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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015

Gordon Carrier’s vision extends from his

talented corps of designers to the firm’s

stunning buildings PAGE 10

A R C H T E C TIN

C H I E F

COVER STORY

15Big Player in the Security BusinessThe giant slide in the middle of the new headquartersof iboss Cybersecurity is one reason why the firm’s en-gineering corps is inclined to arrive early and stay latewhile working in one of the nation’s fastest growing cy-bersecurity companies. Company CEO Paul Martinisays the headquarters design is meant to create a pos-itive, natural environment for employees..

Chairman | CEORobert Page

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PublisherRebeca Page

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Managing EditorManny Cruz

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Graphic DesignerChristopher Baker

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Photography/IllustrationEric Peters

David Rottenberg

Contributing WritersContributors

Cecilia BucknerAdriana Cara

Michael DenzingerCourtney Dwyer

Meagan GarlandBill Ketter

Colette MauzeralleCynthia Morgan-Reed

Delle Willett

AdvertisingSALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR

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ON THE COVER:

The Architect-in-ChiefGordon Carrier, the 60-year-old design principal at Carrier Johnson + Cul-ture, one of San Diego’s top architectural firms, is not particularly interestedin people knowing who he is. The firm is not about him, he says. “I think cre-ative enterprises are about all the horses. Not about someone’s title or aname on a door.” See Page 10.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015|Issue 10 |Volume 30

Our mission is to always provide quality journalism for our readers by being

fair, accurate and ethical and a credible resource for our advertisers.

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Bringing the Office HomeLiving and working are more intertwined than ever.From a residential real estate perspective, home-builders are incorporating smart home offices and de-tached studios for individuals who work from home orneed a second work space. Lonny Zilberman, partnerat the San Diego law firm of Wilson Turner Kosmo (pic-tured), works from home part-time.

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Bold Approach to Corporate ResponsibilityThanks to Bill Bold and Qualcomm Inc., fishermen inColombia are able —through the introduction of mo-bile technology — to monitor weather conditions, useonline tools to track fish and upload market informa-tion from the palm of their hands. That’s one of the pro-grams overseen by the senior vice president ofgovernment affairs.

13

Balboa Park Conservancy’s New CEOThomas Hererra-Mishler graduated from Eastern Michi-gan University when other 18-year-olds were graduat-ing from high school. Today he’s the director and chiefexecutive officer of the Balboa Park Conservancy,which is responsible for raising funds and developingpublic/private partnerships, among other things.

19

The ‘Qualcomm Effect’The commercial real estate market in San DiegoCounty continued its strong recovery in third-quarter ofthis year, fueled by ongoing job creation and thehealth of the overwhelming majority of San Diegocompanies. The county has been able to absorb a net254,000 square feet of office, lab and industrial spacein three or four weeks’ time, meaning the “Qualcommeffect” is barely a speed bump for the region.

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SAN D IEGO SCENE

The U.S. Air Force announced that it will continueto fund the development, modernization and sus-tainment of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 GlobalHawk through the end of fiscal year 2025, at a fund-ing level of $3.2 billion.

Orders for the aircraft will be made by the end offiscal 2020. Air Force officials cited the GlobalHawk’s much lower operating costs as its reason forselecting the platform -- a drop of 40 percent in thelast three years. Global Hawk is made by one ofNorthrop Grumman's plants in San Diego.

The platform will eventually replace the aging U-2 fleet, which is planned for retirement from 2016through 2019.

Potential modernizations of the platform include anew electro-optical sensor, which could take up abouthalf of the new funding, according to a report byReuters.

Air Force Announces $3.2 BillionIn Global Hawk Funding

SAN DIEGOSCENEThe Northrop Grumman Global Hawk.

SAN D IEGO SCENE

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Rancho Santa Fe Insurance Agent Named Certified Advisor of Personal Insurance

Vanessa Snodgrass of Rancho Santa FeInsurance in Rancho Santa Fe has beenawarded a Certified Advisor of PersonalInsurance (CAPI) designation from theAresty Institute of Executive Education atthe Wharton School of the University ofPennsylvania and Chubb Personal Insur-ance.

Vanessa is among a group of only 39agents to receive the certification aftercompleting a one-year intensive educa-tional program on understanding thelifestyle and risk management and insur-ance needs of high-net-worth individuals.The program also helps agents to brandthemselves as trusted high-net-worth ad-visers. Created by Wharton and Chubb in2014, the CAPI program is the first of itskind to focus on a specific customer seg-ment in the personal insurance market-place.

“The agents who have completed theCAPI program have demonstrated thatthey have the high level of skill and ex-pertise required to understand the totalfamily balance sheet and advise high-net-worth individuals on their complex riskmanagement and insurance needs,” saidStacey Silipo, director of strategic partner-

ships for Chubb Personal Insurance. “We are extremely proud that Vanessa

has received the prestigious CAPI desig-nation,” said Craig Edwards,president/owner of Rancho Santa Fe In-surance. “This shows her incredible dedi-cation to the insurance industry as well asher commitment to serving our high-net-worth clients, who have a unique set ofproperty and liability exposures created bytheir assets and lifestyle.”

The curriculum for the 12-month CAPIprogram included six modules related tothe high-net-worth mindset, customizinginsurance solutions, building client rela-tionships, selling, excelling in the high-net-worth arena, and sustaining excellence.Courses, which are taught by Whartonfaculty, Chubb subject matter experts andother professionals, include “Understand-ing the Total Family Balance Sheet,” “Col-lections,” (art, jewelry, antiques, wine, etc.),“Family Security,” “Relational Agility,” and“Building Your Personal Brand.” Classesare held on Wharton’s campus in Philadel-phia, at Chubb Personal Insurance’s head-quarters in Whitehouse Station, N.J., andonline.

Courses were taught by Wharton fac-ulty, Chubb employees and other expertswho work with high net worth clients andtheir advisers. Agents received instructionon the Wharton campus at the Universityof Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, at theChubb Personal Insurance headquarters inWhitehouse Station and through virtualclasses, webcasts, reading assignments andother online activities throughout 2014-2015.

Vanessa Snodgrass

This is not a typical Friday night atKouta Shimazaki’s San Diego CeramicConnection. The place is crawling withvolunteers.

On one side of the shop on ThornStreet, people are crammed shoulder toshoulder on both sides of a long woodentable, each person kneading a clump of clayinto a shape resembling a big brownteardrop. Occasionally, Kouta will step inand give hands-on lessons on how to shapethe clay.

On the other side of the room, severalseated volunteers are busy working withclay on spinning pottery wheels, shapingthe clay into 4 and ½-inch diameter bowlsthat later will be fired and painted. Thetechnique is called “throwing a bowl” andKouta’s Friday night spectacle is called a

“Throwathon” that will last until the veryearly hours of the next day.

