40 Under 40 Awards
Introducing the 19th Annual 40 Under 40 Awards
Class of 2018
David Amaya
David Amaya is a partner in the San Diego office of national labor and employment firm Fisher Phillips and has devoted his entire legal career to representing employers. Amaya’s practice focuses on the representation of employers in the health care and hospitality industries in both union and non-union settings. He also represents clients in a wide range of other sectors, from retail to transportation to education. He has defeated class certification efforts on several occasions. In 2015, Amaya was second chair on a trial team that obtained a complete defense verdict for a company against whom more than $20 million in damages were sought. Amaya has also served as a court-appointed special advocate through Voices for Children.
Richard Bailey
Richard Bailey was elected to the Coronado City Council when he was 26, and was elected mayor of the city at age 30 — the youngest mayor ever to serve in the city. He sits on the board of directors of SANDAG, the San Diego Association of Governments, and has mounted a campaign calling for a suicide barrier on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. Bailey also is working with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to find solutions to the Tijuana sewage problems, and to raise awareness of human trafficking in the San Diego region.
Marissa Bejarano
Marissa Bejarano, a deputy district attorney for San Diego County, has been a prosecutor for over a decade. From 2006 to 2013, she served as a Deputy Attorney General in the Criminal, Appeals & Writs section of the California Attorney General’s Office, handling over 100 direct appeals and argued over a hundred times in the Court of Appeal. Currently, Bejarano is serving as one of the vice chairs on the San Diego County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. In that role, she put together a district outreach program to inform local governments about the commission, and to increase partnerships and participation in the commission. In addition, the commission has partnered with The Kim Center to develop the first-ever San Diego County specific report on gender equity in the workplace.
Ben Boyce
Ben Boyce is vice president of Southwest Strategies, San Diego’s largest public affairs and political consulting firm, where he plays a leading role in the outcome of many of the most important issues facing the city. He was a key architect of a coalition that helped secure unanimous passage of the city of San Diego’s and the county of San Diego’s landmark Climate Action Plans. Boyce was a founding board member of CalDesal, the state’s leading advocacy organization for converting ocean water into drinking water and a key supporter of the Carlsbad Desalination Project that now meets 10 percent of the region’s water needs. But in addition to those and other accomplishments, Boyce was awarded a new coffee maker and a year’s supply of Mylanta for incorrectly estimating the cost of a brass bookcase as a contestant on “The Price is Right.”
Michael Brennan
Michael Brennan, principal landscape architect at Carson Douglas Landscape Architecture, has been a consistent advocate for sustainable mobility options for San Diegans. He was instrumental in crafting a new mobility policy for the Uptown Planners community plan update, which resulted in the city’s installation of new bike infrastructure for University Avenue in Hillcrest. A principal and partner of Carson Douglas since its founding in 2014, Brennan has a number of awards, including the Orchid award for the Sofia Lofts development in 2015. Brennan is the San Diego chapter president of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). As part of his responsibilities, he recently went to Washington, D.C. to advocate for HR 4525, the Living Shorelines Act, which resulted in Rep. Susan Davis of San Diego becoming a sponsor.
Lauren Passero Brookes
Lauren Passero Brookes has done what not many restaurateurs have done — opened and run three successive and successful restaurants in San Diego. It began over nine years ago with the opening of the Kensington Cafe. Then came The Haven Pizzeria, which Brookes and a business partner opened in 2013, followed by the Del Sur Mexican Cantina in 2016. Brookes began her career by working as a hostess in restaurants throughout El Paso, Texas. She studied advertising and accounting and all the tools needed to run a successful business. The three restaurants help support the San Diego community through participation in neighborhood events such as the Dollar-A-Dish fundraiser, which sends proceeds to the San Diego Food Bank. Brookes constantly works to keep updated on all areas of business, because she believes that knowledge is the responsibility of every business owner.
