Tucson's 'Under 40' Man, Woman of Year named

Forty of the best and brightest young leaders in Southern Arizona were honored Friday, recognized for their work in making the community a better place through their involvement in business, education, science and volunteer service.

“They have incredible backgrounds, things they’re doing above and beyond their careers, initiatives they’ve led, people they’ve empowered,” said Lea Márquez-Peterson, president of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

As they have for the past 11 years, a panel of judges combed through hundreds of nominations to select the recipients of the “40 Under 40” awards, presented by the Hispanic Chamber, the Arizona Daily Star and Snell & Wilmer.

The event, which attracted more than 500 people to the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort, named Erin Schmidt, events and marketing manager for EdLeader21, and Daniel Hernandez, a Sunnyside school board member, as the Under 40 Woman and Man of the Year for 2015.

Doug Crockett, former energy manager for the city of Tucson, was also honored, as 2015 mentor of the year.

In less than four years, Schmidt and her husband fostered more than 13 children. She is board president at the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona and her family also fostered and adopted out almost 400 puppies and adult dogs over the last 10 years.

Schmidt, who recently returned from volunteering at a hospital in India, said she was surprised by the honor.

“There are so many amazing honorees, so to be singled out as Woman of the Year is really just overwhelming,” she said.

“In the work that I’ve done, not only here in Tucson but around the world, I’ve really seen that there’s so much need,” she said. “There’s always work that can be done.”

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Hernandez is widely credited with helping to save Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ life after she was shot on Jan. 8, 2011. He ran toward her, rather than away from the gunfire, and put pressure on her gushing head wound.

As a member of the Sunnyside Unified School District Governing Board, Hernandez is believed to be the youngest openly gay elected official in the country.

He was instrumental in opening a K-8 fine arts magnet school and securing a $4.3 million grant to implement a comprehensive sex education program in the district.

“I’m really honored to have been even considered, let alone chosen to receive this honor,” he said.

Throughout his life, the 25-year-old said he has had people telling him to slow down, but he’s also been surrounded by more encouraging voices.

“I’ve had people say, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t do that, now is not your time, you’re too young to do that,’” Hernandez said. “But I’ve had people on the other side say, ‘Do it; we need you to do this.’”

Making that decision to act is what leadership is, said the event’s keynote speaker, Marco Lopez.

“That you’re willing, unlike the 90 percent of people who are unwilling to make a decision for fear of making a mistake — that’s what separates you,” he said.

Lopez, who followed being elected mayor of Nogales at age 21 with stints as head of the Arizona Department of Commerce and chief of staff for Customs and Border Protection in Washington, D.C., is now representing the Carlos Slim Foundation in Arizona.

He said he learned from the Mexican billionaire that mistakes are a fact of life, but it’s not being afraid of making them that’s important.

“You hopefully make small mistakes and you don’t repeat them,” Lopez said, “but you understand that that is part of what will make you successful.”