North Star Alliances

Ernesto Morales is the Chief Executive Officer of North Star Alliances (NSA), a community engagement and outreach strategy firm known for its ability to form meaningful strategic partnerships and produce tangible results for their clients. Since Morales founded the firm ten years ago, NSA has managed more than 700 projects for clients that include Google, Coca-Cola, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority, the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District, and L.A. Care, among many others.

Before founding NSA, Morales held the position of Executive Director of Business Development at Rose Hills Memorial Park, the world’s largest single-site memorial park. As Executive Director, he led community engagement and growth strategies geared toward the Hispanic market. Prior to Rose Hills Memorial Park, Morales was the Vice President of Business Development at Cordea Consulting, a boutique healthcare information technology firm. In this role he was responsible for driving the formation of short and long-range business development, sales, and marketing strategies.

Earlier in his career Morales was the Director of Corporate Relations at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. There Morales honed his passion for developing strategic partnerships initiatives. As the Director of Corporate Relations, he generated more than $14 million in new revenue opportunities by advancing partnerships with corporations such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Amgen, Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo. 

In 2018, California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon appointed Morales State Commissioner to the California Employment Training Panel, the state’s premier program for supporting job creation and retention, through training. Morales is also a Board Member of the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation.

Morales holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Pepperdine University.

Chris DeGroof is currently the COO for North Star Alliances (NSA), where he oversees NSA’s programs and events, ensuring the timely and efficient execution of projects while staying within budget.

Chris is an accomplished operations executive with 27 years of experience throughout several industries including community engagement and public outreach, consumer products, supply chain management, and management consulting.  Chris specializes in account management, project management, kaizen/continuous improvement, supply chain management, global sourcing, and the establishment and management of key performance indicators.

Chris’ most notable achievements include the start-up of brand new divisions within four different companies, all achieving multi-million dollar revenues within his first year at each respective company.  Previous roles include his five years at children’s toy company, Applause, Inc., in which he managed accounts and projects for Disney Consumer Products, Universal Studios, General Mills, and Tricon Global Restaurants, introducing more than 250 million toys into the market including 35 million talking chihuahua stuffed toys for Taco Bell’s famous promotional program.  During his 10 years as Vice President of Operations at EZ Shipper Racks, Inc., Chris managed teams in Asia as well as in the USA for concurrent and multi-faceted programs, including global supply chain operation projects for Home Depot, Lowes, Tractor Supply, and MTD Products.  During his two years at Fitness Ventures International, Chris led the Operations and Supply Chain Departments in the delivery and installation of fitness centers for Hilton Hotels, multi-family housing complexes, corporate gyms, and universities throughout the USA, Europe, Asia, and Africa.  While at NSA, Chris served as lead project manager for several high-profile initiatives including Metro’s “Long-Range Transportation Plan” and Google’s award-winning “Be Internet Awesome” campaign.

Chris holds an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University and a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA. Chris has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the San Fernando Valley chapter of APICS, the Association for Operations Management. In his free time, Chris is passionate about the environment and wildlife, devoting the last 17 years serving as a board member, an officer, and volunteer for organizations dedicated to wildlife and scientific research.  

Lindsey Skolnik serves as a Strategic Advisor to North Star Alliances, a role that she has held since August 2021. In this position she brings nearly a decade of experience to her work, drawing on her public affairs background to develop creative and effective campaigns on behalf of NSA.

Since working with North Star Alliances, Lindsey has developed a comprehensive community outreach strategy for the Los Angeles County Restorative Justice Village Master Plan, a project that will provide housing with wrap-around care services to vulnerable communities in Los Angeles. Additionally, she developed and executed a robust rebranding strategy for North Star Alliances, which involved refining the firm’s external communications materials such as biographies, case studies, the website, and more.

Lindsey is the Founder and President of LTS Public Affairs, a Los Angeles-based, solution-driven public affairs firm. Her recent work at LTS Public Affairs includes serving as the Deputy Director of the California Community Foundation’s Digital Equity Initiative, which aims to seed a digital equity movement in Los Angeles County that advocates for fast, reliable, and affordable broadband for all Angelenos. She has also served as an aid to the California Contract Cities Association, providing communications support to their Legislative and Governmental Affairs Consultant, and has worked on the 2022 Clean Cars & Clean Air Act ballot measure campaign in California.

Before founding LTS Public Affairs, Lindsey served as Vice President at Mercury, a global public strategy firm, where she led and contributed to many high stakes public affairs campaigns. For nearly eight years she worked with California-based government agencies, leading foundations, major companies, and prominent public leaders, refining her skills in campaign management, strategic & crisis communications, message development, media relations, and local government affairs.

Lindsey holds a Bachelor’s degree from New York University in Politics and Sociology.