The event attracts adults, teens and chil-dren who come to Kouta’s place to workand have fun.

Several Throwathons are held each yearto produce the thousands of ceramic bowlsthat will be sold to visitors at the annualSoNo Fest and Chili Cook-Off, a Decem-ber festival that has grown so huge in pop-ularity that Kouta is hard-pressed to makeenough bowls for the event.

During the festival — which will be heldon Sunday, Dec. 6 this year — chili recipesfrom competing restaurants will be sam-pled by the crowds of visitors, all eatingfrom the bowls specifically made for theoccasion. Everyone who samples the chilican vote for their favorites. Local celebri-

ties and politicians will crown the winners.The free event, sponsored by San Diego

Ceramic Connection and the McKinleyElementary School Foundation, benefitsMcKinley Elementary School. It evolvedfrom a chili cookoff that Kouta had beenrunning since around 1998. The SoNoname comes from a blending of the twocommunities, South Park and North Park.

“This event has evolved from a smallgroup of friends and patrons gathering toeat chili and have a good time into a majorstreet festival and fundraising event to ben-efit McKinley,” said Kouta. “The people inour community have really pulled togetherto make this a success and that’s somethingI’m proud to be part of.”

Throwing Bowls for McKinley Elementary


SAN D IEGO SCENE

The Civic San Diego board of directors hasapproved for City Council consideration a pro-posed 45-story, 296-unit mixed use develop-ment at the northeast corner of Broadway andPacific Highway in the Columbia neighbor-hood of Downtown.

The proposal is by Bosa Development Cal-ifornia II Inc. It is designed by Kohn PetersonFox Associates, which also designed a similartower under construction across Broadway tothe south. The project would have 15,130square feet of ground floor commercial space.

If approved, construction would begin in2016.

Civic San Diego also approved the designand related permits for Lennar MultifamilyCommunities’ proposed 21-story tower andfive-story mid-rise, mixed-use residential de-velopment at 460 16th St. in the East Village.Designed by Carrier Johnson Inc., the devel-opment would include 368 studio, one- andtwo bedroom apartments and about 19,000square feet of commercial space. Constructionwould begin early next year.

Civic San Diego Approves Two Downtown High-Rise Projects

Rendering of Bosa Development’s Broadway and Pacific Highway development.

Viejas Casino Opens Expanded Gaming Floor and Adds 1,000 New Slot Machines

Viejas Casino & Resort in Alpine has officially openedthe newly expanded section of its gaming floor, includingthe addition of 1,000 all new slot machines. The 15,000-square-foot expansion includes a new state-of-the-art pro-motion stage and open access to an ultramodern escalatorbank that leads to a new hotel tower, opening later thismonth.

“This marks the first step in our most ambitious plan ofgrowth to date,” said Viejas Tribal Chairman Robert Welch.“The ongoing development of Viejas continues to resonatein many positive ways for the San Diego area, both eco-nomically and in establishing a strong foundation for thefuture of our culture.”

The central feature of the year-long development culmi-nated with the Oct. 30 grand opening of Viejas’ second lux-ury hotel tower.


SAN D IEGO SCENE

The total value of San Diego County’sagricultural production decreased in 2014for the first time since 2009 — from $1.85billion in 2013 to just under $1.82 billion— according to the annual crop report re-leased by the county Department of Agri-culture, Weights and Measures.

The total number of acres in productionalso dropped — by 12.1 percent —thelargest decrease in 18 years.

Eric Larson, executive director of theSan Diego County Farm Bureau, saidthere was even a bright side to the 1.77percent decrease in total agricultural value,coming after four straight years of increase.

“The slight drop in production valuecomes as no surprise in light of the chal-lenges faced by farmers from the droughtand the rising cost of water,” Larson said.“In fact, the change is small enough to beseen as a testament to the resolve of farm-ers to overcome the water issues.”

San Diego County Agricultural Com-missioner Ha Dang said that resolveblended well with the county Board of Su-pervisors’ commitment to agriculture bothas an industry and a way of life.

“Our growers continue to find effective

ways to address challenges like the droughtand invasive pests,” Dang said.

The Crop Report, which can be seenonline, stated that each of the top threecrops -- ornamental trees and shrubs; in-door flowering and foliage plants; and bed-ding plants, color and herbaceousperennials — increased in value in 2014.

The fourth most valuable crop, avocados,which has been greatly affected by droughtand water prices, dropped 22 percent invalue.

Wine grape values, which in 2012 saw ahuge boost in interest and a 512 percentincrease in value, increased by a modest .88percent in 2014 to roughly $6.6 million.However, acres in production jumped 9.6percent to 923 acres -- capping a 121 per-cent increase in acreage since 2011.

Cacti and succulents, meanwhile,jumped 64 percent in value, from roughly$26.5 million in 2013 to $43.4 million in2014.

Decline in County Crop Production Blamed On Drought and Rising Cost of Water

Avocados, the fourth most valuable crop, dropped 22 percent in value.

Building Industry Association Honors Affordable Housing Project and Developer

Alpha Square, a $47.6 million, six-story,mixed-use development in East Villagethat will house the homeless and low-in-come individuals, has been recognized bythe Building Industry Association of SanDiego as San Diego’s Best AffordableProject in 2015.

Carlsbad-based Chelsea InvestmentCorp., the developer of the project, wasnamed San Diego’s Builder of the Year2015. The awards were made at this year’sBIA ICON awards, which honor excel-lence and innovation in the home buildingindustry.

Jim Schmid, who served as chairman ofthe BIA in 2014, is CEO of Chelsea In-vestment Corp.

Alpha Square will replace Hotel Metro,a nearby single-room occupancy hotel

whose current residents will be welcomedto Alpha Square when it opens later thismonth.

Averaging 260 square feet, all fully fur-nished studio apartments at Alpha Squarewill feature a full bathroom, cooktop andair conditioning, plus Internet access, cabletelevision and telephone service for all res-

idents. Building amenities will include acomputer lab, multipurpose room, laundryfacilities, a community courtyard and alandscaped rooftop deck and terrace. Casemanagement and an array of supportiveservices will be provided by Alpha Projectfor the Homeless, a nonprofit organizationthat also operates the Hotel Metro.

Through vouchers provided by the SanDiego Housing Commission, the tenantwill pay 30 percent of their income, and thefederal government will pay the balance ofthe monthly rent. Rental assistance willstay with the unit when an occupant movesout.

Borre Winckel, CEO of BIA SanDiego, said this was the first time theBuilder of the Year award was presented toa developer of affordable housing.

Alpha Square


SAN D IEGO SCENE

Is Chicano Park worthy of NationalHistoric Landmark status? CongressmanJuan Vargas has introduced legislation that,if passed, will find out.

