At 35, Michael Busselen is senior partner, senior vice president and general manager of public relations group Fleishman-Hillard San Diego. “As if anyone needs three titles,” he says with a laugh. He has worked with large companies such as Kyocera Wireless and SBC Pacific Bell, and recently picked up the Padres and the state of Baja California as clients.

After working in Fleishman-Hillard’s San Francisco firm for three years, Busselen was asked to launch and head a new San Diego office. He opened the local office in early 1998 with just one other employee and took on the responsibility of finding new clients. Since then, Fleishman-Hillard San Diego has grown to 19 employees, added diverse clients and generated more than $3 million in public relations revenue in 2000 and 2001.

“What may distinguish me and what I have accomplished is moving into a new market and building one of the largest PR firms in San Diego in four and a half years,” Busselen says. “We’ve surpassed agencies that had been in town 20 years.” Fleishman-Hillard’s clientele were initially all technology companies, but Busselen says the company has since diversified.

Among Busselen’s community accomplishments is serving as a founding member of Club Figaro, San Diego Opera’s young professionals group. He also is a member of the San Diego Regional Chamber’s CEO Roundtable, and his firm is the pro-bono agency of record for the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure and the San Diego Performing Arts League’s annual Bravo fund-raiser. After becoming engaged on a recent trip to Australia, Busselen and fiancee Kara Kocal are planning a September 2003 wedding.

Busselen is optimistic about his company’s future in spite of current economic conditions. “People want to work with Fleishman-Hillard because they know it by reputation. It’s certainly been a challenging economic cycle. Everyone likes to brag about growth, but I’m just proud that in the last two years we didn’t shrink.”

— Lora Watters