KCBJ announces 2021 NextGen Leaders

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - June 10, 2021 - PRLog -- orSeveral weeks after announcing the 2021 NextGen Leaders honorees, the Kansas City Business Journal has unlocked the article so that all readers can view the list.

The panel of six judges had their work cut out for them as they chose this year's honorees from hundreds of nominations.

This year's 25 rising stars will have a special publication in their honor on June 25. Their profiles will be published online and in the weekly print edition.

As part of our announcement, KCBJ asked the honorees to submit a photo of themselves to help readers learn more about their personalities. The pictures they submitted show these emerging leaders in their pandemic "happy place."

To be eligible, nominees must live and work in the Kansas City metro area. The program seeks to recognize the budding talent and to connect these emerging leaders while helping build their knowledge and skill sets.

Click through this photo gallery to see this year's honorees and where they found their 'happy place' over the past year.

These are the 2021 NextGen Leaders honorees:

• Jeff Blaesing, vice president, JE Dunn Construction
• Jessica Blubaugh, director, WIN for KC
• John Boucard, CEO, Tesseract Ventures
• Billy Brimblecom, executive director, Steps Of Faith Foundation
• Emily Brown, director of talent development, McCownGordon Construction
• Kirsten Brown-Persley, founding principal, Crossroads Preparatory Academy
• McClain Bryant Macklin, director of policy and strategic initiatives, Health Forward Foundation
• Lauren Conaway, founder and CEO, InnovateHER KC
• Kipp Cooper, CEO, Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors/Heartland Multiple Listing
• Tyler Enders, co-owner, Made in KC
• Michael Goslinga, principal, Hoefer Welker
• Kersten Holzhueter, partner/co-chair litigation and dispute resolution practice group, Spencer Fane LLP
• Mike Jeffries, chief development officer, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City
• Myron King, chief integration officer, VMLY&R
• Arielle Long-Seabra, brand supervisor, Barkley*
• Kara Lowe, chief operating officer, KC Tech Council
• AJ Peterson, VP & GM of CareGuidance, Netsmart
• Patrick Sallee, CEO, Vibrant Health
• Alissa Schuessler, VP of finance, Burns & McDonnell
• Marc Shaffer, principal and financial advisor, Searcy Financial Services Inc.
• Pooja Shah, lead electrical engineer – renewables, Kiewit Engineering Group
• Fang Shen, partner, Husch Blackwell LLP
• Jesús Torres-Sosa, principal, Odimo
• Donna Watson, assistant VP - trust administration, Country Club Trust Co.
• Mike Zimmerman, founder and CEO, Artisan Technology Group LLC

*Long-Seabra was chief marketing officer at Goodcents at the time the honorees first were announced

To read more information, visit https://www.ntst.com/Company/News
Published on Kansas City Business Journal (https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2021/06/08/un...)