Vargas’s Chicano Park Preservation Act(H.R. 3711) would instruct the Secretaryof the Interior to conduct a study of thepark to evaluate its national significanceand determine the feasibility of its becom-ing a National Historic Landmark.

“Chicano Park has been the center ofcultural history since its opening in the1960s,” said Vargas. “It is home to thelargest collection of outdoor murals in theentire country. It’s a unique space in SanDiego that represents a community’s ac-complishments through activism.”

The park is located under the SanDiego-Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan,a community with a heavy population ofMexican Americans. It is adorned withmurals, sculptures, and landscaping. Thepark was created after a group of residentscame together to boycott the constructionof a Highway Patrol station on the site. In1980, the park was designated as an offi-cial historic site by the San Diego Histor-ical Site Board. In 2013, Chicano Park waslisted on the National Register of Historic

Places due to its association with the localChicano civil rights movement in SanDiego.

“Chicano Park is so much more thanjust a recreation area,” said Vargas. “It is asacred space and should be celebrated notonly for its beauty, but also as a symbol of

what a community can achieve whileworking together. I want everyone whovisits our community to be able to experi-ence the life and beauty of this site. Desig-nating it as a National Historic Landmarkwill preserve this site for generations tocome.”

Rep. Vargas Seeks National Historic Landmark Status for Chicano Park

Chicano Park

General Atomics Gets Army Contract For Improved Gray Eagle Drones

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. has beenawarded a production contract by the U.S. Army for 19Improved Gray Eagle (IGE) Unmanned Aircraft Systemsto be delivered by September 2018.

IGE is a next-generation advanced derivative of theArmy’s Gray Eagle UAS that has accumulated over228,000 flight hours since 2008. Developed on InternalResearch and Development funds, General Atomics builton the success of its Gray Eagle predecessor. The com-pany said it delivers improved capabilities that will per-form ISR collection and close air support of ground forces.

“We are very pleased that the Army has awarded us thisproduction contract for IGE, which delivers a high-valuesolution for accomplishing multiple mission types, all atan affordable cost,” said Linden Blue, CEO. “IGE pro-vides better endurance, additional payload capacity, easiermaintenance, and extended life cycle of critical compo-nents.”

General Atomics’s Gray Eagle.

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COVER STORY

A R C H T E C TINCHIEF

GORDON CARRIER’S VISION EXTENDS FROM HIS TALENTEDCORPS OF DESIGNERS TO THE FIRM’S STUNNING BUILDINGS

BY DELLE WILLETT

LEFT: Gordon Carrier RIGHT: Rendering of the high-rise at 520 West Ash St. in Downtown San Diego, a Carrier Johnson-designed project.

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COVER STORY

Gordon Carrier, the 60-year-olddesign principal at CarrierJohnson + Culture, one of SanDiego’s top architectural firms,

is not particularly interested in peopleknowing who he is.

The firm is not about him, he says. “Ithink creative enterprises are about all thehorses. Not about someone’s title or a nameon a door.”

That’s the guiding principal behind thecompany, which prides itself on its “talent”— the men and women behind the name.

What’s in a name? Carrier Johnson + Culture is a Califor-

nia-based, award-winning, internationalarchitecture, interiors, and strategic-brand-ing practice established in 1977 with of-fices in San Diego, Los Angeles andOrange County. The firm has a wealth ofnational projects as well as projects in theU.A.E., China, Korea, Costa Rica, andMexico.

Its key practice areas include architec-ture, interior design, urban design, masterplanning and brand strategy, with focus oncorporate, life science, education, brand en-vironments, hospitality, mixed-use, public,technology, and urban infill.

“+ Culture” is Carrier Johnson’s identityand commitment to itself. In its culture thecompany’s 85-some employees range fromGeneration Y to Baby Boomers, and eachemployee is valued for their talent, skills,and experience.

“It’s about collaboration and a collectiveof talent. We hire young people with greattalent and pair them with more senior, tal-ented professionals of greater experience.Together, we are an immensely powerfulteam. This is a bit unusual in our line ofbusiness,” says Carrier.

Alex Gutierrez, 33, is one of those youngtalented architects who works at CarrierJohnson. A project designer, Gutierrez hasa bachelor’s degree in architecture fromMexico’s Instituto Tecnológico y de Estu-dios Superiores de Monterrey, and a mas-ter’s from San Diego’s NewSchool ofArchitecture and Design.

“I’ve been in the firm for five years nowand I can see that I’m growing immensely,”

says Gutierrez. “And I’d say it’s because ofthe people surrounding me. There’s anenormous wealth of talent and knowledgein this firm that has great value to me.

“And from the beginning people werevery much interested in what I had to say.They were not just reacting to it but givingit serious consideration. I didn’t even knowif what I had to say was of value. I try to dothe same with the newer people comingin.”

At Carrier Johnson there are no walls orcorner offices with a view. Each can hearwhat the other is saying and join the con-versation.

“In our office it’s really less about thenames than it is about the way in whichyou engage in a design dialogue; that youshow up every day with an intention tomake our design effort better, no matterwhat,” says Carrier. “An idea is an idea andsome of them come from the youngest,freshest minds not clouded by 38 years ofpractice as I sometimes can be.

“It’s that tilt-your-head moment whenyou think, ‘Wow, what she just said to mereally clicked.’”

Gutierrez says the company’s spirit ofcollaboration from top to bottom and bot-tom to top has to be one of the great joysthat he’s experienced from being a part ofthis enterprise.

Says Carrier, “It’s the collaboration’s abil-ity to filter that allows us to understandwhich nuance or design directive makesmost sense.”

Even though Carrier has had nearly fourdecades of experience, he continues tosearch for knowledge, this time from theyounger generations who are trained in

Exterior of the Carrier Johnson-designed Tidewater Community College/City ofVirginia Beach Joint Use Library.

‘I’ve been in the firm for five years nowand I can see that I’m growing im-mensely,’ says architect Alex Gutierrez.


C O V E R S T O RY

new design technology such as 3-D com-puter modeling, 3-D printing, and virtualtechnologies such as the Oculus (gogglesthat allow the user to get inside a space andactually feel what the architect is thinking).

Gutierrez is a master at these technolo-gies, says Carrier.

Explains Gutierrez: “Our experience is

that frequently clients aren’t able to under-stand the words or graphics we are using. Alot of people don’t understand 3-D space.With these tools we can give ourselves andour clients the ability to experience spacein a very special and fun way. Being insidegives you a different sense of space; you un-derstand proportions, natural light comingthrough, different elements that make thedesign what it is.”

+ Culture also describes the collaborativequest that Carrier Johnson uses to identifythe unique culture of each client for thepurpose of creating meaningful architec-ture — subliminally meaningful, symboli-cally meaningful, and functionallymeaningful.

