LAUREN CODY

Digital advertising is not the act of posting a print ad to an on-line Web site. It is a fast-paced, complex, highly technical and technological environment, in a competitive arena that demands a pirate’s lust for combat.

She swings that broadsword for Adknowledge, which has grown to mammoth proportions—easily topping $300 million in sales last year—in less than a decade. She’s been with the Madison Avenue company for eight years, moving from account manager to her current role as vice president for sales operationsoverseeing offices in nine countries from Kansas City to Shanghai.

In addition to those duties, Cody also has responsibility for the company’s cross-selling initiative, its leading growth strategy, which includes staff training, breaking down silos and creating powerful incentives for a work force scattered around the planet.

She’s equally engaged out of the office, as mother of two girls, Charlotte and Victoria, and wife of Brian Cody, and she serves as research assistant on the fund development council for the Junior League of Kansas City. She also volunteers with various organizations including Harvesters-The Community Food Network, Operation Breakthrough, Ronald McDonald House, the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired, and Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center, and she’s preached good nutrition and physical fitness to first-graders at University Academy.

BRIAN DUNN

At 18 years old, Brian Dunn went to work for the family business. His business references—CEO Terry Dunn is his dad—didn’t get him very far up the ladder; he started as a laborer while on summer and winter breaks from Benedictine College. Starting at the bottom, he says, “has really helped me understand the business better overall and be able to relate to employees at all levels.” After earning his degree, there still were no short-cuts. “I’ve been given some opportunities along the way based on being a Dunn, but I’m always expected to perform at an effective and efficient level, just like all other JED employees,” Brian says. “There is added pressure at times to live up to the Dunn last name … but I’ve focused on keeping my nose to the grindstone, treating others with respect, and striving to provide positive leadership.” In 2012, he became vice president of risk management, and is now the company’s national director of planning and scheduling.

Meshing with a corporate culture of service, the 38-year-old Dunn has had an impressive 12-year run with Kids TLC, where he’s on the board and serves as vice chair of its finance committee. “Once I joined the board, Bob Drummond’s leadership and personal touch won me over, along with the other great board members and Kids TLC key staff members.” Dunn says. He also serves on the board of the Family Conservancy, and sits on the advisory board for Operation Breakthrough. He and his wife, Lynn, have three children, 6-year-old Ella, and sons Max, 4, and Charlie, 2.

GREG FENDLER

Greg Fendler is both an engineer and an entrepreneur. In the former, he’s part of one Kansas City tradition as a center of excellence in engineering. As an entrepreneur, he’s carrying on a family trait, but on his own terms—his father, Kermit Fendler, is the chairman of the hugely successful MedTrak Services, but Greg answered a different call. He’s an architectural engineer, a specialist in electrical engineering systems, and co-owner of Lankford + associates Consulting Engineers, based in Kansas City.

“As an administrator, I am responsible for our firm’s business development, marketing, human resources and technology systems,” says Fendler, 38. “As an engineer, I have been the principal in charge for some of our firm’s largest and highest-profile projects.” Among those are the new Polsinelli PC headquarters, the EPA Region 7 headquarters in Lenexa, and the national support center for Applebee’s restaurants. His clients also include J.E. Dunn, Stinson Leonard Street, Johnson County Community College, Centric Projects and other architectural and contracting firms, but his work can take him, as he says, “from Hawaii to Maine.” At age 29, just five years after joining the firm, he became co-owner with Alan Lankford. Fendler and his wife, Sylvia, have a 7-year-old son, William, and a daughter, Libby, 4, and he’s active with Ronald McDonald House, Cristo Rey High School and the Pillars, professional leadership-development program.

CHRIS FORD

It’s hard to pigeon-hole Chris Ford. Yes, he’s vice president of sales for Cretcher Heartland, a consulting firm specializing in insurance, employee benefits, retirement planning and HR consulting. But he’s also CEO for Physician Management Partners, a management firm he founded in 2011. And he’s the owner of IVXpress, a Lee’s Summit-based company that operates IV therapy suites for patients on infusion therapies. And with his wife, Aimee, he has two children—11-year-old Logan and 8-year-old Lauren. How anyone packs all that into a time frame of 38 years and change is a mystery to us—especially considering he spent eight years in the Army, including a tour in Iraq, where he earned a Bronze Star for combat and took part in more than 250 infantry company operations in Baghdad’s notorious Haifa Street area.

We’d bet that Ford is the only member of the Overland Park South Rotary Club with a top-secret security clearance from the Department of Defense. “I left the service in 2006 to spend more time as a husband and father,” Ford says. “While I miss the fulfillment I received from serving my country, I have never regretted the decision to make family the most important matter.” From the day he walked into Cretcher Heartland in 2009, Ford has been the company’s top salesman, besting a crew of 26 other producers each year through 2012. “While professional success is rewarding,” he says, “family and servitude are where I gain the most satisfaction and sense of achievement.”