08 Jan Kansas Chamber Announces 2019 Ad Astra Honoree

TOPEKA, KAN. (January 8, 2019) – The Kansas Chamber announced Tuesday Advisors Excel is the Chamber’s 2019 Ad Astra Award honoree.

“Advisors Excel is a Kansas company built by Kansans. It exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit and determination that Kansas needs to grow.” said Kansas Chamber President and CEO Alan Cobb.  “The company shows dedication to the community by taking its success and investing it in Topeka and surrounding communities. The Kansas Chamber is thrilled to recognize Advisors Excel with the 2019 Ad Astra.”

Each year during the Kansas Chamber’s Annual Dinner, the Chamber recognizes a company with the Ad Astra Award. The Ad Astra Award is designed to recognize a Kansas business for its unique contribution to the economic health and welfare of the state. This honor is presented to a business that exemplifies both business and civic excellence within the state.

Advisors Excel was founded in 2005 by David Callanan, Cody Foster and Derek Thompson to deliver independent financial professionals a wide range of support services including financial products, training, marketing and lead generation. The founders also envisioned creating a culture that allows independent financial professionals to continually refine their skills to serve their clients.

“When we decided to start our own company, we didn’t just want to build the best financial services business, we wanted to create a defining culture that fosters personal as well as professional growth for our employees and inspires them to be better in all aspects of their lives, not just their jobs,” said Cody Foster, co-founder at Advisors Excel. “We want Advisors Excel to leave a lasting positive impact on everyone it touches, from our clients and their clients to our staff, their families and everyone in our community and the state. One of our core values is to do the right thing and we don’t just pay lip service to it, we try to live it every day. We could be headquartered anywhere in the country, but we feel that Kansas is central to a great talent pool full of hardworking people with the utmost integrity.”

Advisors Excel began with just five employees. Today that number has grown to 552 full-time employees, plus 25 interns. For two years in a row Advisors Excel has been certified as a great place to work by Great Place to Work®. Advisors Excel Founders David Callanan and Cody Foster are committed to making a positive social and economic impact on NE Kansas. They choose to live, raise their families and build their business here because they believe in the community’s pioneering spirit and deep-rooted belief in the power of hard work and perseverance, tempered with quiet humility.

Every year Advisors Excel donates time and money to a variety of causes and organizations. Every quarter each team member spends three hours volunteering in the community, helping to advance the causes and organizations dedicated to any of the four key pillars that make up their community engagement efforts (hunger, poverty, financial literacy, children & education). With a workforce of more than 550, that averages out to roughly 5,000 hours of volunteer work each year. In 2018, Advisors Excel provided funding for 46 organizations.

The Kansas Chamber’s 2019 Annual Dinner is Tuesday, January 22nd at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka. Presented by Cox Communications, the Chamber’s dinner is the largest annual statewide gathering of business and political leaders in Kansas. This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute. You can learn more about the annual dinner at www.KansasChamber.org/19dinnerinfo.

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With headquarters in Topeka, the Kansas Chamber, is the leading statewide pro-business advocacy group moving Kansas towards becoming a top state to live and work. The Chamber represents small, medium and large employers across Kansas. The mission of the Kansas Chamber is to continually strive to improve the economic climate for the benefit of every business and citizen and to safeguard our system of free, competitive enterprise.

For more information on the Kansas Chamber, visit www.kansaschamber.org.