Women We Admire is pleased to announce The Top Women Leaders of San Diego for 2024. San Diego offers so much more than stunning beaches, a pleasant climate, and cultural diversity. It’s also known for cutting-edge technology and research, and it’s home to top industries, including biotechnology, life sciences, tourism, and defense.
These dynamic sectors of the economy require strong leaders who know how to navigate advancements, foster collaboration, and drive sustainable growth. Thankfully, there are plenty of visionary, resilient, and innovative women to take on these leadership roles.
We acknowledge the accomplishments of Reema Poddar, President and CEO of the Diagnostic Imaging and Digital Pathology Informatics Business at Philips. Digital pathology offers physicians a new level of collaboration technology in pathology, oncology, and radiology, and Phillips features the largest digital pathology installed base in the world.
In one of the hottest real estate markets in the country, Char Ekoniak is leading the way as Owner of San Diego’s Coastal Rock Realty. Channeling over two decades of experience, Ekoniak has built an award-winning brand that closes high volumes of transactions and continues to grow
Leading in marketing technology is honoree Ali Selbo, a Strategic Account Director at Oracle, the only technology provider with a complete suite of integrated cloud applications and a cloud infrastructure platform. Selbo brings over 15 years of progressive experience in SaaS marketing technology and continued revenue growth to this role.
Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top Women Leaders of San Diego for 2024.
Cynthia Smith, DVM
President & CEO, National Marine Mammal Foundation
Cynthia Smith serves as the President and CEO of the National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in San Diego, California. Smith has led the organization since 2010 and served as chief medical officer for more than a decade. She continues to provide her veterinary expertise for high-priority marine mammal projects, specifically those focused on at-risk, threatened, and critically endangered cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises, and whales). She has more than 25 years of veterinary and research experience, resulting in over 80 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts.
Smith's nonprofit team provides veterinary, research, and animal care support to the US Navy’s Marine Mammal Program right here in San Diego. She contributed as a lead veterinarian for NOAA’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, and she continues to study the long-term impacts of oil exposure on dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico. Smith served as the General Program Manager for the Consortium of Vaquita Conservation, Recovery, and Protection (VaquitaCPR), an international effort aimed at rescuing the endangered vaquita porpoise from extinction. She co-founded JANE: Justice & Action Network for the Earth, which was selected as a top 100 finalist for the MacArthur Foundation’s 100 & Change Competition and is part of the Bold Solutions Network. Most recently, Smith helped launch the NMMF’s Operation GRACE: Global Rescue of At-Risk Cetaceans and Ecosystems, with conservation projects in North America, South America, Africa, and the Middle East.
Smith received a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Tufts University. She completed executive education at Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School, and Berkeley Haas School of Business. In 2019, she was named a Red Bull Hero of the Year for her work in conservation. In 2022, she was named a Woman of the Year finalist by San Diego Magazine and a Nonprofit Citizenship Award finalist by the San Diego Business Journal. In 2023, she was elected to the Tufts University Board of Trustees. Smith enjoys giving back locally and globally through national and international expert advisory groups. She currently lives in San Diego with her husband, Scott. They have two children, Addy and Mike, and a rescued hound dog, Boone.
Reema Poddar
President & CEO of Diagnostic Imaging & Digital Pathology Informatics Business, Philips
Reema Poddar is recognized as a bold technology and business transformative leader, strategist, and innovative executioner. Currently, she serves as the President and CEO of the Global Diagnostic and Pathway informatics business at Philips. Poddar has 29 years of experience in successfully, defining, implementing, transforming, delivering, and growing commercially viable digital portfolio offerings. Fueled by an unwavering customer focus, she is considered an expert in driving digital innovation and bridging the gap between existing complex, legacy products, technology ecosystems, and emerging cloud and modern technologies. She has delivered business results valued in multi-billions across industries.
Having previously held the positions as chief product and technology officer at Teradata, EVP of global software and solutions at GE, and independent board of directors of public and private companies, Poddar has honed her skills as both a result-driven business leader and an experienced technologist. She is a respected change agent who brings people along to deliver results by utilizing deep experience and lessons learned in organizational and operational practices, commercial product delivery, go-to-market strategies, driving innovative customer-centric solutions, and outperforming competition.
