Sandra Ambotaite is a dedicated U.S. Army veteran with eight years of service, where she excelled in various roles, including Medical Administrative Specialist, Operations Specialist, and Color Guard member. Her career took her to duty stations across the globe, including Ft. Belvoir, Virginia; Heidelberg, Germany; and Ft. Carson, Colorado. During her deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 and 2006, Sandra served with the 30th Medical Brigade as a Medical Regulating Office (MRO) Specialist, overseeing hundreds of mass casualty transfers and air evacuations to multiple hospitals in Iraq, Kuwait, and Germany.
Throughout her military career, Sandra earned numerous awards for her service, including the Soldier of the Year Award, Distinguished Honor Graduate Award at the Leadership Academy, six Army Commendation Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, and two Good Conduct Medals, demonstrating her unwavering commitment and leadership.
For the past seven years, Sandra has dedicated herself to helping service members and veterans successfully transition into civilian life. Through her work, she has mentored, coached, and assisted over 1,200 service members in securing federal internships, education opportunities, and meaningful careers. She has worked with over 200 federal agencies building relationships and bringing military talent to their workforce throughout the Southwest region, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii. Sandra has also briefed and collaborated with military leaders from all branches on best practices to ensure a successful transition for all service members.
Sandra earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Security and Conflict Resolution from San Diego State University, a Master of Arts in Peace and Justice from the University of San Diego, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California. Sandra is also honored to be a George W. Bush Presidential Scholar.
John P. Martinez is a retired Managing Director with 25 years of experience leading high-profile federal law enforcement and security operations with global impact. He has administered annual operating budgets exceeding $100 million and directed development and implementation of strategy, mission, and operational plans for several, multi-jurisdictional U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices. Mr. Martinez is a people-centered leader, capable of spearheading, motivating, and promoting positive collaboration amongst large, cross-functional teams. He has been a core driver of change and modernization in the federal government, including implementation of new policy and technology that facilitated greater federal and state information sharing related to criminal activity in communities across 50 states and 4 U.S. territories.
Mr. Martinez most recently served as the Director of the Pacific Enforcement Response Center in Laguna Niguel, CA. His leadership and oversight of the center’s 100 employees ensured ICE’s ability to protect and defend the United States through the sharing of timely data and analytical insights with federal and state law enforcement partners nationwide. Mr. Martinez directed the efforts of 42 trained federal law enforcement officers responsible for coordinating with state officials on federal enforcement action on high-priority and high-risk criminals encountered across 42 states and 4 U.S. territories.
Prior to that, he was the Acting Field Office Director for the Phoenix Field Office. Encompassing 113,635 square miles, 15 counties and six (6) Ports of Entry in Arizona, the Phoenix Field Office is one of the largest field offices in the United States. Mr. Martinez was hand-selected by ICE leadership to serve in this role during a tremendous surge in unlawful migration across the Southwest Border of the United States.
Mr. Martinez began his federal law enforcement career as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent with the legacy U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1997. Between 2006 and 2010, he was promoted from Deportation Officer on the ICE San Francisco Field Office Fugitive Operations team to Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer in San Francisco, and ultimately, Detention and Deportation Officer at ICE Headquarters in Washington, DC.
Mr. Martinez was selected in 2011 as an Assistant Field Office Director for the Los Angeles Field Office, where he managed the Secure Communities Program. In 2012, Mr. Martinez was promoted to become the Deputy Field Office Director for the San Francisco Field Office. In 2015, Mr. Martinez was again promoted to the position of Unit Chief for ICE Air Operations before becoming Deputy Director to the Pacific Enforcement Response Center in 2018, where he was later promoted to Director.
Mr. Martinez holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the State University of New York at Cortland College and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati.
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