Looking to the future, forty at a time

Some of the 2017 40 Under 40 Award winners at the awards event in Rosie O’Grady’s

By Irish Echo Staff

They represent Irish America’s best hope for the future and are 400 strong – with 40 soon to be added to their number.

And while this select band of ambassadors can’t claim to have the wisdom which goes with old age, they certainly can boast the exuberance and boldness of youth.

For the Irish 40 Under 40 alumni represent the best and brightest of Irish America and have youth, and much more, on their side.

Revived in 2008, the Irish Echo’s 40 Under 40 annual listing brings together the young-guns both building Irish America and opening a new chapter in transatlantic relations between Ireland and the U.S.

The 2018 11th annual listing will be unveiled in New York on 23 February.

Said Irish Echo publisher Connla McCann: “This is an event which blows away any fears for the future of Irish America.

“This new generation of Irish American leaders are grounded, optimistic, multi-talented and ambitious and I have no doubt the 2018 40 Under 40 listing will only burnish the reputation of our young leaders.

:And all life is here: our nominees for 2018 include incoming Speaker of New York City Council Corey Johnson, Sister Kathleen Dougherty of the Franciscan Daughters of Mary in Covington, Kentucky, and Dr. James Merrick, the first Irish person to get a PhD from the department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford in California.”