MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE:LNKD), the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, announced today the launch of a new quarterly series, LinkedIn Lists, which celebrates different types of members and companies that are doing extraordinary work and transforming their fields.
The first list in the series focuses on the LinkedIn Next Wave, which spotlights the top 150 professionals across 15 industries — all 35 and under. Like all of LinkedIn’s content efforts, the Next Wave derived from a partnership between editors and algorithms: How can the data help find the leaders you may not know about — but should. We also asked LinkedIn Influencers, ~500 top minds in business who write and share on LinkedIn, for their recommendations.
“Our goal is to make the world’s professionally relevant news and knowledge accessible through LinkedIn,” says Dan Roth, executive editor, LinkedIn. “One of the ways we do that is by finding the people and companies who are making news and spreading knowledge. The Next Wavers are setting trends, creating innovative ways to tackle problems, and establishing themselves as the leaders others want to follow.”
With the goal of defining the next generation of business luminaries, the Next Wave list focuses on professionals working in the economy’s most vital industries such as enterprise and consumer technology, entertainment, healthcare, energy, finance, retail and fashion, among others. The individuals on the list are a combination of established names in business as well as key players who are under the radar. Highlights include:
- Laura Ridlehoover, who is helping create Amazon’s Dash button with the goal of simplifying e-commerce
- Gray Malin, who is shaping a career through mixing art and business by transforming the world’s most famous beaches into popular art with his signature bird’s-eye photography
- Chris Donato, who is charged with expanding Pizzeria Locale into one of Chipotle’s next big brands
- Whitney Wolfe, who is asking women to make the first move in the dating world with her rapidly growing company Bumble
- Dallas Dance, who is one of the youngest big city superintendents working to put a laptop in the hands of every student in Baltimore
- Erik Douglas, who co-founded CellScope and created technology to help diagnose an ear infection with your smartphone
- John Bunch, who is overseeing the creation of a workplace without any bosses at Zappos
- Katherine Lehr, who is leading Politico’s expansion beyond the Beltway with the mission of saving journalism at the state level
The LinkedIn Next Wave honorees were surfaced through a combination of data, insights, and editor and LinkedIn Influencer picks. LinkedIn looked at public-facing information such as which profiles were most viewed by people in the same industry; social engagement performance; the frequency that candidates appeared in the news, Newsle data; and other indicators. Additionally, LinkedIn Influencers, who are some of the world’s top thought leaders, such as DonorsChoose CEO Charles Best and Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman, weighed in to share their suggestions on accomplished professionals in their respective industries.
There are an impressive variety and range of backgrounds within the LinkedIn Next Wave honorees. Trends of note:
- Forget the Ivy’s. More than 80% of the listees didn’t go to an Ivy League university for undergrad and only 15% earned a M.B.A.
- The Next Wavers do more than just their day jobs. They are 25% more active in charities, boards and advisor roles than the average LinkedIn member.
- Spanning 22 cities across the U.S. Next Wave honorees are based in a range of cities across the U.S., from San Francisco to New York and Atlanta to Columbus.
The complete LinkedIn Next Wave list, along with video interviews and special features, can be found at https://lists.linkedin.com/2015/next-wave. LinkedIn invites you to celebrate the honorees and their accomplishments using the hashtag #LinkedInNextWave on social media. The next LinkedIn List in the series will be unveiled later this year and will focus on the best new voices on LinkedIn — those who write, share and develop their brands through insightful curation and creation.
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About LinkedIn
LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful and transforms the ways companies hire, market and sell. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through the ongoing development of the world’s first Economic Graph. LinkedIn has approximately 380 million members and has offices around the world.