Andrew Brummel | Bryan Cave

He earned his business degree magna cum laude, then landed a nice gig at the Boeing Co. in St. Louis. After just a year there, Andrew Brummel was managing a $2.3 billion subcontract. For most people, projects of that size command one’s full attention, but Brummel also took on a longer-term bit of work. Even as a junior in high school, he had set his sights on a career in business law. So, while working full-time, he earned his law degree—another magna finish, of course—and eventually landed at the Bryan Cave law firm in Kansas City. There, he practices his own brand of entrepreneurship by assisting client companies in the start-up phase. He’s credited with helping one such company reach $1 million in revenues that first year out of the gate—and three times that in its second. This year? With Brummel’s guidance, it’s on track to triple revenues again. After being seconded to a bank in the region last year, his work began bringing additional clients to the firm. “An entrepreneur,” he says, “has the ability to identify an opportunity but, more important, has the willingness, courage, initiative and aptitude to do what it takes to seize and make the most of that opportunity.”

Alex Waller | MRI Global

When it comes to innovation, Alex Waller oozes entrepreneurial zeal: “If you want to step into the game, you have to be tireless, ambitious, and not afraid to stick your neck out and champion an innovative idea,” says the 29-year-old mechanical engineer at MRI Global, formerly the Midwest Research Institute. In his line of work there is vision, and there is road-kill: “I think the speed at which innovation is moving is what keeps most people out of it,” he says. Working for a high-profile research organization, Waller is exposed to a wide array of projects. Basically, if it moves, flows, blinks or breathes, Waller has in interest in measuring just how much. His expertise is in design, rapid prototyping and testing of devices for clients with national-defense interests. His achievements include development of an air-monitoring device used at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and he’s currently working as project manager or designer on such varied projects as a biological particle collector for Homeland Security, a portable water-purification system for use in developing nations, and tracking eye gaze using motion-capture cameras. And he brings a mature altruism to his work, as with the water system: “Profit,” he says, “doesn’t have to be the only measure of success for an innovative idea.”

BEN COHEN | Cohen Brokerage

Serving as president of his college fraternity gave Ben Cohen a taste of being at the controls of a small organization. “I didn’t want it to end,” he says. So, when the chance to go into business arose when he was just 22, and still in college, “I seized the opportunity and have never looked back,” he says. Thus was born New School Catering, which provides special-order adult beverages for all manner of events. Six years later, it’s still in business. But Cohen wasn’t content to leave it at that. Forsaking full-time work, and the salary that went with it, he took another leap in 2009, venturing into the insurance field with the launch of Cohen Brokerage. “Initially, it was a sacrifice financially and emotionally,” he says, “but I knew that it would benefit my clients and myself in the future.” And it did. Today, the 28-year-old provides insurance and financial products to dozens of companies and several hundred individual clients. “My favorite part about being an entrepreneur is knowing that no one can stop me from being successful except myself,” he says. He plans to start hiring young talent to work for him at the brokerage, and says that, “eventually, I plan to devote more of my time to making an impact in other areas of the community, most likely politics.”

RICH CRAY | Build My Move

Business ownership in Rich Cray’s family runs at least four generations deep, a gift handed down from great-grandfather to grandfather to father to the 29-year-old partner and chief operating officer at Build My Move in Overland Park. Cray is a native, but his company is a newcomer to the region; last year, he bought an interest the Pennsylvania firm and moved it to Overland Park. Build My Move is an example of the business sensibility that has defined the Cray family, a new spin on an antiquated sector: movers. Its technology provides a real-time online quoting engine for residential moving, and Cray says that can be done at a savings of up to 30 percent over other companies. “Disruptive” is a term that pops up when Cray discusses technology, and he likens this move to what NetFlix did to Blockbuster. The company, with 17 employees, expects to have 50 by year-end and eventually hundreds in the region, he says. It all fits neatly into his take on entrepreneurship: “An entrepreneur has to have a keen understanding of where his industry/business is, and where it can be,” Cray says. “They take the hill by charging up the mountain, and should expect their team to follow suit.”