The 40 Under 40 Honorees

As part of the Generations in the Workplace special report, we present this year’s 40 Under 40 honorees chosen from a nominee base of more than100. The Business Journal decided to feature the honorees differently this year — by portraying them using their own words. We asked them to respond to one simple question. Here are their answers to the question: What Is The Secret To Your Professional Success? Jeremy Barbakow, 36Senior Vice President, NAI Capital “To quote the movie Jerry Maguire, ‘We work in a business of tough competitors.’ I am more than aware of this fact and committed to be the benchmark by which all others in my industry strive to emulate. My key to success as a commercial real estate broker involves having a well defined business plan constructed from core values, not dollar signs. It is important to look at the big picture, giving equal consideration to long term goals, as well as the immediate business in hand. I believe it is important to make myself immediately available to my clients, so much so that I forward all incoming calls to my office directly to my cellular phone. There are several new real estate related online sites and listing databases that are not customarily used by a majority of my competitors that I have found to be excellent marketing tools, which include: OfficeFinder.com; BuildingSearch.com C-rex.org; Craigslist.com; Rofo.com; and Facebook.com. Geoffrey Berlin, 27Asst. Vice President/Relationship Manager, Comerica Bank Wealth & Institutional Management “Effective listening. Over my career I have defined my work by having my clients’ best interests at heart. My strong moral and family values are prevalent in each client interaction and have led to loyalty, trust, and ultimately great success in my practice. As an advisor, I don’t know how I can help a client or what financial solutions are right for them until I have listened to their story. I will ask questions, and listen again. It is ultimately my job to craft solutions and make suggestions that are uniquely appropriate to the situation of that individual client, leading to the realization of their goals. When you have learned to master this art, and I am still evolving in this process every day, your business will thrive.” Kellie Bernell, 39Regional Sales Manager, CIGNA “In my opinion, success is a blend of personal and professional maturity. I believe my success — or growth — has been a result of risk taking, humility, and most importantly finding what I love to do. I followed sound advice early in my career, ‘Don’t box yourself into a single line of business.’ Over the years I have diversified my skills, which has given me the ability to differentiate myself from my peers, while providing added value to the companies I have represented. I recently returned to insurance after a year of trying something new. During that year, my heart was broken. I realized that my insurance career was where I belonged. I have since returned with an even greater appreciation for my industry and a desire to achieve more, helping my very valued colleagues and friends succeed.” Hershee Cajigal, 32Director of Respiratory TherapyEncino Hospital Medical Center “I believe that as a leader, it is important to understand the organizational goals of the institution. It is imperative to create a strategy that will deliver results. Communication and active interaction with the staff is essential in gaining each and everyone’s trust and loyalty. I believe in the saying that ‘A good leader is a good listener.’ A good leader is also one who is open to constructive criticisms, adoptable to changes and is constantly willing to learn new trends and skills. Furthermore, to achieve a goal, it is vital to have a constant and consistent positive reinforcement to the employees accompanied by the necessary tools and training they need. In essence, it is inclusive to say that the need to cultivate a culture is of great magnitude where at the end of the day, the ownership and responsibility in the institution transcends down to the lowest level of the organization.” Lewis Chappelear, 38IMPACT Coordinator, Monroe High School “As an educator, I teach my students about the world around them and give them the tools, knowledge, and skills necessary to become productive adults. I make a difference in my students’ lives by showing them kindness, understanding, and empathy. I always greet my students at the door, shake their hands, and welcome them to our wonderful classroom. The key to my success is that I am determined to make our community a better place to live.” Jenny Daniels Freese, 34Director of Development, Valley Village “I know I can do it if I want to – it’s pushing through that takes perseverance. In the end, I’m proud of the work that I’ve done. I like making a difference in a project and I strive to elevate the level of any project that I work on. I always want to be able to look back on the things that I’ve accomplished and not have any regrets.” Kevin Durkin, 36Account Executive, LBW Insurance and Financial Services “In his inaugural speech in 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ At the time, FDR was referring to the poor economic conditions during The Great Depression. I have used this famous quote in my life as a simple motivational step to take risks without fearing rejection. I realized that being over-dependent on the affirmation of others inhibited my professional success. I still refer to this quote today for self-discipline. It helps me continue to step out of my comfort zone and achieve goals in my work and personal life that I set for myself.” Lindsay Fontaine, 25Media Buyer, Inter/Media Advertising “The secret to my professional success is that I am always true to myself. I make