RACHEL SEXTON

Anyone who knows Rachel Sexton only for her business acumen is getting only part of the picture. “I’m extremely proud of my accomplishments as a businesswoman,” the 36-year-0ld Sexton says, but “I am equally defined by the pursuit of success in my roles as volunteer, runner, wife and mother.”

Who says you can’t have it all? Let’s start with the business piece. At 36, Sexton is chief operating officer for VPR Companies, dividing her time between senior creative director for VPR Creative Group and vice president for VPR Patient Outreach Program. The creative operation provides developmental, training and marketing services to corporate clients; VPR POP focuses on educational programs and other services in the health-care arena. The latter program, under her guidance, recorded 69 percent growth in 2011.

This is where it gets interesting. In addition to those roles, she and husband Brian King have three children, ages 6, 4 and 6 months, and her schedule accommodates two days a month volunteering at school. She runs—took first place in her age bracket in the Royals 5K in 2010, and ran it in 2011 just four weeks after the birth of her youngest, “albeit much more slowly,” she confesses. And she’s a board member for Junior League, pressing to keep the organization relevant with efforts like the Little Leaguers program she built to introduce little ones to what she calls “the joys of volunteerism.”

RYAN SCHNEIDER

“Work hard, but have fun doing it.” Easier said than done, for most of us, but 35-year-old Ryan Schneider has done more than make it his personal motto—he lives it, he says, by striking the right work-life balance between his duties at Jones Lange LaSalle Brokerage and the task of raising two sons with his wife, Jennifer.

The brokerage is a division of the Chicago-based financial and professional services firm, a global company specializing in real estate services and investment management. “Fun” isn’t a word you hear a lot from people who work for companies with 40,000 employees and 1,000 locations around the world, but it’s integral to Schneider’s personal success. And it’s a byproduct, he says, of developing strong relationships with the right clients and with co-workers. “I am fortunate,” he says, “to work with peers whom I respect and enjoy as friends” as leader of the Kansas City branch’s office division and tenant representation team. But there’s more to him—and his fun—than work. “As a life-long Kansas Citian, it is important for me to give back to the community that has made an impact on my life,” Schneider says. He does that by associating with groups like the MS Society, where he’s a board member who puts his service to the sweat test as captain of the DoMStiques Bike MS team. From 11 riders in 2006, DoMStiques has grown to more than 50 last year, and is closing in on $150,000 in donations to combat multiple sclerosis.

TIMOTHY SUTTON

Here’s one reason why Creative Planning is growing like a dandelion on steroids: The leadership knows how to pick gifted financial advisers. As was the case when Timothy Sutton joined the Leawood firm a little more than a year ago. Creative’s gain was Charles Schwab’s loss: Among Schwab’s army of consultants more than 1,000 strong nationwide, Sutton had built the 16th-largest practice.

While at Schwab, Sutton won the Chairman’s Club award five times as one of the organization’s Top 100 consultants, and a Platinum Club award for a Top 5 finish. Fast-forward to Leawood, where in just one year, he added more than $120 million in new client assets, a record achievement for first-year performers there.

“I have been,” Sutton says, “unbelievably blessed professionally.” The blessings flowed from great teammates, great training and great mentors, he said. And they continue to flow at home in Lee’s Summit: Sutton and his wife, Jackie, have two boys and a girl. Sutton, 35, works to share all of those blessings by living his faith with service to Deerbrook Covenant Church, where he previously served six years on the church council as treasurer and financial secretary. For the past two years, he’s been a member of the church’s marriage preparation and enrichment ministry, and he was board member and treasurer for the Sherwood Center for four years.

JOHN THOMAS, JR.

When John Thomas, Jr. was still in high school, a guidance counselor took him aside and suggested, based on his interests, that he study engineering. With that one piece of advice, he was soon the first in his family to receive a college degree—a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Florida State University and, later, his master’s degree from University of Texas. His determination and work ethic continued to burgeon in the workplace, bringing him to Terracon Consultants, Inc. “I’ve always been of the opinion that I don’t look at what the next title is,” he said modestly. “I believe if you work hard, opportunities will come.” Despite his humility, in 2006 he became one of 180 principals in Terracon, which has over 2,700 employees, at the age of 32.

Serving as a mentor with younger associates, he says, is his true professional passion because he finds it important to return the guidance he was given in his younger career days. As part of his dedication to help his co-workers achieve their professional goals, he manages two offices with nearly 80 employees and participates on companywide committees that promote and enhance Terracon’s ethics and integrity. He’s also fundraiser committee chairman of the Shawnee Rotary, a board member of the Olathe Economic Development Council Advisory Board and Design Build Institute of America. His favorite civic involvement is, true to character, coaching youth sports.