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President and Owner | Market Street Group Inc.
Michael Solari runs Market Street Group Inc., a government relations and consulting firm downtown that advocates for clients involved with tourism, gambling, alcohol, insurance, rail and logistics, public safety, and finance. Among the firm’s achievements is helping to pass the first Tribal State Gaming Compact in Indiana on behalf of its client, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, during the 2021 legislative session. Other successes include lobbying the Indiana Legislature to allow Sunday alcohol sales, to create the Indiana Destination Development Corp. and to reform gambling. Solari also served as chair of the Marion County Election Board. Under his watch, satellite voting sites returned to the county in 2018 and vote centers, which allow voters on Election Day to cast their ballot at any polling location across Marion County, began in 2019. (He credits former Marion County Clerk Myla Eldridge for implementing the plan.)
Getting here: Solari started working at Broadmoor Country Club around the age of 13, and several members took interest in him and his activities and studies. One of those was Frank Short, who at the time owned Short Strategy Group. As Solari was nearing graduation from the University of Indianapolis, Short had an opening at his firm. That was 2007. By 2011, he and Short had become business partners. In 2017, Solari took over as president. At the end of 2019, Short sold Solari the business, which he rebranded as Market Street Group on Jan. 1, 2020.
First job: Cutting grass, babysitting, caddying
Givebacks: Board member, Indiana Golf Foundation (First Tee of Indiana); Indy Chamber Business Advocacy Committee (PAC Board); board member, National Association of State Lobbyists
Influential moment: Taking sole ownership of the firm. “Thankfully, we’ve not only sustained a majority of our clients from the transition but have continued to grow and broaden our areas of representation.”
Advice: Don’t let the highs get too high or the lows too low. “Everyone’s career and personal life is a roller-coaster ride; as hard as it may seem, stay as grounded as you can during successes and failures.”•
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