Whiz Kids 2007

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Off the Charts

By Joe Irvin

If Wall Street analysts were to chart this year’s Whiz Kids, they’d surely forecast the Sacramento Metro Market’s future as bullish. No wizardry needed to make these kids look good — they are standouts in their industries, from internet marketing and real estate to nonprofit leadership or a field of muddy rice stalks.
    Despite diverse career paths, these leading lights share common denominators: profoundly influential childhood experiences and mentors; the lessons of hard work taken to heart; understanding it’s all about the customer; and a desire to be the best without boasting.

Mike Escobedo,
president, BrandNewHomes.com

 

One harbinger of real-estate growth to come is in the brain trust of Mike Escobedo. A lifelong resident of the region, Escobedo graduated early from high school and devoted nearly a decade to federal law enforcement before turning to real estate, where his success vaulted him to Masters Club status.
    However, when Escobedo, now 28, went online last year to look for his new home, he found the experience time-consuming and frustrating; no means of comparison shopping for new homes in the Sacramento Metro Market existed.
    In January, Escobedo began to develop BrandNewHomes.com, an easy-to-use, no-obligation website for prospective homebuyers; the site went live in June. By year-end, his database-rich site should go nationwide, and he’s planning to launch another site, brandnewMLS.com, just for real estate brokers. “It’s the auto mall for brand-new home shopping,” he explains. “Real estate needed a bridge to connect builders with agents, and we’re it,” he says.
    Escobedo smiles at the irony of starting his site just as the market has cooled but he’s thriving nonetheless. He believes the site will be extremely valuable in any market condition. In a buyer’s market, he points out, new homes have an added allure for prospective buyers, offering easier customizing options and attractive purchase incentives.
    A stickler for accuracy, Escobedo’s loyal staff includes a team that continually updates and verifies information. He’s relentless about providing excellent service to his advertisers as well as to site users.
Like the other Whiz Kids, Escobedo sees a bright future for the Sacramento region and plans to be part of it for many years to come, firmly planted in real-estate information services.

Joe Ayer,
chief operating officer, Red Cross Sacramento Sierra Chapter

 

As the No. 2 guy in the office, Joe Ayer has come a long way from teen lifeguard in his home town of Long Beach to an executive with a life-guarding global agency. Prodded to take on leadership roles in his youth as well as at the Red Cross, Ayer has developed a mindset that embraces the team approach with his colleagues. “We all bring something to the table,” says the 30-year-old, who oversees operational systems and marketing.
Ayer began at the Red Cross as a volunteer, eventually taking the job of donor recruiter in blood services. Nine years later, he’s at the cutting edge of local leaders tirelessly working and planning for the most effective means of responding to disaster.
    Ayer admits to being an “adrenaline junkie,” which came in handy as recently as the Katrina disaster, during which the region’s chapter was stuffed with volunteers working 24/7 to help with fundraising, coordinating supplies and finding shelter for displaced victims.
    “Disaster is a way of life at the Red Cross,” says Ayer, with a bright smile. One of his chief goals is to strengthen relationships with state and local disaster-response agencies and keep volunteers and responders ready to spring to action in a New York nanosecond through proper training and education.
    Ayer says he continually asks whether the organization is doing enough in the face of change. “We’re prospering in the way we do service; we keep getting better, learning from what we do to be sure we are relevant to our community.”

Caroline Logan
major accounts representative, WebEx

The technology highway’s fast lane has offered one heady ride for Caroline Logan. An ace saleswoman for one of the world’s leading online-meeting providers, Logan has found overdrive the only gear worth engaging in the virtual world’s shifting technology.
    “I’ve always been able to chase and be part of the next big thing,” says Logan, a 35-year-old veteran of the internet startup craze, the Y2K era, and who now sells the time- and money-saving virtues of “webinars ” at Santa Clara-based WebEx’s Rancho Cordova office.
    A bodybugg-wearing, Lombardi-quoting, Blackberry-hooked woman of the ’00s, Logan thrives on age-old sales principles (e.g., the 10 percent success is worth the 90 percent rejection), knows her office’s janitor on a first-name basis and enjoys the rewards of just compensation for her hard work.
    Circumspect about her success, Logan credits those around her for their smarts and risk-taking mindsets. “We mentor each other,” she says. She’s also alert to the changing dynamics in the internet economy. “You really have to look ahead and be prepared; you don’t stay for the gold watch.”
    Time to unwind means golf with her stepsons, trips to Napa for fine food and wine, and dinner with her high school chums, “Somehow I always get stuck with the tab,” she says with a wink.
    What’s next? Keeping a sharp eye on mainstream acceptance of Skype-like technology, where consumers use a PC and internet connection to talk live. In the meantime, she loves Sacramento’s small-town feel, even as it gives other major metropolitan centers a run for their money. And what will the sunrise bring for this techno whiz? “I’ll wake up and do it all over again tomorrow.”

