Villegas Public Affairs

Principal,  Public Affairs and Community Outreach
Ernie Villegas is principal owner of Villegas Public Affairs.  He has more than 24 years’ experience in local government, public/private sector advocacy, business affairs, and media relations.  Ernie is the former District Director for California State Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, having served from 2010-2014.  Prior, he was Senior Partner for Paladin Principle LLC, a public affairs company.  Also, he is a retired Public Affairs Manager for Southern California Edison, having served for 30 years.

Ernie’s political experience commands a broad regional presence. He was Mayor and Councilman for the City of Fillmore from 2002-2006.  Prior, he served as planning commissioner for six years and parks and recreation commissioner for two years.  Ernie served as Vice President of the Channel League of California Cities.  He was Chairman of the Tri-County Air Pollution Control District for Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties. He was board member of the Economic Development Collaborative and Ventura County Council of Government.

Villegas served on diverse boards and committees.  This includes the Chambers of Commerce for Carpinteria, Goleta, San Fernando, and Santa Barbara.  He was President of the Gold Coast Hispanic Business Council and President of the Valley Industrial Association in Santa Clarita.  He was board member on the Santa Barbara Community Environmental Council, Santa Barbara and Ventura Taxpayers’ Association, the Santa Barbara Industrial Association, United Way, and Red Cross. 

Currently, Ernie is the Special Projects Manager for The City of Fillmore responsible for Economic Development & President of The Fillmore Association of Business (FAB). He serves on various boards including El Concilio Family Services in Oxnard, The Santa Clara Valley Boys & Girls Club and The Workforce Education Coalition.

Communications/Media
With 119 major awards, John Boston has been recognized as one of America’s top editors, writers and communicators. He is one of the few recipients of The Will Rogers Lifetime Humanitarian Achievement Award. He has 40-plus years of expert experience in newspapers, TV, radio, magazines, web design, advertising, media coaching and public speaking. Most importantly, he achieves dynamic and positive results.

Boston is a former NBC news editor, entertainment executive for Norman Lear. He was senior vice-president for Wentworth Advertising & Public Relations. John was also the media/public speaking coach to a prominent national political family.

Twice he took over as editor of The Signal, a Southern California daily newspaper. It was instantly honored as Best Daily Community Newspaper in America. 

From The San Francisco Chronicle to The Washington Post, CNN to The Chicago Tribune, various media and his peers have recognized him as one of the nation’s top opinion writers and humorists. The Los Angeles Times once devoted their cover and two full pages of their Sunday Lifestyle section to his life and work.

Human Resources and Business/Labor Mediation
Andres Herrera brings more than 30 years stellar experience in management and problem solving to Villegas Public Affairs. From local to national, state to Fortune 100 companies, Andres is recognized as one of Southern California’s top executives. That wide-ranging life experience crosses into public and private enterprises. Andres was a small business owner of HAV & Associates and HR Consulting. Bilingual, he has been a senior state and federal consumer arbitrator, facilitated and developed community government relations programs and was a Certified Independent Vocational Evaluator.

He was former mayor pro tem and councilmember of Oxnard for 12 years. Andres both chaired and was a board member of the Oxnard Airport Authority and Oxnard Performing Arts Center. Also, he’s served on the boards of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, Triunfo Water District, Economic Development Corporation, Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance, Ventura County Waste Management Agency, Economic Development Collaborative Ventura County.

An all-star athlete, Herrera competed in football, basketball and track at Santa Clara High School and UCLA. He was enshrined into the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

Property & Real Estate Media Issues & Services
Chantelle is a licensed real estate broker and part of a network of RE/MAX associates which spans across the globe. She was highly instrumental in the establishment of RE/MAX Integrity, a six month acquisition and conversion process which took place in late 2009. As the Director of Marketing for the Camarillo based brokerage, she combines her interpersonal strengths with creative media strategies to promote the company's brand, services, and associates.

