights, CA with his wife, Karen. They have 3 children Gabriel, Sarah and Gabriela. He’s also a very proud grandfather to 3 year old, Dominic Cash Monares.

Karen Monares

Karen’s career in marketing and promotions spans over 25 years. During this time, she managed top brands on both the agency and client side of the business. Karen’s categories of expertise include carbonated soft drinks and non-carbonated soft drink beverages, beer/spirits, entertainment, quick service restaurants, communications, casual dining , music, packaged goods and sports.

Karen started her career in 1987 working for local Hispanic advertising agencies in Los Angeles. She helped pioneer many major brand’s entre into advertising to the Spanish dominant consumer. She developed and managed integrated marketing plans for Pepsi-Cola, Budweiser, Oral-B, Sizzler Restaurants and the INS Naturalization Program. With the success of many of her Hispanic targeted programs, clients began requesting those programs be adapted to target the General and other special markets. This led to Karen’s development into a marketing professional who could analyze market nuances and develop cost efficient plans to effectively reach diverse consumer landscapes.

With the transition to client side work in 1996, Karen was fortunate to work for companies who were always leading the way into the “next big thing” in marketing - the beer and spirits industry. As a member of Miller Brewing Company’s internal marketing team, Karen was on the forefront of the experiential marketing arena with development and activation of promotions like Blind Date/Solo Con Invitación and Movimiento Miller. Working for Brown-Forman, the makers of Jack Daniel’s, she was one of the first to incorporate internet elements into her programs. As social media and digital programming developed, Karen continued to integrate new and exciting ways to interact with consumers and utilize them to maximize cross promotional partnerships with The Los Angeles Lakers, The Los Angeles Dodgers, The Los Angeles Kings, the Los Angeles Angels, The San Diego Chargers, The San Diego Padres, all NASCAR activities at the Fontana Speedway as well as boxing promotions.

Karen left Corporate America in 2005 and became an independent marketing consultant. For the next five years, Karen’s clients have included AT&T, Disneyland, Ford Flex, Juanita’s Foods, Visa, The Los Angeles Lakers, Panera, Conoco Phillips, Nestlé and Verizon Wireless. Projects for these companies included brand creative development and production, special events planning and execution, talent acquisition and regional in-retail promotions.

In 2010, Karen joined her husband, Gabriel Monares, to form a public policy consulting firm, The Monares Group. She focused her efforts on launching the company and establishing it as an expert in the areas of strategic planning, infrastructure and legislative education. Once the company began running smoothly, Karen was able to work with existing clients providing public relations, event planning services.

For 2015, Karen has committed to bring her high level advertising and marketing techniques to the civic marketing arena. This effort fulfills her desire to positively impact the community by developing effective marketing plans for our clients.