Happy happenstance: Alumnus honored as up-and-coming business leader

Myles Horttor (’09, ‘17) was sitting in a class on vocational theory at San Diego State University when something piqued his interest. Professor Charles Degeneffe, Horttor’s advisor in SDSU’s No. 7-ranked rehabilitation counseling master’s program, introduced the class to a concept called planned happenstance.

“It resonated with me,” Horttor recalls. “The idea is that you don’t know the definitive outcome or answers, you’re going on a path that’s opening up in front of you — and you just have to trust it along the way. 

“Looking back, I’ve definitely applied that in getting to this point. I do absolutely think I accidentally just landed in this field.”

Trusting the process has indeed been rewarding. Horttor was recently recognized by San Diego Business Journal in its 2025 listing of 40 Next Top Business Leaders Under 40.

Horttor currently serves as chief programs officer at Options For All, a San Diego-based nonprofit organization specializing in employment training and other support services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He has been with the organization for 15 years, working at all levels.

“I’ve spent much of my career in the educational and nonprofit fields developing programs that deliver high-quality services for the clientele that we serve,” Horttor said. “We just celebrated 40 years last month at Options for All. We are one of the many service providers within San Diego and the state, and while I’m particularly biased towards the way we do things, I think we do them particularly well.”

Based in San Diego, Horttor oversees delivery of the organization’s services by a team of 400 staff members to more than 2,000 clients spread across Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, the Bay Area and elsewhere in California.

He attributes his success to modeling service leadership and seeking out those traits in the people he hires.

“It’s one thing to be proud of building empires or bringing in so much money to an organization or things like that,” Horttor said. “In the nonprofit world, if that’s your primary goal, you’re gonna burn out rather quickly. In mission-oriented work, if you want to give your best because you want to make an impact, people will follow you — and they’ll start believing you.”

Early inspiration

Horttor has been working with the disability community ever since he was in high school — but it didn’t become a calling until later. As a youth, he had other goals — like becoming a rock star. 

Growing up in Orange County, an epicenter of the skate punk scene, Horttor played guitar in multiple bands with friends. He strongly considered going into the music business, but soon became disillusioned with the realities of the industry.

He pivoted to another activity he enjoyed, working with students with disabilities. A high school football player, Horttor used his free periods to volunteer in special education classrooms. He loved it and became passionate about finding ways to include classmates with disabilities into wider campus life. 

Horttor worked with coaches on campus to get students with disabilities involved with sports teams. If they couldn’t play, that might mean filling support roles like helping with equipment or working to hydrate players on the sideline. One day, someone in his school district asked him if he’d thought about doing this as a career. 

The question got him thinking.

“It was always volunteer work to me,” Horttor said. “I thought of it as a good thing to do, you know? Supporting students who maybe wouldn’t have opportunities that me and my peers did. But that person taking me aside started the rest of my career. 

“It took somebody telling me that they saw something in me.”

Sharpening up

After working for three years as a paraprofessional, Horttor attended SDSU to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social science and a single-subject teaching credential in history from the School of Teacher Education. But as he neared graduation, the global economy was teetering towards the Great Recession and the outlook for teaching positions began to look grim.

It was time for another pivot. Horttor began to look for agencies around San Diego that did work similar to what he loved in high school. He eventually found his way to Options For All — where planned happenstance struck again. His supervisor happened to be an SDSU rehabilitation counseling alumnus.

“He said, ‘You would be really good in this program,’” Horttor said. “He introduced me to Chuck (Degeneffe) and the rest is history. “

The program, he said, opened his eyes to the world of adult disability, answering questions about what supports exist, how they are navigated and the complexities and realities of what rehab counselors do.

“What I really took away was just the immense knowledge base that the faculty had,” said Horttor, who earned his master’s in 2017. “They were just so impressive to work with that it really inspired me to sharpen up.”

Indeed, as he takes pride in his recent achievement, Horttor also gives thanks to the mentors who shaped him.

“I’ve learned that leadership is never a solo journey,” he said. “This recognition is definitely a reflection of the communities that have contributed to my development over the years, including my time at SDSU.”