Poddar is a passionate leader who empowers teams to take risks, fail fast, and learn. She dedicates a lot of her time focusing and sharing her lessons learnt helping women in all areas of technology to reach their potential and succeed in work life and is very active in public speaking STEM and Women in Technology forums. She is always drawn to a challenging environment or, where a disruptive approach could deliver exceptional purpose-driven business growth and customer satisfaction. Poddar holds dual Master's degrees in Computer Science and Applications and Physics.
Tonya Jackman Hampton
Chief Human Resources Officer, UC San Diego Health
Tonya Jackman Hampton is an Executive and Chief Human Resources Officer for UC San Diego. She is a dynamic, visionary, and strategic leader, as well as an award-winning executive. In 2024, Hampton was recognized as a Top Chief People Officer by Becker Hospital. In 2023, she was recognized by the Minneapolis St. Paul Journal as a Women in Business Career Achievement Honoree and a Top Black Professional.
She has a proven track record with nearly 30 years of experience effectively leading and cultivating organizations or cultures to be inclusive and engaging. She has led Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations. She brings enthusiasm to every endeavor inside and outside of organizations she's been a part of. She consistently engages to help organizations, leaders, and students understand and execute key human resources and talent management required to drive effective business performance. As a healthcare HR executive and among many other efforts, she has led the transformation of the human resource function and practices across the enterprises to a strategic level, ensuring the function and team members within the entire organization are seen as critical to providing healthcare to the community.
Hampton is a recently published author of the book, The Myth of Fearless Leadership: Exposing a New Path Beyond Fight, Flight and Freeze, expected to be released in the summer of 2024.
Pooja Joshi
Head - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Qualcomm Inc.
As the head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Qualcomm since 2023, Pooja Joshi is committed to embedding equity into the full employee lifecycle - from recruitment and talent management to career progression and retention. She brings more than 20+ years of HR experience to this role, having previously served as an HR Business Partner and in leadership positions across communities of practice including Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, and Employee Relations.
Her scope at Qualcomm includes defining the company’s DEI strategy, leading a global team to deliver on this roadmap across 30+ countries, and working closely with an ecosystem of allies to turn vision into action and results. She regularly interfaces with officers of the company and the Board of Directors, working passionately to build relationships, influence and advise, and drive implementation of people-focused business strategies.
Throughout her career, which prior to Qualcomm included leadership roles at AIG and Novartis, Pooja has been focused on using data-driven insights to solve organizational challenges and enhance employee experiences. She thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment where she can help build vibrant teams and contribute to the success of all.
Margaux Currie
Senior Director of Product Management, Cigna
Margaux Currie is a Senior Director of Product Management at Cigna. Cigna Healthcare is a health benefits provider that advocates for better health through every stage of life. Currie serves as the overall Pathwell Specialty and Pharmacy Strategy with 20 years of experience in product and strategy roles.
Before joining Cigna, Currie held product and strategy roles at Surescripts, including serving as the director of the overall eligibility and formulary business and leading the launch of Real-Time Prescription Benefit. Before entering healthcare, she served as an international strategy consultant at Booz & Company’s aerospace and defense practice, working and living all over the world.
Currie earned a Master's degree in Liberal Arts in Business Management Finance from Harvard University, an undergraduate degree in urban studies and affairs from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree in business administration and management from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
Diana Hannasch-Haag
Director of Retention, University of San Diego
Diana Hannasch-Haag has over 15 years of experience working with undergraduate and graduate students in various areas, including student professional development, career services, student services, and admissions. She is currently the Director of Retention for Online Programs at the University of San Diego and has previously served as a student professional development manager, senior program coordinator, academic counselor, admissions advisor, and admissions trainer, where she trained new hires in their roles as admissions and academic advisors.
Hannasch-Haag earned an undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego, a Preliminary Teaching Credential from San Diego State University, and a Master's degree in Human Behavior from the National University in 2010, which combines psychology and management knowledge. Hannasch-Haag is passionate about helping others achieve their goals and has been dedicated to helping students reach their goals as part of the University of San Diego Knauss School of Business student success team since 2017.
