TODD THOMPSON

Todd Thompson isn’t big on maintaining the status quo. That was evident in 2008 when Thompson informed his boss—the county attorney, a 24-year incumbent—that he’d be challenging him in the fall election. Within a week, Thompson was looking for work. But five months later, voters in Leavenworth County bought into his vision of how the office should run. Thompson won with 63 percent of the vote, and matched that last fall, winning a second term.

“Being elected as the youngest county attorney in Kansas, and the youngest in Leavenworth County history, is my significant career achievement,” says the 37-year-old. And the history of that storied county is something Thompson knows about: “Leavenworth has been home to my family for more than 150 years, and I wanted to see it protected,” he says. “I ran because I had seen real issues in the prosecutor’s office and I knew I could make positive changes.” His lone regret is that neither of his parents lived long enough to see him secure electoral victory.

Since he took office, a 30 percent backlog of cases was charged out within six months. The numbers of charges filed have risen 40 percent, producing twice as many trials and convictions, and the county has witnessed a significant drop in crime—more than 20 percent in each of the two largest cities, Leavenworth and Lansing. Thompson also is a whirlwind of activity to support various interests in the legal community, from the county bar association and legal education commission to various community corrections advisory boards for the 1st Judicial District, the local Child Abuse Prevention Council and more.

JONATHAN WHITE

For Jonathan White, cancer research isn’t just business: It’s personal. “I have had to witness family and friends fight this devastating and relentless disease,” says the 38-year-old principal scientist for MRIGlobal. “As a scientist, I wanted to help work toward a treatment for this disease.” White is the lead investigator on two separate research initiatives being conducted on behalf of the National Cancer Institute where he’s worked since coming back to Kansas City in 2005 after his post-doctoral studies in the Department of Chemistry at Harvard University. His road to Cambridge, Mass., and back began with a bachelor’s in biology from UMKC and a doctorate in medicinal chemistry from KU in 2003.

Throughout his research career, cancer has been a primary focus. “At KU and at Harvard, I worked as a National Institutes of Health fellow, where I had the opportunity to investigate novel anti-cancer compounds,” White says. That paid off with his team’s discovery of two different compounds that could be used as chemotherapeutic agents. And he’s taking the fight to cancer into the preventive approaches, too; MRIGlobal has recently been awarded a new multi-year contract with the NCI to find ways of stopping the disease before it starts. “While my professional career keeps me busy,” he says, “my family is extremely important to me. It is the support of my wife (Amy) and daughter (Lauren, 6), along with community support, which affords me the opportunity to work in such an important area.”

GREG WU

When you’re defending complex product liability cases, it’s a given that you’ll be squaring off against some of the legal profession’s best. So Greg Wu takes great comfort in knowing that his employer, Shook Hardy & Bacon, not only has faith in him, but surrounds him with some of the best attorneys in the nation. A partner in the global product liability division, Wu focuses on tort and products liability defense litigation, with a particular emphasis on defending complex personal-injury cases. He joined Shook in 2002, fresh out of the University of Illinois College of Law. Coming to Kansas City meant starting from scratch: “At the time, I did not know many other lawyers and was not active in the greater Kansas City community,” he recalls. But that would change—in a hurry. “Today, I am fully engaged, and believe that my most significant career achievements involve promoting diversity in the legal profession and giving back to our community through pro bono service and mentoring young lawyers.” His pro bono work includes efforts on behalf of the Missouri Public Defender’s Office—Wu was the firm’s choice to take the first appointment. And his work to promote greater diversity within the legal community is paying dividends for Kansas City; last year, as president of the Asian American Bar Association of Kansas City, he worked to secure host-city status for the National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association’s 2013 convention, slated to bring more than 1,200 attorneys to Kansas City in November.

Wu and his wife, Sara, are expecting their first child in June.

SCOTT ZALAZNIK

In the telecommunications game, Scott Zalaznik is an all-star utility infielder, capable of playing a lot of positions—and playing them well. Just months after earning his business degree from MU, he started working for Sprint Corp. in January 1999. Within six years, he was playing at the director level and has been either there or in a vice president’s role, while holding nine separate jobs on his rise through the ranks. Most recently, the 39-year-old was elevated to vice president-digital, with responsibilities across all digital areas of Sprint’s prepaid wireless brands—Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile and Assurance Wireless—as well as the post-paid brands in the e-commerce, digital advertising, social media and direct marketing realms. It has been, Zalaznik says, “an exciting and rewarding experience marked by diverse roles in high risk-reward spaces.” Risk? Perhaps. Reward—certainly. Zalaznik has been involved with efforts that produced double-digit growth each year since 2008 in the company’s e-Commerce and e-Care initiatives. And he’s helped win four straight J.D. Power Awards for best on-line purchasing experience in the wireless industry.

A man who understands branding at its core, Zalaznik has one of his own, identifying himself at once as passionate, competitive, entrepreneurial, innovative, equal parts geek/creative, and team-oriented, with a strong need for humor and fun.

He and his wife, Carolyn, have three sons, ages 8, 6 and 4, and their adopted charity is the Ronald McDonald House.