They start with the pragmatic issues andthen on to the search for greater meaning,trying to find who the client is, searchingthe heart instead of the head.

“There’s a lot of joy in finding what isunique about a client, who and what theyare, their intentions, their objectives,” saysGutierrez.

Getting to know clients varies with every

client. Sometimes the answers come earlyin the discovery process, some take back-and-forth discussions. Sometimes, in theprocess of the quest, a company will actu-ally redefine their culture and who they are.

“It’s our intent to talk to everyone withinthe organization who the client allows usto approach, to the greatest degree possi-ble, because each of those voices gives usnuance about culture,” explains Carrier.

These dialogues come in many forms:One-on-ones, group sessions, designedquestionnaires, strategic leadership facilita-tion.

“Our ultimate interest is finding what isdistinctive, that authentic seed we can growinto something that’s unique, beautiful, andspecial only to that client and nobody else,”says Carrier. “The key is then discoveringhow we can manifest it in a beautiful andauthentic way.Architecture might bemeaningful to the architect, but is it mean-ingful to the client as well? To me, this isthe more important outcome; it can beboth and when you achieve both you’vecreated something very special.”

‘We hire young people with great talentand pair them with more senior, talentedprofessionals of greater experience. To-gether, we are an immensely powerfulteam,’ says Carrier.

Rendering of the Urbana Lifestyle Center, Tijuana designed by Carrier Johnson.

Architecture is both the process and the productof planning, designing, and constructing buildingsand other physical structures. It requires the knowl-edge of art, science and technology and humanity.

A

BOLDAPPROACHTO CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY


CORPORATE PROF ILE

Qualcomm’s Bill Bold oversees programswhere mobile technology improves livesabroad and at home.

Before sunrise, a group of men gather to-gether for a modest cup of coffee outsidethe simple cinderblock home of theirleader, Winston Hawkins, 71. The sandbetween their bare toes, the men sharequips with one another as they take turnspassing around a tablet.

For upwards of 35 years, they have spenttheir days fishing with nets on the shore ofa La Boquilla, an underdeveloped fishingcommunity in Colombia and now, thanksto the introduction of mobile technology,they are able to monitor weather condi-tions, use online tools to track fish and up-load market information from the palm oftheir hands.

The initiative enabling this transforma-tion is headquartered here in San Diego,where an ambitious executive advocates formany programs like the one in Colombia.He contemplates a world where mobiletechnology is accessible by all, leveling theplaying field between economic and gen-der disparities; a world where sustainabilityis woven through the fabric of a company’sinherent philosophy; and a world whereyouth of today are inspired to be the in-ventors of tomorrow.

That executive is Bill Bold, senior vicepresident of government affairs at Qual-comm, and he is responsible for overseeingthe company’s public policy agenda as well

as several social responsibility initiativesthat focus on sustainability, STEM (sci-ence, technology, engineering and mathe-matics) education and the use of mobiletechnology for social and economic devel-opment.

A UC Berkeley graduate, Bold has fol-lowed an ethos of social responsibilitythroughout his personal and professionallife. Board stints with local organizationslike Voices for Children, the San PascualAcademy Foundation and UC San Diego’sSchool of Global Policy and Strategy(IR/PS) are some examples of his commit-ment to improving the community inwhich he and his family live.

Bold currently oversees a global team of66 people who tackle issues and createpolicies that support access to telecommu-nications, in an effort to improve access tohealth, education and economic opportu-nities. He sees the positive impact of Qual-comm’s efforts all around the world, everyday.

Within his department, Bold overseesQualcomm Wireless Reach, a strategic ini-tiative that brings advanced wireless tech-nology to underserved communitiesglobally in an effort to positively impact so-cial and economic development.

Wireless Reach invests in programs thatfoster entrepreneurship, aid in public safety,

enhance the delivery of health care, enrichteaching and learning and improve envi-ronmental sustainability. The initiative wascreated in part to put a human face on thework Qualcomm does, and to demonstratethe transformative potential of mobilebroadband technology.

It is through these programs (over 100in 40 countries), that Qualcomm is able todemonstrate the tangible benefits of wire-less technology. It might be a mobile edu-cation experience for a child living in Indiaor Kenya, who otherwise lacks access to atraditional education; a potentially life-sav-ing mobile ultrasound for a woman in ruralMorocco; or a mobile application that canenhance a traditional fishing excursion inColombia into one that generates addi-tional revenue, potentially lifting a familyout of poverty.

Bold’s vision for a more equitable world,where access to mobile technology is ubiq-uitous, is also grounded in the notion thatcompanies can do well by doing good. It ishis firm belief that doing business in a so-cially conscious way, with respect to ourimpact on the environment, will ultimatelydrive long-term growth and profitability.

Sustainability is not a new concept toQualcomm. A portion of Bold’s team isdedicated to strengthening the company’sefforts and outreach in the areas of human

Bill Bold oversees Qualcomm’s public policy agenda as well asseveral social responsibility initiatives.


C O R P O R AT E P R O F I L E

rights, sustainable product design, waterconservation, waste reduction and green-house gas emissions-among other things.

Environmental sustainability also crossesover into several of Bold’s initiatives, oneexample being the Wireless ReachSootSwap program in India. Launched tomitigate climate change by replacing tra-ditional cookstoves with cleaner technolo-gies by using an innovative sensingapplication, the program provides an af-fordable, reliable, mobile phone-basedmonitoring device to enable widespreadparticipation in a voluntary carbon marketwhere individuals are incentivized to useclean cookstoves over traditional biomassburning cookstoves.

Innovations in clean technologies areimportant, but perhaps even more critical ishaving the inventors to create them.

The combination of a lab, a “makerspace”and a classroom for 6-8th grade students,the Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab is trans-forming young minds across San Diego.An educational haven where students fromall cultural and socio-economic back-grounds can access hands-on experiencesin engineering, the purpose of the lab is topromote and improve STEM education atall levels.

By doing this, the goal is to expand op-portunities for underrepresented studentsand to reduce the engineering gender gap.Under Bold’s supervision, the lab is ontrack to scale exponentially.

In addition, the Thinkabit Lab also playshost to QCamp for Girls in STEM, an an-nual two-week summer camp specificallytailored to sixth, seventh and eighth gradegirls, a demographic highly sought after for

engagement in STEM-focused education.The program launched in 2014 and con-tinues to grow in popularity, confirmed byBold’s daughter who attended this year.

A true visionary who lives his life by thesame principles which guide his work, Boldpractices what he preaches. Family vaca-tions include genuine interest in visitingWireless Reach program sites, like a mi-crofinance project in India that is a collab-oration with San Diego-based nonprofitProject Concern International, which alsoclaims Bold as a board member.

