Steven Weathers

It's been nearly two decades since Steven Weathers took part in one of his most important business trips abroad: joining a team of local civic leaders who flew to Denmark in the mid-1990s to hammer out the deal that brought Legoland to Carlsbad.

And now -- after heading economic development organizations in Arizona, Ohio and Georgia -- Weathers is back in San Diego again, this time as the new chief executive of the local World Trade Center.

His goal: to help more local companies make a "global footprint" overseas.