Brendan Smith is Co-Founder and CEO of Raw Botanics. In his role, he is responsible for day-to-day operations, product development and ensuring the brand’s products align with the brand’s authentic and transparent strategy and vision. A life-long entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Smith brings…
Larissa D’Andrea is the Founder of Hard Knock Productions LLC (HKP) and Art into Activism (501c3). With a passion for art and entertainment, she founded the social impact organization in 2020 with a focus on investing in art that inspires activism to create a positive, inclusive, and innovative environment; and…
Dr. Barry Lall is the founder, president and chief executive officer of Pinnacle Hotels USA, a hotel management company headquartered in San Diego, California. What started with the purchase of a small 12-room motor lodge has today grown to an operation managing nearly 1,800 rooms and seven restaurants across nine…
For 30 years, Jason Hughes has been a leader in leasing and purchase negotiations. His work on behalf of clients in his native San Diego, across the West Coast, and nationally has played a transformational role in the commercial real estate industry. In addition, his legislative work has helped to strengthen…
Sean Evans has been a serial entrepreneur practically his whole life. His first company was started during his second year of attending business school in Oregon. Sean sold that business and leveraged the profits from the sale to move to the warmth of Southern California – all at the age…
David Malcolm is a real estate expert with over four decades of work experience. Since earning his real estate license while still in high school, he has managed numerous complex real estate, development, and financial transactions. He earned his real estate broker’s license in 1974 and later graduated from Harvard…
A UC San Diego alumni and second generation Latina, Alexa-Rae Navarro is the Executive Director of Startup San Diego, the official non-profit supporting the San Diego startup ecosystem. Prior to running Startup San Diego, she spent the last eight years in Los Angeles working at the intersection of tech, corporate,…
Few can claim to be as hard-working and successful in two vastly different industries at the same time as Javid Javdani. After moving to the US in 1982 in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, Javdani worked relentlessly as a young man out of high school to make ends meet…
Patrick Frank is the Co-Founder and COO of PatientPartner. This health technology platform enhances the patient experience for surgical candidates by pairing them with a “surgery mentor” who has been through the same procedure. Recently named Forbes “30 Under 30” in consumer technology, Patrick has spent his entire career scaling…
Dr. April Moreno is an entrepreneur and nonprofit founder with a PhD in public health and informatics. She works as a business consultant in strategic planning, implementation and health IT patient/user experience. She the founder and CEO of the Autoimmune Community Institute, dedicated to autoimmune health equity in research, advocacy,…