With all eyes on the Sustainable Devel-opment Goals, targets set by the UnitedNations to transform our world by 2030,there’s no doubt that Bold and his teamwill continue to contribute meaningfully,proving that companies like Qualcommcan do well by doing good.

Qualcomm’s Thinkabit Lab plays host to QCamp for Girls in STEM,an annual two-week summer camp tailored to sixth, seventh andeighth grade girls.

Qualcomm’s Thinkabit Lab.

A young Kenya student with a tablet in Qualcomm’s WirelessReach program overseen by Bill Bold.

One of the initiatives that Bold oversees brings technology toschool children in India.


TECHNOLOGY

Big Player in the Security Businessiboss Cybersecurity commands attention with its new world headquarters

By Manny Cruz

When SAIC, the giant scientific andtechnology contractor for the government,pulled its headquarters out of San Diego in2009 to move to Virginia, it left behind aspacious, 43,000-square-foot building nearthe UC San Diego campus.

What was once SAIC’s World WideData Center has become the global head-quarters for one of the fastest growingtechnology companies in the nation —iboss Cybersecurity — founded more than10 years ago by twin brothers Paul andPeter Martini. Paul, in fact, actually workedin the SAIC building before getting intothe cybersecurity business.

“When they moved out, they left a lot ofstuff behind. But we revamped it,” saidPaul, who carries the title of CEO. Peter ispresident of the company. The brothers are36.

Revamp in a big way. The company in-vested $6 million to completely renovatethe building, adding modern desks, newkitchens, indoor putting greens, swings, aspacious outdoor lounge with fire pits andbarbecue grills.

But inside, the main attraction is a big40-foot slide — smack in the middle.

“By focusing on increasing sunlight andopen spaces and using raw materials in theconstruction, the new design is meant tocreate a positive, natural environment foremployees,” said Paul.

With all those amenities, the company’s100 employees are inclined to arrive earlyfor work and not be in any rush to leave.

Because the cybersecurity business is ex-ploding internationally, iboss Cybersecu-rity expects the headquarters building togrow to about 250 employees.

“San Diego is quickly becoming a hubfor cybersecurity companies and thatmeans the infrastructure and talent is inplace to enable us to continue to growhere,” said Martini.

But the new workers won’t just be theaverage engineers, according to Martini.“We will be very selective, hiring only thebest.”

To insure the company will have freshcrops of talented engineers and techies tochoose from, it is partnering with UC SanDiego to develop an internship program. Ithelps that the campus is just a short walk orbicycle ride to iboss Cybersecurity head-quarters.

According to the San Diego RegionalEDC, San Diego is home to one of the na-tion’s largest and most robust clusters of cy-bersecurity firms. The industry is defined

The iboss Cybersecurity headquarters once housed Science Applications International Corp.’s World Wide Data Center.


T E C H N O L O G Y

as comprising firms and organizations thatprovide products and services designed toenhance and protect computers, networks,programs and data fron unintended orunauthorized access or destruction, and thatsell their products and services to customers.

The EDC said a key strength of SanDiego’s cybersecurity industry is the UnitedStates Navy Space and Naval Warfare Sys-tems Command (SPAWAR), employing anestimated 3,095 cybersecurity professionals.“Tasked with administering hundreds ofmillions of dollars in cyber contracts,SPAWAR has a profound impact on SanDiego’s cyber industry,” it said.

San Diego-based companies specializingin cybersecurity have a global footpring, butalso work closely with the region’s local mil-itary assets and defense companies, accord-ing to the San Diego Regional EDC. It putsthe regional economic impact of cybersecu-rity at $1.5 billion, “and growing rapidly.”

Martini said his company stands apartfrom others in the industry. It provides theonly technology that detects suspicious net-work traffic and stops malicious data trans-fers before hackers can steal large amountsof sensitive information.

“While many firms create software pro-tection designed to prevent malware fromgaining access to computer networks, ibosshas the unique ability to monitor outgoingdata traffic and prevent large-scale databreaches,” said Martini.

As a private company, iboss Cybersecu-

rity does not disclose its annual revenues.But that will change after it launches anIPO, which Martini said could happen any-time over the next eight to 24 months.

To date, the company counts more than4,000 clients around the globe, which Mar-tini described as companies and enterprisenetworks. It has added an office in Londonand in Latin America.

Before he and his brother founded ibossCybersecurity, Paul was with an electricalengineering firm. He developed proprietarysecurity solutions for such clients asPhogenix, the U.S. Navy and Hewlett-Packard.

Martini holds a computer science degreefrom UC San Diego and has had his workpublished in scientific journals including,the Journal of Foundations in ComputerScience, and Journal of Analytical Bio-chemistry. As a recognized security expert,he has been featured in a wide range of pub-lications such as USA Today, Forbes, andCSO magazine.

Paul has been recognized for his leader-ship and innovation, receiving the ErnstYoung 2014 Entrepreneur Of The Yearaward in the technology category for SanDiego, and one of Goldman Sachs’ 100Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2014. Heis a member of the Cyber Security Subom-mittee for the California Office of Emer-gency Services and also serves on the boardof the San Diego Economic DevelopmentCommittee.

Registration Now Open forUSD Online Master’s Degreein Cyber SecurityProfessionals looking to enter orexpand a career in cyber securitycan now register for the Universityof San Diego’s new online Master ofScience in Cyber Security Opera-tions and Leadership.

The degree program will meet theneeds of professionals currentlyworking in cyber security roles orthose who wish to enter this grow-ing field. Candidates must have abachelor’s degree and a GPA of2.75 or higher. The completion of astandardized test, such as a GREmay be submitted to strengthen anapplication.

Offered completely online to bettermeet the needs of working profes-sionals, the 31-unit program can becompleted in five semesters.Classes for the spring semester willbegin Jan. 19, 2016.

For more information and registra-tion go to CyberOps.SanDiego. edu,email CyberOps@sandiego. edu orcall (619) 260-4580.)

Like a giant serpent, the red slide dominates the center of iboss Cybersecurity’s globalheadquarters building.

iboss Cybersecurity CEO Paul Martini in com-pany’s new headquarters before the $6 mil-lion renovation.


COMMERC IAL REAL ESTATE

The commercial real estate market in SanDiego County continued its strong recov-ery in third-quarter of this year, fueled byongoing job creation and the health of theoverwhelming majority of San Diego com-panies. Another net 925,000 square feet ofoffice, lab and industrial space came off themarket in the third-quarter, which repre-sents 2.83 percent of all available space inthe county.

At this continued pace, we expect 10 per-cent of the space that was available at thebeginning of 2015 to come off the marketby the end of this year. With virtually nonew construction coming online in 2016,our expectations are for continued shortagesof space, particularly over 20,000 squarefeet, and continued upward pressure onrents throughout the coming year.

