Several former interns from The Heritage Foundation’s Young Leadership program, a former Heritage staff member, and a director at Heritage Action for America were recently recognized on Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 list.
The list, now in its seventh year, rounds up “600 young stars in 20 different industries,” according to Forbes’ Caroline Howard.
“The competition is extremely fierce: 15,000+ nominations for just 600 spots. That’s an under 4% acceptance rate, making the 30 Under 30 harder to get into than the nation’s two most selective colleges, Stanford and Harvard University.
“Our staff sorts through the nominations and passes them on to an army of 50-plus expert staff reporters and editors.”
Jacob Reses, Heritage Action for America’s director of strategic initiatives, made Forbes’ Law & Policy list. Reses drafted the Heritage Action Presidential Platform Review, which evaluated every presidential candidate’s policy positions during the primaries.
Reses is also the point person for the group's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Jeet Guram was a health policy intern with Heritage in 2008 and also a Heritage Graduate Fellow in Health policy. Guram also made the Forbes Law & Policy list. He is currently the senior adviser to the administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“Jeet Guram is the top policy adviser at the federal agency with a larger budget than the U.S. military, subsidizing health coverage for over 100 million Americans,” writes Forbes.
Jordan Richardson, a Heritage coalition relations intern in 2013, also made the Forbes Law & Policy list.
Richardson is a senior policy analyst at the Charles Koch Institute, for which he conducts research on how criminal justice reform can improve well-being for all Americans.
Prior to joining the Charles Koch Institute, he managed Generation Opportunity's state-based criminal justice portfolio and was a visiting legal fellow at the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
Lauren Salz was an intern in Heritage's Center for International Trade and Economics in 2009. Salz, who made the Forbes Energy list, is the co-founder and COO of Sealed.
Sealed is a company that “fronts the cost of installing residential energy-efficiency measures, then customers pay the company back out of their energy savings.”
“Taking an actuarial approach to calculating energy savings, and backed by insurance giant Munich Re, Sealed originates contracts with 20 years of cash flows. Utility partners include National Grid, ConEdison and Central Hudson Utility,” writes Forbes.
Ann Conant, an alumnus of The Heritage Foundation, made the Forbes Law & Policy list. Conant is the assistant to the deputy director at the White House Domestic Policy Council and manages the operations of President Trump’s key policy arm at only 27 years old.
Finally, James Braid, an intern for Heritage Action for America, also made the Forbes Law & Policy list.
Braid is said by Forbes to be one of the House Freedom Caucus’ “top policy minds,” serving as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C.
“The Young Leaders Program was excited to see four intern alumni represented in the recent Forbes 30 Under 30 award recognition,” said Helena Richardson, director of Heritage’s Young Leaders Program.
