KEVIN TUBBESING
Kevin Tubbesing, 35, has the mnemonic distinction of being CEO of CIO, Inc., now celebrating its 10th Anniversary. CIO provides quality technology solutions to hundreds of businesses and school districts in the KC metro area. The company now has a dozen employees and is still growing. As part of the expansion, Kevin formed Midwest Holdings LLC in 2001, purchasing an abandoned building in the heart of Shawnee, Kansas, and is rebuilding it into a professional office complex. Growing up the son of an Air Force officer, Kevin never really set down roots. That all changed when Kevin married and moved to Kansas City. "From the time we arrived," says Kevin, "Mary Beth knew I had found the community where I could jump in and make a difference." That "difference" includes serving as planning commissioner of the City of Shawnee, vice- president of the Shawnee Rotary Club, and advisory board member to Dream Factory of Greater Kansas City. Kevin and Mary Beth have three children: Nicole 5, Lauren, 2, and Megan 2.
ANA VALDEZ
Native Kansas Citian Ana Valdez, 39, reached a pinnacle in her career when she helped create the Latino Leadership Institute, a board- of-directors certificate program at the UMKC Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership. It was a dream come true for Ana, who also played an instrumental role in the creation of the Kansas City chapter of NSHMBA. Ana advocates various initiatives that advance the Latino community, its youth and its women. She has served on various non-profit boards that focus on her areas of interest: SkillBuilders Fund; National Society of Hispanic MBAs; Catholic Diocese KC--St. Joseph Young Adult Ministry; FOCUS KC; Kansas City Consensus; Associated Youth Services; Girl Scouts Mid-Continent Council; and YMCA-KCK. Manager of Service Delivery at Sprint, Ana graduated from Rockhurst Univ. with B.S. in business administration and holds an MBA from Avila Univ. Last year, she was recognized as one of KC's 25 up and coming Latinos by Dos Mundos. In 2001, she was recognized as one of the Top 50 Influential Hispanics in Kansas City.
HAROLD WALLACE, JR.
Community healthcare, says Harold Wallace, is "a humbling career." Still, the 36-year-old chief operations officer for Samuel U. Rodgers Heath Center believes a health care career provides an individual unlimited opportunities to make a positive change for people who fall through society's proverbial crack. "It's a career that ignites a passion within," says Harold, "and quenches the thirst to serve." Harold, who has a Masters in Public Health Administration from Meharry Medical College, worked his way to Kansas City through a series of increasingly responsible positions across the country, most recently at Johnson & Johnson in Chicago. Harold has been instrumental in expanding his institution's outreach programs throughout Missouri. Children attending McCoy Elementary, for instance, are now beneficiaries of a newly formed partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and LINC. Harold manages the Bureau of Primary Health Care collaborative study on diabetes, asthma and cardiovascular illness, and he serves on the boards of the Missouri Primary Care Assn. and the Missouri Dept. of Health and Senior Services.
TOM WHITTAKER
Tom Whittaker, 39, is a modest man. In addition to being the vice-president, counsel for J.E. Dunn Construction, Tom serves on the Kansas City Ballet Board and is the Barstow board president. Yet, as Tom says, "There's no accomplishment significant enough to merit special recognition." He explains that his greatest accomplishments have been incremental ones--succeeding in a series of steps that started with re-directing his career and beginning a family. As to family, he and wife Loren have two sons. As to career, Tom has made some unusual moves. A few years back, he left his field-engineer position with a commercial construction contractor to go to law school. After graduating, he practiced with a law firm in Kansas City for two years before joining J.E. Dunn as in-house counsel. Bob Dunn calls Tom an "awesome leader," and Tom has moved up the corporate ladder at a rapid pace. Tom likes working at a company that encourages giving something back to the community.
