Elizabeth Douglas '96, CEO, wikiHow

Parker Lifer Elizabeth Douglas is currently the CEO of wikiHow.com, the world's leading how-to website. Driven by wikiHow's mission to reach everyone on the planet, Elizabeth collaborates with her teams to create innovative solutions for growing and scaling wikiHow. Under Elizabeth's leadership, wikiHow has grown over 1500%, and today is visited by more than than 150 million people every month across 230 countries and territories. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Stanford, as well as an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Before business school, Elizabeth worked as a User Experience Engineer at Apple. While working at Apple, she served as the President of Women at Apple, a group dedicated to supporting women in tech. Elizabeth is a strong believer in authentic leadership. Her vulnerable, empathetic, approachable style has led to her being a successful student mentor and speaker. She currently lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two young daughters.

MODERATOR

Mila Sohoni, Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law

Parker parent Mila Sohoni served as a law clerk to the Honorable Judith W. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She practiced law at Jenner & Block LLP in New York and Washington, DC and was an acting assistant professor of lawyering at New York University School of Law. She joined the USD School of Law faculty in 2013. Before attending law school, Mila spent two years as a correspondent for The Economist magazine in New York and in London. In 2018, Sohoni was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and at the Harvard Law School. Mila teaches and writes in the areas of civil procedure, administrative law, federal courts, legislation and health law. In 2018, Sohoni was awarded the Thorsnes Prize for Excellence in Teaching. In 2019, she was named the Herzog Endowed Scholar for excellence in scholarship and teaching.

Mila graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she served as book reviews chair and an articles committee member for the Harvard Law Review. She was a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar at Cambridge University, where she received her MPhil with distinction (first class) in the history and philosophy of science. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in chemistry. 

PANELISTS

Trip Johnston, Partner, Clarke Johnston Thorp & Rice

Parker parent Trip Johnston began his legal career in 2001 as a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown in San Diego. After completing his clerkship, he became a trial attorney with Federal Defenders of San Diego in 2002 and was promoted to a supervisory role in 2008.  After 13 years at Federal Defenders, over 30 felony jury trials, a dozen oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit, and numerous trial and appellate victories, Trip entered private practice with the formation of Clarke Johnston Thorp & Rice.

Trip has represented clients in a vast array of criminal cases, from drug importation, alien smuggling, and illegal entry to capital murder, wiretap cases, armed robbery, RICO conspiracies, and the representation of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. For several years, he chaired the training committee for Criminal Justice Act lawyers in the Southern District of California and has given many annual updates on Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit case law. Trip has also remained active in the community as a recent district representative to the Southern District, a committee member of the Ninth Circuit’s Attorney Admissions Fund, and an invite-only member of the Criminal Defense Lawyers Club in San Diego. Trip graduated magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2001, gained membership in the Order of the Coif, and was an executive editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.  Trip also obtained his master’s degree in English literature at Georgetown, and he received his undergraduate degree cum laude from Duke University in 1994.

Honorable John B. Owens, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

The Honorable John B. Owens serves on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to becoming a federal judge in 2014, he was a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (where he focused on white collar investigations and appellate matters), and a federal prosecutor for more than 11 years in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Diego. He served as the Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, and received two Director’s Awards for his work there. The television show American Greed featured two of his prosecutions, and he obtained the longest sentence for a white collar defendant in the history of the Southern District of California in United States v. Cao. Judge Owens graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School in 1996, where he was an Executive Editor on the Stanford Law Review. After graduation, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable J. Clifford Wallace of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and for the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court of the United States. His written work has appeared in the California Law Review, the UCLA Law Review, the Northwestern Law Review, and other law reviews. 

Laura H. Parsky, Judge, San Diego County Superior Court

The Honorable Laura H. Parsky has served as a judge in the San Diego Superior Court since 2006, presiding over both criminal and civil proceedings at the trial court level. Prior to her appointment, she was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, where she supervised the sections of Computer Crime and Intellectual Property, Child Exploitation and Obscenity, Domestic Security, and Office of Special Investigations (over 125 employees). She has represented the Department of Justice on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and testified before Congress on issues including child exploitation and sexual abuse crimes, intellectual property rights enforcement, and national security implications of new technologies. She holds a BA from Yale University and a J.D. from University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall.

MODERATOR

Mark Cafferty is president and chief executive officer of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation. Mark sits at the center of a unique collaboration of business, trade, community, and education leaders who have redefined the region’s economic development strategy, cementing the region as a key stakeholder in the global economy. Mark has spent more than 20 years designing systems to support American workers’ career advancement and economic opportunity. He has served in numerous public-sector leadership positions and has been sought as a consultant on workforce development efforts throughout the country. Over the last few years, Mark was asked to chair San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s Workforce and Economic Advisory Committee and was appointed to serve on Governor Jerry Brown’s International Trade and Investment Advisory Council. 

