Director of The Year Honorees

LIFETIME LEGACY

Debra L. Reed

Debra L. Reed is executive chairman of Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based Fortune 500 energy services holding company whose subsidiaries provide electricity, natural gas and value-added products and services. Sempra Energy is the utility holding company with the largest U.S. customer base. The Sempra Energy companies’ approximately 20,000 employees serve more than 40 million consumers worldwide.

Reed served as chief executive officer of Sempra Energy from 2011 to 2018, and as president of Sempra Energy from 2017 to 2018.

Prior to that, she was executive vice president of Sempra Energy. From 2006 to 2010, she served as president and chief executive officer of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), Sempra Energy’s regulated California utilities.

From 2004 to 2006, Reed was president and chief operating officer of SDG&E and SoCalGas and, before that, president of SDG&E and chief financial officer of both companies.

She joined SoCalGas in 1978 and became the company’s first female officer 10 years later. During her tenure as CEO, Reed ranked as one of 27 female chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies, and, from 2011 to 2017, she was recognized as one of Fortune magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Business.” Reed also was recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the nation’s most influential female CEOs.

In 2014, the U.S. Secretary of Energy appointed Reed to the National Petroleum Council, a privately funded, federally chartered industry advisory board to the federal government on matters pertaining to oil and natural gas industries.

Reed serves on the boards of directors of Halliburton Co. and Caterpillar Inc. She also is a member of the board of directors of Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC. She is a member of The Business Council and the Business Roundtable, where she serves on the Energy and Environment Committee and the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee. Both associations are composed of chief executive officers of leading U.S. corporations. She is a member of The Trusteeship, an affiliate of the International Women’s Forum. Additionally, she serves on the Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center Board of Trustees and Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego Board of Directors, the board of councilors of the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering and the Chairman’s Competitiveness Council of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, where she formerly served as chair. Previously, she served on the boards of directors of Genentech and Avery Dennison Corp.

Reed graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.

RISING STAR

Oliver “Chip” Brewer

Oliver “Chip” Brewer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Callaway Golf Company, is a proven leader in the golf industry where he has held executive positions since 1998. He has extensive knowledge of all facets of the golf business, particularly in sales, marketing and product development. Brewer assumed his leadership of Callaway Golf on March 5, 2012, arriving with a firm belief in technology-driven products and a track record of increasing market share and shareholder value.

Prior to joining Callaway Golf, Brewer served as CEO of Adams Golf from 2002-2012, where he engineered a turnaround that drove the company to profitability. He was widely credited with transforming Adams from a single-product focus to a diversified brand portfolio. With a clear focus on innovation, Brewer made strategic investments that bolstered the size and success of his product development team.

He first came to Adams Golf as senior vice president of sales and marketing in 1998 and served as President and Chief Operating Officer from August 2000 to January 2012. He was previously vice president of sales and marketing for Mead Corp.’s containerboard division.

Brewer currently serves on the board of directors of Callaway Golf and Topgolf. He previously served on the board of Adams Golf. He also serves on the not-for-profit boards of the National Golf Foundation (having served in various roles including as Chairman in 2016) and San Diego’s own The Legacy charitable foundation.

Brewer has an undergraduate degree in economics from the College of William and Mary, where he played on the golf team, and later earned his MBA from Harvard University.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Bradley H. Feldmann

Bradley H. Feldmann has served as president and chief executive officer of Cubic Corporation since July 2014. Overseeing the operations of Cubic’s three business divisions, Cubic Transportation Systems, Cubic Global Defense and Cubic Mission Solutions, Feldmann implements management and operation processes as well as overall strategic vision for the corporation. He was appointed to the board of directors in May 2014 and was elected as chairman of the board in February 2018.

As president and CEO, Feldmann has led several innovation initiatives, such as the implementation of IdeaSpark – an innovation social ecosystem enabling Cubic employees to solicit and share ideas across the organization. These ideas include the development of new products, improvements to current products or developing solutions to address customer needs. Under Feldmann’s leadership, Cubic took important steps to transform the company’s global IT infrastructure into a scalable, efficient and effective system through the rollout of the Global Enterprise Management (GEM) initiative.

Prior to assuming his role as president and CEO, Feldmann served as the president and chief operating officer as well as the president of the holding companies comprising the Cubic Defense Systems.

Feldmann is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Institute and holds a Master of Business Administration with honors from San Diego State University. He is also a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a top graduate of the USAF Squadron Officer School.

He is an active member of the National Defense Industrial Association, serving as a board member, executive committee member and the finance committee chair.

Feldmann is an executive committee member of the Aerospace Industries Association and is on their Board of Governors. He is also a Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors and serves on the board of UrbanLife as finance committee chair.

In 2017, he was named “Most Admired CEO” by the San Diego Business Journal for his exceptional organizational leadership and was awarded with the Bronze Stevie® Award in the “Executive of the Year” category by the American Business Awards. In 2016, Feldmann also received the Duane Roth Distinguished Contribution Award for Technology by CONNECT for his contributions in elevating San Diego as a global innovation economy.

ENHANCEMENT OF ECONOMIC VALUE

John P. Case

Mr. Case is Chief Executive Officer and Director of Realty Income Corporation, an S&P 500 company that invests primarily in net lease single-tenant retail assets in the United States, a position he has held since 2013. Mr. Case joined Realty Income Corporation in 2010 as Executive Vice President, Chief Investment Officer and served in this capacity until 2013, when he was promoted to President, Chief Investment Officer.