Chantelle earned her BA in Political Science from UC Santa Barbara and participates in local business and political initiatives. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce and sits on several of their committees. Chantelle has been honored with several awards, including The Beacon Award from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (2012) and the Young Professional Leader of the Year from the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce (2013).

With a heart for her community, Chantelle holds leadership positions with The Ventura County Community Foundation, The Young and Brave Foundation, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Broadband, Wireless & WI Fi Communication Networks & Services
With more than 25 years of experience, Terry is a recognized leader and pioneer in telecommunications. He is one of the industry’s top consultants in broadband and wireless services. His life’s work: bringing the American Dream of an ever-unfolding modern network technology to all.

Besides working with VPA, he is also a managing partner at the Broad Band Warehouse. BBW is channel sales agency for ALL major Broadband, Cloud, Wifi and Wireless communications providers in the United States. He’s also the consulting partner for Vertex Solutions. VS focuses on Cloud-based, Wi Fi and Broadband networks for both private and public sectors.

Terry earned his degree in Business Administration & Finance from California State University at Northridge. He works tirelessly with America’s armed forces. He’s a member of the US Navy Reserve, achieving the rank of Petty Officer HN3/FMF. Also, he’s an executive board member of “For The Troops.” They’re a non-profit organization that serves deployed troops around the globe. He’s raised money for FTT’s annual dinner and gala and the Reagan Library each year, and has served on Operation Toy Drop. OTD donates bicycles, toys and games to the children of deployed active duty Navy Personnel located at Naval Base Ventura, California.

He’s held management and leadership positions at Starnet Data Design, Broadsoft Networks, Commpartners, Tollbridge Technologies, MRV Communications, Premisys Communications, GTE (Now Verizon), Southern Pacific Telecom (Now Sprint), and PacTel (Now ATT).     

Terry has earned numerous business awards, such as the PacTel and GTE Presidents’ Sales leadership award. Five times he earned the President’s Club Top 3 Award at Southern Pacific Telecom. Four times he was honored with the President’s Circle of Sales Legends at Premisys Communications. He’s also been honored with numerous other sales and business awards as well.

Non-Profit Management and Government
Mairelise graduated with honors from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2015 with degrees in International Studies and Public Policy. For the past several years she has been active in local, regional, and national politics.  Mairelise has worked in the offices of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, Representative Edward R. Royce in Washington D.C., the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), and multiple Ventura County district offices and campaigns. Since graduating from UCSD, Mairelise has been heavily involved in program development and administration of non-profit organizations, including the Workforce Education Coalition and the Mediators Beyond Borders International LA Chapter.

Local Government, Project Management, Public Relations, and Energy Strategies
Mark Olson is a seasoned Public Affairs professional, recently retiring as Deputy Director of Metro Public Affairs at Southern California Edison.  Olson’s career at Edison included 11 years in Customer Service/Accounting/Engineering, and 26 years in Governmental/Public Affairs.  His geographical area of expertise included Ventura and Los Angeles Counties.  Mark has a B.A. from CSUN, and an M.B.A. from California Lutheran University.  He has a strong background in business, governmental affairs, project management, issues management, media, utility engineering, customer relations, and community relations.  Mark has served on many various city commissions, committees, and organization boards including time as Chair/President of Chambers of Commerce - Camarillo, Malibu, Culver City, Santa Monica and the Westside Council.

Media Production, Digital Strategy, Business Development
Scott began his career in the tech industry as a hobby at the age of 10 by writing and designing video games for his home computer. Since then, Scott has written, designed, produced and directed over 100 software titles. His clients include Paramount Pictures, Mattel, TDK, Konami, Hanna-Barberra, Hasbro, Cartoon Network, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Sony, Disney, Warner Brothers, Turner, Virgin Group, Indycar, PGA Tour, Caesars Entertainment, ESPN, NBA, NHL, Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, International Olympic Committee.

"I've had opportunity to work with great people, characters and brands including Robin Hood, Robocop, Mickey Mouse, The Three Stooges, Sinbad, and The Terminator." One of my favorite moments is taking a slow-motion right hook from Muhammad Ali."