it a point to take every obstacle in stride and do so with a positive attitude.N ever let the little things get in the way of the big picture. Also, having a good work ethic and a respect for others is crucial. I am always available to do whatever task is put in front of me, no matter who is asking.” Leon Gendelman, 34Partner, Kirsch Kohn & Bridge LLP “There is no ‘secret’ to my success. I believe that anyone who works hard and approaches his or her career in a forward-thinking and professional manner has the potential to be successful. I worked hard in college and continued that approach once I entered the working world. I was fortunate enough to join Kirsch Kohn & Bridge (KKB) one year after graduating college. Together we have been able to mesh our relationship-based approach to servicing clients.” Rich Hernandez, 35Senior Vice President, California United Bank “Two words summarize my business philosophy: customer service. While it is easy to say that one is dedicated to serving the needs of the customer, I have attempted to exemplify it on a daily basis. My customers know that I am always available, via phone, e-mail, or in person and willing to go the extra mile to see that their needs are met.” Frank Frias, 34Director of MBA Recruitment, Woodbury University “Working in a field where you are selling an intangible product such as education, success in the profession is not a mere number on the company’s balance sheet, rather it is measured by the impact you make in the world by helping individuals realize their dreams. With that said, the secret to my professional success is rather quite simple… lead by example, always exceed expectations, conduct self-assessments of yourself, strive for continuous innovation, and most importantly… approach each client with an open and genuine heart. A renowned and distinguished graduate professor once posed this question, ‘Why do you suppose the ‘I’ in the word ‘business’ is silent? It is silent because in order to be a successful business leader, you must always put the needs of your clients before your own.’” Clark Hill, 28Broker /Manager, REO Department, Century 21 “Be excellent. Or as my mom used to say ‘Do the best that you can do.’ This is essential because your clients will always notice effort and a job well done. Clients will appreciate it and continue to send business your way, but it’s also necessary in order to feel successful and maintain a healthy mindset. Both are required for a successful business practice. If you are excellent at your job, everything else will fall into place professionally, regardless of background, education, type of business, and yes, even age.” Luis Garibay, 29Senior Redevelopment Project Coordinator, City of Lancaster “My philosophy is simple. It is the little things that can truly make a big difference. I am constantly looking for ways to improve and develop my skills. It has been this attention to detail that has helped me achieve some professional success. I have also been very fortunate to have some great mentors and a very loving and supportive wife. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to achieve any personal or professional success.” Debbie Holbrook, 34Yield Management Marketing Analyst, Princess Cruises “One word, balance. From family and friends, to work and community activism, ensuring that all of these important parts of my life are constantly growing and prospering, I find success and satisfaction all around. This balance especially comes in handy when one area of my life may be more hectic and busy than others. Being able to pull positivity from those other less hectic areas, helps me tackle challenges that may arise.” Tim Gaspar, 28Owner, Gaspar Insurance “First and foremost, I don’t really view myself as someone who has achieved ‘success.’ I have a goal in my mind as what success would mean to me and every year my definition of that matures and grows somewhat. I do think however that there is an essentially ingredient to being successful although I certainly hope it’s not a secret. I think the greatest thing one can do to become successful is to help others be successful. By helping and encouraging others to achieve their own dreams, one inevitably creates the positive energy necessary to succeed on their own. Nobody in this world achieves success in a vacuum, it is only by the support of family, friends, supporters,, employees, clients and sometimes blind luck that some are able to achieve their own dreams and become successful. By helping those in your life become successful, one day you’ll wake up surrounded by successful people that have the motivation to help you with your dreams as much as you have helped them.” Chip Humphries, 35Vice President, Merrill Lynch “I can attribute my professional success to a few key factors. First of all is having excellent and loyal clients and other professional advisors that act as advocates for our services and asset management. Success comes from creating deep and meaningful relationships with people that go beyond financial services to become essential partners to them in life. Being a trusted intergenerational wealth management advisor and available at all times to our clients for their most important life decisions puts us in a unique class in the financial services field. As a CFP® certificant, a designation awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. and CIMA® we are held to a higher ethical standard and looked at as true trusted advisors and that level of integrity is highly desirable particularly in this environment.” Justin Kendrick, 28Associate Administrator, Lancaster Community Hospital “Positive mentorship and preparation. I have been blessed as an early careerist to work for individuals who put their trust in me and have