Erin Kennedy Clancy
Erin Kennedy Clancy is a shareholder at Sullivan, Hill, Lewin, Rez & Engel, and is part of the firm’s Construction, Insurance, Real Estate and Commercial and Business Litigation practice groups. She has worked with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to board members of nonprofit corporations to sole proprietors. Clancy’s life experiences in studying five languages, living on two continents and traveling extensively in Australia, Europe, the United States and Antarctica provides those clients with a worldly perspective and balance. Clancy’s practice includes representing owners and general contractors in all aspects of private and public works construction, and representing businesses and individuals in complex multimillion-dollar residential and commercial construction cases. Outside of work, she and her husband open their home to foster dogs through Road Dogs and Southern California Bulldog Rescue.
Nikia Clarke
Nikia Clarke is vice president of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation and executive director of World Trade Center San Diego, an EDC affiliate. She oversees the economic development, research and global engagement priorities of the 22-person organization. Throughout her tenure at EDC, Clarke has developed the San Diego region’s international agenda, which serves to maximize San Diego’s economic competitiveness and prosperity through increased global engagement. A key pillar of this work is MetroConnect, an export accelerator program that supports small to mid-size businesses with their international expansion strategies. Since the MetroConnect program’s debut in 2015, the 45 companies that have gone through the program have collectively generated $10.5 million in new export sales, signed more than 70 new contracts, added 50 new jobs to the region, set up nine new overseas facilities and seen three successful company exits.
Rosie Cooper
Rosie Cooper is senior vice president/regional development partner at JPI Development, responsible for $600 million in multifamily assets for JPI’s Western Region. Her leadership in the company has included the development of 28 multifamily properties at a cost of $1.6 billion. A former U.S. Air Force officer, Cooper is a registered professional engineer and licensed real estate broker. Outside of her work, she has committed extensive time to nonprofit organizations including the YWCA, Habitat for Humanity and the Discover Pacific Beach/Clean & Safe program. As a parent, Cooper’s personal community involvement includes being a youth recreational soccer coach for Encinitas Express. And she’s a Girl Scout Cookie Mom and proud of it.
Ben Coughlan
Ben Coughlan is a partner at Gomez Trial Attorneys, a first chair trial attorney devoted entirely to representing individuals in a variety of legal areas. Those include catastrophic personal injuries, employment matters, medical malpractice, business disputes and defective products. Coughlan believe strongly in giving consumers a voice they might not otherwise have.
Over his six-year career, Coughlan has recovered more than $20 million for his clients by way of settlements, and more than $2.5 million by way of jury verdicts. Coughlan is an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, and also teaches trial skills and deposition skills for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. Before pursuing a career in law, Coughlan spent four years in the media relations department of the San Diego Padres.
Edward Cox
Edward Cox is CEO of Dthera Sciences, a public digital therapeutics company developing innovative quality of life therapies for the elderly and those suffering from cognitive decline. The company is currently launching its lead product, ReminX, an artificial-intelligence powered consumer health product designed to deliver reminiscence therapy digitally to individuals suffering from dementia as well as for seniors experiencing social isolation. Cox was chosen to serve as co-chairman of the first ever digital therapeutics summit earlier this year, and Dthera was selected as one of four founding members of the new Digital Therapeutics Digital Medicine council headquartered in London. Cox has led the growth of Dthera Sciences to the precipice of its first commercial launch and has taken the company from an early stage startup towards an expected NASDAQ listing in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Anna Crowe
Anna Crowe, founder and CEO of Crowe PR, has steered the firm to a more than 500 percent growth in revenue, with a majority of the business coming from client referrals. Crowe began her career on the CPA track as a staff auditor at Deloitte in New York City and then transitioned into various marketing and financial analyst roles before getting her MBA in international marketing from University of San Diego. Thanks to her financial and analytical background, she’s laser-focused on the company’s and clients’ bottom line, and she’s impeccable at uncovering ideas that will truly move the needle. In addition to her full-time PR and marketing career, Crowe has spent the past seven years teaching undergraduate marketing courses as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego’s School of Business. Other colleges in the San Diego area often request her as a speaker as well.
