Six CLA Alumni Recognized as 40 Under 40 Recipients
Six CLA alumni were recognized last week in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal 2023 40 under 40 list. Congratulations to Emma Burns, Kristen Denzer, Mukhtar Ibrahim, Gavin Lee, Dr. Eric Ling, and Stephanie Silvers on this achievement. Read and learn more about each of their careers in the Twin Cities below.
Shortly after the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance was created, Emma Burns was hired as an executive assistant and project manager. A year later, she became director of operations and now manages the day-to-day finances of the nonprofit's $3 million budget.
In the decade since opening the first Tierra Encantada, Kristen Denzer has grown her Spanish immersion daycare and preschool business to 11 centers and counting.
Tierra Encantada flourishes under Kristen Denzer's leadership
After seeing a lack of diversity in journalism and news coverage, Mukhtar Ibrahim in 2019 founded Sahan Journal, a nonprofit digital news organization in St. Paul. He now manages a staff of 18, a budget of $2.6 million, and more than 1,000 sustaining members.
Mukhtar Ibrahim builds digital news organization Sahan Journal
Gavin Lee is co-founder and CEO of Gwoop Inc., a free esports training platform aimed to help players improve their gaming skills and dexterity, as well as develop problem-solving and critical-thinking capabilities through team tasks.
As vice president of medical affairs at HealthPartners Westfields Hospital & Clinic, Dr. Eric Ling leads 16 medical departments with over 450 credentialed clinicians. During the pandemic, he helped debut new models for telemedicine and manage a vaccine clinic.
As CEO of St. Paul-based Dress for Success Twin Cities, Stephanie Silvers has expanded the clothing-focused mission of the nonprofit to more broadly provide low-income women with the tools they need to find and maintain employment.
Stephanie Silvers still innovating at Dress for Success Twin Cities
