JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN

Jennifer McLaughlin, 39, carries a well-known name throughout Citibank. Earning the Chairman’s Leadership Award, the most prestigious award Citi has to offer, three times is a pretty incredible feat on a work force of more than 2,000. They might have to retire the trophy if she wins again. McLaughlin is senior vice president of decision management, responsible for launching the Private Pass program that allows Citibank members to have special access to sporting events, concerts and many other entertainment venues. Citibank members can also, thanks to McLaughlin, earn points for miles and points for their purchase at the same time, making it simpler to keep track of points. She helps decide how fee-service product offers are made to customers by analyzing the validity of statistics driven from market tests. She keeps a keen focus, she says, on staying real and open in her communication style and being available to those she works with. McLaughlin finds it important to communicate in a clear way because she works with a lot of technical information and analytics. For the past 13 years, she’s been involved with Junior Achievement, teaching students about business with a real-world curriculum.

And within Citibank, she has served as a department coordinator for United Way, Harvesters and Adopt a Family. “I love being involved in programs that center on helping families and children,” she says.

JASON NEES

He learned discipline as an infantryman in the Army. He learned financial services in the trenches as a stockbroker in New York, before returning to the Kansas City area with Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley as a financial adviser, then UMB Financial Services as an investment manager. In 2010, Jason Nees took all of those accumulated skills to Pioneer Financial Services, where he serves as investor relations officer for a company whose clients largely are—closing the circle here—members of the military and their families.

“I’m most grateful that I work for an award-winning company that’s been helping military families and service members with their financial needs for more than 25 years,” says Nees, 35. Pioneer, no doubt, is grateful, as well: In less than 18 months managing all retail and institutional relationships, Nees has increased the retail stakeholder base by 64 percent, doubled debt funding, and upped the numbers of institutional investors by 50 percent.

He and his wife, Aime, are raising two children—7-year-old Aidan and 2-year-old Sophie—and he answers the call to serve by assisting the advocacy group Autism Speaks. “As a businessman, volunteer, parent or mentor,” Nees says, “we must try to make a difference in the lives of others and our community through our service and resources. It’s a responsibility we all owe to the communities, and to a nation, that have given us so much.”

SAM PASSER

“When I become involved,” says Sam Passer, “I tend to dive in deeply.” Examples, you say? Look at the performance of this 39-year-old vice president of program services for CommunityAmerica Credit Union. At work for a previous employer in Kansas City, he led the IT portion of a new product rollout, logging 90-hour work weeks for months through project completion. As a parent, he is committed to his kindergartner’s education by volunteering once a week at school. And on the streets, what began as a brief flirtation with jogging has morphed into completion of several marathons. Like he says: He dives in deeply. Passer conveys that passion for business and involvement by setting an example, serving as a classroom volunteer with Junior Achievement for the past four years.
He demonstrates his commitment to the community by serving with the LionsGate
Home Owners Association, including Fourth of July event committee chair, and to the broader community by completing the Leadership Overland Park sequence.

“I’m most proud of the multiple instances where I’ve started something and then my role quickly expanded,” Passer says, “I’ve grown tremendously as a person and look forward to what’s going to happen next.”

In addition to their 5-year-old, Harper, Passer and his wife, Cori, have a 2-year-old at home in Lenexa.

ERIC PATTERSON

He ponders his youth in southern California in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the life expectancy of many a young black male in Long Beach was all of 18 years of age. “Life,” says Eric Patterson, is a gift that should never be taken lightly.” His ticket out was a full ride to the University of Kansas, where he was part of both the football and track teams. Sports punched his ticket to college, but college punched his ticket to success: Patterson earned a degree in business communication in Lawrence, then a masters’ in marketing from American Intercontinental University. Today, the 34-year-old directs the Resource Exchange Center for the National Center for Drug Free Sport in Kansas City, an organization that provides drug-testing, counseling and other services to athletic departments throughout the nation.

In that capacity, he educates athletes about the dangers they face from drugs and other influences in pro, college or high school sports. And in his five years with the center, he estimates he’s fielded more than 40,000 questions from amateur and professional athletes. Work achievements are badges of honor, he says, but “at home, my title is Daddy,” and that’s his most important job. “I want to make sure my children have a fun childhood and grow into respectful, well-versed, knowledgeable men and women of integrity.” He and his wife, Mary, live in Overland Park with their two children, Carter and Mea.