PANELISTS

Matt Aminoff is the Executive Vice President for IDS Real Estate Group. At IDS, he is responsible for the origination of real estate investments for IDS clients across the United States, focusing on west coast major markets. He directs the day-to-day operations of the Firm’s San Diego office with a primary focus on marketing the Firm’s San Diego County property portfolio. Additionally, Matt provides disposition, portfolio management, and other advisory services to clients firmwide, and leads the IDS acquisition department in sourcing, underwriting, business planning, negotiation, and closing transactions for our

Partners. Matt has successfully acquired and sold investments on behalf of our clients in excess of one billion dollars of consideration and successfully negotiated leases with Abbott Labs, Apple, Bimbo Bakeries, Callaway Golf, County of San Diego, Raytheon, Sempra Energy, Sharp Hospital. 

Brian Cane is a licensed California Real Estate Broker, carrying on the long family tradition (over 5 decades) of helping buyers, sellers, investors, and agents accomplish their real estate and life goals. His professional experience as a business owner and sales professional provides Brian the ability to see the bigger picture, especially when it comes to developing long-lasting relationships, attracting top talent into his ecosystem, and helping others build generational wealth. At present, Brian has established an expansive network of businesses within his local real estate market. In the last 17 years, Brian has built one of San Diego’s top real estate sales teams, consistently ranking as one of the top 3 Teams with Keller Williams by transaction count in San Diego. In addition to running one of the top Sales Teams in the Country, Brian is A MAPS Mastery Coach and the Owner and Operating Principal of two Keller Williams Realty Franchises in San Diego, overseeing 400+ agents. Moreover, Brian owns several other businesses, including mortgage, escrow, disclosure, and non-profit companies. 

Priya Patel is managing member of a diverse portfolio of multi-family properties in San Diego focused on value creation through long-term asset ownership combined with tenant-centered management practices. Her responsibilities include all aspects of asset acquisition, repositioning, and operations. 

John Selby ’07 is an 8 year veteran in the real estate space.  He and his team “The Selby Team” put their clients as their top priority and have been in the top 1% of agents for the past 4 years.  As a San Diego native, he knows the market inside and out.  He prides himself on making his client feel like they are the only people he is working with. 

James H. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

is the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Johnson examines the causes and consequences of growing inequality in American society, particularly as it affects socially and economically disadvantaged youth; entrepreneurial approaches to poverty alleviation, job creation, and community development; inter-ethnic minority conflict in advanced industrial societies; and business demography and workforce diversity issues. He received his PhD from Michigan State University, his MS from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and his BS from North Carolina Central University.

MODERATOR

Randy K. Jones is an esteemed trial lawyer with experience representing public and private multi-national corporations and their executives, special committees and board directors in commercial and business disputes, investigations, and white collar crime matters. Randy draws on his extensive courtroom experience as a former federal prosecutor for nearly 30 years to provide value to clients, often through negotiation of efficient solutions. Randy has tried to verdict dozens of jury trials in federal and state courtrooms. Randy serves his clients with proficiency and composure and is quick to assess his clients’ legal situation and offer advice that is reasonable, appropriate and in the company or individual’s best interest. His industry experience extends from healthcare and government contracts, to insurance and financial services, retail and consumer products, sports and entertainment, and real estate. He works closely with individuals and companies to develop winning legal strategies. Randy works closely with his business clients to develop and implement crisis management plans to help avoid costly business disruptions, negative publicity, lawsuits and government investigations. Randy’s experience conducting federal grand jury proceedings has afforded him invaluable insight into the needs of institutional and corporate clients facing sensitive and high-profile internal investigations. As a former federal prosecutor and awarded trial attorney, Randy is uniquely qualified to assume cases from lawyers and law firms needing more experienced trial counsel, a need that arises frequently when cases are headed for trial. Prior to joining Mintz, Randy served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of California and was responsible for the investigation, management and prosecution of numerous cases involving complex white collar fraud schemes and criminal conspiracies involving financial, immigration, illegal narcotics and violent crimes.

Bob Hurley, Dean of College Counseling, Francis Parker School

Bob has worked in college admissions for two decades, including 15 years on the high school side. Bob started as an assistant director of admissions, recruiting students and reviewing applications at Fairfield University, a Jesuit university on the Connecticut shoreline. For eight years before joining the staff at Parker, Bob was director of college guidance at Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private, independent school for girls in Greenwich, CT. He also led a team of faculty advisers assigned to each grade level, formed school policies on the Curriculum Committee and served as head varsity tennis coach. He has been active in regional and national groups dedicated to professional development and educational opportunities. Originally from Stamford, CT, just outside New York City, Bob enjoys tennis and rooting for the Padres.

Ben Temple, Head of Upper School, Francis Parker School

Ben Temple will begin his new role in July 2021. Ben has been the Head of Upper School at the Collegiate School in New York since 2015, where he is responsible for all aspects of the Upper School program and supervises 225 students, more than 50 faculty, and eight department heads. Ben is an accomplished educational leader with 18 years of teaching and administrative roles in independent schools across the country, including The Blake School in Minneapolis, Global Online Academy in Seattle, Westtown School in West Chester, Pa., and Tatnall School in Wilmington, De. He is a champion of gender diversity work and an advocate for students and faculty of color. Ben earned his Bachelor’s in History from Brown University and Masters in Educational Leadership from the Klingenstein Center, Teachers College at Columbia University. He looks forward to leading the Upper School community, embracing the School’s mission, and believes strongly that an effective leader must always listen.