Like so many New Yorkers — especially those mired upstate — Dan Ballister came to San Diego for the sunshine. He also came with experience working for the New York State Legislature in Albany and a degree in political science from Syracuse. He put them to work — once he shook off the snow — when he was hired in public affairs for what was then Southwestern Cable.

Eleven and a half years later, it’s Time Warner Cable, and Ballister is still doing the public affairs thing, now as vice president. The job encompasses government, media and community relations, such as providing nearly $1 million in public service announcement airtime for the United Way and more than 40 San Diego Performing Arts League members. Other endeavors in Ballister’s workbasket include Clothes 4 A Cause, San Diego Food Bank and Time Warner’s annual “San Diego’s 50 Best Moms.”

Despite his professed lifelong love for politics, Ballister keeps delving into community causes. He just joined the board of governors for the Boys & Girls Clubs and he’s on the board for the United Cerebral Palsy Association — “They do wonderful things and they’re great people to work with,” he says — and the American Lung Association, where he’s motivated by a pair of concerns. “It’s something I feel passionate about; I abhor smoking. My mom suffers from asthma, and it just breaks my heart that nothing can be done about it.”

Ballister, 38, lives in North Park near Balboa Park and says he loves the neighborhood’s small, older homes. Yet he has aims to work up the Time Warner corporate ladder — back to H.Q. in the Greater New York area. But then there’s all that sunshine here, much of it added by him.

— Terence J. Burke