Innovative Strategies is a San Antonio, Texas based management consulting firm established in September 2001 as a sole proprietorship, with satellite offices in Fort Worth, Texas, specializing in business diversity/inclusion services and economic-related studies, analysis, and initiatives, such as with availability/disparity studies and Empowerment and Enterprise Zone programs.

Founder and President, Mario Treviño, is recognized as a local, small, minority/women, and disadvantaged business development expert, having testified as a subject matter expert in a court of law, and has served as a public-sector and federal executive and consultant to many public and private organizations, providing technical expertise in minority/women business, HUB, DBE, etc., policy and program development, implementation, monitoring, and compliance processes, procedures, and programs.

Since its inception, Innovative Strategies has been engaged in providing professional consultant services specializing in the small, local, minority/women, and disadvantaged business economic development field, primarily in the public sector arena. Innovative Strategies’ President, Mr. Mario Trevino has an exemplary and extensive background in the public contracting arena with direct experience in conceptualizing, implementing, and managing local, small, minority/women, and disadvantaged business enterprise programs. Innovative Strategies has built its professional reputation and experience principally through almost an exclusive public sector engagement clientele and Mr. Trevino’s tenure and high-level professional experiences in public sector environments specifically. As a testament to Mr. Trevino’s competence in consensus building skill, while directing the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport’s minority/women business program, he conceived and persuaded a majority of the public-sector entities in the DFW Metroplex to establish a centralized certification center, which became the North Central Texas Regional Certification Agency. The center became the model used by the City of San Antonio and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in 49 CFR Part 26 to establish regional certification centers or Unified Certification Programs (UCPs). DFW Airport is the world’s third busiest airport enplaning approximately 70 million passengers per year, and contracts approximately $400 million in construction, $150 million in procurement, and $100 million in professional services and grosses approximately $500 million in concessions per year. These experiences, which principally include municipalities, airport entities, as well as private sector entities as clients have provided Innovative Strategies with a keen understanding and ability to better direct and assist public and private sector entities in their business diversity and inclusion efforts.

Mr. Trevino has also served and directed various boards and commissions and is an early member of the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC), the premier airport advocacy organization for minority and women-owned businesses seeking to do business in our nation’s airports and comprised of most major U.S. airports and approximately 1,000 members nation-wide and later became its second Chairman for a two year period.

Innovative Strategies is also a leading specialized public sector airport concession management firm representing well known and respected national and international quick service restaurant and retail brand leaders. We offer competitive concession market review, assessment, and development in the non-traditional business development market specifically – airports, military bases, hospital districts, universities, etc. utilizing broad executive level experience and emphasizing realistic concession strategies, effective concession recommendations and solutions, and success methodologies. In 2016 Innovative Strategies was selected as a joint venture partner in two (2) DFW Airport concessions – duty free and Estee Lauder MAC retail stores in Terminal D. Thus, Innovative Strategies is now fully engaged and has created a “concession division” to pursue and acquire airport concession awards in the food and beverage and retail areas, particularly the specialized airport duty free concession arena.

While Innovative Strategies was created in September 2001, the firm’s principal and President, Mario Trevino has over twenty-three (24) years of public sector contract administration, affirmative action/equal employment opportunity and small business/disadvantaged business development experience with a solid record of accomplishment in senior level management. This includes fifteen (15) years as director/principal public sector official and other major leadership positions. Prior to creating Innovative Strategies, Mr. Trevino served in a career capacity as the Assistant and Associate Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in Washington, DC. On a national scope, Mr. Trevino developed and implemented the federal government’s initial Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) program, which continues today. This program was developed in response to the post-Adarand ruling which called for narrow-tailoring minority business programs and implementing them in the most “race-neutral” fashion. Before joining the SBA, Mr. Trevino had a highly successful career with the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) as Director of the Minority and Economic Affairs Department having conceived the program and overseeing the development, implementation, and monitoring of all aspects of the small, disadvantaged and minority/women-owned business enterprise program.