Friday, September 11, 2009
Recognizing the achievements of these young business and civic leaders in whose hands lie our region’s future is a task we do not take lightly here at San Diego Metropolitan. And it’s one we can’t do alone. We want to thank this year’s judges who made the hard cuts from a number of excellent candidates down to the “Final 40.” This year’s judges — all past 40 Under 40 honorees — are: Cynthia Burke, division director, Criminal Justice Research, SANDAG; Melanie Cruz Walsh, director of development, division of physical sciences, UCSD; Dennis Guseman, Ph.D., dean, College of Business Administration, Cal State San Marcos; Shandon Harbour, president, SDA Security; Adrian Kwiatkowski, director of community and governmental relations, The Monger Company; Lisa Martens, principal, Fish & Richardson P.C.; Louise Torio, owner, Historic San Diego Marketing and Consulting; and Jason Wood, senior vice president, Cisterra Development.
Meet this year’s honorees on the following pages. Better yet, meet and celebrate with them in person on Sept. 18 at a spirited luncheon in their honor at the San Diego Convention Center. We’re also inviting back all the past year’s honorees as we mark a decade of overachievement that has made our region all the richer. It should be quite the networking event.
We’d love for you to join us! Tickets are $75 and the YWCA and its Becky’s House will benefit. Contact Cyndi, Rebeca or Lisa at
(619) 906-4104 for details.
And now…presenting the Class of 2009!
— Kris Grant, Editor
- Hamsa Warfa
Hamse Warfa was born in Somalia. He moved with his family to the United States in 1994, after escaping Somalia’s civil war and spending almost three years living in a refugee camp in Kenya. He attended Crawford High School in San Diego, graduated from San Diego State with a degree in political science and received a Master of Science in Organizational Management and Leadership from Springfield College. Last year, Warfa completed an advanced graduate-level certificate program on the Foundations of Conflict Analysis from the United States Institute of Peace. Now Warfa, 31, is harnessing his life experiences and education to provide technical assistance to refugee-owned businesses. As program officer with Alliance Healthcare Foundation, he manages grants, providing technical assistance to grantees and prospective grantees. Prior to his current position, he spent eight years as Associate Executive Director for Horn of Africa, a refugee assistance organization whose mission is to provide culturally and linguistically relevant services to East African refugees and immigrants. He continues his affiliation with Horn of Africa, as president of the Institute for Horn of Africa Studies and Affairs. And he is the chairperson for the San Diego Refugee Forum, a professional association of organizations and advocates serving all populations fleeing violence and persecution and taking refuge in San Diego.
You can reach Hamse at [email protected] www.ihasa.org