Jason Evans
Jason Evans is a member of CaseyGerry’s complex litigation team, focusing on aviation consumer class actions, product liability and serious personal injury. A winner of the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego’s 201 “Outstanding Lawyer” award, Evans was lauded for work he did on a complicated product liability case against a medical products company. Since joining CaseyGerry, he has taken on many multi-million dollar cases, including complex, high-stakes personal injury and product liability litigation. Additionally, he has handled class action litigation representing consumers against various corporate and financial institutions including Apple, Sony, Target, Chase Bank, Bank of America and American Express, and has additionally experience in whistleblower, data breach, consumer products, and antitrust class actions. He is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and the Washington University School of Law. He was awarded the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program Distinguished Service Award.
Andrew Feghali
Andrew Feghali, founder and CEO of AMF Foods Inc., is the owner and operator of nine Little Caesars restaurants — seven in San Diego, one in Blythe, Calif. and one in Lockhart Texas. Since Feghali began operating the restaurants, he has experienced growth in annual sales from $1.5 million to a projected $6 million in 2018. He is currently in the process of acquiring additional Little Caesars restaurants in Colorado. Feghali’s 15 years of food industry experience dates to his years working in his uncles’ Little Caesars restaurants during high school, as well as while he earned his bachelors in business administration from California State University, Fullerton. He obtained a Master of Science in Executive Leadership degree from the University of San Diego.
Kristin Gaspar
Kristin Gaspar is the chairwoman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. She was the the youngest woman ever elected to the board. She was also the first-directly elected mayor of Encinitas. In 2002, Gaspar and her husband started and grew a family health care practice, Gaspar Doctors of Physical Therapy, from a 700-square-foot space to seven locations throughout north San Diego County. Today, the business has more than 140 employees treating nearly 7,000 patients. As chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, she has been a leader in addressing mental health, addiction, and homelessness issues, as well as investing in programs designed to help veterans and their families navigate the transition to civilian life. She has also been a leader in the fight for the care of dementia and Alzheimer’s diseases. She and her husband Paul have three children. She is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
Cayce Greiner
As partner of client relations at Tyson & Mendes, an insurance defense law firm headquartered in San Diego, Cayce Greiner has made herself indispensable by steering the firm’s business development and marketing efforts toward unprecedented growth. Despite her singular title, Greiner assumes more roles within the firm than any one person should be able to fill. In addition to being the first line of client communication in her position as partner, Greiner leads three separate programs/initiatives within the firm: the Tyson & Mendes University, Women’s Initiative and Young Professionals Group. As an established defense attorney, Greiner also collaborates with litigation teams across every Tyson & Mendes office to achieve exceptional, efficient results in cases involving complex issues, catastrophic injury, or potential high exposure, and has successfully resolved a variety of multi-million dollar complex business, personal injury and insurance coverage disputes.
Jamie Hampton
Jamie Hampton is CEO of Mixte Communications, which she describes as San Diego’s only PR firm dedicated to social justice and small businesses who make change in their communities. Hampton established a pilot program to determine how a paid jobs training program can recruit more people of color in the industry, and realigned her hiring practices to ensure the company recruited and hired a workforce much more reflective of San Diego’s diverse community. She was so successful in this venture that Public Relations Society of America Western Regional Districts asked her to share how she did it with their member organizations at their annual conference. As a founding board member for Business for Good, Hampton has chosen this nonprofit cause as her company’s pro bono client for media relations.
