Jim (Chico) Hagey
President, San Diego Sea to Sea Trail Foundation

Jim is the visionary and founder of the Foundation. He wanted to see a trail going from the Pacific to the Salton Sea that interconnected with other regional and national trails so that, when complete, the trail would be tied to trails all across the U.S.  In 1996 he set about making it happen - hiring engineers, biologists, lawyers, addressing community groups, meeting government officials and hiking potential routes.

From the start, he has worked closely with the San Diego Trans-County Trail Joint Agency Committee.  In 1998, to become a more powerful advocate, he formed the Sea To Sea Trail Foundation.  He enjoys overseeing the project, especially now as it all comes together.

Jim grew up in San Diego where he enjoyed the outdoors and excelled in tennis, winning a number of national junior and college titles. He competed in Wimbledon three times.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Stanford University, majoring in Political Science. In 1984, he received a law degree from the University of Virginia and is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia.

Jim is an environmentalist and a real estate developer. After working 12 years with his father, he started his own development business, the Red Leaf Village Company, which specializes in creating walkable communities, a form of development embraced by environmentalists, including the Sierra Club.

This Trail, says Jim, will be a wonderful resource for San Diego and the world, and that’s why he’s committed heart and soul to its success.

Phillip (Phil) Jelsma
General Counsel, San Diego Sea to Sea Trail Foundation 

“Phil Jelsma is a tax lawyer who should have been a park ranger". Most of his clients make comments like that. Fortunately, Jim Hagey recognized Phil’s interest in the outdoors, and asked him to join the San Diego Sea to Sea Trail Foundation. Believing Jim’s fanciful promises of staggering parties and hidden riches buried on the Trail, Phil gladly accepted, proving both his loyalty to Jim, and his gullibility.

As General Counsel, Phil wears two hats. First, he creates legal problems, then he solves them. His mother often comments that he doesn’t look good in hats.

Phil was a born outdoorsman. His parents only let him in the house when it rained. Phil grew up in the San Fernando Valley amid sunshine, orange groves and tract houses. The smog and urban sprawl have eliminated the sunshine and orange trees, but the tract houses still can be found to this day. He has watched Wimbledon three times.

In 1979, he received his undergraduate degree in business administration from USC and, in 1986, he graduated from Stanford Law School. His academic career was proof of the “Green Potato Chip Theory": despite the best quality control and highest standards, one seems to slip into every bag.

After he passed the bar in 1986 and realized that it didn’t result in free drinks, he clerked for Judge Howard Turrentine in San Diego. Shortly thereafter, Judge Turrentine stopped hiring law clerks.

Phil is an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, where his students act like he is interesting in hope of getting a higher grade. He is a husband and father of three, who have long since recognized that he will squander any possible inheritance, and therefore have no incentive to pretend he’s interesting.

Charles R LeMenager
Historian and Advisor, San Diego Sea to Sea Trail Foundation

Charles is a retired planning and land use consultant. He was California State Director of Housing & Community Development in Governor Ronald Reagan’s administration, and a former mayor of Santa Rosa, California. Planned communities in which he played a key role include San Diego Country Estates in Ramona and Fairbanks Ranch in Rancho Santa Fe. Charles is the author of three San Diego County history books, which cover Ramona, Julian, the Cuyamaca Mountains and San Vicente and Barona Valleys.