Helen McCabe-Young
SVP, Marketing, Virtuoso Travel
Helen McCabe-Young is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Virtuoso Travel, the industry’s leading luxury travel network. This by-invitation-only organization comprises over 1,000 agency locations with more than 20,000 elite travel specialists in over 50 countries throughout North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as over 1,700 of the world’s best travel providers and premier destinations. The network’s member agencies generate more than $26 billion annually in travel sales, making the group the most powerful in the luxury travel segment.
A dynamic leader with strategic vision, creativity, and transformative impact, McCabe-Young is an accomplished international business trendsetter most recognized for achieving enviable commercial and brand success for One&Only Resorts, Atlantis The Palm Dubai, and Silversea Cruises. She has repeatedly built results-driven organizations that deliver increased customer loyalty and new market share with her exceptional ability to fuel top-funnel brand efforts that pull through to tangible sales results. Her areas of expertise include luxury, leisure travel, hospitality, cruise, real estate, spa, health and wellness, beauty, retail, and food and beverage.
Previously, McCabe-Young was the founder of CMO Executive Services and the co-founder of Stella + McCabe. Earlier in her career, she worked with Campbell Ewald as a vice president account supervisor. She earned an undergraduate degree in communication and visual arts from UC San Diego.
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Sara Orlansky
Senior Director of Development, University of San Diego School of Leadership & Education Sciences
Sara Orlansky is the Senior Director of Development at the University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education Sciences. Since its founding in 1949, The University of San Diego has prepared generations of Toreros to lead inspired and meaningful lives. In the classroom and beyond, they endeavor to think critically and express informed insights with courage and conviction. Their mission is to provide academic excellence, innovation, and a strong commitment to equity and inclusion.
Before joining the University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education Sciences, Orlansky was a director of development at UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center. Before that, she was a consultant at Changemaker Strategies. Earlier in her career, she worked with Exponent Philanthropy as a program associate.
Orlansky graduated from Columbia University’s Columbia School of Social Work with an MS in social work and from Northwestern University with an undergraduate degree in education and social policy.
Cheryl Bunch
VP of Consulting, Omniskope
Cheryl Bunch is the Vice President of Consulting for Omniskope, an IT services and IT consulting and software company, including custom software and technical consulting. Bunch is a technology lover with over 25 years of experience successfully delivering technical business solutions through consulting, leadership, and direct solution creation.
Bunch leverages critical skills from time spent in developer and analyst roles to add value to client and managerial relationships through an understanding of end-to-end business processes, data management, and technology. She effectively consults with clients by creating great relationships and enabling the harmonization of business processes, technology, and people, ultimately driving greater results through the use of cloud technology.
Described by peers as “positive, energizing, and inspiring,” Bunch is known for her contributions to company culture, approachable leadership style, as well as her technical capabilities in quickly understanding business problems and driving thoughtful solutions. She is passionate about building the next generation of leaders in the technology space, as well as helping others find success in their career and life journey.
Debbie Beyer
Founder & Executive Director, Literacy First Charter Schools
Debbie Beyer is the Founder and Executive Director of Literacy First Charter Schools (LFCS), now serving almost 2200 students and families across five separate school sites for K-12 grades. Her leadership at LFCS has resulted in outstanding test scores and significant community engagement. Under Beyer’s leadership, LFCS has undertaken charitable projects such as building a school, a water project, and a fish hatchery in Ecuador's central region. The school has also raised funds to support other charter schools facing natural disasters, most recently aiding victims of the Maui fire.
Beyer has experience in both public and private school classrooms, developing effective bilingual programs and curricula. She has worked as a teacher in elementary and high schools in New Mexico and the San Diego area. Beyer developed a homeschooling program in the 80s called Doing Education Better (DEBS) and has consulted on the development of several charter schools. She is the founder of Literacy First Charter School, which has been serving families in East San Diego County for over 23 years. Additionally, Beyer has served on several nonprofit boards.
Beyer has served as the director for San Diego and Imperial Counties for Concerned Women for America, as well as serving on its National Board of Directors. She was a founding member of College Area Pregnancy Services, addressing the needs of women in crisis pregnancies. Beyer has also contributed internationally, conducting teacher training and program development in Mexico, Central America, and Ecuador, focusing on empowering local communities. Beyer holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education with a Minor in Spanish from New Mexico State University and a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from San Diego.