Ari Hoffman
Ari Hoffman’s most notable career achievement is his company, GobieH20 — best known from being on Shark Tank. In 2011, Hoffman joined GobieH20 as an owner and grew the company, with no advertising or marketing budget, to become one of San Diego’s startup success stories. Sales grew from $3,000 a month to an average of over $265,000 a month. After licensing out the company, Hoffman started working with investors who financed other Shark Tank products, helping to grow these new companies. During that time, MindTouch, alerted to Hoffman’s marketing and story crafting skills, recruited him to apply his B2C knowledge to the B2B Enterprise world. Although he had no experience in the tech world, he took on the new challenge, finding great success at MindTouch turning their biggest and best customers (Hitachi, Samsung, Whirlpool, etc.) into Brand Advocates.
Timothy Hutter
Timothy Hutter is a partner in the law firm of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis, representing clients as diverse as the Building Industry Association of San Diego, Palomar Community College District and several commercial property owners. He regularly provides legal updates to the Building Industry Association and others in the real estate community regarding case law and legislative developments through presentations, articles and alerts. Hutter established a reputation as an affordable housing advocate based on his representation of several developers seeking to build projects in Encinitas and other municipalities with affordable components. Outside of law, he is vice chair of San Diego’s Historical Resources Board, appointed by Mayor Faulconer in 2016.
Carolina Bravo-Karimi
Carolina Bravo-Karimi is the first Latina partner at the law firm of Wilson Turner Kosmo, and a member of its Employment Law group. Her practice focuses on representing employers. Bravo-Karimi successfully moved to dismiss a case for a locally-based national retailer, and obtained summary judgment for a Southern California realty company and national grocery store chain. In addition to advocating on behalf of her clients, Bravo-Karimi has a passion for teaching her clients how to improve their workplace culture. She regularly presents on the implications of implicit bias in the workplace. Her work to promote diversity and inclusion extends beyond the walls of Wilson Turner Kosmo. As president of the Federal Bar Association, San Diego Chapter, she leads a volunteer board of 11 members to provide educational and networking opportunities for close to 500 members.
Melanie Lang
Melanie Lang co-founded Formalloy Additive Manufacturing Technologies in 2016 and has grown it from a small startup to a viable additive manufacturing business with customers such as NASA. Formalloy’s technology has been included in large publications such as 3Dprint.com, The Fabricator, Inc Magazine, and recently was in an episode of Discovery Channel’s “How it’s Made.” In 2018, Lang was nominated for the Athena Pinnacle Awards and was selected as a 2018 member of Rent the Runway Foundation’s Project Entrepreneur. Lang currently serves the local community as the vice president of legislative affairs for Navy League San Diego. Prior to this role, she served the animal welfare community as an animal foster for Animal Rescuers Without Boarders and has volunteered with Father Joe’s Villages for poverty alleviation.
Michael B. Lees
As a partner at the Solomon Ward Seidenwurm & Smith law firm, Michael Lees has substantial experience in business, real estate and taxation law. Over the course of his 14-year career, Lees has assisted clients in the purchase and sale of more than $1 billion in real estate. He also has saved his clients millions of dollars by strategically structuring business and real estate transactions to achieve the most favorable tax outcomes. Lees is a dedicated community volunteer and has been involved with Jewish Family Service of San Diego for nearly a decade. He is actively involved in the Scripps Ranch community as a member of the Scripps Ranch Old Pros, helping to organize community bike rides and runs as well as raising money for youth and high school sports programs.
John Lek
After several years with Charles Schwab as a recruiting manager and vice president, John Lek was recruited to return to San Diego as a co-founder of a new corporate venture in Carlsbad, the Green Dragon Tavern and Museum. Lek, now the general manager, was originally asked to find a location for the restaurant, tavern, museum and coffee and gift shop. He found it in the Old Hadley building, which had been vacant for years. Lek was instrumental in revitalizing the property, which became a valued destination for dining, hospitality and civil dialogue for guests. He has created a hotspot for locals and a destination for many politicians seeking to connect with constituents and discuss the issues faced by the country. Lek is responsible for all facets of operations and financial management of the property. He leads a lean administrative team that thrives off of collaboration and teamwork.
