History

On November 12, 2004, more than 630 young professionals, artists, entrepreneurs and citizens came together for what became the largest young professionals' summit in our nation's history. Fire codes were the only thing keeping the crowd from exceeding 1,000. Every panel discussion was standing room only.

Dozens of community organizations including the Metropolitan Development Association, The Post-Standard, ThINC, CNY EDGE, Syracuse University, Le Moyne, Leadership Greater Syracuse and many more developed and hosted the half-day event. Late on a Friday afternoon hundreds of participants sat together in a town-hall meeting and expressed their creative visions for the future. Businesses leaders, congressmen and mayors - more than 30 elected officials in all - came, listened and absorbed the discussion.

More than 5,000 individual ideas - ranging from the obvious to the imaginative, from the practical to the wildly optimistic - were generated and catalogued. All shared a common theme -improving the quality of life in the region.

Where was this ground-breaking event? Not in Boston or San Francisco, not Cincinnati or Philadelphia, but rather in Syracuse, New York - the heart of Central Upstate. Where lakes, mountains and streams abound. Where your mortgage payment can be half of an urban-dweller's rent. Where your daily commute is shorter than a city sandwich line. Where the air is clean, the snow is deep and your voice can be heard over the silent cacophony of our non-existent traffic jams.

So what does the sound of 630 young and creative minds sound like? It sounds like progress. Action. Cooperation. Rebirth. Revitalization. It sounds like a movement that is gaining steam by the moment.

Who are these optimistic crusaders? We are none other than 40 Below. Here's what those of us who attended the summit look like:

  • Average age - 31
  • 97% college educated
  • 61% attended undergraduate or graduate school in region
  • 61% raised in the region
  • 19% of attendees from outside Onondaga County
  • 55% of attendees Female

We are a diverse lot and we embrace that diversity. We seek it out. We crave it. It will help our region thrive.

Who are we? We are a new generation of leaders.