There was tremendous concern this lastquarter about the reductions in employeeheadcount by Qualcomm. In the secondquarter of the year, Qualcomm had alreadyannounced intentions to shed approxi-mately 74,000 square feet of office space inUTC on Eastgate Mall. This last quarter,Qualcomm also announced intentions tonot renew leases at three additional loca-tions: One in Sorrento Towers for 100,000

square feet, another on Pacific Center inSorrento Mesa for 68,000 square feet, andthe third on Vista Sorrento Parkway in Tor-rey Hills for 86,000 square feet — a grandtotal of 254,000 square feet.

In light of these unexpected new avail-abilities, the overall decrease in net avail-ability of nearly a million square feet ofspace is even more remarkable. Keeping thebig picture in mind, over the second andthird quarters of 2015, San Diego Countyhas been able to absorb a net 254,000 squarefeet in three or four weeks’ time. The “Qual-comm effect” is barely a speed bump for theSan Diego County region.

This uptick in availability from Qual-comm will mainly scar Sorrento Mesa.Availability rates there have now spiked to23.3 percent, which is the highest rate wehave seen in the region since the middle of2010 when the office market was at almostrecord high availability. Add in the fact thatbusiness owners and executives who makecommercial real estate leasing decisions arefrustrated with the ongoing congestion get-ting in and out of Sorrento Mesa, and weexpect to see a rough couple of years forlandlords that own office buildings in Sor-rento Mesa.

The neighboring UTC submarket hasalso taken an uptick in availability to 17.4percent, which is the highest rate seen sinceearly 2012. The single explanation for this isthe completion of One La Jolla Center, theIrvine Company’s new class A office tower,which added 245,000 square feet of officespace to the UTC market. Asking rents forthis new tower range from $4.35 to $4.65full-service gross, so we don’t expect thisnew supply to drag down the UTC market,as office availability rates would be the low-est in the county were it not for that addi-tional, high-priced inventory hitting themarket this last quarter.

What is most impressive in the region isthe sustained recovery for space of all typesin Mission Valley, Kearny Mesa and the I-15 corridor. These submarkets offer won-derful value options, as well as the mostcommuter friendly locations in the region.There has been robust job creation in all ofthese submarkets, as well as a flight of ten-ants from the I-5 corridor looking atcheaper space options along the I-15 free-way and areas that are more central to theregion. This downward pressure on avail-ability has caused a sharp increase in rentalrates year to date, with office space in Mis-

The ‘Qualcomm Effect’ Qualcomm vacancies fail to slow down strong San Diego office market

By Dan Marino

UTC is going to be the place where the action is, with almost a million square feet of new lab space coming on the market in the nexttwo years.


C O M M E R C I A L R E A L E S TAT E

sion Valley and the I-15 corridor now pric-ing at $2.50-$3.00. The “good deal days” inthose submarkets are over.

While the stock markets have become alittle volatile in the last quarter, the life sci-ence industry continues to be robust in itsdemand for both lab space and office space.There are a dozen life science companies inthe market looking for 40,000 square feetand above. As Torrey Pines’ popularity hasrecovered in the last two years, and avail-ability rates for lab space there are now at anear record low of 12.4 percent, developersbringing new lab inventory onto the marketin UTC are going to be well-positioned toaccommodate this growing demandthroughout 2016 and 2017. UTC is goingto be the place where the action is, with al-most a million square feet of new lab spacecoming on the market in the next two years.

Downtown San Diego’s class A marketcontinues to hover in the single digits asavailability for top notch space disappears.

The class B market still has plenty of space(over 1 million square feet in Downtownalone) with availability at 40.5 percent, sotenants looking for space in Downtownneed not fear rates in the $4-$5-per-squarefoot range. Several buildings are positioningthemselves for sale in Downtown including525 B Street, 530 B Street, and 1010 Sec-ond Avenue, with other buildings close be-hind contemplating a sale

Overall, Hughes Marino remains bullishon the regional economy’s projectedstrength through the remainder of 2015 andwell into 2016. Beyond San Diego, we areseeing white-hot markets in OrangeCounty, Los Angeles and Northern Cali-fornia as well.

Corporate tenants are well positioned inSan Diego from a pricing perspective. Officerents are running $7-$8-per-square-foot permonth in San Francisco, $5-$6 in NewportCenter, and $4-$6 along the I-405 Corridorfrom El Segundo to Santa Monica. Wet lab

rents on the San Francisco Peninsula are 50percent to 75 percent higher than in SanDiego’s key research markets of TorreyPines, UTC and Sorrento Mesa. All theway down the peninsula from San Franciscoto San Jose, and up to East Bay in marketslike Fremont and Milpitas, there’s fiercecompetition for space and hyperinflation ofrental rates — not to mention traffic con-gestion that now rivals that of the Los An-geles region. Bottom line: San Diegocontinues to be a great place to start andgrow your business.

David Marino is executive

vice president of Hughes

Marino, a San Diego com-

mercial real estate company

specializing in San Diego ten-

ant representation and build-

ing purchases..

Several buildings are positioning themselves for sale inDowntown, including 525 B St., above.

This last quarter, Qualcomm announced intentions to not renew leases atthree additional locations, including one in Sorrento Towers (above) for100,000 square feet.

One La Jolla Center, the Irvine Company’s new class A office tower, added245,000 square feet of office space to the UTC market.

Thomas Hererra-Mishler graduatedfrom Eastern Michigan University whenother 18-year-olds were graduating fromhigh school. He holds a BA in Spanish lan-guage and literature with a minor in busi-ness administration, and a MLA inlandscape architecture and regional plan-ning from the University of Michigan.

For 29 years Herrera-Mishler hasworked as a landscape architect and plan-ner on projects in the Caribbean, Mexico,Costa Rica, Spain and across the U.S. Oneof his most notable projects is the masterplan for the Centro de Conservacion Na-tional, the national zoo and botanical gar-den of Costa Rica.

In 1991 when the economy tanked, hegot laid off from the noted design firm ofWallace Roberts Todd, best known locallyfor the master plan for the Otay Ranch inChula Vista. So he and his wife, Mercedes,spent a year volunteering with the home-less in downtown Philadelphia.

That experience moved him into a newcareer path in the nonprofit public land-scapes sector, where he worked as commu-nity landscape architect for thePhiladelphia Green Program and then theexecutive director of the Awbury Arbore-tum in Philadelphia, Airlie Gardens inWilmington, N.C., and the MassachusettsHorticultural Society in Boston.

Most recently he led the Buffalo Olm-sted Parks Conservancy’s innovative anduniquely successful public/private partner-ship with the City of Buffalo to operateand restore Buffalo’s historic Olmstedparks system, the nation’s first park system.He helped to secure over $30 million forcapital improvement projects toward theimplementation of the park system’s vi-sionary master plan.