Mark Lewkowitz
Mark Lewkowitz is first vice president of Colliers International’s San Diego industrial team, providing business solutions for industrial owners and investors. As an innovative industrial broker for more than a decade, Lewkowitz has earned numerous recognitions, including a Colliers’ 2016 and 2017 Regional Top 10 Producer, Our City San Diego’s Top Land Sale of 2017 and two-time CoStar Power Broker. Over the past year, Lewkowitz has crafted record-breaking deals across the county. He completed San Diego County’s largest industrial lease in 2017 for a 257,972-square-foot warehouse building in Otay Mesa to Imperial Toy. In Little Italy, Lewkowitz and his partner assembled a full city block for the $19 million sale to Kilroy Realty for the development the neighborhood’s first office building in more than a decade.
Tiffany Markus
As director of mid-market sales for Cox Business, Tiffany Markus directs a team of 38 employees, which includes five sales managers and their respective staff of 33 account executives. She is responsible for voice, video, data and on-premise security product sales within the small to mid-market customer segments. In late 2016, Markus oversaw the San Diego launch of Cox Business Security Solutions, having direct accountability for hiring, training, sales strategy and results. The San Diego team is consistently ranked among the Top 3 Cox Business teams throughout the country in all Key Performance Metrics. The Cox Business Security Solutions product has been a huge success nationally as small- and medium-sized companies look to technology to help protect their business and physical assets.
Kevin Meissner
A former professional athlete and a respected real estate broker for many years, Kevin Meissner works in the office and R&D markets of San Diego for Cushman & Wakefield, where he specializes in tenant representation.Meissner’s average annual transactional value over the last five years has ranged between $16 million and $20 million in lease and sale activity each year. Two of his larger commercial real estate deals during his career in San Diego were an $18.5 million sale in Mission Valley and a 72,220-square- foot lease on behalf of Square Peg. Both came through relationships he built as captain of the USD Men’s Soccer team and as a volunteer coach at Cathedral Catholic High School. Through these leadership roles and relationships built on the field, Kevin has been able to translate that into the business world and utilize his expertise in tenant representation.
Hao Meng
Hao Meng is San Diego’s first Lyft market manager, a gifted strategist with a background in business and operations consulting, and more than nine years of management experience. In May, Meng managed Lyft’s San Diego launch of a first-of-its-kind pilot project with the U.S. military at Camp Pendleton. Under the project, Lyft’s “Base Mode” became available to everyone on the Marine Corps base. The project aids both passengers seeking rides within and off base as well as service members and their families who drive for Lyft to earn flexible income. In fact, 15 percent of Lyft drivers in San Diego are veterans of the Armed Forces. The project is particularly significant because it reduces the financial burden of car ownership on military personnel — the No. 1 cost for military families.
Casey Miller
Casey Miller launched Latitude 33 Aviation in Carlsbad in 2006 with one Cessna aircraft, growing the company into one of the most successful private jet charters in the nation. Latitude 33 Aviation closed 2017 with $157 million of assets under management and completed $68 million in aircraft sales and acquisitions transactions. Miller’s impact on the company helped position the company in the top 5 percent of all U.S. based charter operations with the achievement of the Argus Platinum Safety Rating. Miller’s emphasis on community involvement increases each year. In the last year alone, he has partnered with the Rancho Santa Fe Education Foundation, Hanna Fenichel Center, Grauer School, University of San Diego and Toys for Tots to raise funds for educational programs, student scholarships and holiday gifts.
Siobhán Elizabeth Stade Murillo
Siobhán Elizabeth Stade Murillo, legal research attorney in the regulatory department at San Diego Gas & Electric, has amassed an impressive list of awards and professional accomplishments. Among them are the Wiley W. Manuel Certificate Award issued by the State Bar for donating more than 50 hours of pro bono legal services in 2017. From May 2017 to May 2018, Murillo started as a volunteer attorney and moved on to become a contract attorney with the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, assisting individuals who would represent themselves in court. Since November 2017, Murillo has been a member of the City of San Diego Salary Setting Commission, which recommends mayor and City Council salaries for fiscal years 2019 and 2020.
