Meet team EDC.
Mark Cafferty
President & CEO
Mark Cafferty
President & CEO
As president and chief executive officer at San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, Mark Cafferty sits at the center of a unique collaborative of business, industry, community, and education – leading an inclusive economic development strategy and cementing the region as pillar of the global economy.
Cafferty has spent more than 25 years designing career advancement systems and creating economic opportunity for American workers. Serving on workforce committees for the current and recent Mayors and former Governor Jerry Brown, he is a trusted nonpartisan committed to helping leaders shape a more equitable and all-encompassing economic recovery.
A Boston native who now considers San Diego home, he earned his bachelor’s in marketing and communications from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, and his advanced certification in Performance Measurement and Non-Profit Management from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2007, Cafferty was selected as a Center for Social Innovation Fellow for International Non-Profit Leaders at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
He resides in San Diego’s Point Loma neighborhood with his amazing wife Charlene Kakimoto and their beautiful sons Kai and Quinn. Charlene is a dermatologist and former lieutenant commander with the United States Navy.
Catherine DeYoung
Executive Assistant to Mark Cafferty
Lauree Sahba
Chief Operating Officer
Nikia Clarke
Chief Strategy Officer, EDC; Exec. Director, WTCSD
Nikia Clarke
Chief Strategy Officer, EDC; Exec. Director, WTCSD
Dr. Nikia Clarke is Chief Strategy Officer of San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC), and Executive Director of World Trade Center San Diego (WTCSD), an EDC affiliate.
She leads strategy and program development for the organization, and oversees its economic development, research, talent and global engagement priorities. Clarke’s background is in global trade and investment strategy, and she has two decades of experience in global and local economic development in the academic, private, and non-profit sectors.
She is a former appointee to the National Investment Advisory Council, a collection of senior leaders that advises the administration on FDI policy and strategy, and is founder and former Director of OUCAN, an international network of emerging market industry leaders, policy makers and researchers. She is also a professor at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and serves on the boards of SDSU’s International Business Program and Innovation District, Lifeline Community Services, the San Diego Innovation Council, the San Diego & Imperial Small Business Development Center Network, and Port Maritime Advisory. Previously, she advised the San Diego STEM Pathways Community and World Design Capital 2024.
She holds a BA from Loyola Marymount University, an MPhil from Cambridge University, and a PhD from Oxford University.
Jennifer Henry Storm
Executive Director, Foundation
Bree Burris
Sr. Director, Communications & Community Engagement
Ashley Swartout
Sr. Director, Human Resources
Eduardo Velasquez
Sr. Director, Research & Economic Development
Lucas Coleman
Director, World Trade Center San Diego
Taylor Dunne
Director, Talent Initiatives
Heather Dewis
Sr. Manager, Marketing Communications
Emily Irion
Sr. Manager, World Trade Center San Diego
Teddy Martinez
Sr. Manager, Research
Lindsey Silvia
Sr. Manager, Economic Development
Becca Schulert
Manager, Economic Development
Bridgette Coleman
Manager, Talent Initiatives
Sang Nguyen
Manager, Research
Sophia Antonopoulos
Coordinator, World Trade Center San Diego
Enya Castañeda
Coordinator, Investor Relations & Marketing Communications
Alberto Fragoso
Coordinator, Research
Olivia Jones
Coordinator, Talent Initiatives
Liz Muthoni
Coordinator, Economic Development
Mira Paranjape
Coordinator, Marketing Communications
Janae Dumas
Administrative Coordinator
Want to join the team?
Check out our open full-time positions, or our part-time paid intern program.