Gary L. Trujillo

Gary L. Trujillo founded Southwest Harvard Group (SHG) in 1990 and has served as the firm’s President & CEO since inception.

Southwest Harvard Group has a proven track record, due to its ability to manage the critical resources of its organization to profitability; in particular, these include the focus on its human and financial capital. In 1983, Mr. Trujillo began his career in investment-banking as a financial analyst in institutional sales and trading with Salomon Brothers, Inc. in New York City. He later joined the investment bank RBC Dain Rauscher in San Francisco where he specialized in corporate and public finance. He subsequently served as a staff assistant to L. William Seidman, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) in Washington D.C.

Mr. Trujillo has historically been active in educational issues throughout our country. He has served as the youngest school board member of the Phoenix Union High School District and was appointed by the Governor of the State of Arizona to become the First Chairperson of the Schools Facilities Board. Mr. Trujillo’s most treasured success is the creation of the Roosevelt Community Technology Center (RCTC) in Phoenix, Arizona, the neighborhood where he was born and raised. The RCTC provides state-of-the-art-technology including free internet access – and is available free of charge to any visitor. In addition, he and his wife, Melissa, started the Be A Leader Foundation (BALF), which serves as an incubator to develop college bound, focused and prepared students. BALF has programs that build self-esteem, leadership skills, promote higher education and mentors students through the stages of their educational and career development. The Trujillo’s have mentored numerous young adults and continue their quest to help others learn how to help themselves. His educational commitment and achievements have been recognized through the following honors and awards: Man of the Year from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Exemplary Leadership Award from Profiles in Success.

Mr. Trujillo is a Harvard Business School graduate and also holds a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Arizona State University. He currently serves on the boards of Wells Fargo Bank-Desert Region and BlueCross and BlueShield of Arizona and is a member of Young President’s Organization (YPO).

Melissa B. Trujillo

Melissa Trujillo is Co-founder and Executive Director of the Be A Leader Foundation which she and her husband created in 2002.  The Foundation is a platform for young aspiring students and serves as an incubator to develop academic and leadership skills required of elementary and high school students to become college bound, focused and prepared.

Mrs. Trujillo has been a steward of education throughout her life and started focusing on helping underprivileged youth with her husband in 1991. As a couple, they committed themselves to helping provide much needed technology in the Roosevelt School District and ultimately created the Roosevelt Community Technology Center to provide free access to computers for all members of the Roosevelt Community.

Mrs. Trujillo is personally familiar with the challenges that one faces while growing up in a single parent home.  Born in New York City and raised there until she was a teenager, Mrs. Trujillo moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1981 and began her uphill climb to achieving a college education.  While maintaining several jobs to help alleviate her family’s financial challenges, she remained focused on her dream to obtain a college degree, the first in her family.  She attended Scottsdale Community College and ultimately received a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, Magna Cum Laude, from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in 1991.  With no outside support, Mrs. Trujillo understood what a college degree would mean for herself and her family and was able to achieve her dream completely on her own.  She became an avid supporter of promoting the need to obtain a college education and to provide the mentorship and guidance needed to those who, like herself, must achieve it on their own.

After graduation, Mrs. Trujillo held several senior finance management roles including Chief Financial Officer for Commac, a commercial real-estate securitization company based out of Washington, D.C. and Southwest Harvard Group Venture Capital in Phoenix, Arizona.  Longing to be an entrepreneur, Mrs. Trujillo became the President & Managing Partner of Sunven Entertainment Group in 1997 which owned and operated the Red River Music Hall, a 1,000 seat concert venue located near Arizona State University. Mrs. Trujillo was instrumental in the turnaround of the company and continued to operate it until it was successfully sold in 2003.  After selling her business, Mrs. Trujillo and her husband, Gary, decided to focus primarily on creating and building the Be A Leader Foundation to support aspiring youth to obtain a college education.  However, Mrs. Trujillo still keeps her entrepreneurial efforts going as a partner in Cambios y Servicios, a retail joint venture group that operates airport concession stores.  

She and her husband, Gary, reside in Central Phoenix and have two small children, Alexander and Sophia.

Dr. Chris Bustamante

Chris Bustamante, Ed.D., serves as President of Rio Salado College, the largest in headcount of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges located in metropolitan Phoenix, and one of the premier online education institutions in the nation. Rio Salado serves 51,000 credit and an additional 13,000 non-credit students annually, of which 40,000 are online students.

Dr. Bustamante was appointed to this position in June 2010 after serving as the college’s Interim President, Vice President of Community Development and Student Services, and Dean of Academic Affairs. Earlier in his career, he served in senior level government affairs positions for the Maricopa Community College District. Dr. Bustamante is well-known as an advocate for increasing access to higher education opportunities. He has forged transformational partnerships with business, government and other educational providers, leading to innovations such as the first Communiversity to be established west of the Mississippi River.

In addition, Dr. Bustamante currently serves as an Adjunct Professor for Northern Arizona University in the Master’s of Educational Leadership Program. Before joining the MCCCD, Dr. Bustamante served as the Assistant to the Superintendent for Community and Government Relations for the Phoenix Union High School District.  Dr. Bustamante also served as a Legislative Aide to the Arizona House of Representatives from 1984-1987.

Dr. Bustamante attended Pima Community College and graduated from the University of Arizona in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance. Chris resides in Tempe, Arizona, with his wife, Mary, and daughters Briana, Alysa, and Elena.

Tim De Soto

Tim DeSoto is the Director of Business Development for Content Licensing and Distribution of The Wall Street Digital Network at Dow Jones & Company. He has held this position since March 2008. Mr. DeSoto has over five years of business development experience within new media. Prior to joining Dow Jones & Company in 2002, Mr. DeSoto spent three years working in telecommunications for AT&T Business Services and US West Communications. Mr. DeSoto started his career as an INROADS intern working in the Investment Management & Trust, Brokerage, Marketing and Retail departments of Norwest Bank Arizona.

Mr. DeSoto is a former scholar and current member of the Board of Directors of the Be A Leader Foundation (BALF), which serves as an incubator to develop college bound, focused and prepared students. BALF has programs that build self-esteem, leadership skills, promote higher education and mentors students through the stages of their educational and career development. Through BALF, Mr. DeSoto has been given the opportunity to support the development of several Sponsors for Educational Opportunity and Hispanic Business Student Association members. While living in Arizona, Mr. DeSoto served on the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Business Alumni at Arizona State University.

Mr. DeSoto received his M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Certificate in International Business from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Born in Yuma, Arizona and raised in the Southwest, Mr. DeSoto currently resides in New York City.

Lydia A. Aranda

Lydia Aranda is a 3rd-generation Arizonan with a 25-year career in diverse markets growth, corporate development and community relations, serving the public, private and non-profit sectors.  She works closely with business and community leaders focusing on diverse and under-served segments, with particular attention to entrepreneurs and education. 

Lydia holds a Bachelor of Science in Intercultural Communications from Arizona State University and is the Founder of the Liberty Project / 9500 Liberty Arizona.

Ms. Aranda enjoys music, traveling, books, films and art, and remains active in the community. Among her favorite projects are those that mentor and motivate children and young adults – whether reading stories in classrooms, speaking at events, attending recitals, raising funds or introducing young students to new mentors and friends, she believes “giving back” is what gives the most.