You are about to meet 40 amazing young people who live, work and play right here alongside of you in Michigan’s Great Southwest. Some you will recognize instantly. Some you may never have heard of before. All have fascinating stories to tell and have been doing remarkable things in and for the community at large.
The future of Berrien County has an excellent chance for success with these folks in key positions to develop and advance the quality of life for all of us.
If the young people selected for the inaugural Moody on the Market 40 Under 40 recognition is any indication of our collective fate, we can breathe a lot easier knowing we’ve got great talent moving through the ranks and creating businesses of their own in our midst.
The 40 Under 40 is designed to recognize the up-and-comers you should know – they’re the future executives and influencers to watch in our business community and beyond.
No matter the industry or sector, we asked for the opportunity to hear about individuals in the under-40 crowd that are making a difference at their workplaces, excelling in their current roles and making valuable contributions to their organizations. These individuals are decision makers and leaders in their organizations and have been able to excel at their workplace or in their field at a remarkably fast pace. The 40 Under 40 will set the tone for what is to come in Michigan’s Great Southwest.
The 40 Under 40 recognition has been a goal of mine since first establishing the electronic version of Moody on the Market with the website. We actually briefly attempted to launch the process shortly after rolling out the website, but we hadn’t achieved critical mass in garnering online readers sufficient enough in the early days to generate the interest. Now, approaching 5-million page views, there is tremendous readership and we actually generated nearly 110 nominations.
Mid-West Family Broadcasting President Dave Doetsch reached out to United Way of Southwest Michigan’s Charlotte Becker to shepherd the nomination review process. She brought on a committee to read, review and rate each nomination to arrive at 40 young leaders. That committee, for which we are eternally grateful, included Becker herself, Calli Berg, Kelsey Cheyne, Leah Peat, Darius Reid, and myself, Pat Moody.
The online nominating process went smoothly last month and generated considerable interest and the committee’s work was seriously cut out for us. Nevertheless, the work was completed, winners were identified, notified and asked to respond to an online survey about themselves which has become their 40 Under 40 Biographical Profile, which you will be able to read tomorrow morning, Monday, March 26th, 2018 beginning between 7:30am and 8am following the on air release of that news on the Moody in the Morning Radio Broadcast just after the 7am newscast at WSJM 94.9FM. Each winner’s photo is shared with the bio as well.
Once the nominating process was complete, on February 25th, the work began to compile the winners list. So who’s on the list? You’ll have to wait ’til morning to find that out on the air and online, but…here are a few fun facts that will give you a sneak peek:
- Interestingly, with no conscious effort to balance the outcome, half of the winners are men and half are women.
- The youngest woman to make the list is 26 and the youngest man is 27.
- The average age of the men on the list is 34.1-years old.
- The average age of the women on the list is 33.8-years old.
- The average winner, as a result, is 33.9-years old.
- 16 of the winners are native to Berrien County, while eight were born elsewhere in Michigan, 14 were born outside of Michigan but in the U.S., and 2 were born internationally.
- Industry sectors of all kinds are represented in the winner’s list from agriculture to retail, from manufacturing to health care, from finance to education, from the non-profit ranks to the self-employed.
We are fortunate to have multiple underwriters who helped make the Moody on the Market 40 Under 40 campaign possible. They include the following key sponsors:
- Honor Credit Union
- Wightman & Associates
- Kinexus
- Vickers Engineering
- The Foster Kids of Berrien County
Additionally, we had these supporting role sponsors:
- The Mason Jar Cafe
- Anytime Fitness of St. Joseph
- Mark III Restaurant
- Pearson Construction Company
- Starks Family Funeral Homes & Cremation Service
- United Way of Southwest Michigan
Here’s the link you can follow to see the winners of the first ever Moody on the Market 40 Under 40 beginning shortly after 7:30 on Monday morning, March 26th, 2018 (or click the tab at the top of the page for 40 Under 40):
