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www.HartfordBusiness.com • August 6, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 15 A focus on the future W hat must the Greater Hartford region do to attract more talented young professionals to the area? What do you hope Greater Hartford will be like in 10 years? Those are two pressing questions on the minds of many influential people in the region and they are related in many ways. Our ability to attract young professionals will certainly dictate Greater Hartford's vibrancy in a decade's time. We posed these two questions to this year's class of 40 Under Forty honorees, because what better way to understand the minds of young, tal- ented professionals than directly asking for their input? Their responses were enlightening. We can woo young professionals by offering them a vibrant city and region with public transpor- tation options, affordable housing, amenities and entertainment, top-notch education and — most importantly — career opportunity and advancement, not only in traditional industries like insurance, financial services and health care, but in industries of the future — internet of things, coding and other STEM-related fields. Many of our honorees expressed optimism for the region's future, but also acknowledged there is much more work to be done to make us competitive with other vibrant cities. Every year for the last 22 years, Hartford Business Journal, with the help of our indepen- dent judges, has selected 40 of the top up-and- coming young professionals who are leading their respective organizations. This year we received 164 nominations. Nar- rowing down the list to 40 deserving winners was a difficult task. More importantly, our winners provide evidence that our region has a vast young talent pool. As a state, we must do everything in our power to keep them here. They represent the promising future of our city, region and state. We also must heed their advice on how to attract more like-minded people to the region. Our 2018 winners hail from the private, public and nonprofit sectors and from organizations both small and large. We'd like to thank this year's judges (Ted Car- roll, Wilson Camelo and Julie Daly Meehan) for helping choose our winners. We will be cel- ebrating our annual 40 Under Forty event Sept. 27, at the Hartford Marriott Downtown. We'd also like to thank Infinity Music Hall in downtown Hartford, which hosted this year's photo shoot. And if you think you have what it takes to be part of a future 40 Under Forty class, we ask that you submit a nomination next year. This award is only as strong as the class of individu- als who are nominated for it. Greg Bordonaro | Editor Presenting Sponsors: Event Sponsors: Education Leadership Sponsor: SPECIAL SECTION PGS. 15–50 Contents 16 Jason Cabral 17 Morgan Sones Ferrarotti 18 Emily Hultquist Meghan M. Hanrahan 19 Eric Cushman William Bussey 20 Joseph Connerton 21 Kate C. Farrar Brad Palazzo 22 Sarah Gallardo Nicole Feeney 23 Michael Guidicelli 24 Ibrahim Ibrahim 26 Andrew Salak 27 Luis A. Valdez- Jiminez 28 Britt-Marie K. Cole-Johnson 29 Eric Amodio Matt Chesky 30 Mae Maloney 31 Christopher Cykley 32 Guilaine Menefee Mahesh Puthenveetil 33 Dr. Ashley G. Dorin 34 John F. Rossi 35 Ali Lazowski 36 Jillian B. Mayer 38 Kathleen M. Cross Nisha Kapur 39 Philip Rigueur 40 Kara Mitchell 41 Alicia Woodsby 42 Veronica Yvette Ruiz 44 R. Bradford Oneglia 45 Monica Obrebski Brendan J. Sullivan 47 Dr. Nathan Nartey 48 Megan R. Gavin Ryan Martin 49 Jenna McClure 50 William J. Roberts PHOTOS | J. FIERECK PHOTOGRAPHY