Category Archives: New Member

Museum-Automotive

Leonard “Lenny” Leszczynski is the CEO of the San Diego Automotive Museum.

Lenny was born and raised in San Diego;  he was born in Poway, grew up in La Jolla, spent his twenties in Point Loma and Pacific Beach, and started his family in East County.  He has worked in the non-profit sector his entire life because he believes that service to others is essential to helping create a better community.  He has worked for the YMCA for 20 years, and was with Promises2Kids for 5 years before joining the Automotive Museum.

He graduated from Cal State Northridge, received his masters from Western Governors University and is currently enrolled in Harvard’s extension school for Museum Studies.

When he is not working, you can find him coaching his daughters’ at softball.  He and his wife, Falon, have four daughters.  You can also find them at the carousel at Balboa Park trying to get the golden ring for another ride!

Lenny also loves to teach youth about football and loves working on committees that get kids to go to camp.  He believes camp is a great alternative learning environment.

A fun fact about Lenny: while living in L.A., he worked at the Staples Center, Dodgers Stadium, Arrowhead Pond and Anaheim Stadium.  He has been to 3 NBA championships, 2 World Series, 1 Stanley Club Series and 1 PGA event.  All that is left is for him to attend is a Super Bowl!

Michael Brunker, Sidd Vivek and David Oates were his sponsors.

Consultant-Non-profit Development, Additional Active

Valerie Attisha owns her own philanthropic consultant business.

She is Chaldean and her first language is Aramaic, which is the language she still speaks to her parents with.  Her family immigrated to the US in the 1970s and first settled in Detroit.  Eventually, they moved and were one of the very first Chaldeans to call San Diego home, which now number in the thousands.

Valerie grew up in the East County, graduated from USD and received her graduate degree from Sacramento State University.  Her original plan was to have a career in government, but the non-profit sector called!  She was in development for over 20 years and just over a year ago, established her own firm.

She says that service is really at the core of her being and it has always been important to her to make a meaningful impact and give back to her community.  She was previously a Rotarian of the El Cajon Rotary Club for 6 years.  She loves to travel, play tennis, cook for family and friends and attend concerts and the theatre.

Wendy Urushima-Conn, Joe Horiye and Trevor Blair were her sponsor.

Investment- Wealth Management, Additional Active

Rick Brooks is a Principal and the Director of Investment Management at Blankinship & Foster, LLC. He oversees their investment analytics and serves as Chairman of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Rick was born in Texas and raised in Maryland. He earned a BA in Political Science from Duke University and a MBA in Finance from San Diego State. He also served in the Navy for 6 years and 9 months.

He is past Chair of the Board of Girl Scouts San Diego (the first male to serve in that capacity), currently serving on their Investment and Board Development committees.  He volunteers on the KPBS Professional Advisor Council and on the San Diego Foundation’s PAC.

Alan Spector, Jan McDonough and Keith McKenzie were his sponsors.

Painting – Residential

Jon Ray is the owner of PaintGreen, a full-service painting company based here in San Diego since 2006.  As an entrepreneur and community organizer, Jon has found that happy balance between the two different worlds.

Jon started a 501c3 that supports local artists.  They hold an annual 4 day and 3 night art and musical festival that is attended by some 3500 people and generates over $500k.  The proceeds of YOUtopia are invested back into the event, as well as a local makerspace he co-founded called CoLab.  CoLab hosts fancy tools that artists and inventors could not afford or house themselves, so they allow art and prototyping to be done for free or at minimal cost.

Duke Sobek, Dick Eger and Rick Chatham were his sponsors.

Analytics-Business

Justin Rajah is the Demand Generation Manager at Wrike, a work management platform.

He was born and raised in Santa Clara County, CA by a single mom, who taught him to love all things Disney and country music.  A first generation college grad, Justin received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2017 from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  He has called San Diego his home since last summer.

Justin’s connection to Rotary began in 2010 with the Sunnyvale Sunrise Club. They had selected him to attend a RYLA summer camp with the intention to start a service club when he returned to high school in the fall.  He says RYLA changed his life forever.  Now, after being involved with RYLA for the last 10 years, he says it is still the strongest influence in his life.  He continues to be a mentor to campers and younger staff.

A fun fact about Justin: he is a marketer by day, but a karaoke singer by night.

“I promise to bring my passion for service and youth leadership to all Rotary activities.  And I promise to show up for this club and for what this club stands for.”

Jordan Maharaj, Jordan Harrison and Chuck Pretto were his sponsors.

Education-State University-Development, Additional Active

Alessandra Costigliola serves as the Development Officer for the College of Sciences at SDSU.  In her role, she is responsible for qualifying prospects for the College of Sciences and soliciting gifts of $25K and higher.

Born and raised in Sacramento (yes, she is a Kings fan), Alessandra moved to San Diego to attend SDSU. She received her Bacherlor’s degree in Political Science from SDSU in 2017 and is currently completing her Master’s in Public Administration.  During her time at SDSU, she was President of the SDSU Ambassadors and a member of the SDSU Rotaract Club.

