Entrepreneur. Founder. CEO.
Achieving this recognition can take years to accomplish. For three Weatherhead School of Management alumni, however, their hard work and dedication earned them these titles before they even turned 30.
These alumni recently were recognized as rising young leaders in this year’s Crain’s Cleveland Business Twenty in their 20s.
Ettore Fantin, BS ‘16, MSM-Finance ‘17, Keniece Gray, BS ‘17, MAcc ’17 and Vedang Kothari, BS ‘12, MEM ’13 were among 20 young Northeast Ohio professionals selected for the annual award, which honors “active, driven young professionals who will help steer the course of Northeast Ohio into the future.”
Ettore Fantin
Fantin, 25, is Director of Marketing at .Jobs TDL where he leads a team and is focused on acquisition, content and design for more than 25,000 websites. During his time at Weatherhead, his entrepreneurial spirit was ignited. He even pitched a business plan to the Dalai Lama during a University of Rochester sponsored competition and was a finalist for his team’s idea: to provide internet cafes powered by solar energy and Tesla-powered wall batteries.
Keniece Gray
At 24, Gray, is the youngest member of this year’s class. She is Performance Auditor, Office of the Mayor, Quality Control and Performance Management for the City of Cleveland. According to her Crain’s profile, Gray is in the process of founding an organization dedicated to training young professionals to serve on boards and executive committees. She is also known for her dedication to diversity, inclusion and equity in her community.
Vedang Kothari
Kothari has always been driven to lead his own company. While interning at Lumitex, a lighting solutions company, he developed a solution to treating oral mucositis, a side effect of cancer treatment. Last year, Lumitex spun his project out into a new company, MuReva Phototherapy Inc., with Kothari at the helm as President and CEO.