Commissioner Salonia originally hails from the state of Connecticut, but has however made his home in Washington and the Washington area over periods of time dating back to 1977. He attended the University of Virginia, graduating with distinction in 1985 with a B.S. in Accounting and Management Information Systems.  Following litigation support consulting work in northern and central California, Commissioner Salonia resumed his education at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland where in December of 1988 he completed a thesis on European unification and earned a Masters in Business Administration. 

Having returned permanently to the Washington area in 1990 to work in international phonecard development, Mr. Salonia who is a dual-national (U.S./French), utilized his near-native fluency in French to assist in the development of an international phonecard billing system for a francophone Swiss firm.  He later assisted U.S. firms with development efforts in the same area. Commissioner Salonia currently works as a consultant for a government contractor in Arlington.