When she is not working, she enjoys reading and loves to travel and go wine tasting.  She says her Italian family taught her the value of a really good glass of wine.

Jordan Maharaj, Jonathan Cole and Michelle Candland were her sponsors.

Education-State University-Development

Corey Polant is the Associate Directory of Development at San Diego State University.

He is originally from Long Island, New York and he says if you catch him on a good day you’ll still hear parts of that accent when he speaks-even though he has spent 9 years trying to lose it.

He is a double alum of SDSU, receiving his undergraduate degree in Sociology and his masters in Public Administration. He has been working with SDSU for 5 years helping to bring philanthropic support to an array of programs on campus.

Rotaract was a big part of Corey’s undergraduate experience and meeting San Diego Rotary members and seeing their commitment to doing good was his inspiration.

So after coming off a year of feeling helpless and isolated in this pandemic, Corey knew there was no better time to join Rotary.  He says he learned a lot about himself this past year and in many ways feels like he journeyed inwards and realigned what is most important to him… helping others and having a sense of community.

Corey has already been active in the San Diego community, sitting on a foundation board and participating in community service events. He is celebrating 4 years as a Big Brother to Luis, through Big Brothers Big Sisters, another organization he is very passionate about.

He says he owes a special thank you to President Chris Sichel, who has been his mentor ever since they were paired through Rotaract, and who has given him such valuable career and personal advice.

When he is not working or involved in the community, Corey enjoys playing tennis, practicing the piano, playing on a recreational kickball team and finding San Diego’s best new brunch locations.

Chris Sichel, Jordan Maharaj and Barbara Noerenberg.

Real Estate Sales-Commercial, Additional Active

Tom Turner is a Commercial Real Estate Broker and Vice President at CBRE.

Born in North Carolina, Tom and his military family moved around quite a bit.  He finished high school in Japan then attended college at UCLA.  Without a definite career plan after college, the self-proclaimed “beach bum” ran a cafe in Mission Beach, moved furniture, sold sailboat rides and sunscreen in Maui and spent some time as a guide in the Rocky Mountains.

After finally deciding to get serious, he passed the LSAT and attended law school at UC Berkeley and Oxford University.  Tom then moved to San Diego and has been here ever since.

Tom spent 35+ years as a commercial real estate lawyer, with the last 25 years at Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch.  For 17 years, he served as the firm’s Managing Partner and CEO.  He has earned virtually every real estate law award out there, including San Diego’s Best Lawyers, California Superlawyers, Best Lawyers in America, San Diego Bar Association’s Outstanding Attorney and California Law Firm Leader of the Year.

He made the leap from real estate law to real estate brokerage and joined CBRE where he does a variety of specialty investment work and large private/public joint ventures.

The joy of Tom’s life is his family.  He and his wife Jennifer celebrated their 40th anniversary last year.  They have 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren whom they love to share everything sports, music and nature with.

Jan McDonough, Tom Cohen and Josh Buchholz were his sponsors.

Real Estate-Investment

Ben Alev is a real estate investor and manager for 58-Twelve, LLC.  His specialty has been working in distressed assets and low income housing, where programs are implemented to encourage compassion and community involvement.  In his extensive real estate career, Ben has bought and sold properties in over 38 states.

Originally from Chicago, he moved to Arizona where he met his wife, Rebecca, and where they raised their family.  Ben coached his children’s youth sports teams for 20 years and was a founder of youth soccer and baseball programs. When his daughter married and settled here in San Diego, it also became his and Rebecca’s new home, too.

Ben is an avid sports fan and an active outdoorsmen whose hobbies include scuba, skiing, fly fishing, hunting, horseback riding, gold and spending time with his family.

Though he didn’t finish college himself, he comes from an educated family and all of his children have degrees.  Ben proudly says that he learned at a young age that “if you know a lot about something that is a little bit important, you can be successful.” He also said “when you learn the principles of business and understand the momentum in giving your word and putting others first, it comes back to you in a very large way. Therefore, this leads me to being grateful for the opportunity to serve with you in Rotary and create that momentum in life that is so important.”

Social Service & Welfare – Options For All

Ken Barnes is the President & CEO for Options For All, a 35-year-old firm that provides services to adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Ken is native Californian, being born in San Francisco and raised in Sacramento.  (If you see him wearing a lot of purple, it is because “the Sacramento Kings are the best team God ever invented!”)

He attended college between New York (Columbia University) and China (Beijing Language and Culture University).  He moved to San Diego 1 year ago, and before going “all in” at Options For All in Feb. 2020, it was a passion volunteer project for him because his twin brother had suffered from cerebral palsy. He was named their 2018 Volunteer of the Year.

Ken and his wife, Angela, travel a lot for food…using the Michelin Guide, World’s 50 Best List and Netflix’s Chef’s Table series to build their vacations.

Trevor Blair, Phil Blair and Mel Katz were his sponsors.