Mary Mancera
SVP, Industry Relations, LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance
Mary Mancera has 20 years of experience in the diverse real estate arena, working with the Hispanic and LGBTQ+ populations. Before co-founding the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, she spent six years leading business development for the National Association of Gay & Lesbian Real Estate Professionals after a decade as a strategic advisor for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
Mancera has a proven track record for driving strategic partnerships and building national brands within the nonprofit and private sectors. Before launching her consulting firm Phase Two Communications in 2003, she headed marketing, PR, and advertising for The Upper Deck Company and spearheaded employee communications at a subsidiary of Bank of America.
Mancera has a Bachelor's degree in Journalism with a minor in Marketing from San Diego State University.
Adriana Tortajada Narvaez
CEO & Managing Partner, 1200 VC
Adriana Tortajada CEO and Managing Partner of 1200 VC, an early-stage investment platform investing in fund managers and founders shaping the future of humanity.
At 1200 VC, Tortajada leads the management and long-term direction of the firm while managing relationships with LP investors, funds, government, and companies for collective value creation and the firm's overall development.
Over the past decade, Tortajada has pioneered the design and launch of public and private programs promoting the entrepreneurial and venture capital ecosystem across the US and Latin American regions to trigger cross-border opportunities. She is recognized as a leading woman in the private markets across Latin America. She is a Kauffman Fellow Class 16.
Vanessa Hunter
COO, The Higdon Group
A direct sales industry veteran, Vanessa Hunter is the current Chief Operating Officer for The Higdon Group, a global social media, marketing, and personal development training company based in Naples, Florida.
Hunter has over 25 years of experience in the direct selling and network marketing industry. With a proven track record of sales growth and operational efficiency, Hunter’s experience in business operations, leading high-performance sales teams, executing effective marketing strategies, field leadership training, and strategic business development is instrumental in executing the company’s goal of achieving greater global impact and brand awareness.
Before this appointment, Hunter held various C-suite positions within the industry for over 20 years and served various clients as the CEO of her own company, The Brand Muse Creative Marketing, established in 2017. Her results-driven, people-centric leadership style has unified high-performance teams and facilitated rapid revenue growth for several global companies.
Emily Schell
Executive Director, California Global Education Project
Emily Schell is the Executive Director of the California Global Education Project, one of nine discipline-specific networks that comprise the California Subject Matter Project. She leads the statewide office at the University of San Diego in the Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education at the School of Leadership and Educational Sciences.
Schell is a former elementary and secondary teacher and principal, as well as a district Social Studies Resource Teacher at San Diego Unified; K-12 History-Social Science Coordinator at the San Diego County Office of Education; liaison at the National Geographic Education Foundation; and preservice instructor at the San Diego State University’s School of Teacher Education. She serves on the Executive Committee of the California Environmental Literacy Initiative and the Steering Committee for the Climate Change and Environmental Justice Project, and she leads the California Global Education Network. She is an author and presenter, contributing to professional journals, blogs, curricula, and conferences. Schell is a Royal Canadian Geographical Society Fellow, HundrED Ambassador, and California Council for the Social Studies awardee (Ruth Delzell Service & Hilda Taba Leadership), and she was named one of the Top 100 Visionaries in Education by the Global Forum for Education and Learning in 2021.
Schell earned her BA in diversified liberal arts and EdD in Education Leadership at the University of San Diego and her MS in journalism at Northwestern University.
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Tracy Dixon-Salazar
Executive Director, Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) Foundation
Dixon-Salazar is a neuroscientist, geneticist, patient advocate, and Executive Director of the LGS Foundation. She did her PhD and postdoctoral work at UC San Diego, where she studied the mechanisms of brain development and synaptic plasticity, identified genetic causes of rare diseases in children, and researched precision therapeutics in stem cell and animal models of pediatric brain disease.
Her desire to get her PhD was inspired by her daughter, who developed uncontrolled epilepsy at the age of 2, which then evolved into the rare disease Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) by the age of five. During her research tenure, and after 16 years of watching daily, unrelenting seizures in her child, she uncovered the genetic driver of her daughter’s illness and identified a novel precision therapy that improved her child's life.
