Our annual 40 Under 40 special report is the highlight of this issue of the Business Journal. It’s the fifth year we’ve done this, so we now have a total of 200 young businesspeople that we have honored for their accomplishments not only within their professions but for their work in the community. This year’s group is the most diverse concerning the industries they represent. I hope you find the report worthwhile and enlightening. Why do we do an annual 40 Under 40 report anyway? Far too often the so-called “movers and shakers” in the local business community (the ones who run most of the companies and are leaders in most of the business organizations) tend to be the older folks the over 40 crowd. At the Business Journal, we make a conscious effort throughout the year to write about younger people in the business community but still a lot of the people making the news are the older people, so they tend to get featured more. So our 40 Under 40 report gives our editorial staff a chance to find dozens of younger businesspeople who we can devote almost an entire issue to. As editor, I consider our annual 40 Under 40 issue a large reporting exercise where we can find new younger sources who we not only feature in the issue but use as sources throughout the year in our other reporting. When we need a comment for a story, we’ll have new people who we can go to who will provide us with a younger point of view. In recent weeks I’ve received some phone calls asking how we pick the 40 people that we honor each year from a crop of usually about 100 nominations that we gather from readers and our own research. First of all, the editorial staff picks the honorees and I have the final say. The advertising staff has no input in this process so it doesn’t matter how many ads you buy, you’re on the same playing field as someone who doesn’t buy any ads. We choose the honorees based on the impact they have had at their businesses and the progress they have made within their professions as a whole. Community work is taken into consideration and if all other things are equal between two candidates, we’ll go with the one with more community involvement under their belt. The selection process is always difficult it really is and with 100 nominations and only 40 spots, some people get left out. It is a subjective process but we will consider nominees again in another year as long as they are still under 40. Congratulations to all. Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected]