Fortunately for San Diego, Herrera-Mishler’s career has landed him as the di-rector and chief executive officer of theBalboa Park Conservancy.

Based on his past, Herrera-Mishler willbe making his mark in the park. He wasnamed Preservation Hero 2013 by the Li-brary of American Historic Landscapesand was awarded the 2014 Gold LeafAward by the New York State ArboristsAssociation. The Cultural Society of Buf-falo gave him an Outstanding CommunityLeader Award in 2014. The Upstate NewYork chapter of the American Society ofLandscape Architects named him Out-standing Leader in Landscape Architec-ture in 2015.

“My whole career I’ve tried to work atthe nexus of arts and culture and publiclandscape, and usually one of those ele-ments is missing and I have had to inject it.In Balboa Park, it’s all here. In spades,” saidHerrera-Mishler.

The Balboa Park Conservancy is a newand old organization at the same time. It’snew because it was founded in 2012, andit’s old because it merged with 94-year-oldBalboa Park Central (formerly the Houseof Hospitality), the organization that in-cluded the House of Hospitality, the Visi-tors’ Center and Balboa Park Marketing.

A non-profit 501(c)3 organization, theconservancy is responsible for raising funds,developing public/private partnerships and

collaborating with Balboa Park stakehold-ers to implement capital projects, addressdeferred maintenance needs, promote sus-tainability, and seek solutions to accessibil-ity needs in the park. Balboa ParkConservancy operates as partners with theCity of San Diego, which owns BalboaPark, and with other park stakeholders tocarry out its mission.

“You always have to strike a good bal-ance in a public/private partnership and it’snot easy, but they can yield amazing re-sults,” Herrera-Mishler said.

When the esteemed landscape architectSamuel Parsons Jr., a protégé of FrederickLaw Olmsted, designed Balboa Park in1901, it was thought of as a municipal parkto serve San Diego’s population of less than50,000, not a destination park that wouldhave 14 million visitors a year as it doesnow, making it the fifth busiest park in thenation.

“What we have in some ways is a parkthat is being loved to death,” says Herrera-Mishler.

Balboa Park is accommodating extremelevels of visitors on a daily basis; but thepark was never designed to accommodateso many.

“We need to adaptively change the land-scape to handle the level of visitation whilepreserving the essence of what makes thelandscape special, historic, unique,” saidHererra-Mishler.

“As we address important ways to recon-nect the park to the community, improveaccess, circulation and parking, we will beworking together on huge things that arevery expensive and are going to require fed-eral, state and local government support aswell as major philanthropic support. It’sgoing to entail all of us working togetherto leverage those funds for what needs tohappen here to improve access and sus-tainability.”

What’s amazing to Hererra-Mishler is a


BALBOA PARK

Tomas Herrera-Mishler in the park’s Botan-ical Building. He says only half of the parkhas been developed.

Balboa Park Conservancy’s New CEO Thomas Hererra-Mishler entertains huge plans for a park that is still verymuch a work in progress

By Delle Willett

sort of myth that Balboa Park is done, and the reality is that it’s farfrom completed. “At the moment we have just half a park out there,but it’s a great half,” he said.

Much of the east mesa and Florida Canyon have yet to be de-veloped into what the master plan calls for. Currently it serves un-sightly temporary uses, and temporary uses have a way of stickingaround, he lamented.

It’s all very exciting to Herrera-Mishler that there are so manygreat opportunities in the park; to take a piece of land that was sowisely set aside as parkland 150 years ago and maximize its valueto today’s population.

He is strongly in favor of fully implementing the 1989 MasterPlan developed by San Diego’s landscape architect and urban plan-ner Vicki Estrada of Estrada Land Planning. “It’s still evergreen;the goals of that plan remain right on target. It’s one of the bestpark master plans I have come across, and I’ve seen a lot of them,”said Herrera-Mishler.

He believes that if the park were to fully implement the masterplan and keep it maintained at a high level, the economic benefitsto the city would really be dramatic.

The conservancy is planning on doing a lot of friend-raising, cul-tivating folks who can support the organization. One way of doingthat is to have a concrete thing to be funded, like restoration of theBotanical Building. “It’s a wonderful, tangible project; it’s a build-ing that just requires a new lease on life to be around for another100 years,” he said.

Over the course of his career, Herrera-Mishler says he’s had theopportunity to bring people together to dream big and make someof those dreams come true. “And that’s what the conservancy is allabout: connecting the park to the surrounding neighborhoods,making sure it is sustainable in the long run, dreaming about the fu-ture and making it happen.”

Thomas Herrera-Mishler (who prefers the Spanish “Tomas”)was pleased to find a career that could use his many skills. “I’m a re-ally practical problem-solver but I also have a bit of design flair. I’mthrilled to have a career that I can not only enjoy but one that meetsmy family’s needs,” said Herrera-Mishler.

Outside of work, he enjoys reading, gardening, and cookinghealthy meals for his wife, Mercedes Herrera-Rojas de Mishler, aretired diplomat and award-winning artist from Costa Rica, andhis daughters Elise (26) a toy designer and graduate of the RhodeIsland School of Design, Olivia (23) Director of Communicationsat Match A Resident.com, and Sofia (14) a freshman at ScrippsRanch High School.

Moving to San Diego from living and working in the tropicsand water-rich Buffalo, Herrera-Mishler is looking forward tolearning the California family of plant materials. He’s currently try-ing to keep 20 rose bushes alive and well in his interim home inScripps Ranch.

Herrera-Mishler says being a committed Christian shapes hisview of the world. The son of missionaries currently working inXalapa, Mexico, he says, “I’m always trying to follow the exampleof the guy who started my religion 2000 years ago. It’s a really crit-ical part of who I am.”


B A L B O A PA R K

Tomas Herrera-Mishler is giving tours every week for a few months topeople who he thinks would help advocate for what the Conser-vancy hopes to achieve. Here the tour stops at the Alcazar Garden.

Thomas Hererra-Mishler graduated from Eastern MichiganUniversity when other 18-year-olds were graduating from highschool. He holds a BA in Spanish language and literature with aminor in business administration, and a MLA in landscape archi-tecture and regional planning from the University of Michigan.

For 29 years Herrera-Mishler has worked as a landscape archi-tect and planner on projects in the Caribbean, Mexico, Costa Rica,Spain and across the U.S. One of his most notable projects is themaster plan for the Centro de Conservacion National, the nationalzoo and botanical garden of Costa Rica.

In 1991 when the economy tanked, he got laid off from thenoted design firm of Wallace Roberts Todd, best known locally forthe master plan for the Otay Ranch in Chula Vista. So he and hiswife, Mercedes, spent a year volunteering with the homeless indowntown Philadelphia.