Dixon-Salazar has nearly 30 years of nonprofit leadership and advocacy experience, where she emphasizes the importance of targeting both the causes and symptoms of disease, spearheads efforts to make genomic sequencing available and understandable to patients and families, communicates the individual and collective patient experience to professionals, and seeks to reshape the future of medicine so others in rare disease may go further, faster.
Char Ekoniak
Owner/Broker, Coastal Rock Realty
Char Ekoniak is a Broker and the Owner of Coastal Rock Realty. Her tenacity and results-driven approach stem from her passion for providing her clients with a positive and memorable real estate experience. As a driven Southern California native, Ekoniak built a boutique brokerage whose core focus is providing the best level of representation to a diverse range of clientele.
After graduating from CSU Long Beach with a BA in communications, Ekoniak quickly learned that communication is key to any successful business relationship. She made her way down to San Diego from Huntington Beach when she married her husband, now retired Navy SEAL. Like many others who get a taste of America’s Finest City, they decided it would be their forever home and no better place than to raise their son.
In 2009, her leadership skills and business acumen led her to create Coastal Rock Realty. Her prior success in the industry made other agents gravitate to her brokerage, and the company and its culture have been thriving ever since. Now servicing San Diego and Orange County, the brokerage continues to grow. Her interest in real estate started from touring model homes and her business background as a small business owner brought the two worlds together. Fast forward to today, Ekoniak has been selling residential real estate for over two decades and has built an award-winning brand that closes high volumes of transactions with grace, integrity, and expertise.
Rachel Fiori
CEO, Masters of Self University
Rachel Fiori MSOT, CEO of Masters of Self University, is a spiritual leader, psychic healer, and divine mystic. She is the lead mystical professor teaching the Mystical Life Coach Certification program at MSU. At Masters of Self University, they understand that every journey is unique, which is why they offer different resources tailored to meet each individual at their current stage of personal discovery and growth. Their suite of tools, from immersive online courses and interactive workshops to insightful literature and one-on-one coaching, is designed to support, guide, and enrich journeys towards self-mastery.
Fiori utilizes the principles of spiritual psychology, as well as her gift of divine sight, with her clients. She can perceive the unperceivable and can see the deep truth of any situation, which makes her the best in her field at doing “shadow work.” Her genius is the ability to psychically “see” the root causes of struggles and energetically alchemize those subconscious programs within, so they no longer exist.
Fiori’s wisdom of transformational healing, energetic alchemy, her methods, and her reputation are unprecedented. She is the key to opening people’s multidimensional, or enlightened consciousness. She does this by using the Universal Ways of Oneness that the universe has gifted to Fiori to activate enlightened consciousness within humans and are the Ways meant to lead them into the New Golden Age of Harmony. Fiori is the only spiritual teacher in the world who channels and heals with the Universal Ways of Oneness.
Julie Danielson
Founder & CEO, SD Visual Productions
Julie Danielson is the Founder and CEO of SD Visual Productions with over 15 years of experience developing and executing marketing strategies. SD Visual Productions was founded in 2009 in San Diego, California. The events, visual displays, and marketing strategies SDVP produces appeal to an array of corporate and charitable clients. All clients, large or small, appreciate the comprehensive quality and detailed designs this boutique firm produces, which has resulted in rapid growth for the company.
Before joining SD Visual Productions, Danielson was an owner and designer at Juju Bee Couture. Before that, she was a regional director at Fashion Group International of San Diego, Inc. Earlier in her career, she worked with Ir2 - Interior Resource, Inc. as a design assistant and event coordinator. Danielson has co-chaired the Fashion Group International Style Awards, Night of Stars gala, as well as the Celebrating Couture fundraiser presented by the Globe Guilders and featuring fashion designers Monique Lhuillier and Naeem Khan.
Danielson is a former regional director for the Fashion Group International of San Diego, Inc., and she has been an advisory board member for Rady Children's Hospital and the San Diego Symphony. She also served on boards for the San Diego Humane Society, the Old Globe Theater, and the San Diego Mesa City College Fashion Department. Danielson graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University with an undergraduate degree in fashion merchandising/ business administration.
