Four GW alumni earned a spot on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for 2024.
Forbes released their annual list Tuesday of 600 young professionals under the age of 30 to recognize their accomplishments across 20 career fields. This year’s list featured four GW alumni and recognized their achievements in entertainment, energy and finance.
In 2023, three alumni secured a spot on the 30 Under 30 list in categories ranging from education, media and retail and e-commerce, and eight alumni made the list in 2022 for achievements in consumer technology, entertainment, finance, marketing, media and sports.
Entertainment agent Eric Jordan Darnell, entrepreneur Atticus Francken, executive Aya Kantorovich and platform creator Brandon Kumar made the 2024 Forbes list. Here’s how their careers have taken off since their time at GW:
Eric Jordan Darnell
Darnell, who graduated from GW with a bachelor’s degree in 2016, earned a spot on the 2024 list for his work as an agent with the William Morris Endeavor group, a talent and media company. Darnell worked at LucasFilm and SonyPictures before working at WME, where his clients include actor Denzel Washington and film director A.V. Rockwell.
Darnell is based in Los Angeles and specializes in helping his clients in the Black community “break barriers,” according to his Forbes profile.
Atticus Francken
Francken graduated from GW with bachelor’s degrees in economics and mathematics in 2016 and now serves as the president of Econergy, a renewable energy company he co-founded in 2018. Econergy serves as the largest provider of “non-utility” energy for school districts in the United States and is expected to make nearly $30 million in revenue in Fiscal Year 2023.
Apart from his work at Econergy, Francken wears several other hats as a partner at 1Infinity Ventures, a venture capital firm, and as an adviser at Raise Green, an organization that provides a platform for people to invest in climate solutions. He also co-founded three education companies: MajorClarity, Guardian Labs and Snickerdoodle Labs.
Aya Kantorovich
Kantorovich graduated from GW with bachelor’s degrees in finance and international affairs in 2016 and currently serves as a co-CEO of Fractal — a platform that manages trading of digital assets and cryptocurrency — after co-founding the company in 2022. Prior to creating Fractal, Kantorovich served as an executive at FalconX, a cryptocurrency brokerage firm.
Kantorovich served as a member of GW Women in Business and began her continued membership in the International Affairs Society during her time at GW.
Brandon Kumar
Kumar graduated from GW with a bachelor’s degree in economics and co-founded Layer3 in 2021, an educational platform to navigate cryptocurrency use and investment. Before founding Layer3, Kumar worked as an associate for Accolade Partners, a venture capital firm.
Jennifer Igbonoba, Emma Khodaverdian, Bryson Kloesel, Diana Anos, Emma Fudacz, Faith Wardwell, Lana Khalaf, Annaliese Persaud and Fiona Bork contributed reporting.