placed me in challenging situations not only to succeed but more importantly to learn and grow. As far as preparation goes, knowledge is power. Taking a few extra moments to prepare with the appropriate information has often garnered respect and trust from individuals far sooner than I would normally expect.” Jason Krischer, 39Financial Advisor – Certified Financial PlannerUBS Financial Services Inc. “Listening, integrity and attention to detail. Our clients come to us with very private goals and issues. By listening and developing a clear and detailed financial plan, we are able to prioritize and ensure client goals are met. Being a trusted advisor is a privilege and something I do not take for granted. By focusing on client interests on a daily basis, I’ve built a solid foundation for serving my clients well. I am also fortunate to have experienced partners, a great family and circle of friends, and tremendous resources at UBS, all of which permit me to achieve professional success. I am very lucky.” Jill Longo, 39Owner, Andy’s Transfer and Storage “I enjoy the variety and challenges in the moving and storage industry. As a small business owner, my daily routine is never the same; I must always be open and ready for things to change. We work hard to create a cohesive, family oriented environment at our company. Our employees, from the salesperson to drivers to office staff, are proud to be a part of our team. Without them, I personally could not succeed in delivering a quality relocation service to our customer base.” Sanford Michelman, 39Founder, Michelman & Robinson LLP “In large part, the secret to my professional success has been a combination of a strong work ethic, being entrepreneurial minded and thinking outside of the box. I founded my own law firm, Michelman & Robinson, LLP at the age of twenty nine based upon a business model of recruiting business generators while operating at a low overhead. Althought this model was foreign to the majority of law firms, I strongly believed that it would be the future of law firms. Today, a little over ten years later, Michelman & Robinson has matured from two partners to a full-service national law firm with thirteen practice groups and six office locations.” Carlos Prado, 35Director of Finance, Sultra Corp. “Through my career I have learned that people are the best resource and most valuable asset any company can have. Therefore, enhancing my managerial and interpersonal skills has been key to my professional development. I have always aimed to build strong and significant relationships with my peers and have seen how investing time and effort helping to coach and develop the professional and technical skills of my teammates not only benefits the organization but also has allowed me to have personal and professional rewards. My focus has always been the team success rather than individual success, for this purpose, creating strong channels of communication has been the key for a healthy team environment.” Marc Rapisardi, 30Principal, S3 Builders “While it is difficult to expand on ‘the secrets to my professional success’ in today’s economic times, I believe that certain core values hold true and weather all storms. I stand firmly behind the notion that passion drives success. In all avenues, ventures, and relationships throughout life true success is cultivated by the unbridled vigor and tenacity that only passion can provoke. I have been blessed to have found my passion early on in my professional life as well as my personal life. The other attribute that runs concurrently with passion is the ability to surround oneself with others that share a common vision and culture. It is said that true leadership is the ability to have others share a vision and work towards a common goal.” Joe Ravens, 30VP and South Valley Metro District ManagerWells Fargo San Fernando Valley Community Bank “The secret to professional success is people. I am extremely fortunate to work for an organization that understands that people are our competitive advantage. Helping my team develop and have the opportunity to do what they do best everyday, allows us to focus efforts on our clients and helping them succeed. When my team is successful, our customers are successful. I truly believe an engaged team makes the difference in the quest for success.” Kurt Rayners, 35Vice President, Operations, Regency Enterprises Inc. “The greatest attribute to my success as a leader is the ability to develop team members in both skill and leadership balanced with my innate desire to remain teachable. Leaders are created by people who desire to follow and emulate them, therefore I have focused my career on enhancing my scholastic education and developing an arena to acquire diverse business experiences. The latter affords me the opportunity to pass on my learning to executive peers and business teams and immerse myself in learning opportunities. People are not our biggest asset, they are people, and as leaders we must develop our people so they can build the assets of our firms.” Daymond Rice, 36Chairman, VICA/Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations, Vons “My primary commitment is to produce a consistent, quality work product. Second, as a public affairs/government relations professional, who engages with external publics, a strong sense of self-awareness is important – to see yourself through the eyes of your peers. Finally, a dedication toward constant improvement is vital for both professional and personal success.” Tracey Rosen, 33 President/CEO, Productivity Public Relations “I believe that the secret to my professional success is embracing change and new opportunities. Rather than reinventing our company, our services and our clients, I focus on evolution. Whether