Temecula Resort Visited By USC Marshall School Of Business Students

TEMECULA, CA — A group of 15 University of Southern California Marshall School of Business students recently spent a day with a Temecula real estate developer and fellow Trojan who's made a name for himself in Temecula Valley wine country.

Professor Marianne Szymanski led the journey and made the introduction with Dan Stephenson, Founder and Chairman of Rancon Group, a land development and real estate firm. He is also the founder of Europa Village Wineries & Resort in Temecula.

She met Stephenson through what she calls the power of hello, calling on their mutual USC connection. "I'm always looking for speakers for my class, and with students studying real estate, it made sense."

Stephenson suggested that they come out to Europa Village and see firsthand what he has built and is continuing to develop at the resort.

When the students arrived, he discussed his multi-tiered career in the valley. At the meeting, he spoke about his real estate career, which began in 1968, and discussed how Europa Village was conceptualized and built.

Besides giving them a rundown of his life, both from a personal and business perspective, he also gave them a tour of Europa Village and a mini-goal seminar.

In addition, Rancon’s and Europa’s CEO, Steve Van Houten, reviewed Europa’s strategic plan with the group, and then fielded several questions.

"They were dead silent, staring at him in the conference room, then asked questions and listened to his responses," Szymanski said. “You never know who you will meet in this town, and the stories about the great things people build here. Mr. Stephenson was a gracious host, and our students were thrilled to be in his presence."

Of the meeting, Stephenson told Patch he loves sharing his experiences with young and eager minds.

"I often say, 'if I knew what I know now when I got started in life, I could have owned the world," he said. Hopefully, by sharing some of my successes and failures will help in their journey in life. It is especially fun when your people are attending college and eager to learn. They asked such great questions, and it was obvious they listened to my answers."

His only request of the students was to one day “pay it forward.”

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