Sister Vickie Perkins, SCL, has never shied away from trying something new. So when the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth were approached about supporting a Cristo Rey network school in Kansas City, they knew Sister Vickie was just the one to lead it. Today, she serves as president of the high school.

Cristo Rey Kansas City strives to break the cycle of poverty through education and work experience. The high school provides a Catholic, college prep education enhanced by an innovative corporate work study program to culturally diverse students with economic need. This past June, Cristo Rey’s 1st class of 59 seniors from Kansas City’s urban core walked across the graduation stage with 100% of those seniors admitted to college.

Because of the school’s unique corporate work-study model, graduates will be ready for both college and professional careers. Cristo Rey strives to empower and educate urban students focusing on the long-term goal of college graduation.

Sister Vickie received her undergraduate degree from the University of St. Mary’s in Leavenworth, KS, completed her Master’s Degree in Mathematics at Ohio State University, and is a member of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.

Sister Vickie has dedicated her life’s work towards empowering and advocating for those marginalized by society, particularly young people and children in distressed situations. Sister Vickie spent time at the Gardner Institute, giving children affected by poverty resources for success, including a formal childcare program. In Denver, she served the Mount St. Vincent’s Home as the executive director, working to establish the home’s outpatient program for emotionally disturbed children. She also spent time at the Partnership for Children (an immunization program), as Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, the principal of Hogan High School and a math teacher at Bishop Ward High School.

Regardless of where she has served, Sister Vickie has consistently dedicated herself to creating a more socially just world where all are respected and given opportunities to develop to their potential.

Gary and Debby Ballard truly believe that “to whom much is given, much is required”…and as such they try to live their lives demonstrating that quote. They both are very active in the community, lending their time, talent and resources to several worthwhile organizations beginning first and foremost with their church. They are active members of the Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church of Jesus Christ and are probably most proud of the recent capital campaign that Gary chaired to raise the funds to build a new church in the urban core. Gary worked closely with the pastor to oversee the construction of the project.

Gary is the also the current board chair of the DeLaSalle Education Center. He also serves as a mentor to several young people and gives unselfishly many hours. He is a member of several other civic/service organizations. Gary is the former president /chief operating officer of YourTel America and Debby is the director of community affairs for Sprint.

Debby serves on several boards including Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey (board president), Partnership for Children (vice president), The Kansas City Zoo (Board development chair), Greater Kansas City Women’s Foundation ( co chair development) and Johnson County Community Foundation. She is also the current president of the Jackson County Chapter of the Links, Incorporated (a national organization of professional women dedicated to service and friendship).

Gary and Debby are the proud parents of 4 adult children.

Crosby Kemper III is Director of The Kansas City Public Library and former CEO of UMB Financial Corporation. Educated at Pem-Day, Andover, Eton and Yale he has taught English at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China and been a bookseller in Grand Central Station in New York City. He is the editor of, and contributor to, Winston Churchill: Resolution, Defiance, Magnanimity, Good Will published by the University of Missouri Press.

In 2003-04 he chaired the Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Missouri for Governor Holden. He has served on the board of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation which operates Monticello; and the boards of The Kansas City Symphony, the Black Archives of Mid America, Union Station and Lapham’s Quarterly. He helped Marilyn Strauss found the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and was its first Board Chair. He also founded and chaired the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. He co-founded and is Chairman of The Show-Me Institute, a libertarian public policy think tank for the state of Missouri.

Kemper is the also the host of Meet The Past with Crosby Kemper III programming for which the Library received a regional Emmy award nomination from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He received a 2008 Difference Maker Award from The Urban League of Kansas City. In 2008 he and the Library received the Gold Medal for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services at the White House from former librarian, Laura Bush.