After earning his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, Jeffrey McLean returned to Baton Rouge to discover there was little opportunity for him without work experience. McLean reconnected with Kevin Kelly, his former undergraduate research adviser who was now president and co-founder of a start-up company called Mezzo Technologies.
The faith Kelly showed in McLean left him with an enduring gratitude to the company that allowed him to immediately put his degrees in mechanical engineering—McLean received his bachelor’s degree from LSU—to use. “Every day, hard work and dedication have allowed me to help move Mezzo’s technology forward.”
McLean considers this year their best yet. It’s been fulfilling for him to work with the company’s heat exchanger technology as well as ensuring its performance and cost competitiveness. They designed and built radiators for Andretti Green Racing that were used in all four of the team’s cars in the Indianapolis 500. They worked on government contracts that included making Humvee radiators and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fuel coolers.
“As long as we have a technology-driven society, there will always be a demand for engineers,” McLean says. “Mechanical engineering, in particular, gives you a very broad background that allows you to work in nearly any industry. That is great for a kid who doesn’t really know what he wants to do for a living.”
McLean says working for a new company can mean not having someone with 25 years’ experience to help him avoid reinventing the wheel. And while that happens sometimes, he’s also welcomed the freedom to be innovative.
It’s been fulfilling to advance the company’s technology from research and development to production, he says. His business philosophy is that talk is cheap, to be honest with people in success and failure and to lead by example.
“Mezzo has great people, which makes it a great place to work,” he says. “It’s hard to beat being able to bike to work, go home for lunch, and wear shorts and tennis shoes to work.”
Age: 29
What is the one thing Baton Rouge can do to help attract and retain highly educated young people?
“Baton Rouge employers should start to hire young, talented workers even if they have little or no applicable experience. If they are smart, they will figure out the job and excel.”
Click here for the complete list of 2008's Forty Under 40 winners.
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