Jason Ryan Dorsey

| Gen Y Guy |
Jason Ryan Dorsey
Speaker and Chief Strategy Officer,
Center for Generational Kinetics

Austin, Texas
Age: 33

Jason Ryan Dorsey’s been on the road since he was 18, speaking on generational topics. He published a book, “Graduate to Your Perfect Job,” fresh out of high school. It became a bestseller, and soon he was speaking to half a million members of Gen Y about becoming adults. “Employers and big companies started calling me and saying, ‘I hired your people and now they’re driving me crazy,’” he says, so he switched from speaking to Gen Y to speaking about Gen Y. He’s since written four more books and established the Center for Generational Kinetics, a research firm studying generational trends. “We work with hotels and associations to think about emerging trends and what they can do with them. For example, when a Gen Yer shows up at a hotel, what is the experience they want?” Dorsey, who received an Austin Under 40 Entrepreneur of the Year award at 25, is still on the road much of the time, giving energetic and humorous keynotes. The best part of his job, he says, is that every day he gets to solve new and different problems. The worst part? Leaving his wife and 4-month-old daughter home in Texas. The self-tagged Gen Y Guy is growing up. —L. Hoppe