BRIAN NUMRICH

He was an MIAA All-Academic Team linebacker for Pittsburg State in 1996—which means Brian Numrich is smart enough to read a developing double-team. That skill will come in handy at home, where Numrich is clearly outnumbered: “First and foremost,” he says, “I’m committed to being a good husband and a good father to our four girls”—all of them under 10 years old. The flurry of activity he manages at home with his wife, Jamie, must be a good warm-up for what Numrich must tackle at the office, where the 37-year-old is director of inventory and management and distribution for Overland Park-based Ferrellgas.

There, he’s responsible for managing the company’s nationwide propane inventory. That includes negotiating supply contracts and the physical distribution of hundreds of millions of gallons of propane every year, as well as managing and hedging the fixed-cost risks. “It’s an exciting job where no two days are ever the same,” Numrich says. And he’s done well at it, earning both the Ferrellgas Corporate Service Award and the Ferrell North America Operating Cashflow Award. Those honors, recognition for both service to co-workers and his success in improving the company’s bottom line, might look good book-ending any hardware from his all-academic days. Outside the office Numrich is, quite predictably, drawn to causes that benefit children, including three years of board service for the Dream Factory of Kansas City and serving as a youth basketball coach. “I try to impart on young athletes the importance of both exercise and education,” he says.

MARK O'DONNELL

When he joined Lansing Trade Group in 2005, the commodities merchandiser already had annual revenues of nearly $1.2 billion. By last year, when Mark O’Donnell had risen to executive vice president and chief financial officer, it was one of the largest private companies in the Kansas City region, just shy of $7.2 billion in 2012 revenues. “Lansing’s culture of empowering its employees in an entrepreneurial environment has provided so many opportunities for success,” O’Donnell says. Just a year after coming on board, he was elevated to officer status for Lansing Ethanol Services, at the age of 28. Two years later, he was sent to Buenos Aires to establish trade operations in Argentina and Brazil, an experience he considers invaluable. “Traveling to and understanding different countries and cultures and developing business in those regions,” he said, had been key to his own success. After coming back to the mother ship in Overland Park, he was named to his current role in 2011.

Of paramount importance in his professional life, he says, is “surrounding myself with driven people who are passionate about what they do and always looking for ways to do it better.” The same zeal is at work at home, where the 35-year-old focuses on making the most of his relationship with his wife, Karen, and their three children, ages 7-10. His civic contributions have included service with his church, St. Michael the Archangel, coaching youth sports, and he’s a longtime supporter of various local, national and international charities, from the United Way of Greater Kansas City to the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging.

CARA OLSON

Exactly one digital marketing provider on this planet is a two-time winner of Agency of the Year by ExactTarget, the world’s largest platform for a technology known as SaaS, or Software as a Service. And exactly one person has built that line of business from the ground up—Cara Olson of DEG. Since launching the Digital Direct unit at Overland Park-based Digital Evolution Group nine years ago, she has grown it into a team of 35 strategists, coordinators and engineers, providing smart, relevant marketing strategies for client companies.

Her unit now accounts for nearly $10 million in revenue—more than half of DEG’s annual billings. She takes pride in working with flagship national brands, even international brands, with a client roster that includes Cabela’s, Hallmark Cards, Helzberg Diamonds, Lee Jeans and Crocs—“Brands that count on us,” she says, “to execute extremely technical and nuanced approaches to digital marketing.” The work in itself is rewarding; having co-founder Neal Sharma’s blessing to make it happen was ever more so. “Hand-picking this team, mentoring its members, guiding its decision-making and managing its engagements has been the most rewarding chapter of my professional life,” Olson says. That kind of output at the office sounds all-consuming, right? Not for Olson. This 36-year-old KC native and faithful Royals fan is married to Kevin Olson, and they’re raising two children, 8-year-old Annika and 6-year-old Carter. And she still manages to find time to train for half-marathons and volunteer at school, where she’s a room mother and PTA member.

T.J. PREUSS

Avandia. Celebrex. Ephedra and Vioxx. They’re well-known in product-liability circles, and the judgments involved against their makers have run into the hundreds of millions of dollars for clients of Wagstaff & Cartmell, the Kansas City law firm. T.J. Preuss had a hand in those cases and more, as a partner there. And the sums involved are humbling for this son of a single mother, who cashed in her retirement fund to get him through prestigious Saint Louis University High School, then college and law school. “She gave nearly everything she had to put me through school,” says Preuss, 34. “Each day, I remind myself of the values she taught me while working to help those who can’t help themselves.”

That means working both locally and nationally, most recently in a series of complex pharmaceutical and medical-device cases. “I’ve found nothing more rewarding than helping victims who’ve been injured by America’s largest corporations,” says Preuss. “These victims feel hopeless when they come to me. Many live at the poverty level, and due to their injuries, they are unable to work or pay bills. Some are on the verge of homelessness.” Securing judgments on their behalf, Preuss says, “has brought tears of joy; it’s saved Christmases, homes and families.”

He joined the firm right out of UMKC School of Law in 2003, and did his undergraduate work across Troost Avenue, at Rockhurst University. Preuss and his wife, Jane, have two children, 6-year-old Taylor and Peyton, 5.