ZACH FEE

Turning just 32 years old this month, Zach Fee leads a remarkably busy life. As community bank president for UMB, he is responsible for managing and expanding the bank’s south Kansas City market. He has consistently earned new business, being in the top two producers in his division each of the past five years, including being named Top Commercial Producer in 2009 and 2010. He attributes this success to not only being “hungry to win” but to having an “honest and open approach to business” which all his clients, and his employees, appreciate. He points to one of his mentored associates as being named “Rookie of the Year” as rewarding proof that he’s on the right track. He is just as aggressive in his support for his community, saying that being a community banker requires that one be steadfast in such commitment. He’s chairman of the board for the South K.C. Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the 2011 Lily Ball, on the golf committee for St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation, on the fundraising committee for Jazzoo 2011, a member of the Centurions Program of the Greater K.C. Chamber and a member of the United Way Young Leadership Society. Beyond all that, he says there’s nothing greater than his wife and watching their children grow up.

CHARLES 'CHIP' HARRIS

Just three years after his arrival at RubinBrown’s Kansas City office in 2006, Chip Harris became partner-in-charge with the benefit plan audit services group. He also provides services to for public-sector and not-for-profit clients. Specializing in business performance analysis with 15-plus years of accounting experience, he has helped RubinBrown succeed in a tough economy, says the Managing Partner John Herber Jr. of it’s St. Louis headquarters. Also helpful is Harris’ international background—after earning an accounting degree from the University of Kansas in 1995 he went to the British Virgin Islands, where his audit practice specialized in offshore captive insurance companies and hedge funds. He built deep expertise in both arenas and helped build that company into one of the largest public accounting firms in the territory. KU still figures in his life: he’s on its accounting and information systems advisory council, providing guidance and a communication link between the business community and the school’s faculty and staff. His enthusiasm is grounded in approach- ing every day “with a sense of purpose, drive, and the need to have a little fun, too.” And he has a simple objective when it comes to family: “To facilitate the ultimate life experience, one built on integrity, responsibility, enjoyment and laughter.”

BRENDAN FALLIS

As regional president for Verizon Wireless since 2009, Brendan Fallis has demonstrated the skills, perseverance, vision, and belief it takes to move through the ranks of huge corporations quickly. “How you do it,” he sagely notes, “is just as important as the result. There is no substitute for integrity and hard work. That’s the commitment by which I live and the example by which I lead.” After turning down college opportunities in basketball, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and then a MBA from Norwich University. He began in 1997 with Sprint PCS in northern California; joining Verizon in 2002, where, as he moved up, he moved on—first to Minnesota and then back to California and finally to Kansas City. In the past two years, he’s also jumped into community activities. On the board of directors as treasurer for Missouri Kids First, an organization dedicated to ending child abuse, he guided Verizon to donate an additional $195,000 to help fund domestic violence agencies—as part of a $750,000 hike in charitable revenues in his first two years in that position. He says his greatest achievement is a happy marriage and three young children—but it was a special surprise when his high school inducted him into its Athletic Hall of Fame last year.

KYLE HARTMAN

Lockton Companies added honoree Kyle Hartman to its Executive Committee in 2009, a tribute to his rapid progression in the firm. He is one of only three producers serving in this role, representing over 100 associates in the KC benefits division. As executive vice president, his responsibilities include overseeing client relationships, guiding the service team, advising clients on strategic business issues and developing new business opportunities. He attributes his success to “always doing what is right and taking care of our customers and our associates.” He also notes that, as a family man, success means the happiness of his family—and they comprise the “most rewarding” part of his life. He currently serves as a board member at Gillis Center, which addresses the needs of children and families through campus and community-based services. Another of his significant achievements is creating the Company Champions program as the chair of the Young Leaders Society of the United Way, which contributed over $1.2 million its first year. Community involvement continues with being one of Trufriends Committee members of Truman Medical Center and contributing time and expertise to the city of Mission Hills as part of its Crime Prevention and Safety Committee.