James Zanewicz - Connect

James Zanewicz didn't plan on San Diego. He'd lived in Louisville, LA, New Orleans, DC, Illinois, and New Orleans again. He changed his phone number to a 504 area code. He was not leaving.

Then his friends started blowing up a group chat with a job posting. He applied mostly to make them stop. He got the job.

He's now the CEO of Connect San Diego, the first intentional innovation ecosystem ever built. Not just in the US. In the world.

We recorded this one at his patio table, which was the only furniture in his new apartment. We talked about why San Diego feels more like New Orleans than LA, the PhD sociologist who built Connect's community DNA at the founding in 1985, and why Austin and Miami have roughly 5% of San Diego's innovation output and four times the press coverage. We also got into what it actually feels like to be handed a 40-year legacy and told to reimagine it.

James is the kind of person who does office hours at a wine bar and hands out bottles of wine because that's what you do in New Orleans, and it turns out it works everywhere. San Diego got lucky when he said yes.

Connect Summer Social is June 16. Tickets are around $60. James says it's the one to go to.

Connect with James: Connect, James on LinkedIn

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