Lamar Rutherford
CEO/Visionary, Excellens Solutions
Lamar has been an M&A advisor/business broker over the last 12 years, advising 100’s of business sales, often involving high levels of complexity, and in a wide range of industries. She prides herself on getting the best value for her clients and finding the right buyer so the business continues successfully.
She has started, managed, and sold several of her own businesses, been a business leader for large corporations including Nestle, Disney, Arthur Andersen & Co., and Belmond, a 5-star luxury hotel collection, and taught entrepreneurship for eight years at UCSD's Rady School of Management.
She holds a Dartmouth MBA, is a former CPA, and completed the CEPA (Certified Exit Planning Advisor) training. She is also a published author, having recently published the fiction novel "CodeY". She also co-founded Epiphany! an event fostering community and growth among professionals that raises funds for sex-trafficked victims.
Ali Selbo
Strategic Account Director, Oracle CX Advertising & Marketing, Oracle
Ali Selbo is a marketing technology leader with over 15 years of progressive experience in SaaS marketing technology and revenue growth. Beginning her career in marketing overseeing revenue operations, Selbo has a unique ability to drive new business acquisitions and positive digital transformation business outcomes.
Selbo thrives as an individual contributor and left her previous leadership role to pursue an enterprise sales role with Oracle's most strategic customers helping other marketing leaders evangelize the way they go to market. She is passionate about marketing technology and has an excellent track record of partnering with organizations to reach next-level growth. She is a collaborative leader and thoughtful in her approach to effective problem-solving, focused on forming trusted partnerships.
Those who know her will tell you her passion runs deep, and her energy is contagious. In her spare time, she's an investor and advisor in several consumer product goods and SaaS-based companies. She is also devoted to women's empowerment and supporting the VP of training and development at the Junior League of San Diego. Selbo was at the forefront of evolving the JLSD's training curriculum and building a network of partnerships with local businesses, executives, and coaches to further expand on JLSD's mission to empower, develop, and promote women's civic leadership in the Greater San Diego community. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, CA, she holds an undergraduate degree in business administration from Sonoma State University.
Ana Padilla
VP & Senior Business Growth Strategy Consultant, Wells Fargo & Co.
Ana Padilla is a Vice President at Wells Fargo serving as a Senior Business Growth Strategy Consultant for the Home Lending Diverse Segments group. Acting as a diverse segment subject matter expert in this role, Padilla works through internal and external partnerships and strategic alliances to advance homeownership, serving diverse customers and underserved communities. She is responsible for a disciplined approach to developing and executing strategies focused on helping households successfully achieve and sustain the dream of homeownership.
Padilla has over 20 years of combined experience in sales, including B2B, B2C, business development, marketing, public relations, and consulting. Before her current role, she was a home mortgage consultant serving an array of clients across the diversity and economic spectrum. She is passionate about empowering others through homeownership, especially in diverse communities.
As a philanthropist and community advocate, Padilla serves currently as the marketing director for the NAHREP San Diego Chapter, is part of the AREAA Corporate Advisory Council, and has been nominated for the San Diego Reinvestment Task Force (RTF) as an Alternate Commissioner. Padilla is a San Diego State University alum, holding an undergraduate degree in international business with a triple emphasis in marketing, Spanish, and Latin America.
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Ann Chaplin
General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Qualcomm
Ann Chaplin is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Qualcomm Incorporated. In this role, Chaplin serves as a member of the executive leadership team with global responsibility for all Legal operations and functions. She has broad experience across the legal, technology, and business spectrum, as well as litigation and transactional matters, intellectual property law and management, corporate law, and governance. Most recently, she has served as corporate secretary and deputy general counsel for General Motors (GM).
While at GM, Chaplin assisted in the overall management of the legal department, overseeing corporate governance, advising on product and technology transformation initiatives, managing the interface with the board of directors, leading the securities team, and advising on ESG initiatives. She directly managed many areas across GM’s legal operations at various times, including the litigation of thousands of cases ranging from class actions to complex product litigation, antitrust, IP, securities, and multidistrict matters. She also resolved complex regulatory issues and investigations; managed the IP portfolio, including patent, trademark, copyright filings and maintenance, and trade secret protection; and served as chief compliance officer for North America while providing oversight for compliance functions worldwide. Additionally, Chaplin led the legal team responsible for M&A and strategic transactions and supported global supply chain and purchasing operations, as well as employment and labor matters.
