Santiago, Chile-born Marco Sessa and his family moved to Colorado when he was 8. At the University of Colorado, from which he earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering, he met San Diego’s Chelsea Sudberry and her elder brother Colton, his future brother-in-law. Sessa earned a master’s degree in real estate development from the University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning and Development.

Now as Sudberry Properties’ vice president, development, Sessa, 34, is responsible for the planning, design, governmental entitlements, financial feasibility, construction management and marketing of assigned projects. As principal-in-charge, he heads the entitlement processing for Quarry Falls, Sudberry’s proposed $2 billion redevelopment of a 230-acre Mission Valley sand and gravel quarry into a mixed-use community that could include a 17.5-acre public park, 50 acres of additional parks and open space; 4,500 residences; more than 1 million square feet of retail, office and civic uses.

Sessa, who with his wife is awaiting the birth of their third child, has become a forceful advocate of quality-of-life issues and planning for the social interactions that a new mixed-use community will demand: “Years from now,” he says, “It will be neat to say, ‘Hey, I had something to do with that.’”