40 Under 40 Honors Nominees, MVPs

Monday, February 06, 2012

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The past three years, Beth Hepfner, director of finance at Homes For Kids of Ohio, asked her coworker, Matt Kresic, if she could nominate him for a Youngstown 40 Under 40 award, Kresic denied her. He wanted to make CEO first, a goal he set for himself in his 20s.

So when Kresic was appointed CEO of Homes for Kids of Ohio last year, he gave Hepfner the OK to nominate him, a nomination that would prove to be very deserving when Kresic was named one of the five MVPs at Friday’s 40 Under 40 awards ceremony event.

“When you think about what you do in a career and what you strive for, you only get there by surrounding yourself with good people,” Kresic said. “If there’s one thing I’ve done well, it’s surrounded myself with good people.”

The other four MVPs -- chosen based on professional and community service by a committee consisting of Community Foundation members, 40 Under 40 committee members and other community leaders -- were Dr. Jean Blair, a partner at Pathology Consultants; Ryan Pastore, vice president and director of client and community relations at PNC Bank; Justin Rogers, planning manager at Mill Creek MetroParks; and Trinette Simon, senior manager at Cohen & Co.

“It’s humbling,” Kresic said. “When I looked a the list of nominees, there’s some people who are doing great things in the Mahoning Valley.”

Kresic became interested in working with kids through a series of life events that include his mom being orphaned during World War II and obtained degrees in social work from Youngstown State University and a master’s in nonprofit organization from Kent State University.

He works on the Happy Hearts Junior Tamburitzan Parent Board at the Croatian Home in Youngstown and is a member of the Association of Child Caring Agencies.

Blair, born and raised in Youngstown with degrees from Youngstown State University, returned because she wanted to give back to the community she grew up in.

As well as working at Pathology Consultants, she does hospital work where she gets to teach medical students and she is involved with the Pregnancy Help Center.

“It’s a huge honor and I honestly wasn’t expecting it,” Blair said.

Pastore became this region’s first director of client and community relations after moving his way up through PNC.

Through his position, he developed a partnership with the United Way of Youngstown and helped over 450 children through the Mahoning Valley’s Success by Six program.

Rogers works with grade school and high school students through a service club and donates his time and goods to local food banks, pantries and shelters.

“Mill Creek MetroParks has been around long before I got her and hopefully through my efforts it will carry on for hundreds of years,” Rogers said.

Simon became a certified public accountant after obtaining her finance degree though Youngstown State. Now she works with Cohen & Co. while also serving on the Young Philanthropists Fund Board.

“Third time’s a charm,” she said to her nominator, Frank Dixon of Cohen & Co., during her speech.

The 40 Under 40 awards in their eighth year began as a way for the Mahoning Valley Young Professionals to give back to the community while honoring the young professionals in the greater Youngstown area. The event honors 40 professionals age 40 and younger. The MVPs are selected from the 40 nominees. All proceeds from the event go to the Young Philanthropists Fund, a fund under the umbrella of the Community Foundation of Youngstown, to be used for project that expose young people to philanthropy.

Four of the 2010 40 Under 40 MVPs -- Amanda Jackson, partner at Plummer & Jackson Attorneys at Law; Tony Perrone, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown; Chris Jaskiewicz, chief operating officer at Valley Electrical Consolidated; Natalie Lariccia, a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch -- introduced the 40 honorees at Friday’s event.