The chosen few: This year's Crain's Detroit Business 40 under 40 could be known as the “Class of 2001: A Success Odyssey.”
Many of the winners have embarked on adventurous journeys before settling in their current careers, while many just knew what success meant to them and pursued it as a spiritual quest for greater intelligence and discovery. One winner was a silver medalist in fencing at the 1991 Pan American Games before embarking on a new and risky venture in development. Another winner trekked across country by train; en route, she discovered her calling: coffee. Yet another saw a need for unity among the Indian community and took it upon herself to spearhead a new venture.
Some of the chosen resurrected dying businesses, while others continued the legacy begun by a family member, and still others discovered where the niche was and pursued it.
What the winners have in common is a fierce diligence that helped fortify their careers. They are not anomalies, but they are a group with impressive blends of entrepreneurial spirit, community leadership and vision.
This year's group was selected from more than 200 nominees.
In making the selections, Crain's asked nominees to provide extensive information about their careers and community activities. The judges consider professional achievement the most important qualification.

Robert Chioini, 37
Chairman, president and CEO
Rockwell Medical Technologies Inc.
Wixom
Biggest achievement: Taking the company public and continuing its growth.
Current goal: Dominating the hemodialysis supply market through acquisitions, proprietary products and internal expansion.

Robert Chioini is an entrepreneur from the classic school.
He was working for somebody else in the early 1990s when he decided he could deliver products more creatively and efficiently than his employer.
So Chioini started Rockwell Medical Technologies Inc. in 1995 to supply hemodialysis supplies and equipment to clinics that treat people for kidney disease.
Rockwell Medical (Nasdaq: RMTI) reports $9 million in annual sales, and Chioini says it can generate $100 million over the next three to five years.
To realize the goal of being a national player in the business, Rockwell has opened 51,000-square-foot manufacturing plants in Michigan and Texas over the past three months.
The Michigan State University graduate created Rockwell Medical from savings from working in sales for other medical suppliers. He brought aboard investors and clinicians when he decided to move beyond distributing hemodialysis supplies to manufacturing them, Chioini said.
The big breakthrough for Rockwell Medical happened when the company perfected a powder for mixing blood-purifying solutions rather than delivering liquid products in 55-gallon drums, he said.
The dry concentrate saves space at clinics, he said. It also has eliminated bulky 55-gallon drums, allowing Rockwell Medical truck drivers to carry freight for other companies as they return from deliveries.
Rockwell raised capital through a $5 million initial public offering to take its innovation to market.