it’s evolving to embrace (or react to) consumer trends, the economy, new technologies, social networking, or the political climate – I step back to analyze how a particular event may affect my firm or our clients and then determine the best course of action while looking at the larger picture and not losing attention to the details.” Claudia Sheridan, 37President, California Jaycees “The secret to professional success is passion and confidence. It’s finding something that you truly believe in and believing that no matter what, you can make this happen. I am very fortunate that I’ve come across many things that I am passionate about in my life. And I am even more fortunate that I have obtained the knowledge, established the relationship(s) and have been able to dedicate the time to make things happen. Anyone who follows this formula is bound to be successful.” Stephanie Skrbin, 32Associate, Lee & Associates-L.A. North/Ventura Inc. “The secret to my success is rather simple: For me, a real estate brokerage assignment is more than a transaction. As a student, I became very interested in consumer psychology and how it affects brand building and business growth overall. So as I work with clients seeking retail locations, I don’t just consider their size and location requirements. I consider who their customer is, their business goals and their branding objectives. Adding these components to the mix of criteria helps them to focus in on the selection process and choose a location that will enhance their business. By bringing needed products and services to a neighborhood they also impact the community in a very positive way.” Joshua Spitz, 34Vice President, Employee BenefitsUSI of Southern California Insurance Services “A key secret to my professional success has always been to maintain high integrity. In sales, integrity delineates the winners and the losers. The seduction of closing the deal often lures businesspeople to take moral shortcuts. In the end, shortcuts will always deter you from your intended destination. I have always stayed away from cheating or lying, and never compromise the truth. I stick to my promises, and always admit to my mistakes. A former mentor of mine said, ‘With integrity, you either get an A or an F’. His words have stuck with me throughout my entire career, and I like to think that so far, I’ve been an A student.” Deborah Sweeney, 35CEO, MyCorporation Business Services Inc. “A fundamental law of human achievement is the law of belief. My secret to professional success is my belief in myself. From as early as I can recall, I believed in myself – it’s not that I was specifically taught ‘believe in yourself,’ but rather, that it’s just a way of life. If you behave in a manner consistent with the belief that you will be successful, success will be the outcome.” Neal Thurman, 33Director of Park Operations, Six Flags Magic Mountain “The secret to my professional success is people. I have always surrounded myself with strong leaders who are passionate, self motivated, positive, and often smarter. My senior staff at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor is a good example of a solid team. I have a staff that I can trust to provide me with excellent feedback, and I know they are fully engaged and focused on making a positive impact on the guest experience at our parks each and every day.” Mike Tonthat, 39Tax Partner, Hedman Partners “Work hard with integrity and listen and learn from those around you. In my opinion, public accounting doesn’t give you a choice when it comes to working hard. No secret really. Everyone works hard, however exceeding job requirements and client’s expectations while maintaining a high level of integrity will hopefully lead to a rewarding result for everyone. Without a doubt, I work with and encounter individuals on a daily basis who are smarter than I am. Particularly at our firm, I am the beneficiary of being surrounded by the current partner group here at Hedman Partners and am fortunate to learn from and be a part of the collective successes we’ve created.” Kelly Turner, 36CFO/Sr. Vice President, Glendale Adventist Medical Center “I have been successful because I know my life’s purpose and have been blessed with opportunities to act on that purpose. I find the mission of my employer to be energizing and inspiring, and am surrounded by like-minded, high-performing individuals who work together collaboratively, and with mutual trust. It is a recipe for personal and organizational success.” Christina Vega-Fowler, 32Vice President, Casa Vega The secret to success is to stay true to what you know. For me, that means respecting and honoring the history of Casa Vega while always trying to improve the experience for our customers. My father, Ray Vega, is an incredible businessman who has taught me every aspect of running a restaurant. For three generations my family has owned and operated restaurants in L.A. based on the belief that through hard work and staying true to oneself success will follow. Brian Volk-Weiss, 33Head of Production/Sr. Vice President of Talent ManagementNew Wave Entertainment “The secret to my professional success is directly based on fearless pursuit of goals combined with massive amounts of research and guidance from trusted friends. I have been working with the same partner for eleven years which has led to a foundation of trust that is the basis for everything else.” These honorees did not answer the question posed by the Business Journal. Sarah Schecter, 33Vice President-Production, Warner Bros. Larry Wasserman, 34CFO, Dreamworks Studios Sharon Woods, 39President/CEO, ITS-Integrated Telemanagement Services Inc. Daniel Yomtobian, 32CEO/Founder, Advertise.com Pierre Zarokian, 38President/CEO, Submit Express