Sean Fulp
sales associate, Cornish & Carey

 

Sean Fulp, 28, honed his life skills growing up in Kodiak, Alaska. Covering sports for the local newspaper practically before he was shaving, Fulp learned the blunt truth about deadlines and stress management.
Following an older brother to the Sacramento area, Fulp went to Sacramento State and landed a job at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club. Gregarious and driven, Fulp dreamed up business concepts between classes and personal training sessions and started his own fitness club.
    Through established contacts, he was offered a job as a runner for commercial real-estate brokerage Cornish & Carey, a Bay Area firm with offices in Roseville and Sacramento. It was an exquisite match, and he earned “rookie of the year” honors as a top performer.
    Fulp attributes his work ethic and business integrity to his parents, learning that “nothing beats hard work.” He also praises his C&C mentor, John Frisch, for his leadership style and accessibility. “The people you work with make you better,” Fulp adds.
    Fulp says his generation looks for more than money and title, and fulfillment includes a simple passion to achieve the tasks at hand. “I’m doing what I love to do — the challenges, and the people I work with. And I always want my clients to get a ‘win.’ ”
    As for the region’s future, Fulp says, “I’ve always been high on Sacramento — it has so much potential. We’re set up for the next real-estate cycle. The market’s growing, and I’m excited about where we’re going.”

Melvin Ram
president, Volcanic Marketing

The changing face of business marketing has erupted into a growing enterprise for dotcom expert Melvin Ram.
The path to his entrepreneurial present began when his father, Ram Binod, moved the family to California nine years ago from the Fiji Islands, then built a successful business. Shortly thereafter, and not yet old enough to vote, Ram’s software savvy landed him a position with LogoLab, where he honed his skills for both the creative and systematic approach to marketing.
    Today, at 23, Ram’s skills flow into his own company, Sacramento-based Volcanic Marketing, which specializes in tapping the reach of the internet to generate and build customer relationships for clients.
His daily routine relies heavily on high touch, whether meeting clients or touring the networking circuit. “I’m hardly in the office. I need people around me,” says Ram with a chuckle from a corner table at Starbucks.
Besides his trusty Pantone Formula Guide to help with design projects, Ram’s customer-care toolbox also includes holding current clients accountable through a monthly review of their goals. “Sometimes they need a boss, too,” he says.
    Practicing innovation extends to his down time. Ram took to the hills last summer for a mountain-lake experience to build a raft, and the only tool he brought to complete his project was a ball of twine. Ram and friend made it “all the way across without getting wet,” making only one little splash when disembarking at shoreline.
    While constantly challenging himself to maximize his value to clients, Ram has no question about Sacramento’s future. “There are a lot of people up and coming who are doing incredible stuff (with technology), not so much the innovation, but how they creatively put together ways to use it,” he says.

Jessica Lundberg
board chair, Lundberg Family Farms

From chairwoman of the board to tour guide, Jessica Lundberg is firmly grounded in her company. She represents the third generation of the Lundberg rice-growing family planted in the hardpan soils of Richvale, in Butte County, southwest of Oroville, with a population of just 250.
    Started by her grandfather in the late 1930s, Lundberg Farms today ships up to a million pounds of product every week, growing myriad varieties of rice on nearly 8,000 acres.
    Lundberg, 31, grew up roguing (weeding) the fields with dad or hopping aboard the crop planes. She learned the name of every bird, insect and plant that shared the land and could name a rice grain’s variety, she claims, from a football field away. She graduated from Chico State with a sterling grasp of seed genetics, then worked her way up to nursery manager at the family firm.
    Today, Lundberg is recognized as a leader in sustainable-agriculture practices and organic-food manufacturing. She is equally at ease in the boardroom, leading a facility tour, or knee-deep in a muddy check of specialty rice.
    Under her watch, the farm has completed its mission to consume energy derived from renewable sources. She’s particularly excited by the recent installation of 200 kilowatts’ worth of solar panels. “This isn’t just a company commitment,” she notes. “This actually works.”
    Lundberg carries a healthy respect for family as well as the earth. “I see blue skies ahead,” she says, adding that “we all have responsibilities” to improve societal conditions.
    At the end of a day on the farm, she might take time to play piano or tend to her garden. “I sleep well, with a real faith in the company, and I’m just one of many people making it work,” she says. “This is such a legacy.” 

The Selection Process
To select our third annual roster of Whiz Kids, Prosper reached out to subscribers and the community at large via email and a web form to capture nominations until the Aug. 15 deadline. Our staff then polled savvy colleagues and established business leaders to narrow the field to these six featured up-and-comers. We think you will agree that, as with our first two Whiz Kid classes, this group also exemplifies the hard work and sharp business acumen needed to enhance the region’s bright future.

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