Building Community Through Service | Advisors Excel's Commitment To Topeka
By KIM GRONNIGER
When Cody Foster and David Callanan founded Advisors Excel in 2005, the two friends say they were personally committed to giving back, even when their primary focus was on growing their company.
The business, which started with a blueprint sketched on a cocktail napkin, soon took off. Advisors Excel now helps financial professionals across the country market retirement savings services to their clients.
Cody says that by 2008, two factors had influenced the company’s decision to commit to corporate giving: discretionary funds to support nonprofits and a need for greater community visibility to attract talent.
“We realized during interviews that a lot of candidates didn’t know who we were so we lost potential employees to companies with more name recognition,” Cody said. “We needed to determine what image to convey and what story to tell about our company. We wanted people to know we were locally owned and cared about the community we’re part of and we wanted to attract employees who would bring a personal mindset of giving back to our service-minded business.”
“Do the right thing” is the company’s core value, Cody says, extending to the work employees do for both clients and the community.
He adds that although they wanted job candidates to know about the company’s charitable work, they worried it might seem like bragging.
“I remember a conversation with [Capitol Federal CEO] John Dicus where I shared my reservations about talking widely about what we were doing,” Cody said. “John said that promoting charitable giving can inspire other companies of all sizes to do good and do more, so that helped ease our concerns.”
BUILDING CULTURE THROUGH VOLUNTEERING
Advisors Excel recognized that nonprofits need volunteers, not just funding. Cody says the company gives employees branded shirts to wear during quarterly volunteer days on company time. In 2025, the company recorded 7,525 hours for local agencies.
Volunteer days begin with a company update. Then employees from different departments work together to fulfill their assignments.
“We’ve been growing so fast that a lot of people don’t know employees outside of those they work with every day,” Cody said. “Volunteering together is an awesome way to connect people and it’s a key part of our culture. In interviews, prospective employees often mention they were inspired to apply because they saw our employees volunteering together.”
The volunteer work helps local nonprofits meet their goals, Cody says. “The experience keeps life in perspective, reinforces our service-mindset culture and attracts like-minded people who want to help others,” he added.
INVESTING IN TOPEKA’S FUTURE
The company focuses on projects that will help the community for years to come. Recent projects include building homes for Habitat for Humanity, funding to Impact Avenue for three years to end student homelessness in Shawnee County, supporting Topeka Public Schools programs and mentorship for at-risk kids, upgrading the Stormont Vail Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and supporting Washburn University through scholarships and renovating Advisors Excel Hall (formerly Henderson Learning Resources Center).
“Creating housing opportunities, fixing food insecurity and providing mentors for students can help keep kids in school, which will ultimately pay off in the community,” Cody said. “Stormont Vail sold us on the opportunity to influence infant mortality and health outcomes with our investment in its NICU, which will also have a compounding effect on generations.”
Cody, a Stockton native, earned a Washburn University degree because of a scholarship for first-generation students from Rooks County endowed by Duffie Hindman, a 1924 graduate of the Washburn University School of Law.
Both Cody and David, the latter of whom grew up in Benton, know how much a scholarship can change someone’s life. They contribute to scholarship programs at Washburn University and Kansas State University to help students graduate with little or no debt.
“David and I view a lot of things from the same lens as we look at ways to leverage our business to support the community,” Cody said.
BUILDING MOMENTUM, BLOCK BY BLOCK
That commitment includes investing in the capital city’s infrastructure. Advisors Excel turned the former Ed Marling’s furniture store into its headquarters and later bought buildings in Gage Center for a satellite campus as the company grew.
“Since we implemented improvements at Gage Center, several other companies have renovated their spaces too,” Cody said. “Across the street, Sonic built a new restaurant and the strip mall got a facelift. It’s a great example of how investment can build momentum. It’s what we hoped would happen.”
Cody owns AIM Strategies, which operates The Pennant, Ta Co and the Iron Rail Brewing Co.
“A few people sparked fires for developing Topeka and others have added more wood to the effort,” he said. “It’s been great to see companies like FHLBank Topeka invest in new buildings and to see Stormont Vail take over the former Hill’s Pet Nutrition building downtown.”
Cody credits Matt Pivarnik, former president of the Greater Topeka Partnership, and the Momentum 2022 initiative with getting business leaders excited about the city’s future.
“In the past, a lot of people thought change could only come from Hail Mary opportunities outside of the community that often didn’t materialize,” he said. “Local business leaders stepped up to support Momentum 2022 because they were inspired by Matt’s confidence.”
Cody believes Washburn University is a key part of Topeka’s comeback.
“Our success is intertwined,” Cody said. “If you come here to attend Washburn for four years, you start thinking about the city differently.”
Cody met his wife, Jennifer, at Washburn University. The couple decided to stay in Topeka, as did David and his wife, Karlun.
“David and I get asked all the time about why we didn’t move our business,” Cody said. “We love Topeka and we love Washburn. Kids going to Washburn now have an even better experience than we did and those graduates who stay help cultivate hometown pride and investment in individuals and infrastructure.”
CONNECTING THROUGH SERVICE
Like Cody and David, Tracy Khounsavanh Killough, director of community engagement at Advisors Excel, is a first-generation college graduate, Washburn alum and Topeka advocate.
“I just knew when I moved here to go to school that I would stay,” Tracy said.
A native of Marion, the communications major’s love of helping others started when she was young.
“My dad immigrated as a refugee from Laos after the Vietnam War, and I saw the financial struggles he and my mother faced,” Tracy said. “I remember people who helped our family and I was so inspired by them and their kindness because their efforts made such a difference for us.”
Tracy said the company’s mission to connect, serve and impact is part of the company culture and strengthened through volunteer work.
“Our culture of service is inherent in the work we do every day to help our financial professional clients, which lends itself to our philanthropic commitment,” she said. “Our community engagement program is visible in the community and prospective employees often mention that it’s one reason why they’re interested in applying for a position.”
Before their first day, new employees receive a package in the mail that includes a volunteer T-shirt and a postcard about the volunteer program. The importance of volunteering is emphasized during their first week of training.
“Everyone in that onboarding class volunteers together the first time, and after that we communicate monthly volunteer opportunities that they can participate in,” she said.
In her role, Tracy works with nonprofits and schools to find ways to solve issues related to the company’s five focus areas: hunger, poverty, kids and education, mental health, and financial literacy.
The company partners with Topeka Public Schools, which identifies students who need essential items like clothes, shoes and coats. Advisors Excel volunteers are matched with students who have similar interests and personalities, and then they shop together at Kohl’s.
Tracy said each student returns to school with a bag full of new clothing, toys, hygiene products and more to take home and enjoy.
In addition to volunteering for Topeka Public Schools and nonprofits like Project Topeka, Let’s Help, and Doorstep, employees can participate in the Season of Sharing program, which allows them to personally adopt a family for the holidays or do so with their office team.
“The thread throughout our company is connection — connection with the community and connection with coworkers,” she said. “Face-to-face interaction is important. When employees are cooking and serving meals to people in need or helping kids in the classroom, deeper conversations and relationships come from that shared experience.”
