Daily Business Report/Jan. 3, 2017
Bill Trumpfheller with Natalie Haack, a senior account executive at Nuffer, Smith, Tucker and a graduate of San Diego State University. Trumpfheller died Dec. 29. (Credit: SDSU Alumni Association)
Bill Trumpfheller: An Aztec for Life
As president of Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, San Diego’s large public relations agency, Bill Trumpfheller was partial to San Diego State University graduates when hiring staff. His alma mater. He once estimated he worked with 25 to 30 fellow Aztecs during his tenure.
Why? “Because I know what they know. I know what they studied… I know the quality of the education they got and I know the professors who taught it to them.” (San Diego State University Alumni Association)
Trumpfheller, who began his public relations career at NST as an intern in 1986, died of cardiac arrest on the night of Dec. 29 while with his family. He was 53.
He was an Aztec through and through— a two-time president of the SDSU Alumni Association; co-chair of the President’s Task Force on Aztec Identity in 2001; service on The Campanile Foundation board and its Athletics Committee. He presented the SDSU Alumni Monty award for distinguished alumni service in 2009.
He was an ardent supporter of Aztec Athletics and gave his time and talents to help develop the Rise to 25, the university’s campaign to bring all of its athletics programs to Top 25 status.
According to his biography, Trumpfheller earned his way to NST president in 2000 “After working 90-hour weeks and applying his talents learned through the San Diego State University public relations program, under the tutelage of public relations legend Dr. Glen M. Broom.”
He has been a communicator and strategist since his first direct mail job at the age of 13, stuffing envelopes for his mom’s travel agency.
He has been honored with several awards, including Public Relations Professional of the Year, the Eva Irving Award for Community Service and the Otto Bos Lifetime Achievement Award from the Public Relations Society of America’s San Diego/Imperial Counties chapter.
The NST website noted Trumpfheller’s passing: “As you can imagine, the Nuffer, Smith, Tucker family is still processing this tragic event, and while we are all shocked and saddened, Bill left behind a veteran leadership team to help manage through this difficult time. The team has worked closely with Bill for many years to establish company culture, serve clients and manage agency operations. The team, led by Vice President Teresa Siles, who has been named NST’s managing director, is being supported with counsel from the agency’s Worldcom Group partners, and is in the process of tending to the details necessary to continue the good work for which NST is known, and to maintain continuity for clients and the NST team.”
Trumpfheller is survived by his wife, Nola Trumpfheller, and two daughters.
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San Diego Apartment Rental
Prices Up 1.4 Percent Over Year
Rent prices in San Diego stayed flat over the past month, and prices are now up 1.4 percent over last year, according to the January 2017 San Diego Rent Report by Apartment List.
One-bedroom apartments in San Diego have a median rent of $1,500 a month while two-bedroom apartments have a median rent of $2,000, according to the report.
The report said San Diego is the fourth most expensive city in California for renters.
- San Francisco takes the top spot for highest rent prices in California. Two-bedrooms there run $4,550, and one-bedrooms have a median rent of $3,340. Rents decreased by 0.1 percent over the past month.
- San Jose: San Jose has the third highest rent prices in the state. A two-bedroom there costs $2,550, while one-bedrooms rent for $2,070.
- Long Beach: Median rent prices in Long Beach are at $2,000 for two-bedrooms and $1,400 for one-bedrooms. Rents grew by 0.2 percent over the past month.
- Los Angeles: Rent prices increased by 1.8 percent over the past year, the most growth of any city in the state during that same period. A two-bedroom in Los Angeles runs $2,600, and one-bedrooms cost $1,880.
- Sacramento: The state’s capital shows the second fastest-growing rents, at a 1.7 percent increase over last year. one and two bedrooms in Sacramento cost $1,000 and $1,200, respectively.
- Fresno: Fresno shows the sixth most rent growth in California, with prices 1.2 percent higher than last year. Median rents in Fresno are at $870 for two bedrooms and $750 for one bedrooms.
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Restaurants Respond to Wage
Hike With Dining Surcharge
Girding for the second minimum wage hike in six months and the fourth in 2-½ years, many of San Diego’s full-service restaurants are introducing for the first time an average surcharge of 3 percent of the meal’s cost to help cover increased labor expenses that some operators say amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single year.
Thanks to voters’ approval last June of a measure to boost the pay of the city’s lowest-paid workers, the city of San Diego’s minimum wage will jump from $10.50 an hour to $11.50, effective Monday. Statewide, the hourly pay will rise from $10 to $10.50 for businesses with more than 25 employees.
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Navy Accepts Destroyer
Named After San Diego Marine
Times of San Diego
A new guided-missile destroyer named for San Diego Marine Rafael Peralta has successfully completed acceptance trials after spending two days underway off the coast of Maine.
The future USS Rafael Peralta will be the 65th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. It will arrive in its homeport of San Diego in 2017.
“DDG 115 performed exceedingly well during acceptance trials and throughout the test and trials period,” said Capt. Casey Moton, program manager. “This ship is another example of the excellent work performed by our Navy, waterfront, and industry teams.”
“As we continue with serial production of the Arleigh Burke class, I look forward to delivering more of these world-class ships to the fleet,” he added.
Peralta, who was born in Mexico City and raised in San Diego, joined the Marines after graduating from Morse High School. He is credited with saving the lives of fellow Marines by pulling a live grenade under his body during the second battle of Fallujah in 2004.
The new ship is equipped with the sophisticated Aegus radar system
and armed with 96 vertically launched guided missiles, a 5-inch gun, torpedoes and two helicopters. Some of the missiles it carries are capable to shooting down intercontinental ballistic missiles.
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Sheppard Mullin Associate Named
Pro Bono Attorney of the Year
Whitney Hodges, associate in the law offices of Sheppard, Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP in San Diego, has been awarded the firm’s 2016 Bob Gerber Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award.
The award honors and recognizes a Sheppard Mullin attorney who demonstrates a significant commitment to the firm’s pro bono program and helping those in need. Hodges, a 2010 graduate of the University of Southern California Law School, is based in the firm’s San Diego office and is a member of the firm’s Real Estate, Land Use and Natural Resources practice group.
Hodges is being awarded for her efforts on behalf of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and her individual work on pro bono cases and projects, which includes adoption cases, a state-by-state analysis of tort laws to assist survivors of domestic violence seeking justice against their abusers, pro bono work on behalf of Walden Family Services, the California Innocence Project, the Tustin Preservation Conservancy, Join Hands Save a Life, and assisting the firm in its role as the court appointed Monitor for the New Orleans Police Department. She is also the Founder and Chair of the San Diego Humane Society Young Professionals Committee.
As a result of her efforts, Hodges was selected by her practice group to lead the group’s efforts to set pro bono goals, identify pro bono opportunities, and encourage attorneys to participate by finding pro bono projects for a cause, issue, or community that they are passionate about. Hodges has played a similar role in the San Diego office.
“Whitney has demonstrated tremendous leadership through her pro bono work and on behalf of our pro bono program and has been instrumental in encouraging attorneys in her practice group and office to take on pro bono work, setting an inspiring example for all attorneys in the firm who desire to give back to the communities in which they live, and become better lawyers,” said Dan Brown, Sheppard Mullin’s Pro Bono Partner.
The award is named in honor and memory of Bob Gerber, the founder of Sheppard Mullin’s pro bono program and its leader for over a decade.