Prior to joining Realty Income, Mr. Case worked as a New York-based real estate investment banker for approximately 20 years where he was responsible for more than $100 billion in real estate capital markets and advisory transactions. He began his investment banking career at Merrill Lynch, where he worked for nearly 15 years, and was named a Managing Director in 2000. Following his tenure at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Case was co-head of Americas Real Estate Investment Banking at UBS and later the co-head of Real Estate Investment Banking for RBC Capital Markets, where he also served on the firm’s Global Investment Banking Management Committee.

Mr. Case currently serves on the Board of Directors of Duke Realty Corporation (NYSE: DRE) and is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Washington and Lee University. In addition, Mr. Case is extensively involved in the broader real estate industry, serving on the Executive Board of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), The President’s Council of the Real Estate Roundtable, and as a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, NOT-FOR-PROFIT BOARD

RADM Ronne Froman Blue

Rear Admiral Ronne Froman is a no-nonsense efficiency expert who has succeeded in traditionally male environments. As a change agent, her careers have spanned military, public, private and nonprofit businesses.

Ronne served in the United States Navy for 31 years, and retired a 2-star Admiral. In her last Navy job, she was the director of Ashore Readiness for the Chief of Naval Operations, responsible for nearly 90 Navy stations and bases around the world with a $7 billion dollar budget.

After retirement, she joined the San Diego Unified
 School District as the chief of business operations. 
Next as the CEO of the San Diego Imperial Counties Chapter of the American Red Cross, she was instrumental in restoring the confidence in the floundering Chapter during and after the horrendous Southern California wildfires. In 2005, Ronne became the first chief operating officer for the City of San Diego at a time when the City was facing both financial and leadership challenges. After that she was senior vice president for the energy group of General Atomics, managing 300 scientists and engineers who are industry leaders in advanced energy research and development.

In 2011/2012 she was CEO of Monarch School Project, a K-12 school for homeless in downtown San Diego. Ronne has also been the CEO/Chair of REBOOT a veterans transition program. She is the Chair of the USS Midway Museum Board, serves on the US Bank Advisory Board and Zero8Hundred, a veterans transition program. She has served on the Monarch School Board and as a Presidential appointee to the Board of Visitors of the Naval Academy.

She has received numerous awards, including both the Defense and Navy Distinguished Service Medals, Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania, LEAD San Diego Visionary Award, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Spirit of San Diego, San Diego Magazine Woman of the Year, Girls Scouts Cool Woman, and San Diego Business Journal Woman Who Mean Business and CEO of the Year, to name a few.

Throughout her career Ronne Froman has been a leader–a person who, through her own example, has provided inspiration to others, encouraging them be the very best that they can be. How did she do it? Building teams, empowering her people, employing collaborative management practices, and understanding the customer.

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COMPANIES IN TRANSITION

Tina S. Nova, PhD

Dr. Nova is currently President and CEO of a San Diego-based molecular diagnostic company, Molecular Stethoscope, Inc. The company is focused on circulating cell-free messenger RNA from blood as a liquid biopsy biomarker for the assessment of specific organ health and disease. Most recently, she was the SVP and GM of Illumina’s Oncology Business Unit. From 2000 to 2014, she was co-founder, Director, President & CEO of Genoptix Medical Laboratory which was purchased by Novartis Pharmaceuticals in 2011. She has also held senior technical and managerial positions at three additional biotechnology companies including Nanogen, Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Hybritech over her thirty-year biotechnology career.

Dr. Nova currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of two public companies Arena Pharmaceuticals, and Veracyte. She is also Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Rady Children’s Hospital Pediatric Genomics and System’s Medicine Institute. Formerly, she served for four years as a member of Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee supporting the California Stem Cell Initiative, Proposition 71 where she was appointed by the Lt. Governor of California, as a life science sector representative. Dr. Nova is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Life Science recipient and an Athena Pinnacle Award Winner. She was the recipient of the prestigious Athena Chairman’s Award for Lifetime Achievement, and was named one of the Top 10 Women in Biotech by FierceBiotech.

Dr. Nova holds a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine where she graduated with honors, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Riverside. She did her post-doctorate fellowship in the Departments of Dermatology and Ophthalmology at New York University Medical Center. She has published, holds several scientific patents and has lectured over her tenure.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Jim Blair, PhD

Jim has been a partner of Domain since its inception in 1985. Jim has more than 45 years of experience with venture and emerging growth companies.

In the course of his experience, he has been involved in the creation and successful development at the board level of more than 40 life sciences ventures, including Amgen, Aurora Biosciences, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Applied Biosystems, Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Dura Pharmaceuticals, GeneOhm Sciences, Molecular Dynamics, NuVasive, Pharmion and Volcano. Present board memberships include aTyr Pharma, Axial Biotherapeutics, ChromaCode, Clovis Oncology and Ocunexus Therapeutics. Jim also serves as CEO and a director of Gene Sciences.

Prior to Domain, Jim was a former managing director of Rothschild Inc., where he was directly involved at a senior level with Rothschild/New Court venture capital activities. Previous to that, he was associated with F.S. Smithers and Co. and White, Weld and Co., two investment banking firms actively involved with new ventures and emerging growth companies. Jim was an engineering manager with RCA Corporation, during which time he received the David Sarnoff Fellowship. He received his BSE from Princeton University and his MSE and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jim currently serves on the board of directors of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. He is also on the advisory boards of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, and the Caltech Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.