San Diego Power Women: Part 6

Today, we bring you the sixth installment of our 10-part Power Woman series profiling the 50 most influential women in San Diego commercial real estate. Then join Bisnow and partner Allen Matkins on June 25 for a cocktail awards reception to honor these amazing leaders at the San Diego Public Library, 6-8pm.

LYNN LACHAPELLE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, JLL

JLL managing director Lynn LaChapelle helped establish and grow the firm’s San Diego operations, which today counts over 150 professionals and has transaction volumes in excess of $20M. Most recently, she was awarded a 4.7M SF portfolio of suburban office properties; over her career, she’s transacted leases, ventures, and sales in excess of $9B and was JLL’s top producer in San Diego last year with partner Bob Prendergast. Having a career Naval officer father, she grew up all over the world. She loved visiting cities and gained a respect for urbanization, which provided an interest in architecture and buildings. Her first position was at UC Irvine as a planner, but once exposed to commercial real estate, she jumped ship to work as an intern for two leasing agents in LA. She then moved back to San Diego where she spent 17 years at Burnham Real Estate before moving to JLL in 2007. Outside of work, she and her husband own Domaine Artefact, a small estate vineyard and winery which has consumed the majority of her spare time for the past six years (it’s now open to the public, so go visit—she's pictured with her mom pouring at a recent festival). She also enjoys horses and continues to train in dressage.

NANCY COOK, CFO, DOUGLAS WILSON COS

Douglas Wilson Companies (DWC) CFO Nancy Cook has a unique vantage point when it comes to projects like One | Hundred | Mill in Tempe, Arizona—the firm's $190M cutting-edge, mixed-use development plan that encompasses both economic revitalization and historic preservation. From the financial side, she views the entire spectrum of the real estate process. "I have my hands in each facet of the process—from looking at a piece of dirt to fruition." For those starting their career, she tells us finance is a great educational path to real estate. Nancy earned her degree in accounting from University of Texas, Austin, followed by her CPA. She began her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, followed by roles with Peat Marwick, The Howard Hughes Corp, The Allen Group, and now DWC. When Nancy isn’t crunching numbers, she flexes her green thumb and is an avid reader. She's also a proud mother of three.

MOLLY MARGALLO, DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES, GENERAL ATOMICS 

As director of facilities, Molly Margallo is responsible for General Atomics Aeronautical’s large portfolio in the San Diego area. Her first position in the sector was in facilities at Transamerica in Downtown LA, where she spent a decade before moving on to a Qualcomm offshoot, Ziff Davis, DSL startup Copper Mountain, RREEF, and Cushman & Wakefield. She then joined GA in 2010, attracted to the ability to merge her love of facilities and real estate by taking on responsibility for a large, diverse portfolio. Her greatest achievement, she tells us, was serving as International Facility Management Association's San Diego chapter president for two years; during her tenure, it won Large Chapter of the Year. Her advice: Don’t be afraid to ask questions—keep asking until you understand the answer and can tell someone else what the answer is verbatim. Outside of work, she and her husband (above, in a family photo) are members of GA’s bowling league, love to travel, and take ballroom dancing lessons.

DARCY MIRAMONTES, EVP, JLL

Both of JLL EVP Darcy Miramontes’ parents, Diane and David Miramontes, were in commercial real estate, so after Darcy graduated from Loyola Law in LA, she joined her mom at BRE Commercial to focus on multifamily. (She’s pictured above, center, with Diane and her sister Denise Hartman.) “A few naysayers said a mother-daughter commercial team wouldn’t work—but we were a great team for 15 years before she retired last year,” she says. Four years ago, they were courted to JLL, where Darcy leads the multifamily team and is responsible for major investment and land sales transactions, like the recently sold Ballpark Village Parcel C2—soon home to a 37-story, 446-unit multifamily tower in the six-building, mixed-use Ballpark Village project adjacent to Petco Park. Her advice comes via UCLA coach John Wooden: “It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.” Outside of work, she’s a founding member of a tight-knit working mother’s playgroup. She also enjoys exercise and spending time at the beach with her husband and two kids, ages 6 and 8 (it’s still early to tell if they’ve got the familial real estate bug.)

STAR HUGHES, DIRECTOR, HUGHES MARINO

Hughes Marino director Star Hughes has the business in her blood (she's the daughter of Hughes Marino founder and nearly 30-year vet in the business Jason Hughes). “It's just natural that I would be interested in it,” she tells us. The San Diego native graduated from USD in 2010—after only two years—as Valedictorian. She also subsequently got her MBA there a year later—yes, in only a year. While she broke into the industry working for her father at his former firm Irving Hughes, Star briefly worked with RA Capital Advisors while obtaining her MBA. Star says her best advice for women entering the business is to have a long-term plan. This past May, Star married coworker Steven Gorup, which turned out to be a good thing since both work "90% of our time."