40 Under 40 Winners

Meaningful Number: 125
The number of interviews Alia conducted with Mayors across Canada and U.S. about their economic development strategies and initiatives during their leadership terms.

Meaningful Number: 72,000
The average wage for the almost 3,000 jobs generated by the projects Steven and his team led during his first 11 months leading business development for the EDC of Kansas City, MO.

Meaningful Number: 1.1 Billion & 8,524
The revenue generated in economic development and the number of jobs created and retained in the last year. These efforts have led to a vibrant, walkable downtown, an expanding rapid transit system, urban innovation districts and a strong tourism economy.

Meaningful Number: 10,000
Small businesses that assisted during 2020-2022 to triage and recover from the impacts of Covid resulting in $150M in economic impact.

Meaningful Number: 1,300
The first ever number of contacts between City government and Fairfax’s small business community during the height of the pandemic, and the number of touch points our agency had providing support to small businesses throughout Fairfax City.

Meaningful Number: 1
Hydrogen’s atomic number is 1. At Hy Stor Energy, Janel and her team are scaling green hydrogen to set the gold standard for zero-carbon, zero-methane hydrogen to better ensure clean air and water, and public health in our communities.

Meaningful Number: 185 Million
The amount of investment J.R. has generated for his communities as a direct result of his work.

Meaningful Number: 20,000
The number of jobs Monique set out to bring to the people of Greater Portland Area when she started work at GPI two years ago. Thanks to her hard work, her team is on track to hit that goal.

Meaningful Number: 5,000
The number of net new jobs JetBlue committed to in New York after a successful retention and expansion effort by their business development team.

Meaningful Number: 73
The number of local organizations and employers who joined together to do something about workforce in the Grand Forks region, raising more than $21 million to build a regional career and technical education center in 2021.

Meaningful Number: 1
Whether supporting one existing business, one prospect, one community identity or one single person – she feels it is her responsibility and privilege to provide quality support to each and every one to make Wichita Falls the best place to work and live for all.

Meaningful Number: 3
The number of professional mentors she has been blessed with in her role, the members in her family who are her reason for everything and coincidentally the day she started at the Partnership, April 3, 2014.

Meaningful Number: 5
Number of years she has worked at Ann Arbor SPARK to strengthen the mobility ecosystem in Ann Arbor region which now has more than 250 mobility companies — large and small.

Meaningful Number: 4 Billion & 3,600
The capital investment and number of jobs created during her time in economic development. However, Meryl says the most meaningful number of all, is the number of lives impacted by these two numbers.

Meaningful Number: 48
The opportunity to collaborate with key stakeholders to strengthen the economy of the 48th state in the union and elevate the quality of life for all Arizonans is an honor for Fernando.

Meaningful Number: 5
The number of colleagues on his immediate team that have helped build the plane of success they flew all year!

Meaningful Number: 46%
The participation rate of under-represented minorities in STEM in the BioPath state college program, which provides a student-to-startup pipeline through new degrees, experiential learning and incubator partnerships, connecting New Haven residents to high-paying bioscience careers.

Meaningful Number: 735 Million
The cumulative amount of venture investment JobsOhio Growth Capital portfolio companies has raised since the start of the Fund. For every $1 invested by JobsOhio Growth Capital, $7 has been invested by other investors into Ohio’s innovation economy.

Meaningful Number: 22 Million
The amount of syndicated funding transacted to increase Calgary, Alberta and Canada’s entrepreneurial and innovation-driven economy.

Meaningful Number: 3
The number of positions that Shannon has held in economic development, each having been hugely important to her personal and professional growth as a leader.

Meaningful Number: 3
3 years in the role as Executive Director of Carlsen Center, 3 Global Entrepreneurship Week campaigns in the top 5 for activities run, and many more reasons for Cameron to celebrate the number 3.

Meaningful Number: 340
Represents the 340-acre site that The LEGO Group selected in Meadowville Technology Park for their $1 billion project announced earlier in 2022. It is also a reminder of the hard work of Chesterfield Economic Development partners over many years.

Meaningful Number: 9.8 Billion
The global population in 2050 that will count on us to eliminate hunger by increasing animal-based food while reducing our environmental impact.

Meaningful Number: 1
Donnie says never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.

Meaningful Number: 28
Since joining JobsOhio, Brendan has been responsible for 28 attraction projects that have closed in the state. Bringing in new companies to Ohio, being a part of their initial experience, and watching them grow has been one of the most rewarding aspects of his career.

Meaningful Number: 4
Jesus, his amazing wife and his two beautiful children are the four that give Jayson the drive to always give it his best.

Meaningful Number: 100
Her initiative emerged Top 100 most scalable and innovative edtech solutions in the world by HundrED Finland.

Meaningful Number: 9
The number of years Katy has been working in economic development at EDPNC. It’s also significant because she has led state recruitment efforts for just over $9 billion in capital investment into the great state of North Carolina.

Meaningful Number: 21
The age Stevie was when she entered the economic development profession. While much has changed for her professionally and personally since then, she hopes to continue growing and changing throughout the profession over the next decade.

Meaningful Number: 5,108 /$4.6 billion
Since joining the Mobile Chamber’s economic development team in 2015, his community has announced 5,108 new direct jobs and $4.6 billion in new capex.

Meaningful Number: 0 & 4
Zero is the number of CEcDs in Michael’s region when his organization was formed and there are now 4 in that region, with more in the pipeline.

Meaningful Number: 75 million
The amount of direct grant dollars that Joe has secured for the Battle Creek community over the last five-years, which has led to hundreds of millions of dollars in community development projects and hundreds of new jobs.

Meaningful Number: 2021
The year when the first phase of development for her community was transferred to private ownership and returned to the tax rolls. The property taxes from this initial phase will more than double the operating revenue of the Town of Port Deposit and enable an expansion of necessary services and amenities to the local residents.

Meaningful Number: 1,115
The number of miles between Greenville, South Carolina and St. Paul, Minnesota. This number represents the professional transition Amanda made 5 years ago into regional economic development.

Meaningful Number: $350 million
In her previous role, Tiffany co-led a team that designed and deployed over $350 million in grant funding to over 20,000 recipients in the District of Columbia from 2020 to 2022.

Meaningful Number: 33
During Jack’s time working for the State of Arkansas, he collaborated with partners across 33 different Arkansas communities to land job-creating projects. His favorite part of the business is the relationships and he loves all of the community partners across Arkansas.

Meaningful Number: 4,606
The number of new jobs created throughout his community through projects he has worked on.

Meaningful Number: 730,000,000
The amount of projected annual payroll generated from projects that Cara has either led or supported to attract to Missouri.

Meaningful Number: 100 million
The largest transaction led by African Americans in Birmingham’s history, through the sale and development of real estate with Green Meadow Apartments, LLC.

Meaningful Number: 3
This number represents the three pillars Richelle believes underscore the importance of economic development to the viability of a healthy economy: community, communication and creation.