With so many firms competing for available professional staff, successful recruitment often comes down to achieving the right personality fit between employee and company. This year's Top 20 Under 40 honorees exemplify the heights that talented young employees can reach when they are in the right role or within a supportive team.

Selected from 75 applicants, the 20 individuals profiled include innovators, leaders and philanthropists. Some also juggle demanding job and family commitments, trying to achieve a healthy work-life balance.

Protecting the environment through sustainable design and construction practices is a common thread among the Top 20. They also are committed to technology and efficient project management practices.

In its fifth year, the Top 20 Under 40 competition accepts entries through an online system for those under the age of 40 who work within the construction industry in California and Hawaii. Submitters provide information on a candidate's work experience, industry leadership activities, efforts to improve the built environment and service to the broader community.

An independent panel of four judges evaluated the entries. Two were past Top 20 Under 40 honorees: Anthony Damon, business development director and project manager with Jeff Katz Architecture, and Chip Hastie, a vice president with Clark Construction Group. Danielle Feroleto, president of Small Giants, and Brent Leif, contract manager and branch manager of Hunt Construction Group's San Francisco office, also evaluated the entries.

Any candidate who worked for the same company or an affiliated company as a judge was assigned to a different judge.

Read on to learn more about the young women and men who are already making waves in the construction industry and in their communities in California, Hawaii and beyond.