Ron Lockton was grateful for the opportunity to integrate his personal skill set into the family business--one that happens to be the largest independently owned insurance brokerage firm in the country. But his name alone didn't earn Lockton a rolodex full of potential clients. After building a sizable book of fresh business in his first eleven years, Lockton is among the top thirteen percent of Lockton Companies' producers nationwide. "The numbers do not mean as much to me as the relationships I have been able to establish with my personal client base," he says. Serving on Lockton Companies' Board of Directors, Kansas City Property & Casualty Executive Committee, and Lockton Benefit Corp.'s Executive Committee, this modest 36 year old carries much clout.

"I appreciate the recognition but I'm a bit uncomfortable in the spotlight," he admits. Still, his passion for the company and for his family (wife Kelly and their three children) bring out the best in Lockton. He donates much spare time to the Gillis Center for Children, where Lockton was 2001 Spirit Awards Committee Co-Chair and continues to volunteer on the center's Board of Directors.

Another Hallmark Cards rising star, Melanie Miller is responsible for managing investments in the pension funds of all Hallmark employees. In her six-and-a-half years with the company, the promotion to Investment Manager was Miller's sixth. She is a trusted advisor to Hallmark's top executives, and has taken on key financial responsibilities in major divisions such as Consumer Product & Technology line. Though her current field of work is far from it, Miller's undergraduate degree in engineering must have taught her the formula for advancement at a high velocity. She received Hallmark's "Finance Award for Mastering Excellence" in 1999.

The native Kansas Citian and member of St. James United Methodist Church had an opportunity to give a gift back to St. James and that community: she was instrumental in developing financial plans for the construction of an $8 million new sanctuary for the church. Miller is a dedicated wife and mother to two boys, working at Red Bridge School as PTA membership chairperson and a productive fund raiser.

Since Jeff Mohajir made the move from Houston to take over daily operations of family-owned Mohajir Engineering Group, Inc., things have grown more technologically savvy within the company--and it's paying off. In 1992, Mohajir left Panhandle Eastern Corporation, where he was senior representative to all gas supply operations just four years after graduating from college. As President and CEO of Mohajir Engineering Corp., he is responsible for the strategic direction of a full-service petroleum engineering firm that has consulted on more than $3.5 billion invested in the energy industry. Mohajir's newly developed internet-based communication system allows for easier sharing of the company's engineering studies, down to the final geological evaluations of energy assets.

After thirteen years, Mohajir claims his wife Katie "continues to successfully create value far beyond any financial investment." Their five children are the centerpieces of the couple's lives. Mohajir's field analysis on the weekends consists of soccer games, as he coaches teams both in the spring and fall.

When he became a city councilman for Raymore, Chris Molendorp was the youngest person elected in the city's history. And he was honored to be elected Cass County Repulican Party Chairman at age 31. "But it was even more rewarding and more beneficial to Cass County when the voters approved the sales tax ballot issue I chaired in 1999," he says. The money went toward building a state-of-the-art criminal justice facility. Molendorp thinks it signaled the beginning of a modernization of County government, and it was done in a bi-partisan fashion. Today, Molendorp is an agency owner for Farmer's Insurance Group, receiving District Commercial Agent of the Year Awards in 2000 and 2002. He joined the Farmer's in 1997.

A native himself, Molendorp hopes to raise his two boys with wife Julie in Cass County with the same community feel, but different opportunities--one that is fully integrated into the Kansas City area business, civic and cultural community.