The entrepreneurial bright lights who keep Adelaide shining
These four young leaders have very different careers but as part of the 40 Under 40 alumni they can work together to help build a better state.
From left to right: Emilio De Stefano, Emily Welyhorskyj, Jade Torres, Jake Press. Photo: Morgan Sette.
Emilio De Stefano
De Stefano & Co / Director & Principal
Experienced business executive and chartered professional engineer Emilio De Stefano has worked for multinational companies, run a multi-million-dollar engineering firm and started two of his own rapidly growing businesses in very different industries.
He is currently De Stefano & Co’s Director and Principal, as well as an Adelaide Gardening Group Co-founder.
De Stefano & Co was established in 2015 to assist businesses to navigate the defence industry and grow their defence sector revenue.
Emilio says the company has not only achieved more than 50 per cent year-on-year growth, it has also opened a new office in Mile End and brought on its first interstate and international customers.
Emily Welyhorskyj
HenderCare / COO
Emily Welyhorskyj is Chief Operating Officer at HenderCare, an Adelaide-based disability and aged-care service provider.
She got her start as a lawyer with Thomson Geer in 2012 before moving into an in-house role with HenderCare.
At 30, she started as Chief Operating Officer.
The position forced Emily to move outside of her comfort zone and navigate the abundance of challenges that came with leading a health care organisation during a global pandemic.
She says she is passionate about gender equality and demonstrating the organisational benefits that derive from promoting women to executive roles.
Jade Torres
Pwerle / Director
Jade Torres comes from a line of artists – her father is internationally renowned art dealer Fred Torres and her great grandmother is Indigenous artist Minnie Pwerle.
The first signs Jade would make a move into the art world came when she was 17 years old, when she launched online clothing store Jade Emily.
In 2015, the Alywarre woman started the Aboriginal online art gallery Pwerle Gallery, showcasing her family’s works and her own cultural heritage. Pieces from the gallery were picked up and incorporated into the works of one of Australia’s top fashion labels, Aje.
Jade’s work has seen her nominated for Vogue Australia’s 2018 Game Changers.
Jake Press
FOUR / Founder
Adelaide-based technology company FOUR originally launched as an initiative by THIRTY4, a business think tank.
Jake Press founded the business in 2006 in a bid to solve the most “interesting” business problems.
He says in the last decade the business has been building expertise, capabilities, industry experience, and growing partnerships with the likes of City of Adelaide, Telstra, SA Police and Rio Tinto.
He says a plan to grow the team from 50 to 100 in the coming years and increase its global partnerships, saw the business simplify its message and relaunch as FOUR in 2018.
Pick up a copy of the Winter Edition of CityMag to read about all the 40 Under 40 winners in 2021, it’s free and waiting at hundreds of city locations.
