Carlos Puente, 39

Carlos Puente is used to dealing with uncertainty in his role as vice president of sales for Neal Communities. Everything from consumer confidence and interest rates to an attention-grabbing presidential tweet can have impacts of varying degrees on the housing market.

“There are a lot of external forces that can really affect, negatively and positively, what we do and how we do it,” Puente says. “I feel like it boils down to hard work and good communication, which helps everyone stay motivated during times that are a little more challenging.”

Puente, 39, focuses on sales strategies for the prolific Lakewood Ranch–based home builder and enjoys the higher purpose of what he and his company do. “We are helping build the American dream for a lot of people, in the sense of creating home ownership,” he says. “And we’re actually building something, which is nice. There’s a lot of great growth on the internet, but everything is intangible. We’re still building a very tangible product.”