Less than two years after graduating from Metro State with a marketing degree, 24-year-old Ross Bruno has earned the Denver Business Journal’s prestigious 40 Under 40 award. The awards, presented annually, honor 40 of Denver’s rising business leaders. Bruno, owner of BSM Solutions, a strategic marketing firm, is the youngest recipient ever of the award.

Bruno completed the last two and one-half years of his college education at Metro State. Previously, he hopped between the University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado Springs campuses. “I absolutely loved my time at Metro State,” he says. While Bruno says all of his professors were memorable, he cites Chuck Vitaska, Clay Daughtrey and Bob Heiser as having an especially big impact.

“It was great to be able to walk into a professor’s office and be able to talk to them, to get advice and discuss ideas.” Contrast that with Bruno’s experience at the larger universities. “I’ve had professors at both of those campuses that I never even met,” he says.

Bruno still maintains close ties to Metro State, serving on an external advisory board for the Marketing Department.

“He is one of those students who never missed class and always had something to contribute,” says Daughtrey, Marketing Department chair. “He impressed all of the faculty here. Here was a guy who was going out, making contacts and landing contracts long before he graduated.”

Bruno’s real world experience started several semesters before graduation, when he decided he needed to gain some experience and beef up his resume. He approached mom-and-pop businesses in the area and offered his services for free.

After graduation, Bruno held a few full-time jobs, but continued to develop his own client base on the side. In November 2002, after a few layoffs, Bruno officially launched his own business. “I realized I wasn’t doing any better working for someone else so I decided to give it a shot.”

Bruno says his business is doing well in spite of stiff competition in a challenging economy. He does face some unique challenges because of his age. “There’s been times where I’ve worn glasses, even over my contact lenses, into an initial meeting. Some clients, before they see what I can do, have doubted that someone my age can do the job.”