That experience moved him into a new career path in the non-profit public landscapes sector, where he worked as communitylandscape architect for the Philadelphia Green Program and thenthe executive director of the Awbury Arboretum in Philadelphia,Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, N.C., and the Massachusetts Hor-ticultural Society in Boston.

Most recently he led the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy’sinnovative and uniquely successful public/private partnership withthe City of Buffalo to operate and restore Buffalo’s historic Olm-sted parks system, the nation’s first park system. He helped to se-cure over $30 million for capital improvement projects toward theimplementation of the park system’s visionary master plan.

Fortunately for San Diego, Herrera-Mishler’s career has landedhim as the director and chief executive officer of the Balboa ParkConservancy.

Based on his past, Herrera-Mishler will be making his mark in

the park. He was named Preservation Hero 2013 by the Library ofAmerican Historic Landscapes and was awarded the 2014 GoldLeaf Award by the New York State Arborists Association. TheCultural Society of Buffalo gave him an Outstanding CommunityLeader Award in 2014. The Upstate New York chapter of theAmerican Society of Landscape Architects named him Outstand-ing Leader in Landscape Architecture in 2015.

“My whole career I’ve tried to work at the nexus of arts and cul-ture and public landscape, and usually one of those elements ismissing and I have had to inject it. In Balboa Park, it’s all here. Inspades,” said Herrera-Mishler.

The Balboa Park Conservancy is a new and old organization atthe same time. It’s new because it was founded in 2012, and it’s oldbecause it merged with 94-year-old Balboa Park Central (formerlythe House of Hospitality), the organization that included theHouse of Hospitality, the Visitors’ Center and Balboa Park Mar-keting.

A non-profit 501(c)3 organization, the conservancy is responsi-ble for raising funds, developing public/private partnerships andcollaborating with Balboa Park stakeholders to implement capitalprojects, address deferred maintenance needs, promote sustain-


TELEWORK

Bringing the Office Home San Diegans create productive at-home workspaces while keeping the dog quiet

Lonny Zilberman, partner at the San Diego law firm of Wilson TurnerKosmo, works from home part-time alongside his dog Coco.

By April Harter Enriquez


T E L E W O R K

ability, and seek solutions to accessibilityneeds in the park. Balboa Park Conser-vancy operates as partners with the City ofSan Diego, which owns Balboa Park, andwith other park stakeholders to carry outits mission.

“You always have to strike a good bal-ance in a public/private partnership and it’snot easy, but they can yield amazing re-sults,” Herrera-Mishler said.

When the esteemed landscape architectSamuel Parsons Jr., a protégé of FrederickLaw Olmsted, designed Balboa Park in1901, it was thought of as a municipal parkto serve San Diego’s population of less than50,000, not a destination park that wouldhave 14 million visitors a year as it doesnow, making it the fifth busiest park in thenation.

“What we have in some ways is a parkthat is being loved to death,” says Herrera-Mishler.

Balboa Park is accommodating extremelevels of visitors on a daily basis; but thepark was never designed to accommodateso many.

“We need to adaptively change the land-scape to handle the level of visitation whilepreserving the essence of what makes thelandscape special, historic, unique,” saidHererra-Mishler.

“As we address important ways to recon-nect the park to the community, improveaccess, circulation and parking, we will beworking together on huge things that arevery expensive and are going to require fed-

eral, state and local government support aswell as major philanthropic support. It’sgoing to entail all of us working togetherto leverage those funds for what needs tohappen here to improve access and sus-tainability.”

What’s amazing to Hererra-Mishler is asort of myth that Balboa Park is done, andthe reality is that it’s far from completed.“At the moment we have just half a parkout there, but it’s a great half,” he said.

Much of the east mesa and FloridaCanyon have yet to be developed into whatthe master plan calls for. Currently it servesunsightly temporary uses, and temporaryuses have a way of sticking around, helamented.

It’s all very exciting to Herrera-Mishlerthat there are so many great opportunitiesin the park; to take a piece of land that wasso wisely set aside as parkland 150 yearsago and maximize its value to today’s pop-ulation.

He is strongly in favor of fully imple-menting the 1989 Master Plan developedby San Diego’s landscape architect andurban planner Vicki Estrada of EstradaLand Planning. “It’s still evergreen; thegoals of that plan remain right on target.It’s one of the best park master plans I havecome across, and I’ve seen a lot of them,”said Herrera-Mishler.

He believes that if the park were to fullyimplement the master plan and keep itmaintained at a high level, the economicbenefits to the city would really be dramatic.

The conservancy is planning on doing alot of friend-raising, cultivating folks whocan support the organization. One way ofdoing that is to have a concrete thing to befunded, like restoration of the BotanicalBuilding. “It’s a wonderful, tangible proj-ect; it’s a building that just requires a newlease on life to be around for another 100years,” he said.

Over the course of his career, Herrera-Mishler says he’s had the opportunity tobring people together to dream big andmake some of those dreams come true.“And that’s what the conservancy is allabout: connecting the park to the sur-rounding neighborhoods, making sure it issustainable in the long run, dreaming aboutthe future and making it happen.”

Thomas Herrera-Mishler (who prefersthe Spanish “Tomas”) was pleased to find acareer that could use his many skills. “I’m areally practical problem-solver but I alsohave a bit of design flair. I’m thrilled tohave a career that I can not only enjoy butone that meets my family’s needs,” saidHerrera-Mishler.

Outside of work, he enjoys reading, gar-dening, and cooking healthy meals for hiswife, Mercedes Herrera-Rojas de Mishler,a retired diplomat and award-winningartist from Costa Rica, and his daughtersElise (26) a toy designer and graduate ofthe Rhode Island School of Design, Olivia(23) Director of Communications atMatch A Resident.com, and Sofia (14) afreshman at Scripps Ranch High School.

Moving to San Diego from living andworking in the tropics and water-rich Buf-falo, Herrera-Mishler is looking forward tolearning the California family of plant ma-terials. He’s currently trying to keep 20 rosebushes alive and well in his interim homein Scripps Ranch.

Herrera-Mishler says being a commit-ted Christian shapes his view of the world.The son of missionaries currently workingin Xalapa, Mexico, he says, “I’m always try-ing to follow the example of the guy whostarted my religion 2000 years ago. It’s a re-ally critical part of who I am.”

April Harter Enriquez is a local public rela-

tions professional, the founder of WordPop

Public Relations, and a consultant with TW2

Marketing.

Couple Chris and Karen Davis enjoy separate his and hers offices at their Brookfield Resi-dential home. His studio and her loft provide the perfect space to run their tech consultingbusiness, Empiricor.


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