Nora Tobin

Nora Tobin

Age: 30

Title: Executive director, Self-Help International

Family: Husband David Murphy and stepson James Murphy

A reason why she is a Forty: At 25, she was named executive director of Self-Help International, an Iowa-based international nonprofit founded in 1959, and has doubled the annual budget over the past five years.

What drives her: Kids’ health. “I’m short because of my genetics. But 1 in 5 kids worldwide is too short for her age due to chronic malnutrition. I’m driven to build a world where all parents can provide their children with sufficient nutrients to reach their genetic potentials, so they can learn and earn long-term,” she said.

An interesting fact about Tobin: After throwing herself out of a perfectly good plane in South Africa, one of her life goals became to go skydiving on every continent. Two down, five to go.