Women of Influence—2019
Diane Powers is one of the most recognized names in San Diego’s business community and she is one of our 12 Women of Influence for 2019.
Meet our selection of Women of Influence in the San Diego region
Anneke Stender
Anneke Stender is a co-owner of TAG, a company that provides an array of outsourced accounting services and software solutions to help companies and individuals achieve their business goals. She has made her mark in the accounting and financial world for high-net worth families, their businesses, foundations and family offices. She is a trusted resource for her clients, some of whom are the most prominent family offices and the wealthiest families in the country. She understands their unique needs and has created back-office accounting and bill pay services to help them stay organized and gain financial peace of mind. Stender started her career in 2003 as the controller of TAG. Back then TAG was known as The Accounting Group with only seven employees. Today, TAG has grown to over 50 employees with four office locations and serving clients nationwide. In 2008, Stender saw a gap in the marketplace for back-office accounting and personal reporting services for CEOs who had sold their businesses or retired and no longer had corporate accounting to help with their day-to-day financial tasks. Stender created a bill pay division, complete with a client setup process with the appropriate checks and balances, while also having bank-level security and technology in place. She is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of San Diego State University with a degree in finance.
Michelle Jacko
Michelle Jacko is founder, CEO and managing partner of the Jacko Law Group and Core Compliance & Legal Services. She has developed a business model structured around the success of her team. She specializes in investment adviser, broker-dealer and fund regulatory compliance matters, internal control development, regulatory examinations and operational risk management. Her consultation practice is focused on the areas of mock examinations, annual revenues, policies and procedures development. She is very involved with Autism Tree Foundation, an organization which focuses on advocacy. Core Compliance now offers multi-level packages for firms to partner alongside Core Compliance throughout the year. It is a comprehensive engagement to maintain and manage a firm’s compliance program needs through various levels of service, which is determined by the company’s business model, complexity and budget. She is the co-founder of the Southern California Compliance Group and also is a FINRA arbitrator.
Sandra Brower
Sandra Brower is a partner at Higgs Fletcher & Mack. She has earned her reputation as a legal expert in the field of real estate litigation through a long career of winning cases, including several landmark cases that resulted in published appellate opinions. In a landmark deal for Petco Park, she represented several property and business owners in the Redevelopment Agency of the city of San Diego’s eminent domain actions to acquire land for San Diego’s premier ballpark, including the largest property owner in the stadium’s footprint. She also successfully represented condemning agencies, including the San Diego Community College District in acquiring two blocks Downtown for the expansion of its City College campus, and the San Diego Unified School District in over 100 eminent domain actions to acquire properties for over 20 new school sites. Though her primary expertise is in eminent domain, Brower’s practice includes all areas of real estate law, including land use and planning , environmental, contract disputes, broker liability, construction defects, homeowners associations, title and boundary disputes, and title insurance matters. She is actively involved in the Coronado Chamber of Commerce, the Real Property and Civil Litigation Sections of the San Diego County Bar Association, Lawyers Club of San Diego and the Rotary Club of Coronado. She is a San Diego Super Lawyer and has been honored as one of SD METRO Magazine’s Best
Attorneys.
Nancy Sasaki
Nancy Sasaki is the chief executive officer of the United Way of San Diego County. United Way plays a unique role in the San Diego community, bringing people and resources together to spark breakthrough action to elevate every child and family toward a brighter future. Sasaki has clarified and strengthened United Way’s messaging and identity through the creation and implementation of a community listening project with online surveys and webinars, and held nine salons and interviews with key community leaders. Networking within the community is a priority for Sasaki, as seen in “Nancy’s Blog,” her monthly update on United Way’s website. She connects daily with philanthropic leaders and decision makers countywide to open doors and start conversations for collaboration and new initiatives for the organization. She is a board member of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless San Diego. She also devotes time and resources to 2-1-1- San Diego, a resource and information hub that connects people with community , health and disaster services. Sasaki has worked alongside the local refugee community to implement major grants and is a founding member of the San Diego Impact Investors Network, an organization that brings capital to solve the region’s most pressing challenges using evidence-based practices. Prior to United Way, Sasaki served as an executive director of Alliance Healthcare Foundation. She earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Texas.
