The Powers to Be

When there's a vacuum of established leadership, real or perceived, it leaves a critical shortage of role models for the next generation.

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How do you play the civic game of follow the leader when nobody appears to be leading? These young power brokers on the cusp of forging their own path, not just waiting for someone to show them the way.

IT’S A CRY THAT’S ECHOED through the long decades of San Diego’s civic life: “Where are the leaders?” The truth is, from Alonzo Horton and John D. Spreckels to Pete Wilson and Susan Golding, San Diego has spawned more than a few civic-minded citizens willing to take the reins.

That’s not to suggest those willing to lead us have always led us down the right path. In recent years, San Diego civic leaders created a financial mess of unprecedented proportions with consequences for every resident. There have been numerous scandals, controversies, firings, indictments and even convictions of city officials.

So who will make it right?

“Therein lies the problem: There aren’t too many exceptional leaders in San Diego,” says Dan Shea, a businessman and local power broker.

But that’s changing.

To overcome what some perceive as a shortage of dynamic powers-to-be, new programs are being created to groom a new wave of them—from a “next-generation leadership committee” at the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to a civic leadership curriculum at the University of California, San Diego. There’s a new Y-Gen young-leaders group at the Building Industry Association, and San Diego State University and Lead San Diego have put on a leadership boot camp for people interested in running for office.

“We’ve got to leverage CEOs and tap into up-and-coming leaders, so these centers of influence can be aligned when something goes wrong,” like the pension crisis at City Hall, says John Hartley, an SAIC executive and a cofounder of the EDC’s new leadership group. “Because we weren’t organized, we were relegated to sitting back and watching these things happen.”

People in leadership roles are approaching retirement age, and there will be a huge need, particularly in nonprofits, according to academic studies of the region.

“The group’s got to get younger,” says Alex Plishner, a founder of the Building Industry Association’s Y-Gen leadership group—and the youngest member on the BIA board. “The economic downturn has some of the veterans deflated. Their energy level’s gone down. The younger group has more energy and more drive. It’s time for them to step up and take it from there.”

Some young leaders on the rise have already distinguished themselves. Judy Forrester, president and CEO of Lead San Diego, says her leadership program has nurtured some of them. “The more talented, passionate people who get involved and put their shovels in the dirt and say, ‘This is my home,’ the better off we’re going to be.”

Here’s our look at some of the bright, young civic dynamos who may be leading us into the next generation in business, politics, the arts, philanthropy, sports, media and civic life.

Business

Dan Schon
As a child, he wanted to emulate his father and start a bank—a lofty goal, since Enrique Schon was a founder of BancaMifel in Mexico City with more than $900 million in assets. The younger Schon, just 26, made his dream come true in July, founding Chula Vista–based Vibra Bank, the first in the county to cater to Hispanics in nearly 30 years. He set out to raise $14 million and ended up with $15 million from U.S. and Mexico investors. Assets have since grown to $18 million. “Vibra is a bicultural bank mirroring our community,” he says. A volunteer for Special Olympics, Schon was a professional jujitsu fighter until the bank opened. He just decided he shouldn’t go to work with bruises on his face, he says.

 

Honorable mention:
Tyson McDowell
He’s a self-described “geek” who started his first business in high school building Web sites. Now, at the advanced age of 26, he’s keeping hospitals financially healthy with the revolutionary software he authored. The first client of his six-year-old startup, Benchmark Revenue Management—which McDowell founded a year after he graduated from high school—saved $20 million the first year. He coaches other aspiring entrepreneurs and uses his love of flying to help charities by auctioning rides.

Andy Laats and Chad DiNenna
They started their watch company, Nixon, in Laats’ Encinitas apartment. That was 10 years ago. Now Nixon has morphed into an accessory company that sells mostly contemporary, durable watches for sports enthusiasts, at surf shops and luxury retailers in 40 countries. Laats, 41, and DiNenna, 37, are still based in Encinitas and sponsor some of the world’s most famous professional snowboarders, surfers and skateboarders, including Tony Hawk, Rob Machado and Andy Irons.