Before GM, Chaplin was a partner at Fish & Richardson, where she managed the firm’s litigation practice group and focused on patent, trade secret, trademark, and copyright litigation. She was a member of the firm’s management committee and led its Minneapolis office. She earned her JD from Harvard Law School and her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Chaplin is admitted to practice in Minnesota and registered in-house counsel in California.
Lisa Marie Knight
COO, Engage Youth Co.
Lisa Marie Knight is a passionate leader, advisor, and mentor at Engage Youth Co., a creative agency in North County, San Diego, California, since 2018. Knight has spent the last over 20 years managing and redefining processes and procedures, working with a multitude of different types and levels of professionals. Knight bridges the space between the execution of strategy and business operations by aligning and overseeing the managed research and creative campaigns by maintaining a foundation for scale and growth. In addition to her passion for mentoring and developing strong leaders, she emphasizes high-quality collaboration company-wide. She ensures all aspects of customer service care, project and productivity funnel improvements, payer operations, and contracting services by creating a smooth organizational operating rhythm.
A tenured professional, Knight has managed teams for previous clients, such as Adobe, Constellation Brands, and Spartan, as well as for clients in the TV_Y television program space, youth esports, youth-focused mental health, GenZ political campaigns to get out the vote, education, and nonprofits for the protection of youth social engagement. Her US and international team created a cause campaign, where Engage Youth Co. started from scratch with brand identity creation, strategy, and implementation to create awareness and tools for youth digital safety. Another example of managing teams across different time zones is in the science and education arena, where Engage Youth Co. launched the client's social education channel with a video production that includes experiments that wow and excite youth! These great campaigns were executed with a company culture that includes enthusiasm for the process and a focus on high-quality client experiences.
Knight graduated from Touro University, in a COAMFTE-accredited program, with a double Master's degree, summa cum laude, in December 2022. She is adding the title, in addition to her title of COO as an associate therapist. Knight believes you are never too old to learn and plans on utilizing her new title to enhance youth mentorship programs, as well as continue cultivating and leading Engage Youth Co.’s collaborative local and international working environments.
Morgan Reno
Director, Cushman & Wakefield
Morgan Reno currently represents landlords on 3 million square feet of Class A and B offices in Downtown and Central San Diego. Some of her key landlord clients include Lebeau Realty, UBS, Casey Brown Company, Westbrook Partners, DivcoWest, Manchester Financial Group, Highbrook Partners, Ocean West, Cypress Office Properties, HP Investors, and more. Reno also represents multiple corporate tenant accounts throughout San Diego, including Deloitte, Bank of America, PAR Technology Corporation, and AARP.
As the daughter of the largest locally-owned general contractor in San Diego, Reno was fortunate to grow up on her father’s job sites, including DiamondView Tower and Kilroy Center Del Mar, which is, where her affinity for office and biotech projects began. Beginning her career in brokerage with Cushman & Wakefield in 2016, Reno has risen to the top as one of only a handful of female office brokers in San Diego County.
She has represented and/or transacted with some of the most impactful companies in San Diego who have played a large part in the corporate ecosystem and shaped the skyline of San Diego, including Illumina, Torrey Pines Bank, Arrowhead Insurance, Alliant, and major tech and biotech companies, and more.
Shiloh Swanson
VP & Director of Strategy, Sales, and Business Development, Stantec
Shiloh Swanson is a Vice President and Director of Strategy, Sales, and Business Development for Stantec’s Water Business Line. Swanson has 30 years of business development, sales, and marketing experience. She joined Stantec in 2019 after managing and/or leading major campaigns for most of ENR’s Top 10 Engineering firms, including Stantec (formerly MWH), AECOM, URS, Jacobs/CH2MHill, CDM, HDR, TetraTech, Black & Veatch, and Brown and Caldwell.
Over the last decade, Swanson has managed and led strategic growth strategies and major business-changing campaigns, and she coached interview teams on over $1 billion in contracted wins and personally holds a 90% win rate in the last 24 months. She is a Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) Fellow and a Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM), and she regularly provides training on various aspects of sales, business development, and marketing for SMPS.
View the complete list of awardees.