Twenty-five years after he joined as a project manager, Jeremy Laster now leads one of Orange County’s oldest and most storied companies. His blueprint? A “Culture of Care,” and it’s a lesson every leader should steal.
Some leaders are parachuted in. Jeremy Laster grew in. He joined Rancho Mission Viejo, the 143-year-old, family-owned land company that has shaped south Orange County, as a project manager in 2001. In late April 2026, Chairman Tony Moiso named him Chief Executive Officer, adding to the President role he has held since 2022. A quarter-century climb from project manager to chief executive of a company older than the freeways that cross it.
To understand the weight of that seat, you have to understand The Ranch. Rancho Mission Viejo is one of the last great land holdings in Southern California, a family enterprise that has spent more than a century transforming historic ranchland into thoughtfully planned communities while preserving vast stretches as open space. It is not a company that thinks in quarters. It thinks in generations, in decades-long master plans and the kind of legacy you can only build when the same family has stewarded the land for well over a century.
The endorsement was unequivocal. Vice Chairman Don Vodra said Laster “has earned the complete trust of our teams and demonstrated an ability to deliver significant results,” calling him “one of Orange County’s great business leaders.” Trust like that, earned over 25 years, isn’t a hire. It’s a harvest.
“More than a century of family ownership has taught each generation to embrace the recognition that the blessings of land ownership bring the responsibility to be a good neighbor. It’s an honor and a privilege to lead The Ranch team and continue to foster a company and community-wide ‘Culture of Care.’”
Jeremy Laster, CEO & President, Rancho Mission Viejo
That phrase, Culture of Care, is the whole philosophy in three words. It’s the same truth we build everything on: that the best leaders lead with heart, and that companies are communities before they are balance sheets. Laster talks about wanting residents to “love living” in Rancho Mission Viejo and “be proud” of it: leadership measured in belonging, not just in margins.
He also carries the long view a company like this demands. “As we look ahead, over the next 15 to 20 years, we can see the finish line of The Ranch plan,” he has said, describing an opportunity to help craft the next chapter of the Rancho Mission Viejo story. Most executives are lucky to think a few years out. Laster is steering a plan measured in decades, and doing it with the calm of someone who has already given the place a quarter of his life.
What stands out is where his mind goes under pressure. Laster has said that affordability remains at the forefront of the company’s thinking, that the team weighs its impact on nearly every decision they make. In a region where the cost of living can feel like a locked door, that is not a talking point; it is a value. It is the difference between a developer and a steward, and it tells you the kind of leader now holding the reins.
It is worth remembering that leading The Ranch is not only a business role; it is a civic one. Tens of thousands of people call these communities home, and the decisions made in Laster’s office shape how they live, work, and gather. That is a rare kind of responsibility, and he seems to carry it with the humility it deserves.
His rise is also the purest expression of what we believe about talent: that character and trust, compounded over time, beat the flashy resume nearly every time. As Orange County leadership ranks turn over across real estate, finance, and tech, Laster is living proof that the longest game is often the winning one.
To Jeremy Laster: congratulations. Twenty-five years of care just became the whole region’s blueprint.
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Appointment & quotes: citybiz · Rancho Mission Viejo
Chief Talent Strategist & Editor-in-Chief | 26-year global recruiting veteran, #1 bestselling author, cancer survivor & humanitarian. Founder of Recruiter Hustle, OC/LA's no-filter media platform for talent, finance & recruiting professionals. Heart. Human. Hustle.