Meet Our Dynamic Team: Uniting Expertise and Passion for Success
a collective of diverse individuals who bring a wealth of expertise and a shared passion for achieving success. Each team member is a dedicated professional in their respective field, equipped with specialized skills and knowledge that contribute to our collective strength. With a spirit of collaboration and a drive for excellence, our team thrives on the challenges presented by every project.
Robert Lizarraga
Program Managing Director
Robert has over 30 years of experience in construction marketing and business
development. He has successfully worked to fund and construct large scale infrastructure projects in multiple industries including: telecommunications, water
resources, directional boring, pipeline construction and oil refineries.
EMAIL: RLizarraga@sstep.org
Director of Public Finance: Lino Del Signore
Airport finance professional with 27 years of consulting and management experience with special knowledge in all aspects of airport finance mechanisms including: bond financing, capital funding sources, Airport Improvement Programs (AIP),
Passenger Facility Charges (PFC) and Customer Facility Charges (CFC). Most recently managing/finance director of Stockton Metro Airport and Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
EMAIL:LDelsignore@sstep.org
Corporate Counsel: Percy Duran
Senior Law Partner with over 35 years of experience specializing in corporate banking and business law. As President of the Board of Public Works for the city of Los
Angeles, Percy’s duties included supervising 6,000 public employees, managing a $1 billion budget, management of strategic planning, capital programs and operation of 7 bureaus within the City of LA. Percy served as a Presidential appointee with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board as the Director of Minority Administrative Division. He has
extensive experience developing and implementing regulatory policy. Most recently, he served as Chairman of the Commission of Civil Rights during the Obama administration.
Director of Program Collaboration & Management: Sean Knierim
Founding SidePorch continues a career of working to create environments where amazing people can do extraordinary things. Sean is also the Partner & Founder of Estabrook Carbon and the Liminal Collective and teaches in the graduate program at Arizona State University. Previously, Sean taught for over a decade at the university and secondary levels, holding leadership positions and carrying out research focused on
economic and urban development. He also had executive positions at Estabrook
Investors, the Jeff Skoll Group and at the MacArthur Foundation. Sean holds a Ph.D. in
Comparative Literature (UNC-Chapel Hill) and master’s degrees in International Development Policy (Duke University) and Interdisciplinary Education (Santa Clara University).
Assistant Director of Program Marketing: Ivy Zeng
Lingwei (Ivy) Zeng is a Senior SSD Product Manager at Solidigm Technology, previously owned by Intel NSG. With over 6 years of experience at Intel, she has
developed a deep understanding of customer requirements and needs. She has managed teams responsible for handling customer returns, debugging, and addressing customer requests and reliability concerns. She has also played a key role in driving the
qualifying process of four generations of 3D NAND Enterprise SSD, performing NAND failure analysis, and ensuring product reliability meets Product Release Qualification
(PRQ) requirements. She holds a BS/MSEE degree from the University of Southern California and is fluent in English and Mandarin. In addition to her work in the tech industry, she has gained valuable experience in the real estate industry through rental
and infill project developments. She is passionate about using her skills to assist Taiwanese suppliers in expanding their products and solutions in the US.
Assistant Director of Park Development: Edward Cao
Edward (Yige) Cao is a skilled and experienced engineer in the field of semiconductors. He graduated from the University of Southern California with BS/MSEE
degrees in 2015. He has worked in a variety of roles, starting with Supermicro Computers Inc. in San Jose, where he designed circuit boards related to server systems. He then moved to an Applications Engineer position at Cypress Semiconductor Inc. (now part of Infineon Technologies), where he drafted and edited datasheets and application notes. He now works as a NAND product engineer for Intel’s Non-volatile Memory Solutions Group, where he focuses on testing and validating chipset functionalities and performance. Edward has designed an Automated Testing Suite of Perl scripts and libraries that controls Host Computer/Tester/uProbe Station/Oscilloscope DV work flow equipment to automatically execute DV tasks and generate analog waveforms and digital data outputs for verification and analysis. In addition, he and his wife have expanded into real estate development, and have acquired three properties in the
Sacramento rental market.
Assistant Director of Park Planning: Nick Yovino
With over 35 years of local government experience working for the City of Fresno Planning and Development department, Nick brings with him a special knowledge of land use and development. He has been the principal director for California Land Use Consulting for the last 6 years.
Director of FTZ & Goods Movement Corridors: David Harlow
David is the President of ITC Diligence International, an international foreign trade zone company specializing in trade compliance and operations. Founded and headquartered in Los Angeles, ITC is the oldest FTZ consultation firm in the nation and is part of multiple trade associations including CTPAT, LAEDC, NAFTZ, LACBFFA, IVEDC and FTA. David received his U.S. Customs Brokers License in 2004.
Legal Advisors: Jeff Reid (CA)
Jeff Reid is a former City Manager of Fresno, former undersecretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing department and state cabinet member. Jeff is a partner and associate with McCormick Barstow LLC. He has had extensive experience with various land use law and government financing programs.