JAN-ERIC ANDERSON

You know the two chuckleheads in the drive-through lane as the television faces of Sonic Drive-In. Now meet Jan-Eric Anderson, the man most recently behind them, the rest of that memorable campaign, and the new “From Where I’m Skating” ad strategy for the biggest and most significant account at advertising heavyweight Barkley. As senior vice president and group account leader, he’s headed up the Sonic account for the past three years, overseeing a team that carries out every aspect of Barkley’s work on it: advertising, public relations, and social, interactive and traditional media. He was just 33 when Barkley recruited him three years ago from one of the biggest media companies in the world, Starcom Worldwide, out of Chicago. He honed his branding skills there on such high-profile accounts as Allstate Insurance, Miller Brewing and the U.S. Army. Barkley’s coup was also a homecoming for the Lawrence native, who set up house there with his wife, Cara, raising their two sons not far from his alma mater, the University of Kansas. So how often does a guy who’s devoted his career to the art of branding catch grief over a name that sounds like “generic”? More than you’d think: “That,” he wryly concedes, “is what my wife calls me.”

ANDY ATTERBURY

In a company intensely committed to performing for its investors, Andy Atterbury holds center stage. He’s senior vice president for corporate development at Inergy, L.P., recognized by Ingram’s as one of the Kansas City region’s 100 fastest-growing companies for each of the past eight years. That time frame tracks almost exactly with Atterbury’s service at the propane supplier. That growth, though, isn’t the single source of his pride. More so, he says, it’s that “we have maintained the same close partnership culture that existed when I began at Inergy in 2002.” There may be no better indicator that a manager and his organization are the right fit than the way they interact after hours, and Atterbury, 36, counts among his close personal friends many of his Inergy co-workers. “Being around people whom I respect, trust and whose company I enjoy is important to me,” he says. While juggling that career with the task of raising four children with his wife, Gwyn, Atterbury also finds time to be involved in various civic and charitable causes. He’s currently a trustee for the Pembroke Hill School and on the board of the Atterbury Family Foundation, and has served on boards for the Alzheimer’s Association’s Heart of America Chapter, the Gillis Center for Boys, and the Greater Kansas City Area Chamber of Commerce.

BRIAN BEGGS

Six years ago, Brian Beggs went to Ken Block with an idea. Just a year on the job with one of Kansas City’s iconic commercial realty families, Beggs made the case to his boss for pooling smaller investors’ savings into funds that would buy commercial real estate. “I told him to take the lead and come up with a plan,” says Ken Block, the managing principal at Block Real Estate Services. Beggs did exactly that, ushering in the family of Block Income Funds. To date, they have acquired more than $200 million in commercial property and yielded $55 million in equity for investors. Beggs, now 33, has been a principal in each of the four funds, managing their day-to-day performance, building relationships and aligning the interests of the company and those of investors. “Above all other things,” Beggs says, “we value the trust they have bestowed on us.” In addition to his wife, Avory, his prized possessions include the designation he’s earned as a Chartered Financial Analyst and his pilot’s license. He puts the latter to good use donating flight time to such humanitarian causes as Grace Flight of America and Veterans Airlift Command, as well as Pilots N Paws, doing the same for four-legged beneficiaries.

KYLE BOGDAN

For all his skills as a trial attorney specializing in construction law, Kyle Bogdan says his real achievement is nowhere near a courtroom or law library: It’s at home. “My most significant achievement is marrying my wife, Sarah, and having our daughter, Betsy,” says the 36-year-old partner at the Warden Grier law firm. That’s high praise indeed for his family, given his track record in court. Just since the start of the year, his representation of a construction company in Minneapolis produced a multimillion-dollar award, and he was able to defeat a proposed class-action lawsuit that could have cost another client millions. Not bad for a guy who says he got into UMKC’s law school “despite what I lacked upstairs.” Raised as an Army brat, he grew up in the Leavenworth Catholic school system, and earned a reputation for his athletic skill and competitive fire. He played football for a season, then baseball at Northeast Missouri State University, now Truman State. And he even took a shot at pro ball, with the Massachusetts Mad Dogs, a Class A minor-league club, in 1996. His earned-run average of 6.41 may have been the early indicator that law, not pitching, was in his future, but hey: The guy batted 1.000 for his career, getting a single in his only pro turn at bat.