It’s one of our favorite issues of the year: Forty Under 40, when we celebrate 40 of the best young executives the industry has to offer.
We began our annual process of selecting these 40 executives for recognition in November. At that point, there were more than 500 individuals who had been brought to our attention through nominations and recommendations, all of whom were worthy of consideration for having achieved a level of success in sports before the age of 40.
Following from that November start, there were meetings, there were phone calls, there were reference checks. Letters of support came in, as did countless emails and text messages.
To be considered, an executive had to have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1976. In other words, they couldn’t have turned 40 before the start of this year.
Were there more than 40 individuals with great stories to tell? Without a doubt. In an industry that’s getting increasingly broad and deep, the process of making our selections is becoming more challenging each year. But after three months of deliberations, we made our selections. We celebrate here the 40 executives who are the Forty Under 40 for 2016.
They’ve come to this point with different paths. Some have been with their companies since starting as interns. Others have taken more diverse journeys to their current points. There are sports management majors in the group, of course, but also electrical engineers and students of history and psychology.
And rest assured: It’s not all about work for these 40. They’re dedicated husbands and wives, loving fathers and mothers, proud sons and daughters. They aren’t afraid of adventures, either, whether that means skydiving, flying a plane or bungee jumping.
This is our 17th year for Forty Under 40. The 40 we’re celebrating this year join a group of executives who have continued to excel in, and lead, the industry. We also give a look back to the class of 10 years ago, and we hear from several members of that class of 2006.
As part of the production of this section, each of this year’s 40 was asked to complete a survey. Some of what they told us is reflected on our statistics page. We also asked them to give us a hashtag for their lives as part of the survey we sent them. You can see their responses to that question and to other questions from the survey as part of each of their profiles.
Our class of 2016 shares advice for students wanting to break into the industry. Those suggestions are worth a read by everyone, because it wasn’t too long ago that these 40 were the students. Today, they are achievers who have made a clear impact on the industry.
We congratulate them and are proud to tell their stories.
Mark Mensheha is assistant managing editor at SportsBusiness Journal. He can be reached at mmensheha@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
