Seventeen years ago, 22-year-old San Diego State University senior Bill Trumpfheller fulfilled internship requirements at a Downtown public relations shop. Now, as president of that firm — Nuffer, Smith, Tucker — Trumpfheller can joke he has not had much practice with job hunting interviews, but he sure has learned the hiring side well.

A seven-year member and past president of the SDSU Alumni Association board, the former Aztec has a method of sorting résumés when screening job applicants. “There is a pile from SDSU and those from everywhere else,” he explains. But it’s not just good ol’ boy networking. Trumpfheller has confidence in what San Diego State teaches; his firm’s success in a tough market the past few years seems to support that strategy. Past 40 Under Forty honoree and vice president of Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, Mary Correia-Moreno, credits the success of the firm to Trumpfheller’s vision. “Bill’s leadership was integral in changing the agency from a general focus firm to one which focused on two niche markets — branded products and agribusiness,” Correia-Moreno says. “His foresight has paid off.”

Nuffer, Smith, Tucker stuck with Trumpfheller’s vision, focusing its energies on those markets rather than being seduced by the seemingly lucrative tech sector which crashed hard in 2000, sticking many agencies with piles of unpaid invoices. Now some of its biggest clients include San Diego-based WD-40 and McDonald’s. Before finding his way to Southern California in 1972 when his father was stationed at El Toro, Trumpfheller had lived in 17 places. After moving to San Diego in 1984 to attend college, the military kid felt at home. Since his move, the San Carlos resident has been an avid community member serving on the board of Senior Community Centers, United Way and ConVis.

Trumpfheller lives to climb up and ski down. “When you get to the top, you’re only half way there,” says the seasonal avalanche, mountaineering and first aid instructor. In March, he and some of his ski patrol buddies will go to Alaska to helicopter ski. He’s already been to Nepal and Peru.

Trumpfheller’s wife of nine years, Nola, a financial adviser for Qualcomm, will stay home with their three cats.

— Alexis Pasqua