CYDNEY BOLER

Cydney Boler’s motto tells you most everything you need to know about what drives her: “The Impossible: What no one can do until somebody does.” She lives that every day, most recently as an attorney for Foulston Siefkin, the largest law firm in Kansas. There, she provides regulatory expertise to small and emerging bioscience companies in the region. “I’m passionate about making Kansas City a leader in the bioscience arena,” she says—a feat that, until a few years ago, might itself have been deemed impossible. Her career has taken her from the ranks of Federal Trade Commission’s legal staff, specializing in generic drug and bioequivalence litigation, to private practice in New York and to Kansas City as corporate counsel for the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute. Among other duties, the 32-year-old has worked on the continuing effort to help the KU Cancer Center win its much-sought-after National Cancer Institute designation. Away from the office, she and her husband, Brad, take in the NASCAR races at Kansas Speedway, they’re both active in their church, and she’s a working mom with a 20-month-old son. And—how often can we say this about a 40 Under Forty honoree?—she’s also the reigning Mrs. Kansas of the Mrs. United States Pageant.

YIJING BRENTANO

Twenty years after coming to the United States from her native China, Yijing Brentano has lived a version of the American Dream that most of us can only… well, dream about. Eastern virtues, Western education and a world-class drive to master corporate finance have helped elevate her to vice president of investor relations at Sprint Nextel Corp. She manages the company’s relationships with the investment community and advises senior managers on investor sentiment, strategy and corporate initiatives. And if that career track isn’t enough to inspire jade-green shades of envy, consider that she’s done it while raising four children, now ages 3–11, with her husband, Paul Brentano. She also serves on the boards of the Central Exchange, the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City, and the United Way’s Johnson County Operating Board. All that, and she’s still only 38. After coming to America, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Kansas, then earned her MBA magna cum laude at the University of Chicago. Several years with Ernst and Young’s cash management consulting practice ensued before she joined Sprint in 1997, steadily climbing the responsibility ladder to her current position and completing the company’s three-year executive development program.

MIKE CARGNEL

Bill Sampson, a senior partner at Shook Hardy & Bacon, has seen a lot of good lawyers in 30 years. A lot. But Mike Cargnel, says Sampson, “has the best skill set I have seen” and is a tireless worker blessed with a remarkable memory. At a recent major trial in Wichita, Sampson says, Cargnel worked 19 hours preparing for closing arguments, went back to his hotel to shower and change clothes, then returned without sleep to deliver a 40-minute presentation—without notes—securing a punitive-damages award for Shook’s client. “All litigators are driven to win—me included,” says Cargnel, 36, but “true satisfaction comes from knowing you played a part in protecting or promoting something special.” But there’s more to his work than defending business owners and entrepreneurs. As part of the Shook commitment to pro bono work, he helps foster families in Kansas adopt children. “It is the one day I get to leave the courtroom with everyone smiling,” says Cargnel. A cum laude graduate of Evangel University, with a double major in history and philosophy, he stepped it up a notch to earn his law degree magna cum laude at Washburn University’s law school, where he was executive editor of the law journal.

MIKE FITZGERALD

After studying computer science at Rensselaer Polytech in upstate New York, Boston native Mike Fitzgerald set out for Silicon Valley and a career with an Internet start-up right about the time the dot-com bubble was ready to pop. Bad career call? Not on your life: Landing a gig as a programmer at Groove Networks, under the direction of Lotus Notes inventor Ray Ozzie, Fitzgerald began burnishing this tech credentials. After Groove became an acquisition of Microsoft, Fitzgerald headed to Colorado, serving as chief technology officer for another Internet startup before signing on four years ago with Adknowledge in Kansas City, where today he serves as chief operating officer. The most enjoyable part of his job there, he says, “is building teams and developing people.” So he must be enjoying a lot—the company has grown from 60 employees to more than 200 since he came on board, and is poised to see revenues of nearly $300 million this year. “I’m fortunate,” Fitzgerald says. “Leadership has been rewarding and it’s energizing to be surrounded by the sharpest minds in the country.” At 31, he’s found a home in something of an unexpected place. “The quality of life and sense of community that Kansas City has to offer cannot be beat in other cities,” he said. He further cemented the connection on Jan. 1, when he married Kansas City native Priscilla Ryder.