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Houston Business Journal names 40 Under 40 Class of 2021 honorees

The Houston Business Journal will once again honor an exceptional group of business and community leaders in the 40 Under 40 Class of 2021.

Among the honorees are several founders, CEOs and other leaders of both for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations. The list includes the city of Houston’s first Black poet laureate, a young restaurateur who battled cancer mid-pandemic, an educator who kicked off a charter school as Covid-19 hit, and a co-founder of a new women-focused coworking space, just to name a few. More than half of the honorees are founders, co-founders, owners or CEOs of their respective businesses or organizations.

All of the 40 Under 40 honorees will be celebrated during a live broadcast on June 17 and in a special section of the June 18 weekly edition of the Houston Business Journal. This year, HBJ’s 40 Under 40 awards event will be combined with the launch event for Houston Inno. Click here to learn more about Inno, and click here to register for the free virtual event.

Once again this year, HBJ received hundreds of nominations and applications for the 40 Under 40 awards. To be considered, nominees had to reside in the 10-county Houston area and be under 40 years of age as of Dec. 31, 2020. A panel of judges from across industries scored the nominees on leadership, overcoming challenges and community involvement.

The judges this year were:

  • Hillary Holmes, partner, Gibson Dunn
  • Kevin Kushner, executive vice president, CBRE
  • Whitney Wall, marketing executive, Wells Fargo
  • Kendra Lee, president and CEO, Merichem Co.
  • Marsha Murray, director, City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity
  • Lauren Brown, partner business tax services, KPMG

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