Andrea N. Myers
Andrea Myers was elected shareholder at Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek in 2016, just seven years after joining the law firm. Myers represents clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to private commercial entities in complex business disputes, employment litigation and professional liability defense. Myers also has emerged as a leader within Seltzer Caplan management. She leads the firm’s Marketing Committee and is responsible for promoting the firm’s growth by sharing insightful information with key audiences. As one of two firm representatives to the Law Firm Alliance, Myers shares professional and business strategies with the network’s more than 50 firms and 2,500 attorneys throughout North America, Europe and Asia, providing clients with high quality, cost-effective legal services wherever they have business. A supporter of education, Myers serves on the alumni committees of Claremont McKenna College and The Bishop’s School, and acts as her firm’s USD Law Alumni representative.
Brianna Pilkinton
Brianna Pilkinton is a department manager for Burns & McDonnell, responsible for the direction and leadership of the Environmental Studies team in San Diego. With more than 15 years of experience, Pilkinton has worked on hundreds of projects and led multidisciplinary teams for a wide variety of public and private infrastructure projects in the energy, utility, development, military and transportation sectors in California and nationwide. She is a dedicated member of WTS, an international organization dedicated to strengthening the transportation industry through the global advancement of women. She serves as vice president of the San Diego County chapter, and is incoming president for 2019/2020. Together with WTS, Pilkinton has engaged in efforts to push for better policies and educate the community on the Gender Wage Differential and San Diego Councilman Chris Ward’s Equal Pay Ordinance in San Diego. Pilkinron is also a professional modern dancer who performs and choreographs regularly in the community.
Richie Ploesch
Richie Ploesch is the director of partnerships at Autism Spectrum Therapies San Diego. His career working with children and families started when he obtained his Special Education Teaching Credential and Masters in Education. Ploesch operated his own private international consulting company, which allowed him to bring the latest teaching technologies to families of children and young adults with autism in India and the Philippines struggling to find adequate local support. In July 2017, Ploesch became director of Partnerships at AST, a national-level position with various business development functions that support families in securing and accessing autism services across the country. He also supports AST’s Clinical Leaders across the U.S. to provide additional services to children with autism.
Kristin Rizzo
Kristin Rizzo is owner and president of her law firm, Rizzo Law PC, a boutique employment law firm where she works as an accomplished employment attorney, workplace investigator and mediator. Rizzo specializes in the representation of individuals in litigation matters in the areas of sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. She also provides specialized counsel to employees on employment contracts, severance and separation agreements, leaves of absence and positioning within companies. As a workplace investigator, Rizzo is called in to assist in workplace matters when a complaint has been made, or issue raised, by an employee generally involving serious allegations against high-level personnel. Employees put their trust in Rizzo to listen to sensitive workplace issues, and companies hire Kristin to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial fact-finding investigations.
David Shapiro
David Shapiro is owner and managing partner of the Law Offices of David P. Shapiro, which he opened in the spring of 2010. Nearly a decade later, Shapiro is considered to be one of the best criminal defense attorneys in San Diego. He is dedicated to protecting the rights of those who are charged with criminal offenses by defending clients involved in every type of criminal case. Shapiro has authored two books: “Survival Guide for Those Accused of a Sex Crime in San Diego” and “Facing Charges in San Diego? Here’s What You Need to Know to Regain Control of Your Future.” In 2005, he was recognized in numerous news documentaries for fighting for the rights of prisoners after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Andrew Simmerman
Andrew Simmerman is a nonprofit leader, educator, entrepreneur and communications professional currently serving as vice president of RISE@WORK. He has more than nine years of experience in designing, implementing and executing short- and long-term plans that align with ambitious visions and goals. After graduating from Pepperdine University, Simmerman was recruited by Teach for America to teach English as a Second Language to immigrant students in Bronx, N.Y. He later assisted in the establishment of San Diego’s first-ever Teach for America program and subsequently joined the University of San Diego’s Institute for Entrepreneurship in Education. He held the roles of communications and project development manager at the Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education at the University of San Diego, and head of partnerships at Teach for America-San Diego where he was responsible for building school, district, and community partnerships while also supporting alumni affairs and resource development.
