Fierce Electronics and Sensors Converge tried something different at this year’s event: the 40 Under 40 honors. Other publications do something similar, but the impact was truly unique—at least for me.
I confess I wasn’t ready to feel so much pride at this year’s class of honoree ceremony. Their smiles and proud posture said it all, as many of the class took the Sensors Converge 2025 main stage to receive their certificates and pose for a group photo.
I was able to catch up with a couple of the honorees, including Fernanda Mendes de Morais. She had arrived at
the ceremony from Brazil where she works as a senior manager for electronics hardware for Whirlpool Corp. She started there 15 years ago as an intern and leads a global team with more than 10 managers and principal engineers across Brazil, the USA, Italy, China and India with support from more than 80 professionals.
It turns out we had met earlier in the day as she was taking in the Sensors Converge show floor, but I had trouble recognizing her face. “I think I know you,” I told her as she was waiting in line to test drive a Cybertruck. She smiled and said she didn’t think so. Of course, I knew her face from a photo I had helped place in a story about her choice as a nominee, but I didn’t realize it until I saw her on stage at the honors ceremony and afterwards.
Later that day I was seated in the Live Theater on the expo floor, taking notes on pitches by startup founders. One of the youngest was Francis Pellegrino, founder and CEO of AGR, a startup devoted to a product called Spectre, a spectroscopy module paired with edge AI and vision tech mounted on tractors to help farmers spot crop disease early in an outbreak. Aside from what seems like a fairly amazing and unique product, it quickly became apparent that Pellegrino was also unique and a little amazing as he stood on stage wearing a cream-colored suit and tie—with a vest no less.
“One potential investor once told me there was nobody giving pitches that looks like me,” he had said in his pitch, calling attention to his background growing up on a farm and working as a farmer near Rochester, New York, and then going to engineering school. Later in an interview, he said AGR’s biggest obstacle—and his—has been getting the attention of the big tractor manufacturers for the Spectre product.
I regret not getting a selfie with either Francis or Fernanda. I tried to catch up with Fernanda at the show later, but she was already off to meet Whirlpool colleagues in Michigan. I asked Francis to send me a photo on his trip
home to New York and he sent one from a train ride after the event of all things, wearing a cream colored jacket and tie.
It was Fernanda’s first visit to Sensors Converge, she said via email later. It is a “fantastic opportunity to connect with cutting-edge technologies in sensors, Edge AI and their wide range of applications,” she wrote. “What a wonderful experience!”
Francis said he met other 40 Under 40 honorees, including Charlotte Savage, founder of Haila, a past Best Startup winner in the Best of Sensors awards.
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For me, the inaugural 40 Under 40 honors at Fierce felt something like teaching English and composition to undergrads at various colleges where I’ve worked. Awards ceremonies and graduations are obviously for those being honored, but they are also a reminder to the rest of us to keep cheering on the next wave of innovators. Given the growth and demands posed by electronics, we need to keep at it. At this stage of my career, it doesn’t seem like we can ever do enough to encourage others, especially the young, in big ways and small.