With a longstanding love of architecture, Julia Diane Malisos was inspired to her career by an urban planning course she took while studying at Arizona State University, which ultimately led to her achieving a Bachelor of Science in planning in 2002. From there, she continued her education with a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of California Irvine in 2005, during which time she began her career as an assistant planner for the IBA Design Group from 2004 to 2005. Also obtaining certification as an accredited professional in leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED), Ms. Malisos subsequently joined William Hezmalhalch Architects, Inc. from 2005 to 2009 as an associate planner and LEED accredited professional.
In 2009, Ms. Malisos spent time as a planning consultant and independent contractor before joining Core Development Services, where she worked as a zoning manager from 2009 to 2010 and a senior project manager from 2010 to 2017. Additionally, in 2012, she became the planning and transportation commissioner for the Mission Viejo Planning and Transportation Commission, a position she would hold until 2019. Ms. Malisos returned to William Hezmalhalch Architects in 2017 as a senior associate and planner and, in 2018, attained her current position of principal for planning and community design.
As principal, Ms. Malisos works with a variety of clients, from small residential communities to much bigger master plan communities. She also writes documents pertaining to policy, guidelines and the implementation of community infrastructure plans. To date, she has had multiple articles published in such industry magazines as Builder and Developer Magazine and the Green Home Builder magazine. In addition to her primary endeavors, Ms. Malisos has also served as the co-chair of technical assistant panels with the Urban Land Institute in Orange County and Inland Empire, California.
Attributing much of her success to her desire to continue learning and keep an open mind, Ms. Malisos was presented with the Emergent Leadership Award for innovation by the Urban Land Institute in 2013. She also feels incredibly gratified each time one of her projects receives jurisdictional approval and is completed. Looking toward the future, Ms. Malisos hopes to involve herself in planning projects across the country through helping to create user friendly documents, and hopes to one day become the go-to person in the industry for entitlement documents.