Matt Sanford
Matt Sanford is the economic development director for the San Diego Regional EDC, where he oversees its economic development team, which supports companies in business expansion, attraction and retention in San Diego’s key industries. Sanford recently led the regional bid for Amazon’s second headquarters RFP, incorporating input from several economic development organizations and partners across the county and state. Under his guidance, the San Diego Regional EDC was able to produce a compelling proposal, such as top talent, quality of life and unique geography. Sanford also led the successful launch of Innovate78, an economic development and regional marketing collaborative between five cities: Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista. From developing a five-city collaborative to facilitating the cross-border expansion of a Fortune 500 company to ensuring the smooth expansion of a manufacturing facility, Sanford’s work in economic development has impacted more than 1,000 jobs.
Brandon Steppe
Brandon Steppe is the executive director of The David’s Harp Foundation, which was born out of his strong faith, his desire to help teens and his love for music. Steppe is a transformative force in the lives of homeless and at-risk teens in San Diego. On a daily basis he provides a creative space for teens to escape their often challenging living situations and explore their artistic passions. The David’s Harp Foundation received nonprofit status in 2009 and has been expanding ever since. From its humble beginning in a garage studio, the organization has expanded to serve over 200 teens annually in its state-of-the-art facility located in Downtown San Diego’s East Village. Although he oversees the direction and vision of the organization, he has never relinquished his role as a teacher and mentor to the teenagers.
Kevin Templeton
With a passion for reducing waste and practicing sustainability, Kevin Templeton, executive chef of barleymash restaurant, is a well-respected icon in San Diego’s culinary scene. Nurturing a passion for cooking since age 17, he attended and graduated with honors from the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Ore. After graduation, he worked in restaurants throughout the county, perfecting his talents at such restaurants as Top of the Cove, Peohe’s and Azul La Jolla. Templeton’s extensive wine and spirits knowledge complements his flair for complex flavor profiles, accenting his extraordinary cooking style. If he isn’t in the kitchen, you can find him delivering 700-800 pounds of compost each week to Olivewood Gardens or distributing leftover breads and bagels to the homeless community.
Shawn VanDiver
Shawn VanDiver, a consultant, is the co-founder and leader of the Truman National Security Project’s San Diego chapter and founder of the local chapter of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum. Following 12 years in the Navy, VanDiver set out to be a force for good in San Diego, committing himself to advocating for marginalized communities. He has served on a number of campaigns, has lent his expertise to organizations, groups like 2-1-1, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Lawyers Club, and was recently featured in a national panel for Women in International Security, presented by the Embassy of Liechtenstein and their foreign minister, to speak to the refugee crisis and human trafficking.
Bree Wong
Bree Wong is vice president of SWS Engineering, a local civil engineering, land development and land surveying firm. She joined the firm at inception in 2007, when the vice president of her then-current employer branched out to start a new business and asked her to join. She became SWS’ first employee and has been pivotal in the firm’s success; quadrupling the firm’s revenue and employee size, emerging into new market sectors, securing target high-profile clientele and solidifying SWS’s place in San Diego’s design, construction and real estate industry. Serving as president of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) San Diego, Bree is an advocate for attaining equality in a male dominated industry and has formed strategic alliances with like-minded organizations such as Bisnow to further promote CREW’s members. In just the past three years, CREW San Diego’s membership has increased by more than 60 percent, steadily diversifying to include more students, men and emerging professionals spanning a myriad of disciplines.
