Dallas Young Professionals

Choosing this year's 40 Under 40 for Dallas Business Journal proves hard work

It’s that time again, when the Dallas Business Journal releases the list of young professionals who made it to the coveted “40 Under 40” roster.

Announced June 17, this year’s class includes 15 women and 25 men, ranging in age from 27 to 39. The chosen few are not only impressive professionally, but personally and civically, this group offers an inspiring array of skill sets, passions and causes.

This year, I had the distinct pleasure of serving on the judges panel alongside several other “40 Under 40” alums from recent years. And I can officially attest to the difficultly of selecting the individuals to be awarded this honor.

These young professionals are running marathons on the weekends and executing million-dollar business deals on Monday.

The task to whittle down that list from hundreds of accomplished career- and community-oriented individuals to only 40 names is, to say the least, not an easy one.

But whittle we did. Those who made the cut are key executives for some of the city’s largest organizations. They are making a massive impact in the lives of Dallasites from a civic perspective. They are dentists and attorneys. Entrepreneurs and financial advisors. They are family men and women.

They are running marathons on the weekends and executing million-dollar business deals on Monday. These are the individuals who are asked constantly, "Do you ever have time to sleep?"

All together, one might wonder what this group can’t do. And the fact that they’re under 40 means they’ve only just begun.

Here are this year’s top 40 young professionals, as chosen by the DBJ:

Malcolm Allen, CEO, MyCEO Inc.

Donna Anderson, owner and president, DNA Transcomp and Houdek Enterprises Inc.

Evan Beattie, principal, Good Fulton & Farrell

Erica Bramer, executive vice president and partner, The BVA Group

Bryan Carter, senior pastor, Concord Church

Heath Cheek, associate, Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP

Kristen Colby, senior director of marketing, Front Burner Restaurants

Missy Cousino, managing director of internal and labor communications, American Airlines

Catherine Cuellar, executive director, Dallas Arts District

Maribel De Leon-Cantu, business adviser, Dallas SBDC

Dena DeNooyer Stroh, general counsel and corporate secretary, Murchison Oil and Gas Inc.

Bill DiGaetano, chief operating officer, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – DFW

Gabriella Draney, co-founder and CEO, Tech Wildcatters

Lacy Durham, tax manager, Deloitte LLP

Sarah Erickson, senior vice president and partner, Stream Realty Partners

Derrick Evers, CEO, Neal Richards Group

Danielle Girdano, president, D'fine Scultping & Nutrition LLC

Jonathan Gross, Co-CEO, Fusion Packaging

Dan Healy, CEO, Civitas Capital Management LLC

Clint Herzog, founder and CEO, Floss Dental

Stephen Holley, associate, Jones Lang LaSalle

Matt Houston, executive director, Group Excellence

Stephanie Johnson, founder and CEO, Bed Rest Concierge

Omar Khan, Co-CEO, NQ Mobile

Kevin Lavelle, owner, Mizzen + Main

Jay Liberman, associate vice president - financial advisor, RBC Wealth Management

Brian Livingston, CFO, Firebird Restaurant Group

Terrence Maiden, executive vice president, Corinth Properties

Kim Moore, marketing manager, City of Dallas Office of Economic Development

Carl Pankratz, city councilman/vice president legal counsel, City of Rowlett/Capital Title

Ben Patterson, president, Patterson & Associates Insurance Agency Inc.

Ward Richmond, vice president, Colliers International

Jon M. Ruff, senior vice president, Spire Realty Group LP

Chad Schieber, director of client services, The Beck Group

Edward Spooner, business development manager, Turner Construction Co.

Whitney Strauss, director of alumni relations and major gifts, Greenhill School

Myiesha Taylor, physician, Taylored Physician Professional Association

Jeronimo Valdez, founder and managing partner, Valdez Washington LLP

Ryan Valdez, partner, Cantey Hanger LLP

Brian Vanderwoude, shareholder, Winstead PC

Honorees will receive their awards at the Brookhaven Country Club on August 28 at 5:30 pm. Tickets can be obtained through the Dallas Business Journal.

Clint Herzog of FLOSS Dental.

Clint Herzog Facebook

Clint Herzog of FLOSS Dental.

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Artificial Intelligence News

Google to invest $40 billion on AI data centers in Texas

Google

Google data center

Google is investing a huge chunk of money in Texas: According to a release, the company will invest $40 billion on cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, with the development of new data centers in Armstrong and Haskell Counties.

The company announced its intentions at a meeting on November 14 attended by federal, state, and local leaders including
Governor Greg Abbott who called it "a Texas-sized investment."

Other attendees included Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Congressman Jake Ellzey (R-TX 06), Haskell County Judge Kenny Thompson, Armstrong County Judge Adam Ensey, Red Oak Mayor Mark Stanfill, and Midlothian Mayor Justin Coffman.

Google will open two new data center campuses in Haskell County, and a data center campus in Armstrong County.

Additionally, the first building at the company’s Red Oak campus in Ellis County is now operational. Google is continuing to invest in its existing Midlothian campus and Dallas cloud region, which are part of the company’s global network of 42 cloud regions that deliver high-performance, low-latency services that businesses and organizations use to build and scale their own AI-powered solutions.

Energy demands
Google is committed to responsibly growing its infrastructure by bringing new energy resources onto the grid, paying for costs associated with its operations, and supporting community energy efficiency initiatives.

One of the new Haskell data centers will be co-located with — or built directly alongside — a new solar and battery energy storage plant, creating the first industrial park to be developed through Google’s partnership with Intersect and TPG Rise Climate announced last year.

Google has contracted to add more than 6,200 megawatts (MW) of net new energy generation and capacity to the Texas electricity grid through power purchase agreements (PPAs) with energy developers such as AES Corporation, Enel North America, Intersect, Clearway, ENGIE, SB Energy, Ørsted, and X-Elio.

Water demands
Google’s three new facilities in Armstrong and Haskell Counties will use air-cooling technology, limiting water use to site operations like kitchens. The company is also contributing $2.6 million to help Texas Water Trade create and enhance up to 1,000 acres of wetlands along the Trinity-San Jacinto Estuary. Google is also sponsoring a regenerative agriculture program with Indigo Ag in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and an irrigation efficiency project with N-Drip in the Texas High Plains.

Google is committing $7 million in grants to support AI-related initiatives in healthcare, energy, and education across the state. This includes helping CareMessage enhance rural healthcare access; enabling The University of Texas at Austin and Texas Tech University to address energy challenges that will arise with all this new AI stuff, and expanding AI training for Texas educators and students through support to Houston City College.

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