Gregg Hamann was born in San Diego, California in 1957 and has lived virtually his entire life in El Cajon, just a few miles east of San Diego.  He went off to college on a full music scholarship (oboe) and played professionally in the Los Angeles area for a couple of years before switching his major to business and returning home.  He graduated with a B.S. in Accounting in 1978 and joined the family business, Hamann Construction right out of college.

He has spent the last forty years as an Industrial and Commercial Real Estate Contractor and Developer in Southern California, specializing in green building.  His zero-carbon footprint, concrete house in Julian called “StoneHaven,” won the 2015 ACI Award for Excellence in Construction. Gregg has also been the founder and/or part Owner of a number of other businesses including an aluminum extrusion plant, a surgical glove manufacturing plant and various food related businesses. He has numerous business interests in Mexico and East Asia as well.

With a deep love of the natural world since childhood, Gregg is an internationally known expert in Malacology (mollusks) and has been invited on scientific expeditions for his expertise.  Gregg has several seashells discovered by and/or named after him (Conus hamanni, Vokesimurex hamanni and Conus cerutti to name a few).  He also participated in a botanical expedition with Montgomery Botanical Center and has a cycad from Panama named after him (Zamia hamanni).

Gregg has been a member of the International Palm Society since 1990 and his 1.5 acre garden in El Cajon boasts around 600 species of palms and cycads from all around the world.

His interests include music (oboe, English Horn, piano and harp), scuba diving, underwater photography, hiking (with an emphasis on native plants) and travel.  He spent twenty-two years as a lay pastor in a Presbyterian Church North Park, CA

Affiliated Organizations: Palm Society of Southern California