Heather Borntick has been honored as one of Ingram's 40 Under Forty

Congratulations to Heather Bortnick!
It would take more than economic meltdown to faze Heather Bortnick. The 39-year-old real estate maven has braved worse things than a plunging Dow. Bortnick is a co-founder of The Koehler Bortnick Team real estate company. She and her mother started the venture in 1996, and last year it recorded more than $143 million in closings, making it a leader in the Kansas City market and catching the attention of The Wall Street Journal, which ranked the firm fifteenth in the nation. For Bortnick, the national recognition is nice, but since her diagnosis with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2003, she’s good at putting praise and problems into perspective. “Concern for my health created perspective in my life and enhanced my focus to build a sustainable business in the metro,” says Bortnick, who is married with two children. “My family is the reason I am able to be optimistic and focus on my personal, professional and philanthropic goals.” Bortnick is a sustaining member of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, is active in the Disney Marathon and Black Tie Ball fundraisers for the Leuk-emia & Lymphoma Society and is a parent volunteer at The Pembroke Hill School.