Parisa Weiss
Parisa Weiss is a shareholder at Seltzer Caplan McMahon and Vitek. With a passion for community service and a successful career at Seltzer Caplan, her impact is significant. Day in and day out, she safeguards client legacies, educates colleagues, promotes the firm and serves the community’s most vulnerable populations. With 15 years of experience, she has taken the legal industry by storm and has emerged as a leader within Seltzer Caplan. She serves as supervisor for the summer law clerks and mentors associates on an ongoing basis. She represents both individuals and businesses in estate planning, trust administration, probate administration and probate conservatorships , four areas of law often laden with high-financial stakes, interpersonal relationships, family dynamics and emotionally-charged decisions. Weiss is well versed in all aspects of estate planning and administration, including the management of trusts, charitable gift giving, retirement, health care and disability planning, estate, gift and income taxes and trust and estate litigation. She is heavily involved with the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program, working to better the lives of thousands of women, children and men throughout San Diego County. The program is the oldest pro bono legal services program that provides San Diego’s indigent and disadvantaged populations, including the homeless, victims of domestic violence and abuse, veterans, immigrants and more, with resources and equal access to the justice system. She is a member of the Iranian-American Bar Association and is a volunteer with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Diane Powers
is the owner of the Bazaar del Mundo Shops and Restaurant Group. She is one of the most recognized names in San Diego’s business community. For more than 40 years, Powers has been delighting San Diegans and visitors alike with vibrant dining and shopping experiences. Between her Bazaar del Mundo Shops in Old Town and her four fine dining Mexican restaurants throughout the county, she has built an empire focused on bringing an authentic slice of Mexico and Latin America to San Diego. She has fostered ongoing relationships with dozens of Latin and Native American artists, bringing them to San Diego each year to showcase their generational traditions and customs to the public. She is chair of the design committee of the Old Town Chamber of Commerce and is on the San Diego Restaurant Association Board. She is widely praised for her work to revitalize Old Town and to bolster the area long after she lost her lease inside the state park. She conceived and produced a “Cinco de Mayo” festival within the Bazaar del Mundo and the Old Town San Diego Historic Park. The event draws thousands of visitors to the community and deeply benefits both the state park and the Old Town merchants. Powers has received a Living Legacy Award from the Women’s International Center and has been named a Working Woman 500 by the national Working Woman Magazine. She also has been inducted into the San Diego Convention and Visitors Hall of Fame.
Tiffany English
Tiffany English, principal at Ware Malcomb, is responsible for business development and managing the firm’s San Diego office, and overseeing its work in Phoenix and Latin America. English has been involved in the industry since 1996 and her experience includes interior architecture, planning, design and management. She is the first female designer to become principal at Ware Malcomb (in 2013). For more than five years, she has participated in the firm’s mentorship program. English is an active community volunteer, involved with YMCA Magdalena Ecke, serving on its board of directors.
Crystal Culhane
Crystal Culhane, an associate in the San Diego office of Fish & Richardson, focuses her legal practice on various aspects of intellectual property law for clients in the chemistry, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, nanotechnology and medical device industries. On earning her doctorate degree in chemistry, Culhane sought a career outside the lab where she could utilize her science background. Today she works with clients from the ground up during the development of products, patents and patent strategies to proactively safeguard their intellectual property assets. Culhane is actively involved member of Athena San Diego, a vibrant professional development organization for women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-related fields.
Jennifer Glaser
Jennifer Glaser, a tax partner at Lavine, Lofgren, Morris & Engelberg, began her career there in 2004 and has more than 14 years of experience providing tax compliance and planning services to corporations, partnerships, individuals, trusts and nonprofits. Her clients are involved in many industries, including real estate, professional services and hospitality. While a senior at University of San Diego, Glaser was accepted as an intern at the accounting firm, an experience that granted her the opportunity to see close-up how the tax business works. Jennifer dove right in and her drive, determination and work ethic earned her a full-time position with the firm upon graduation.
Carolina Bravo-Karimi
Carolina Bravo-Karimi is the first Latina partner at Wilson Turner Kosmo, a member of the firm’s Employment Law group that represents employers in a range of employment disputes. Fluent in four languages (including Farsi, Italian and Spanish), she is a highly sought after workplace investigator, particularly in cases involving Spanish-speaking and multicultural employees. She is a frequent speaker, sharing her unique perspective on workplace dynamics, sexual harassment and unconscious bias. Recently, Carolina has participated in panels on workplace conduct during politically divisive times, equal pay and numerous panels inspired by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.
Fernanda Coelho
Fernanda Coelho is the founder of Match Your Need, pairing people and nonprofit organizations in need with San Diegans who have the time or resources to help them. The concept is simple: We all have needs, and we all have something to give. Tapping into this truth, Coelho founded the social-impact technology startup in 2018 and has quickly affected positive outcomes throughout San Diego County, with over 400 matches to date. Coelho is a business executive with more than 20 years of experience in management consulting, venture investing and business operations.
Bre’an Fox
Bre’an Fox, principal and senior designer at FS Design Group, launched the firm in the early ‘90s as a one-stop planning, design, management and relocation company that now employs seven people. She has been at the top of San Diego’s commercial real estate trade for more than three decades, focusing her talents on creating spaces that reflect company brands, support of their culture, optimize functionality and inspire their staff. She has led her firm to customize spaces for some of San Diego’s titans of industry, including Allen Matkins, Daybreak Game Company, UC San Diego, Kilroy Realty CRUZAN and Emmes Real Estate.
