2 From Bergen County Named To Forbes' 30 Under 30 Lists

Two Bergen County natives were named to two of Forbes' 30 Under 30 lists earlier this year.

Matt Watters was named to Forbes' law and policy list. He is a Rhodes Scholar and Ramsey High School alumnus, class of 2007. He earned a bachelor's degree in science from the University of Delaware and a Master of Business Administration from Oxford University.

Watters is an engagement manager and leads McKinsey & Company's service to the government of Sierra Leone. McKinsey & Company is an international management consulting firm that serves businesses, governments and nonprofit organizations.

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Watters helps support $800 million of the country's investments to help support for accelerating economic growth following the country's Ebola health crisis. He also founded studentsforhaiti.org, a nonprofit that helped reestablish a hospital that collapsed during the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

Brian Donohue, 27, is a Fort Lee native and a graduate of the Stevens Institute of Technology. He is the former CEO of Instapaper, a bookmarking application, and helped facilitate its sale to Pinterest, a content-sharing application, in August.

“There are also several people that I ‘know’ from the Internet, including one of my favorite writers, who was recognized in the media category,” Donohue said of the Forbes' recognition. “It’s great to be recognized alongside so many other people that I know and respect.”

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After graduating with a computer science degree, Donohue decided to start his own company, securing $250,000 in startup money. Although the product was not successful, Donohue learned how to manage a business and people.

He then went to Betaworks, a New York-based studio that owned Instapaper at the time. Donohue was quickly provided to general manage the app and changed Instapaper's structure from a paid model to mix of free and paid premium. He eventually became CEO and guided the company's sale to Pinterest.

“[The Forbes] recognition is nice in terms of my career accomplishments to date, but I hope it’s just a small nod and that much larger achievements are on the horizon,” Donohue said.

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Photo: Brian Donohue — Courtesy of Stevens Institute of Technology