Food

Scott Wagner
Appropriately, “Chef Scotty” was born on Earth Day. At 6, he huddled over his Easy-Bake Oven, but eventually his interests broadened to all things green. Now 32, he’s created a green empire of sorts, born from a humble catering firm in his one-bedroom Laguna Beach apartment. He has since moved to North County to be closer to his organic growers. “My real passion is the environment,” says Wagner, whose ventures include his ChileCo Catering; Casa Verde, an all-green café set to open in January in Rancho Santa Fe; and another café to be located in the all-green Lux Museum Art Institute, opening sometime next year. He’s also launching an all-green product line available at Whole Foods. Chef Scotty has been a guest chef on Bravo’s hit show Queer Eye for the Straight Girl and contributes his cooking skills to charitable events benefiting the Cerebral Palsy Center at Children’s Hospital and AIDS victims through Mama’s Kitchen.

Honorable mention:
Brent Miller
The 40-year-old restaurateur started with two Moondoggies restaurants and then added Gringos Cocina y Cantina. Next he opened a pair of hotels—the three-year-old boutique Tower23, on the Pacific Beach boardwalk, and Heat Hotel in Lake Havasu, Arizona. Now he’s building yet another boutique hotel in—wait for it—Bakersfield. Miller went from $250,000 in sales in 1990 to $22 million this year, and from two employees to 510. That should help take the sting out of his failed Moondoggies in La Jolla.

Brian Malarkey
One of the more visible San Diego chefs on the airwaves, he was featured on season three of Bravo’s popular reality cooking show Top Chef. He competed against 15 of the country’s best chefs and advanced to the final round. In San Diego, he’s won multiple awards as executive chef at The Oceanaire Seafood Room. Malarkey extends his culinary talents to numerous charities and was recognized as 2007 Chef of the Year by the California Restaurant Association.

Philanthropy

Adrienne Wells Castaneda and April Wells West
In 2000, when the Wells family lost a beloved son and brother, Toby, they decided to start a foundation to honor causes close to his heart: underprivileged children, people with disabilities, and animals. Since then, his parents and sisters—34-year-old Adrienne and 29-year-old April—have raised and distributed $6.5 million in Toby’s name to nonprofits. They’ve held lavish fund-raisers at the family’s Poway estate with fashion shows by designer Nicole Miller, and other events, including golf tournaments. Their beneficiaries include Boys and Girls Clubs, foster children, Canine Companions for Independence and North County Wheelchair Sports. Some of the money has funded the Toby Wells YMCA in Hazard Center. “I think Adrienne and April are dedicated to living the ideals of their brother, and they do it with passion and honor,” says Dick Webster, vice president of the Mission Valley YMCA.

Honorable mention:
Trevor Callan and Aaron M. Contorer
They met while members of San Diego Social Venture Partners, a group of some 150 philanthropic investors. Now they’re creating a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank, the Equinox Center, to help politicians make smart decisions about growth. Callan, the 37-year-old CEO and founder of Callan Capital, manages assets of more than $150 million. Contorer, 39, is a former executive of Microsoft Corporation, where he helped develop products like Windows.

Sports

Luis Castillo
The San Diego Chargers’ defensive end recently inked a $43 million contract extension that keeps him in San Diego until 2014. Meanwhile, the 25-year-old playmaker has distinguished himself off the field by visiting U.S. troops in Afghanistan and helping wildfire victims and abused and neglected children in San Diego. But he aims to make an even bigger impact through his foundation, which focuses on the needs of children and single mothers. A native of the Dominican Republic and one of the NFL’s few Spanish-speakers, Castillo says he hopes to start the second chapter of his life in San Diego. “Ten years after my career’s over, I don’t want people to see me and say, ‘Hey, he was a football player once.’ Whether it’s an MBA, law school or politics, there are a lot of things I want to do when I’m done with football.”

Honorable mention:
A.G. Spanos
Spanos, 30, was promoted by his dad, Dean, to executive vice president in July, after serving the past five seasons as the team’s director of marketing programs and business development. In his new role, Spanos oversees all business operations of the Chargers and represents the organization at NFL business and ownership meetings. The heir apparent is proud of his team and his own accomplishments. “I’ve worked hard to get where I am,” he says.

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