San Diego Metropolitan - 40 Under 40

How appropriate that Kevin and Katherine Faulconer, two of San Diego’s rising business stars, first met at a business function. “It was at a Convention & Visitors Bureau mixer two years ago,” recalls Katherine Stuart Faulconer, 33. “I always tell people that my membership really paid off.”

While both of them are dedicated to their professions, it’s their abilities as innovative thinkers — the kind that can take an opportunity and really create something special with it — that makes them so successful.

Take Katherine, for instance. While planning events for Planet Hollywood, she helped sell out every meal in the restaurant during the Republican National Convention. When other restaurants Downtown clamored for her secret, she realized she had found a niche not being filled and created Restaurant Events Inc. (originally Katherine Stuart & Co.).

“I saw that other restaurants didn’t have the time or the resources to go after convention business,” says Katherine, who was the youngest president of the Gaslamp Quarter Association. She also is active with the San Diego Meeting Professionals International and ConVis. “So I created a free service for anyone who wants to plan an event in the Gaslamp Quarter.”

After gathering the business’ criteria for an event, she supplies it with five options that meet their needs, including everything from the wine lists to pictures of the location. They select a restaurant, then she contracts with the establishment and handles all the details. The service is free to the client; Katherine is paid by the restaurant.

“It’s a unique service and I have no competition,” she says. No wonder she recently received the Gaslamp Quarter Association’s award for best professional service provider. “It’s beneficial for the event planner because they don’t have to handle the details and for the restaurant because they don’t have the time to cultivate this kind of business.”
Restaurant Events Inc. has been so successful that Katherine recently opened a branch office in Denver and hopes to expand to several other convention cities in the near future.

Why is she so driven at such a young age? “I thought, if I’m ever going to do something like this, I have to do it before I’m married and have my own home,” she says. “It was the perfect time to do it.”

And she achieved her goal before marrying Kevin L. Faulconer a year ago. Kevin, as it turns out, is her equal in drive and ambition. In fact, when she called to tell him she’d been honored by the 40 under Forty recognition, he congratulated her. “Then he told me I could congratulate him as well,” she says. “What a great surprise.”

At 33, Kevin is the youngest vice president in the history of NCG Porter Novelli, a public relations and public affairs company. He provides strategic counsel and media relations for clients like San Diego State University, Sharp HealthCare and the San Diego Unified Port District.

It’s a job he’s been training for all his life. A political science major and English minor at SDSU, he relishes the opportunity to help shape public opinion on issues that impact the future of San Diego.

“It keeps me motivated,” says Kevin, who is originally from Oxnard. “My parents instilled in me the importance of getting involved and making a difference. They told me that if you don’t get involved, you won’t be able to change things.”

Those “things” include hot-button issues like the new ballpark. He’s involved with the city of San Diego Park & Recreation Board, SDSU Athletic Foundation, San Diego March of Dimes Walk America, San Diego Charter Change Committee, the SDSU Ambassadors for Higher Education and the San Diego County Lincoln Club. Add to that list his new position on the Downtown San Diego Partnership board.

So what drives Kevin? That can be best illustrated by his recent participation in the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. “It was something I always wanted to do,” he says. “I’ve always liked doing things that challenge me. I certainly don’t want to get bored by staying still.”

Could a political position be in his future? “I certainly would be interested,” he says. “There are tremendous opportunities in San Diego. We’re still creating our sense of city here. And that requires that everyone be involved and active.”

And it’s that kind of enthusiasm, drive and innovative thinking that make both Kevin and Katherine the successes they are.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” admits Kevin. “But I love it. It’s all about being a positive influence in this city.”