For all our talk of numbers—budget cuts and growth figures; unemployment rates and housing starts; the dollars attached to hopeful new projects and those squandered on old ones that failed—the city’s future (and the trajectory of those pesky numbers) depends on the grit and audacity of its people. The following pages will introduce you to Southern Nevadans who will, in ways both great and small, shape our community in the year ahead. You’ll meet a piano prodigy redefining what it means to be a Vegas entertainer, a transportation visionary at war with gridlock and a real estate investor who emerged from bankruptcy to build a small empire. You’ll meet educators and athletes, political movers and nightclub shakers. Like all of us, they will bring new color to a recession-faded Vegas. They are brushstrokes in a portrait of our city.

Livio Lauro Man With a Master Plan	Ricardo Laguna The Balancing Act Ricardo Laguna	Kate Aldrich and Tim Shaffer The Taste-Makers	Nick Sherry The Cannon
Bryan McCormick The Sign Keeper	Otto Ehling The Prodigy Otto Ehling	Susie Lee The Education Investor	Julie Kamiyama Queen Electric
LaVey Ortiz-Kindred The Makeup Artist	Chris Ramirez Big-Picture Guy	Karen Nava The Future of Las Vegas Hospitality	Pushkin Kachroo The Transportation Professor
Jesika Towbin-Mansour The Dealer's Daughter	Connie Yeh The Wall Street Dropout	Simon Hammerstein The Modern Vaudevillian	Andres Ramirez The Instrument of Change
Sheridan Su The Magical Chef	Shannon McMackin The Art Instigator	Meghan Boyd The Style Magnet Meghan Boyd	Mark Stark The Bounce-Back Artist
Marilyn Kirkpatrick Bipartisanship’s Best Hope	Adam Mizzi The Prophet of Small	Justin Hutson Rebel Builder	Sonny Ahuja The Serial Entrepreneur
Allison Serafin The Education Player	Cee Lo Green The Relevant Resident