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Carlos de la Mora
CEO at World Design Capital San Diego-Tijuana 2024 #WDC2024
Professional Background
Carlos de la Mora is a highly accomplished professional in the fields of architecture, design, and urban planning, boasting over three decades of experience since beginning his career in 1993. His journey into this dynamic world started at the prestigious Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, where he completed his studies in Architecture and Urban Design. To further enhance his expertise, he attended the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles, where he earned his Master's degree in Architecture in 1999. This strong educational foundation provided him with the skills and vision necessary to excel in various roles throughout his career.
Carlos's diverse and impressive professional trajectory includes a significant period during which he represented the renowned Baja California Wines in New York City until 2005. By living and working in such a vibrant urban environment, he cultivated a unique understanding of both business development and design that would serve him well in future endeavors. Upon returning to San Diego, he played a pivotal role in directing business development efforts for Nolte Associates in Tijuana, Mexico until 2008. His leadership abilities and keen insight led him to become a board member for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) San Diego/Tijuana Executive Committee, where he also co-chaired the Cross-Border Committee, focusing on fostering collaboration between Mexico and the U.S.
In 2009, Carlos took his career to the next level by joining AECOM as part of their Design and Planning team, where he served as the Mexico Director for five remarkable years. His expertise allowed him to shape pivotal projects and initiatives while also acting as Vice-President of the National Chamber of Consulting Firms (CNEC) in Mexico for two years. His impactful leadership and strategic vision in the field caught the eye of industry leaders, leading to an invitation in 2018 to spearhead the Land Development practice at CBRE in Mexico.
In addition to his corporate roles, Carlos has also been an influential figure in various organizations dedicated to improving urban environments and public spaces. As Executive Director for ULI Mexico, he participated in vital discussions on urban development and community engagement. Furthermore, he became a board member of INSITE in 2021, where he is committed to promoting the integration of art in public spaces through collaboration with artists, cultural agents, and local communities. Today, he holds the position of Chief Executive Officer at World Design Capital San Diego-Tijuana 2024, showcasing his continued dedication to improving the cultural landscape of these two border cities.
Education and Achievements
Carlos de la Mora's academic background is distinguished. He graduated with a degree in Architecture and Urban Design from Universidad Iberoamericana, one of the most recognized institutions in Latin America. His pursuit of knowledge continued at SCI-Arc, where he completed his Master's degree in Architecture. This education laid a solid foundation for his innovative approach to design and planning, helping him to forge connections and contribute to significant projects across Mexico and the U.S.
Carlos's professional journey is marked by a series of notable accomplishments and leadership roles. His contributions to the architecture and design sectors extend beyond project execution; he is instrumental in advocating for best practices in urban development. His engagement with various organizations includes serving as a member of management committees that foster collaboration among industry leaders, practitioners, and students in the field.
Notable Achievements
- Leadership at World Design Capital San Diego-Tijuana: As the CEO, Carlos is at the forefront of an initiative that will showcase the innovative and artistic potential of the San Diego-Tijuana region, scheduled for 2024.
- Role as Mexico Director at AECOM: His directorship showcased his ability to lead large-scale projects and manage cross-border collaboration effectively.
- Contributions to ULI: As Executive Director and board member for ULI Mexico, Carlos has influenced urban development through educational programs and forums aimed at enhancing understanding of public and private partnership strategies within urban realms.
- Chairmanship of Cross-Border Committee: His role in the ULI's Cross-Border Committee emphasizes his commitment to fostering dialogue and cooperation in urban planning between the U.S. and Mexico, which is essential to addressing the complexities of border city challenges.
- Public Art Engagement: Through his involvement as a board member at INSITE, Carlos has enabled artists and cultural agents to collaborate on projects, dramatically enriching public spaces in both San Diego and Tijuana.
Carlos de la Mora embodies a true bicultural citizen, effortlessly weaving connections across diverse social, cultural, professional, and economic circles in both Mexico and the United States. His exceptional skills in developing partnerships and fostering dialogue between artists, designers, architects, and developers have made him a sought-after figure in the architecture and design communities. Known for his approachability and collaborative spirit, Carlos continues to make significant contributions to the field of urban planning and design, creating environments that reflect the rich tapestry of cultural influences that define the San Diego-Tijuana region.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.