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.

Dallas Arts District executive director Catherine Cuellar.

Catherine Cuellar, executive director of Dallas Arts District

Photo by Sylvia Elzafon

Dallas Arts District executive director Catherine Cuellar.

unspecified

Jobs report

Texas ranks among 10 best states to find a job, says new report

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

You have a better chance of landing a job in Texas than in most other states.

If you’re hunting for a job in Texas amid a tough employment market, you stand a better chance of landing it here than you might in other states.

A new ranking by personal finance website WalletHub of the best states for jobs puts Texas at No. 7. The Lone Star State lands at No. 2 in the economic environment category and No. 18 in the job market category.

Massachusetts tops the list, and West Virginia appears at the bottom.

To determine the most attractive states for employment, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 34 key indicators of economic health and job market strength. Ranking factors included employment growth, median annual income, and average commute time.

“Living in one of the best states for jobs can provide stable conditions for the long term, helping you ride out the fluctuations that the economy will experience in the future,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says.

In September, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas led the U.S. in job creation with the addition of 195,600 jobs over the past 12 months.

While Abbott proclaimed Texas is “America’s jobs leader,” the state’s level of job creation has recently slowed. In June, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas noted that the state’s year-to-date job growth rate had dipped to 1.8 percent, and that even slower job growth was expected in the second half of this year.

The August unemployment rate in Texas stood at 4.1 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Throughout 2025, the monthly rate in Texas has been either four percent or 4.1 percent.

By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate in August was 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2025, the monthly rate for the U.S. has ranged from 4 percent to 4.3 percent.

Here’s a rundown of the August unemployment rates in Texas’ four biggest metro areas:

Austin — 3.9 percent
Dallas-Fort Worth — 4.4 percent
San Antonio — 4.4 percent
Houston — 5 percent

Unemployment rates have remained steady this year despite layoffs and hiring freezes driven by economic uncertainty. However, the number of U.S. workers who’ve been without a job for at least 27 weeks has risen by 385,000 this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August. That month, long-term unemployed workers accounted for about one-fourth of all unemployed workers.

An August survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed a record-low 44.9 percent of Americans were confident about finding a job if they lost their current one.

This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

job market texas wallethub jobs

Dallas Young Professionals

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

Dallas Arts District executive director Catherine Cuellar.

Ambitious Indian restaurant Jashan opens at Plano's Legacy North

Surprising string of closures surfaces in this Dallas restaurant news

Chicks member Emily Strayer opens laundromat coffee cafe in Texas

Jobs report

Texas ranks among 10 best states to find a job, says new report